Venu Srinivasan Historical Temples Restoration

Decades of 1960s-80s marked a moving away of devotees from temples. While industrialists focused on driving their companies into a growth mode setting up manufacturing plants in cities, traditional residents belonging to historical temple towns moved to these cities in search of  jobs and to earn their livelihood. In both case, it meant a life away from temples. This mass exodus had a disastrous impact on the state of the temples and consequently on the lives of the priests and the service personnel. By the 1980s, many  1000 year old temples, praised by the Saint Poets were in dilapidated state and a few went into ruins. The presentation of sacred food to the Lord reduced drastically. The long serving priests at these temples were in financial turmoil and the dilapidated state of the temples also had a negative impact on the larger society in the remote locations. The positive vibration emanating from the Vedic Recital and the Sacred Verses of the Saint Poets had become a thing of the past in most of these temple towns. Overall, temples looked deserted and the scenario presented a grim picture. 

It is in light of this background that the 25 years of restoration efforts of industrialist Venu Srinivasan assumes significance. He started off his temple restoration initiative in the mid 1990s during a challenging phase for TVS Motors (then TVS Suzuki) and his work at Erettai Tirupathi that started in 1994-95 ranks even today as one of his most satisfying. Yesterday - Aani Anusham ( July 2, 2020)- marked the completion of 22 years since the Consecration of Devapiran Temple in Erettai Tirupathi.

His debut project at Padai Veedu, Namakkal District, transforming it from one in ruins to a thriving village led the Collector of Tirunelveli to engage with Venu Srinivasan and initiate in him the thought of reviving Nava Tirupathi, a set of nine Azhvaars praised temples either side of Tamaraibarani. 

30 years ago, these temples were heading towards ruins - in fact Rajapathy(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/09/rajapathy-nava-kailayam.html), one of the Nava Kailayam temples near Thenthiruperai actually went into ruins and into a non-existent state. In those years in the early 1990s, these temples were deserted with absolutely no ‘outside’ devotees, priests lived with meager income wearing the same dhoti through the year and there was no 'economic activity.

While the effort in Padai Veedu was to ‘rebuild’ a temple in ruins, in Nava Tirupathi the challenge was to rebuild and revive the entire region. Poverty was rife when he visited the region in the 1990s and one of the first decisions he made on that trip was to ensure that ‘Temple Restoration goes hand in hand with Social Rehabilitation.’ 

Venu Srinivasan was in his early 40s and a devotional wave struck him as headed towards a set of temples he had not visited often in the previous two decades. His first ‘Port of Call’ was the twin temples at Erettai Tirupathi on the Northern banks of Tamaraibarani given that these two were the most dilapidated among the Nava Tirupathi temples and lay in a state of ruin. 

Everything that could go wrong at a temple had gone wrong there. For a salary of around rupees hundred the priest, Seshamani Bhattar, then in his 30s, staked his life having to wade through the high tides in the Tamaraibarani to reach the temple and encountering venomous reptiles on entry into the temple. There was no money even to light a lamp for the lamp. There was darkness all around. The walls were falling. The roof was hanging on a tender edge. There was no economic activity of any kind in the region. 

Among all the temples that he has restored in the last 25 years, this one at Erettain Tirupathi ranked one of the toughest for Venu Srinivasan. In the previous 75 years there had been no large scale restoration of any temple in Tamil Nadu that would have served as a precedent to follow. Almost as a divine blessing, Venu found a man to anchor the architectural restoration. Among the people he has worked with on temple restoration, he counts Ganapathi Sthapathy as one of the most outstanding “He was a expert of the real kind in agamas, sastras and dhyana slokas” says Venu with great delight at those days in 1994-95. 

Given the extent of damage that had been caused in the earlier decades and the many challenges that came up during the restoration work, it took much longer than expected to complete the restoration. In fact, before the samprokshanam at Erettai Tirupathi, he took up smaller exercises at Thiru Pulingudi, Varagunamangai and Sri Vaikuntam and completed those ahead of Erettai Tirupathi. It was 22 years ago this week on Aani Anusham in 1998 that finally the Samprokshanam was performed at Erettai Tirupathi for the first time in the 20th Century after a remarkable restoration of the twin temples. Earlier that week,  on Aani Uthiram the Samprokshanam was performed at Aravinda Lochanar Temple.                                          

Through the 2nd half of the 1990s, he took up and completed restoring the rest of the Nava Tirupathi temples. By the end of that decade, the entire Nava Tirupathi wore a transformed look. As part of this exercise, he ensured that historical festivals including the Brahmotsavam were revived. With the early 2000s also marking the return of the devotees to the Divya Desams, this new look at the nine Nam Azhvaar praised temples proved to be devotionally inspiring to the visitors. 

While restoring the temples to its historical architectural grandeur was one important facet, Venu considered it equally important to restore and revive the society around the temples. He laid focus on economic revival and the rehabilitation of the society and this he did through the creation of Self Help Groups that led to a new found vibrancy that one witnesses to this day well over two decades later.

As part of this philosophy, he also ensured that the priests and service personnel were 'financially' happy and created a monthly Sambhavanai for all of them. It was his view that if the priests were financially weak and daily sustenance became a challenge, it was likely they would continue to lead a frustrated life and that could come in the way of them discharging their duties. 

Today, 25 years after the commencement of that restoration exercise, the entire Nava Tiruapthi region is flourishing with the service personnel at the temple as well as the community around having seen a revival in their fortunes. Devotees who now visit Nava Tirupathi still talk about the restoration and the transformation of this region from the late 1990s. Venu Srinivasan looks back at this whole exercise of restoration as one of the biggest blessings from the Lord. ‘It has been a highly fulfilling experience to be involved in the restoration of Divya Desams in the Tirunelveli region and to be able to revive heritage structures from a state of dilapidation.” 

As he looks back at those early days of his association in temple service, he sees the work at Nava Tirupathi as having been his training ground for it was there that he learnt to understand the societal  challenges and began devising workable solutions for the community at large. Every time he engaged in a new restoration initiative, his thoughts went back to the lessons that Nava Tirupathi taught. 

Even as he was completing the exercise at Nava Tirupathi, he expanded his services to Karnataka and began a 15 month restoration effort at the Hoysala Styled Lakshmi Kantha Swami Temple in Hedathale, about 35 kms from Mysore, in March 1998 followed by another 15 month exercise at the Rama and Mariamman Temples in Kembal in 1999. 

After restoration of the Nava Tirupathi temples, he moved on to Thiru Kurungudi Divya Desam, a temple managed by the Jeer. In the decades prior to the independence, the temple ‘competed’ with Srirangam and Thiruvallikeni in the recital of the sacred verses. Chariot Festival was one of the biggest days of the years in terms of devotee presence. People came from 50 nearby villages for the popular Chariot festival. There would be at least 10000 people on that day with food served through the day from the time the Chariot started its trip early morning but there too, one witnessed the impact of the mass exodus of people in the 1960s and 70s. 

The residents of the temple town consider the entry of Venu Srinivasan, his adoption of the temple town and nearby villages and the welfare initiatives as a turning point in the fortunes of this historical Divya Desam. However, it was also marred by an event that led to a court case, one that has prolonged for well over a decade and is still pending in the Supreme Court. 

The Shiva Sannidhi that till then lay adjacent to the Perumal Sannidhi was shifted to a newly constructed Sannidhi North East of the temple, 15 years ago in Vaikasi.The Jeer of the temple told this writer a few years ago that the ‘Deva Prashnam’ pointed to the Veetriruntha Perumal being blocked by Shiva and there was the suggestion that it should not be blocked. And that was the reason for the shifting to another location within the temple complex. In the 25 years of his temple restoration efforts, this episode of moving the Sannidhi remains a black mark. 

Through the 2000s, he continued his efforts to restore temples in Karnataka such as the ones at Chamundi, Goddanapura and Chikkakanya and of big and popular temples such as the Chamundeeswarar and Mahabaleswarar temples in Chamundi.

For long after his involvement with the restoration of Nava Tirupathi, he was focused on restoration work south of the Vaigai and in Karnataka until one day earlier this decade he got a call that truly stunned him. The former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Late Mrs. J Jayalalitha was on a mission to restore the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam to its ancient glory. She had heard of the outstanding work Venu Srinivasan had undertaken in Nava Tirupathi. And as he picked the call from her office, he was told that the then CM was keen to have him lead the restoration exercise at the Srirangam Temple. 

He experienced the biggest of challenges in Srirangam. When he visited Srirangam as part of his pre restoration exercise inspection, he found several new structures inside the temple that  had been built in the last 100 years for no good reasons and posed as an obstruction to free movement. It also prevented natural light from entering the temple. Many areas inside the temple were completely dark. Many of the sub shrines had remained locked for decades. Sacred pathways had been blocked resulting in the growth of huge bushes. Toilets had been built in different corners of the temple.

There were the human conflicts too. Expert opinions with multiple views came from all corners, free and at great speed!!! The restoration experience he had had at Nava Tirupathi came in handy in managing and tackling a number of the challenges he faced during this huge exercise in Srirangam. A large part of the restoration exercise involved removing unwanted structures which were neither historical nor architecturally proper. 

He has always held the view that temples are living structures but were not designed for 50000 devotees to visit at a time. His challenge in Srirangam was to ensure that the devotees were put to the least inconvenience during the 18 months of the restoration activity. While he applied ASI’s norms in ensuring architectural beauty and bringing it as close to antiquity as possible, he also looked at temple as a place of worship for devotees. 

In terms of encountering human challenges to his restoration work, Srirangam proved the toughest but he remains unfazed and says that one has to have forbearance in public places, especially in temples "If one is not prepared for bricks, mud and stones, one cannot do public service"is a strong message he has had for himself ever since he began engaging in temple restoration activities. “It is a thankless job but the devotees are my masters” he told this writer in 2017. 

Till the mid 1950s, the long agraharam at the Thothadri Nathan Divya Desam in Nanguneri lined up with over 300 families welcoming the Lord during the street processions. Led by Theevatti lamps, the Lord was carried by the Sri Patham under the big Kudai. The Konars and Pillais lived in the street next to the Mada Street and they too performed Kainkaryam and carried the Lord on the Thanga Chapram on the 7th day of the Brahmotsavam. Ghosti in those decades was 100 strong and vibrant. The 1960s turned out to be a very difficult period as famine led to a financial instability. And the financial struggle led them away from kainkaryam. 

At the turn of the decade gone by, the temple felt a dire need for restoration and began an effort but it did not progress in the right direction and was stopped mid way. Soon after the completion of the 18 month exercise at the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Venu Srinivasan was called on by the Vanamaamalai Jeer to take up a full scale restoration, the first such repairs work in almost a century. It was the final leg of his 11 Divya Desams restoration initiative around Tirunelveli that he began way back in the 1994-95 with Erettai Tirupathi. While he has successfully completed ten of them, the one at Thiru Kurungudi is to be seen through to its logical conclusion. 

In Tamil Nadu alone, Venue Srinivasan has performed restoration exercises in close to 200 historical temples.  

His experience as the chief of a corporate auto major clearly helped in his restoration initiatives with the administrative principles applicable to organizations being relevant to this as well. Principles of Quality, Management, House Keeping, Time Keeping, Punctuality, Processes and Systems have been applied in his restoration initiatives.

Over the last 25 years, he has been providing monthly Sambhavanai to the service personnel of all the temples where he has been involved in restoration. In most temples, the Sambhavanai continues to exceed the salary paid by the HR & CE. On last count, 1235 service personnel of temples are being financially supported month on month by Venu Srinivasan. Even in the period of the lockdown and during times of huge stress in the corporate world, he initiated a special ‘Lockdown’ Sambhavanai to the service personnel in the remote temple towns. 

To date, Venu Srinivasan has been associated with the restoration of around 225 temples across South India including over 40 historical temples in Karnataka and AP. In February this year, restoration efforts were completed in one of the few temples for Parasurama in South India, this one at Nanjungad in Karnataka. Soon after the lock down, he is hoping to start work at another popular temple on the west coast of Karnataka in Mookambigai. 

Earlier this decade, he also expanded his temple restoration work to Andhra Pradesh. Soon after the lock down is lifted, plans are to continue with the big exercise across the nine temples in Ahobilam Divya Desam that had begun last year. 

Two of his large scale exercises – Vadakkunathan in Trissur and Ranganathaswamy in Srirangam- won the temples the UNESCO award for restoration. The restoration efforts in many of these temples are likely to act as a model for those taking restoration exercises in the future. 

Not only did Venu Srinivasan restore dilapidated temples and bring them back to life, he also acted as a catalyst for economic revival in villages. His determination to succeed is seen not just in the corporate world (where he brought TVS Motors from a BIFR firm to be a globally successful company) but in his temple restoration exercises as well. And the philosophy of ‘Saranagathi’ that had been initiated into him at the age of 16 has been put into practice at all times over the last 25 years, especially when he has faced big challenges in his temple restoration initiatives. 

To him the feedback from the devotees is the biggest blessing. For all his untiring work over the last 25 years, Venu Srinivasan looks back at this entire experience as one carrying out the wishes of the devotees ‘I have been appointed as a servant of the devotees and have tried to carry out my duty to the best of my ability and as sincerely as possible. Ultimate satisfaction comes from the fact that devotees have found a positive vibration from these temples and are going back happy after the darshan.’