Thiru Meiyam Divya Desam

While many of the Divya Desams in the Chozha and Pandya regions have seen a revival in the last two decades, the rock cut cave temple of Sathya Murthy Perumal in Thiru Meiyam (Thiru Mayam) has remained largely ignored with most of the devotees giving the temple a miss in recent times. Locationally, it has remained a Divya Desam away from a cluster making it challenging for the devotees. The priests too went away from the temple in the 2^nd half of the 20^th century seeking greener pastures leaving the temple in the dark.

It is 8am on a weekday morning. The temple has just opened. The priest, without a tuft, has just finished the vishroopam aradhanam. There are just a couple of devotees for the morning sevai. The sannidhis of the Lord in the sleeping posture and the one next to him of Sathya Murthy Perumal in a standing posture are soon locked as the priest awaits the next set of devotees. This was typically the scenario in many Divya Desams in the 1970s and 80s. This scenario still prevails at Thiru Meiyam. It is rare to see such a quiet Divya Desam in the times when there is a devotional wave sweeping all temples in Tamil Nadu.

The forefathers of 70 year old Krishnamurthy Bhattar had been performing service at the temple for the last 100 years.  His father Jagannathan Bhattar belonged to Neikunam village just under 10kms from Thiru Meiyam. He entered temple service at the age of 20 in 1934 and performed kainkaryam at the sannidhi and madapalli for almost 70 years before his death about 2 decades ago. His father and three other relatives shared the 30 day kainkaryam equally (7 ½ days each).   

During his school days in the 1960s, there were 20 Brahmin families in the agraharam.  The Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi was grand with Vahana procession on each day. Aadi pooram was also a popular festival at the temple. Big crowd gathered at the temple on Vaikunta Ekadasi day from all the nearby villages and the temple would be open from 4am till almost mid night on the occasion. Pagal Pathu Utsavam too was a big festival at this temple. During Margazhi, Thiruppavai was recited every morning. ‘Kattalai’ was there for every utsavam till the 1960s. Historically, on the Chitra Pournami day, Sathiya Moorthy Perumal was taken out on a 40 mile procession to Kadaya Kudi.

Jagannathan Bhattar used to get Rs. 10 a day as thattu kaasu during the week long service every month. His official monthly salary was Rs.40.  Six decades later, Krishnamurthy Bhattar now gets Rs. 1000 as his monthly salary!!! It was the help of his uncle that he was able to complete his school and college education. He had not seen a 100 rupees note throughout his educational phase. There was also no electricity all through his schooling days and the young Krishnamurthy Bhattar studied under the hurricane light. 

By the early 1970s, things had worsened at the temple. The traditional residents of the agraharam began leaving the town, one by one after selling their lands in the new political regime. The popular Chariot festival was stopped in 1973. For three decades, festivals were put on the backburner. Krishnamurthy Bhattar’s uncles moved to different locations mostly to work in corporates with Varadaraja Bhattar settling down at Uthamar Koil where he has been performing service for several decades.

Financial insecurity loomed large in the 1970s and Krishnamurthy Bhattar went away from Thiru Meiyam for almost three decades into the corporate world to return only at the start of this century. During this period, the Brahmotsavam had come to a halt. Devotees too dwindled in the 1980s and 90s and the priests went through a tough time.