One of a kind personality in the Vaishnavite Sect- Leader of Prabhandham Ghosti, Head of Dept, Madras University, Author of 25 books with special interest in Palm Leaf Manuscripts, Editor and Publisher of a monthly Journal for 40 years, One of the first to provide LIVE TV commentary on a Divya Desam Utsavam, Upanyasakar and a Fanatic ‘Thengalayar’ supporter
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For the best part of the last month, he has been on the sacred streets of Thiruvallikeni reciting the Divya Prabhandham, first during the Brahmotsavam and then the 10 day Avathara Utsavam of Ramanuja. He may well be within his rights to slow-down a bit especially during the Agni Nakshatram period when the Sun has been beating down strongly. However for the 64 year old Dr. MA Venkatakrishnan, the most well known face of Thiruvallikeni Divya Desam in recent times, there is an important task on hand – The Vadakalaiyars of Varadaraja Perumal Divya Desam in Kanchipuram have just presented a petition this week to the collector that the Thengalayars do not have the right to present the ghosti on the Lord’s return trip to the temple. However, Venkatakrishnan contests this stating that this has been a practice there over the last 50+ years. He will leave for Kanchipuram later today to be part of the Ghosti this evening ahead of the commencement of the Brahmotsavam. With unresolved issues, more fireworks is expected at the Ghosti with MAV in the forefront leading the Thengalayars.
He has no qualms at the general perception of him being a Thengalai Fanatic. He may have just as many detractors as supporters even within Thiruvallikeni but he is vocal in safeguarding the rights of the Ghosti. A couple of years ago, when the procession of the Lord during Era Pathu Utsavam stopped in front of the house of the Head Priest that delayed the return of the Lord, he showcased his team’s power by slowing down the recital of Tiruvoimozhi that resulted in the proceedings going well past midnight (
http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/01/parthasarathy-koil-adyapakas-arrogance.html).
Mother’s Penance at Melkote
Be as that may be, MAV, as he is fondly called, is a rare personality in the Vaishnavite community with stellar achievement over the last five decades. He has provided quite a diverse mix of services in the Vaishnavite world, one that almost none others have possessed in the decades gone by. This rather unique story of this one of a kind personality began right at birth or rather even when he was in the womb of his mother, for in a family of four brothers he turned out to be the only one with strong interests in Vaishnavism.
Leading up to his birth, his mother, Rukmini, who traces her roots to Mysore, spent 48 days in the historical temple town of Thiru Narayanapuram in Melkote ( http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/10/thiru-narayana-perumal-in.html) going around the Pushkarani and invoking the blessings of Lord Selva Pillai. She would then listen to the Kalakshepam of Thirumalai Iyengar and have her first meal of the day only after noon, most times well after 1pm. It was the fruits of such a sincere penance that she was blessed with a son who through his entire life of over six decades has been associated in a strong way in promoting Vaishnavism. Even in her final days, when she found it difficult to walk, his mother (she passed away last year) would take delight in listening to her son’s explanation of the inner meaning of the Divya Prabhandham verses of the Azhvaars.
The First Extremely Religious Person in his family
It was not for MAV to play tennis ball cricket around the streets of Thiruvallikeni in the 1950s and 60s much like the other boys his age and most of his other family members. Instead right from the time he was 6, MAV spent time going to Kalakshepams of Annankaracharya along with his athai (aunt) Krishnammal.
He knew no sport or any other pastime other than listening to historical stories of the Lord. Through most of his childhood, he was surrounded by idols and vahanas. Alankaram of the Lord and decoration of the vahanas were the only games he knew of. His forefathers belonged to the Mysore Pradhans and were ministers in the province. In this large family of brothers and aunts, MAV emerged as the first with such a serious religious bent of mind.
But this did not go down well even with his father and his early life was not without its challenges. Not too pleased with the extreme religious route that his son was taking as driven by his sister (athai), MAV’s father MA Krishnamurthi, who worked in a private firm in Madras, moved him to a Christian school where the class V boy was driven to let go his Vaishnavite beliefs. He was forced to remove the Thengalai Thiruman at school and a refusal meant constant caning by his teachers. He was also forced to read the bible at school.
It was also just around this time that another incident led MAV to forego a trip to his grandparents’ house for almost two decades. During the first ten years of his life, MAV had a special affection for his youngest athai. While on a trip to his grandparents’ house in Mysore, his amma suddenly returned to Madras without informing the young boy who had to stay back for 10 days. On return, he first went searching for his athai, only to be told that she had ‘reached’ God. Angered at not being able to see his athai the young boy decided never to visit Mysore again. And he didn’t for another 20 years.
A year later, his father passed away. Within a month, the young Venkatakrishnan, who detested the Christian school, had the courage to meet on his own the Principal of Hindu School to request him for a seat in the school on the pretext that he was being harassed to remove his traditional sacred ash on the forehead. And he managed to secure a seat in the middle of the year. It was an early indication of the convincing powers of Venkatakrishnan.
Turning Point - A two decade long association with Annankaracharya
With his aunt taking him around to Kalakshepams, almost his entire childhood was spent under the tutelage of Annankaracharya, who spotting the devotional interest asked him to get initiated into the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham. He would often throw up probing questions at the young kid in public on Divya Prabhandham verses and get Venkatakrishnan to answer. By the time he was 16 years old, Annankaracharya coronated him with the title of ‘Medhavi Mani’.
He would also get the young kid to present a few verses all of a sudden in front of a large audience. It was one such announcement that led MAV to present his first ever Upanyasam before he had touched 20. Annankaracharya was a well known writer and seeing the early interest of MAV, he initiated him into the entire process of publishing including proof reading, composing pages and printing.
In 1974, when Annankarachaya was to put together a detailed commentary on Tiruvoimozhi, he handed Rs. 1Lakh to MAV and asked him to manage the entire process of the publication which comprised of 6 volumes each running up to 500 pages ( this was released in 1975), such was the confidence in the youngster. This gave Venkatakrishnan both an opportunity to showcase his administrative capability and people management skills as well as an extreme interest in publishing books on Vaishnavism.
Launches Monthly Journal at 24
Following this experience, Venkatakrishnan exchanged a number of letters expressing interest to start a monthly journal of his own to propagate Vaishnavism. Annankarachaya was initially apprehensive for it was not easy to put together content every month within a certain deadline, let alone managing the process of printing and marketing the journal.
Once again, MAV’s convincing ability came to the fore and with the blessings of Annankaracharya (who suggested that it be named after the Lord of Thiruvallikeni as Gitacharyan), he launched the first edition of the journal as a young 24 year old in 1978. This has now seen four decades without a break.
He had by then already provided LIVE Commentary on Doordarshan for the Kal Garuda Sevai at Nachiyar Koil, almost immediately after the TV station was launched.
After being initially initiated with the sacred verses by Goplan Iyengar of Vanamamalai Mutt, in Thiruvallikeni in the late 1960s, Venkatakrishnan began what was to be one of his closest relationships in his early life. He learnt the rest of the prabhandham verses from Kavalkani Ananthacharya (
http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html) who was the secretary of the ghosti at Thiruvallikeni. If the association with Annankaracharya led him into understanding the nuances of Divya Prabhandham, his association with Ananthacharya gave him an entry into kainkaryam at the temple.
It was a phase he also learnt Sanskrit from Damal Srinivasan. Much like with Ananthacharya, he was seen as Srinivasan’s own son (almost four decades later, Venkatakrishnan and Perundevi ( Damal Srinivasan’s daughter) shared the stage together on Doordarshan to present LIVE commentary for the Samprokshanam at the Thiruvallikeni Divya Desam a few years ago).
A Puny Sanskrit Teacher at 20 addressing 90 plus students
That initiation led him into being the only applicant for BA Sanskrit at the Vivekananda College (the rest of the students were ‘forced’ entrants). No sooner did he complete his graduation, he was offered a lecturer’s post at the college. Just past 20 and puny in stature, he was apprehensive of addressing a strong 90+ student batch of PUC. However, his professor convinced him of his inherent talent and he began teaching Sanskrit, a post that he held for a decade. This experience was to hold him in good stead during his three decade long association with the Vaishnavism Department at the Madras University.
Teaching Prabhandham to 50 plus students at home
By the mid 1970s when he just in his early 20s Venkatakrishnan had already begun teaching Divya Prabhandham to young kids in Thiruvallikeni. The strength of the students numbering past 50 remains the highest to this day at Thiruvallikeni. Many of his students are now an integral part of the Ghosti.
Velukkudi Varadachari was keen that MAV join him in his sampradaya route and upanyasams and was keen to mentor him. But MAV did not want to restrict himself to Upanyasam alone for he knew he was a multi faceted personality. However, he did express his interest to listen to the entire Kalakshepam of Varadachari (he had just completed one full round) once again. Varadarachari directed him to Govinda Narasimhachari of Srirangam, who then came all the way to Thiruvallikeni to stay in MAV’s house to present Kalakshepam for 3 years exclusively for MAV. However, MAV shifted the venue to Namazhvaar Sannidhi so a larger audience could benefit from the Kalakshepam. Listening to the Kalakshepams with intent and having already been exposed to the publishing route, MAV began a long journey of publishing books.
His Magnum Opus
The Magnum Opus of his life has been the publication of an 800 page book comprising of anecdotes from the Divya Prabhandham interspersed with intricate meanings of the verses of the Saint Poets. It has been such a hit with the readers that it has gone into 7 reprints. He was also presented the Doctorate in Literature for this effort.
Palm Leaf Manuscripts
Yet another of his differentiated interests in life was to read from Palm Leaf manuscripts. After intense efforts of searching historical literature, he came up with a Vyakyanam for the Iyarpa verses. The effort included searching and finding relevant manuscripts, physically checking each of the 700 folios, oiling and cleaning the manuscripts and reading each one with lens. It was with support from his wife Bhooma whom he married in 1982 that he was able to successfully complete this book. The two would sit for three hours each evening from 9pm to scan through the entire manuscripts.
Athai has the final word even in his marriage
His marriage itself was not without its fair share of challenges. MAV belonged to the family of Mandayam Iyengars and they were to marry only within that sect. However, Athai Krishnammal, who had developed a close relationship with Kamala Pattu, a long time resident of Thiruvallikeni, and whom she had supported financially for long, was keen that MAV marry one of her five daughters as her friend had seen a lot of financial challenges in life having had to bring up 10 children (5 sons). This did not go well with MAV’s amma but like with much of his life, the athai had the final word. While the first daughter married in Feb 1982, MAV married the 2nd daughter of Kamala Pattu that same year in November.
MAV ideates Vaishnavism Dept at the Madras UniversityWhen the 125th anniversary celebrations of Madras University were to be held, advocate NC Raghavachari, who fought many of the court cases relating to the temple, sought MAV’s help in idea generation for the event. It was on MAV’s suggestion that the Vaishnavism department was launched at the University. Much to MAV’s surprise, he was asked to be part of the launch team. Thus he began his Vaishnavism teaching career alongside the then stalwarts M Narasimhachari and Raghavan, a career that extended for almost the next three decades.
Though Narasimhachari was the HOD, he was a rather quiet personality and it was MAV, the marketer who built a strong network within the University so much so that many in the University would come searching for MAV, the HOD. Such was the humility of Narasimhachari that he would let it be and would often inform the visitors that HOD Venkatakrishnan had gone out and that he would inform the HOD once he is back. This was a story that he would often narrate to an embarrassed MAV, one that would end with the remark ‘You will anyway head and steer this department one day’.
After the launch of the Vaishanvism department, MAV encouraged his wife to take up Vaishnavism and later she on went on to become a lecturer at the University. And the two worked together at the department for over two decades.
Forays into Temple Service
The late 80s and the 90s saw him move closer to temple service though it was a rather quiet time for him as a Ghosti member. With MAV’s extreme closeness to Kavalkani Ananthacharya, the succeeding head following the latter’s sudden death in 1977 meant MAV had a quiet time with the Ghosti for almost 15 years There was resentment from the head of Ghosti when he opted for Kattiyam service in 1986 on the grounds that one could not perform two different services at the temple. But as always, MAV stood firm. He was keen on performing the Kattiyam service while he could anyway be part of the prabhandham recital even standing in the last row.
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It was only after the successful conduct of the Samprokshanam in 1992 (that MAV anchored in terms of fund collection), that he was finally asked to join the adyapaka team. In 1999, he became the Secretary of the Adyapaka Ghosti, a post that he has now held for 20 years. It was a phase that has seen a big revival of the Ghosti, now seen in big strength at the temple.
A Multi Faceted Personality
MA Venkatakrishnan has many achievements to his credit over the last five plus decades – author of 25 books, running a monthly journal for over 480 issues, 45 years of Upanyasam, anchoring and managing the success of the Prabhandham Ghosti for over two decades, heading the Vaishnavism Dept at the University for a decade and more recently training the next generation of Kalakshepam scholars including the sons of the Thiru Kovilur Jeer. He has been a prominent face in this Divya Desam that is renowned for Prabhandham recital. And it is likely that he will continue to be the real motivating force for the next generation of Prabhandham experts.
He has always been vocal in his views, when it comes to Vaishnavism. Rarely does he hold back. He is not always liked for such outspoken views.
For all his feverish push for the Thengalai rights, Venkatakrishnan had just over a decade ago tried to stitch together a solution that should have been seen as a step in the right direction. Forming a committee with representatives from all the Mutts including from Ahobila Mutt and Andavan Ashram, he tried to take the first step in resolving the long standing issues in temples through arbitration. However, the initiative was nipped in the bud with differences of opinion even at the formation stage with the result that the last decade has seen growing number of cases in courts.
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Arbitration within the community may still be the way to resolving issues and MAV is hoping that someday the community will come together to discuss hard and find amicable solution to the pending issues. If the arbitration model takes shape one day, there may be yet be a day during his lifetime when the Prabhandham Ghosti of Thengalayar and Vadakalayar will be seen together in Thiruvallikeni, Thiruvahindrapuram and Kanchipuram.
For now, though, he will be spending the next week or so on the sacred streets of Kanchipuram trying to continue the Prabhandham recital on the return trip of Varadaraja Perumal to the temple during the Brahmotsavam.
