NextGen Priests find Greener Pastures in the Corporate World
![]()
He did not see a ‘rupee’ note at the temple for a long time. There was no salary as well from the temple as he belonged to Mirasu service. Every day, he would wait in front of the Sannidhi looking for that elusive devotee. Typical of people of those days, he lived within his means and led a contended life. However, this did not go down well with his family. Consistently during the period, he would hear whispers from other members to his two young sons to not get into temple service as they did not want the NextGen to go through the same financial struggles. This constant initiation of ‘temple service does not help in a secure life’ in the young minds led them to become academically proficient and thus two Vaishnavites who should have had leanings towards Kaalamegha Perumal have been lost to the IT world.
![]()
Today there are less than 10 Brahmin families in Thiru Kannapuram, one that was praised as a vibrant location in a 100 verses by Thirumangai Azhwar.
![]()
![]()
Only after the political change in the 60s and 70s when the anti Brahmnical wave swept the State did the scenario inside the temple take a severe beating. He says that in the centuries gone by, the traditional convention was that any payment from the Kodi Maram to Moolasthanam belonged to the archakas.
The 1960s-80s was one of the most difficult periods for priests and service personnel across temples in Tamil Nadu. The changing political climate in the State and the gaining dominance of the HR and CE spelt death knell for the archaka community. Initially, driven by the land ceiling act, the traditional inhabitants began leaving their ancestral homes in search of jobs in bigger towns and cities, thus reducing the devotee crowd in temples. Much later, the introduction of hundials took away an important component of their income – ‘Thattu Kaasu’ dwindled as devotees were lured to deposit into the Hundis that surfaced at different points within the temple complex. As income dried, the priests began selling their hereditary lands. The then existing Bhattars and Gurukals bore the brunt, silently as they were keen on continuing the hereditary service that their forefathers had performed for centuries. However, the deteriorating scenario took a heavy toll on them.
The outcome of this frustrating life reflected in the way of life of the NextGen. The disgruntled lot of priests from that period ensured that their children focused on academics. The NextGen from the historical Divya Desams and Thevaram Sthalams took to Engineering that had become an attractive option in the State in the 1990s.
Instead of being initiated into the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, Thevaram verses and the Vedas, the NextGen spent time trying to understand the nuances of IT.
Friday Review takes a look at a few of them and how their financial struggles in the second half of the 20th century turned their children away from the temples, that their forefathers had served for long, into a life in the corporate world.
Never saw a rupee note at Thiru Mogur
For 42 years, R Ramakrishna Bhattar at the Kaalamegha Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Mogur has been taking care of the daily aradhana to the Lord. When he joined the service, there was hardly any income as even the annual Brahmotsavam did not see big crowds. The Veda Parayanam and Prabhandham Ghosti had become a thing of the past.
Decades of standing in different Sannidhis each day for long hours have taken a physical toll on Ramakrishna Bhattar, now past 60. The physical strength in his legs is gone, though he continues to perform service to the Lord with the same extreme devotion that he has shown in the decades gone by. However, the not so good news is that his sons have been lost to the temple as a result of what the family had gone through in those decades.
Thiru Kannapuram - Even the Pension dues have not been registered
At the Sowri Rajan Perumal Temple in Thiru Kannapuram Divya Desam, 81 year old Koora Kulothama Dasa, a descendent of one of the 74 disciples of Ramanuja and a sthalathar, bemoans that there aren’t enough Brahmins to even carry the dead to the burial ground. He says that during his childhood all the four Mada Vilagams were brimming with Vaishnavites chanting the Divya Prabhandham and the sacred Vedas. There was a devotional fervour around the temple“Things changed for the worse in the 2nd half of the last century. In the new political climate, proceeds from the 30 Veli of leased out temple lands came down significantly. This changed the face of temple life. The drop in a huge source of income for the temple led to a negative impact on the entire community at Thiru Kannapuram."
Having joined the temple as an adyapaka in 1955 at a salary of Rs.12, Kulothama Dasa retired 40 years later at a salary of just a few hundreds but his pension dues have not been registered in the last two decades. And there is no answer from the HR & CE. Araiyars too were popular here. Their house still exists but their descendents have stayed away from the traditional art. Once a year, in Maasi, the Araiyar from Srivilliputhur makes his way here to present Araiyar Sevai at the temple, serving as a reminder of its historical past.
Sowri Raja Bhattar, who is considered an expert in agamas and in conducting Samprokshanams, took over as the priest at Thiru Kannapuram at the age of 18, way back in 1968. His forefathers for well over a century had been the Sthaaneegam at the temple. At his peak, he too just received a few hundreds as monthly salary. Running a family was a big challenge and it has largely been a financial struggle throughout the last five decades. His elder son took to Engineering and is now in the financial services space in Chennai, far away from temple service.
Araiyar Sevai for over 50 years without a salary
64 year old Bala Mukundan Araiyar, one of the few remaining Araiyars in Divya Desams, began presenting Araiyar Sevai at the Srivilliputhur Divya Desam well over 50 years ago when he was still a young boy. He has not received a single rupee from the temple. The only time he received any money was from devotees during the Adyayana Utsavam in Margazhi but even that was nothing much to write home about.
For a major part of his life, he has lived in an old historical house where the roof posed a perpetual threat. The Araiyars of Srivilliputhur have Kainkaryam at the temple every day of the year. However, for half a century, there has been very little financial support from any one including the Government to support the families of those who are continuing this service. It was this financial frustration that led him as well to get his son to pursue academics, funding his son’s education with high cost loan. The Engineer son is now employed full time at a large private bank in Tuticorin and performs the Araiyar Sevai on the big festive occasions.
12 hours each day in severe heat
The situation is no different at the Thevaram Sthalam at Thiruvanaikaval. 66 year old ST Subramaniam (STS to everyone at the temple) Pandithar has been performing aradhana for Lord Jambukeswarar and Ambal Akilandeswari since the early 1980s. His grandfather and father had performed service at the temple for over 8 decades. He says that the archakas were well respected in those times “Each day of the year, they were presented with food that was rich in quality, and high in quantity.”
The HR & CE placed hundials at key locations to take the devotees’ contributions away from the archakas’ kitty. Even the little Thattu Kaasu moved away to the Hundis. The Neivedyam for the Lord and Ambal too has come down dramatically in recent decades. Archakas received well below one fourth of what they used to receive half a century ago in terms of daily prasadam. Both the quality and quantity has gone down taking away an important component from the archaka.
The greatest setback, though, to the archakas in recent times has been the difficulty in finding brides within the community, leaving them in the lurch. Only married men have the archaka rights at the temple. STS says with a tinge of sadness that girls of Thiruvanaikaval are not ready to marry local Brahmins as they do not see the services of archakas as a positive story.
STS’ son learnt sukthas at the nearby Sankara Mutt during his school days. However, having seen all the humiliation that his father had to endure for very little financial returns, his son developed an aberration from an early age. STS had to perform under severe heat and still show patience for 12 hours a day. It was unbearable conditions physically and mentally. After performing service for almost four decades, his energy is completely drained and has nothing left to fight.
STS’s son like many of his generation decided early on to move away from this service and is now in the IT world in Bangalore in the air conditioned comfort far away from the world of his father who continues to perform service at the temple from 6am in the morning sweating it out showing great amount of patience while facing different kinds of emotions from the devotees, VIPs, Politicians and the HR & CE officials.
The result of the decades of struggle is that in a majority of historical temples one finds a single priest managing multiple sannidhis as well as taking care of the madapalli and thus serving very long hours. Everyone is hopeful that one day the priests and the traditional service personnel will come back to the temple. But that may still be a far way off as the NextGen is now well entrenched in the comforts of the corporate world enjoying the luxuries of a city life that come along with it. For now, an entire generation of priests and service personnel has been lost to the corporate world driven away by the treatment meted out to the previous generation.
( A version of this story featured in The Hindu Friday Review on Nov 23)
( A version of this story featured in The Hindu Friday Review on Nov 23)