The TN Sripatham Sangam led by Kapaleeswarar’s Sankar present a written petition to the CM and the HR & CE Minister about their plight
3.60Lakh family members of the TN Sri Patham carriers dependent on this service for their livelihood have been affected by the lockdown
While they have an informal financial contract with the temples for Brahmotsavam and are paid a fairly large sum, the lockdown over the last 12 months and the consequent cancellation of many of the big utsavams has hit them financially
Sripatham carriers are often a neglected lot. Their round the year selfless service usually goes unnoticed. They have been in for a tough time over the last 12 months with temple restrictions arising out of the pandemic hitting them hard.
In a first of its kind move, the informal group of TN Sripatham Sangam has presented a written petition to the TN CM Thiru M.K. Stalin and the HR & CE Minister Thiru P Sekar Babu last Friday. This was signed and presented on behalf of the TN Sripatham Sangam by Sripatham K Sankar, who is the Mestri of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham team.
In the petition, he says that 3.60Lakh family members of the Sri Patham carriers in TN are dependent on this service for their livelihood. In the last 12 months, since the announcement of the first lockdown, the Sripatham families have undergone a lot of stress with many of them not being able to pay the house rent and the fees of their children’s education.
He says that many of them are in a stage where even finding the finances for the next lunch has become a challenge. They also perform various other services relating to Theppotsavam and Brahmotsavam.
Sankar is the leader of the Mylapore Temples Sripatham and anchors the conduct of the processions in many temples in Mylapore. He has been serving as a Sri Patham carrier in Mylapore temples for the last 25years. His forefathers too had carried the Lords of Mylapore on their shoulders for several decades. He also organizes the ‘Pandal’ and 'Thoranam' in Mylapore temples during the big utsavams. Sankar and his team of 60Sripatham members carry on their shoulder Kapaleeswarar, Madhava Perumal, Kesava Perumal and Venkatesa Perumal of Mari Chetty Street in addition to many other temples in Mylapore.
Informal Financial Contract with the temple
The Sripatham has an informal financial contract with the temple for their service. Many of these temples pay them quite a large amount for their service especially during the Brahmotsavam when there are two Vahana Processions each day. In addition to this, the Sripatham also collect money from the residents and shops during the Brahmotsavam processions.
The last day of the Kapali Brahmotsavam
It is well known around the Mada Streets that on the 11th day of the Panguni Brahmotsavam the Sripatham collect huge amounts of money from the residents of the four streets including from all the shops. This year, the procession on that final day took several hours as the Sripatham were in collection mode from these residents. The shops and residents have indicated to this writer that the Sripatham even decide on the amount of money that they should pay for their service during the Brahmotsavam and more often than not it has become a tradition for this amount to be paid to them on the final day of the utsavam.
Feedback from TN Sripatham members
Sankar told this writer that prior to the full lockdown, he and his team went around TN Temples including Thiruvannamalai and Mannargudi to engage in discussions with the Sripatham personnel in many of the temples to understand their issues. It was following the feedback from Sripatham across the state that they decided to present their case to the Government.
He is hoping that the newly elected government will look into the issues relating to the Sripatham and provide an immediate solution.
Five Specific Requests
In the written petition, a copy of which is available with this writer,the TN Sripatham members have placed five specific requests before the TN CM and the HR & CE minister. He has asked them to be included in the list of frontline workers, to reopen the temples to processions as soon as possible, to stop the tender process for Sripatham selection every year, to take proactive steps to prevent accidents during street processions that have many times put the lives of the Sripatham at risk and to consider them for temple service posts when the vacancy arises.
Multiple models are in existence in temples across the state. In the Parthasarathy temple in Thiruvallikeni, the Sripatham is chosen through a tender process and for well over a decade it is the traditionalists who have carried the Lord on the shoulder, while in Srirangam, the Sripatham are HR & CE staffers who double up in other temple work when there are no processions. Over the last 50 years, Srirangam Vethal Service, an informal group of over 300 volunteers based in and around Srirangam, have been providing selfless service of carrying the Lord, especially on long street processions, in addition to the official HR & CE appointed ‘Sri Patham Thangis’. It is with the support of these volunteers that the long trips of Namperumal are managed. At the privately adminstered Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Mylapore, the Sripatham group is completing 75years.
In many of the temples in Mylapore, it is the Sripatham Sangam members who are involved in all the processions.
Sankar told this writer on Saturday morning that he is confident that the TN CM and the HR &CE minister will provide a favourable solution in the next few days to help them overcome the current financial stress. He said that opening up the temples will help them with positive energy and a peace of mind that is so lacking currently. It will also help them financially as they get Sambhavanai from devotees while on a procession.