Mannar Koil Narasimha Gopalan Solo Act

In March this year, for the second time in the last dozen years, PS Narasimha Gopalan Bhattar, the sole priest at the huge three tiered Rajagopalaswamy Kulasekara Azhvaar temple in Mannar Koil, near Ambasamudram single handedly organised a grand consecration of the temple following extensive Thiruppani works. He did not take a single rupee from the HR & CE for the renovation works or the consecration event and conducted the entire works on his own through devotee support. 

At a time, when most temples are awaiting approvals for a long period from various renovation committees of the HR & CE, this priest’s determination to conduct consecration as per the timeline meant that he secured all the approvals on time and the Thiruppani went as per plan, a rarity for a HR & CE temple. Just as an example, the Kailasanathar temple in Brahmma Desam, 2kms East of Mannar Koil and the Thennazhagar temple in Kovilkulam, 4kms from Mannar Koil have been waiting for a long time for the Thiruppani works to get started despite getting an allocation of Rs. 7.5crore and Rs. 1.25crores respectively. But Periya Nambi Narasimha Gopalan organised this Thiruppani and consecration at a cost of Rs. 75lakhs (the previous Thiruppani and the Consecration in 2010 - that had come after over a century- had cost Rs. 1.25crores which too the priest organised on his own through devotees)

Spread over 5 acres, this historical temple in Mannar Koil, where Kulasekara Azhvaar spent the final years of his life, wears a fresh look and is now attracting devotees in much larger numbers than ever before. It is easily the best transformational exercise in a remote temple in Tamil Nadu over the last decade and all anchored by a single individual (the priest). 

Inside the Moolavar Sannidhi a ghee lit lamp burns bright. Narasimha Gopalan is proud that he has stuck to traditional methods from the day he took over “On the first morning when I took over just under two decades ago, the first thing I did was to break the LED light that was inside the Moolavar Sannidhi. With support from a former MD of a large media house, the traditional lamp burns all through the day, now.”

The huge Nandavanam is full of flowers including Shenbagam that he presents daily to the Lord. There are only a couple of staff to support him in the maintenance of this huge temple but each day of the year the prakaras are clean and one finds the entire temple complex spick and span. The personal interest he takes in maintaining the temple has meant that the prakaras are clean and the Nandavanams are green and beautiful, with several peacocks as described in the historical sacred verses of the Azhvaars enjoying the quite peace of this temple. The maintenance of the Nandavanam costs Rs. 50000 every year. 

In recent times, he has been initiating Kulasekara Azhvaar’s Mukunda Maalai to young boys in Mannar Koil. Close to 50 young kids are now well versed in this popular ancient verse and can recite by heart without the support of a book.

IT Corporate Chief from Tenkasi, who was so impressed as a devotee, with the selfless service of Narasimha Gopalan Bhattar has now begun to associate himself with the improvements in the temple. So have the original inhabitants and the scores of disciples of Periya Nambi.

Over the last decade, he has revived the Theppotsavam, Rama Navami and Pavitrotsavam and is now planning to organize street processions on the star days of acharyas and azhvaars starting with Aadi Pooram and Aippasi Moolam.

In the last five years, he has set up the biggest Go-Shala in the entire Tirunelveli region taking care of close to 50 cows. Historically Narasimha Gopalan has had a couple of cows at home as was the tradition in temple towns. But for a few years from 2002, due to financial constraints he had to make do without any cows. This sudden large scale expansion came about by chance as he explains“ Venkateswaran, the EO of Kasinathar temple received a few cows as donation who inspired me to accept those cows and take care of them. I was hesitant in the beginning as it was likely to be a very costly exercise but he gave me the confidence that I would be able to do it. And hence I added those three cows. And very soon, even before I realized, this had grown into a large Goshala.”

He converted the back side of his house into a Goshala. A devotee from Thiruvallikeni came forward on his own to build the roof for the Goshala. With Cow Food becoming expensive, he was finding it difficult to maintain the Goshala. And then all of a sudden, the corporate chief from Tenkasi approached him and offered to fund a large part of cow food. From the income that he is generating of the cow milk, he pays the salary of a man who he is employing exclusively for the Goshala. A seven decades old NBFC financed a tractor for the Goshala. He presents the milk from the Goshala every morning to Rajagopalaswamy. For him, this is a great devotional exercise. 

In April this year, he won the Temple Salary Case after a five year battle in the Madurai High Court. The HR & CE has been directed to pay a salary that at least equals an amount as directed by the minimum wages act. The High Court order came after taking into account HR & CE’s contention that there is not much income from this temple to pay a higher salary to the Priest and to the two service personnel. The Court dismissed those arguments of the HR & CE and said that irrespective of the fact that there is no adequate income generated by the temple, Narasimha Gopalan Bhattar has to be paid at least a ‘Minimum Wages Act’ salary. At the time he joined the temple after the death of his appa, he was paid a monthly salary of Rs. 250 that over the years went up to Rs. 750. 

Following the various cases that he filed, this has gone up over two decades to just over Rs. 3000. He is the sole priest at the temple and he takes care of this special three tier temple where Perumal in the first Tier and second Tier are seen in Sitting and Sleeping Postures similar to the one in Koodal Azhagar temple in Madurai. There are no substitutes available and hence he has almost never crossed Tirunelveli in the last two decades since he took over as the priest.

When this writer met the HR & CE minister PK Sekar Babu in May this year, the HR & CE department were keen to go on appeal against the Madurai High Court on the grounds of the temple not having enough income though the order itself was secured after taking into account this fact. But last week, when this writer once again met the minister at the HR & CE Headquarters to check if they would consider adhering to the Court Order, he told this writer that he would ask the Commissioner to consider this as a special one off case. However, he did say that a big worry for the HR & CE department to pay the salary as per the Minimum Wages Act was the possibility of several other remote temple priests seeking similar recourse. Not surprisingly, this week the HR & CE Commissioner has gone on appeal against the salary case order at the Madurai High Court holding to the argument that there is no income at the temple.

Narasimha Gopalan Bhattar is unfazed with this development and is not surprised at this action of the HR & CE. He says he will file a counter at the Madurai High Court against the HR & CE's argument that the temple does not generate enough income as that (argument) has already been dismissed by the court. 

This priest has delivered far beyond what any devotee could expect from any priest in a most remote temple in TN – He has undertaken two large Thiruppani works and consecrations all on his own without any support from the HR & CE; He runs the largest Goshala in the region and again manages it on his own including sometimes by placing the family jewels with the pawn broker; He fights for a reasonable salary for all temple priests in the Courts, once again without support from a single other priest in the state; He takes care of the entire maintenance of the temple and the conduct of the Utsavams without any financial support from the HR & CE. He has never had a mobile phone, does not use the phone inside the temple and as per traditional practices has not spoken a word to anyone in the last two decades during the daily Thiru Aradhanam time.

He truly is a one of a kind archaka in Tamil Nadu. It is hoped that more devotees will visit the temple and feel the positive vibration at Mannar Koil.