Srirangam Aravinda Bhattar IT Director

This section has featured stories in the past as to how the 1970s and 80s saw an exodus of service personnel from TN temples given the challenges that had begun to crop up in the 1960s that continued into the succeeding decades (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/temples-lockdown-1960s-70s.html). The Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam that now sees a devotee crowd of 50000 and more on utsavam days was no different back then. Outstation devotees were few and Thattu Kaasu was minimal for the priests. Many of them faced financial challenges and the next generation focused on academics given the uncertain future in the temple space.

45 year old N Aravinda Bhattar is just back in Madras after a dozen days in Srirangam having anchored the Panguni Brahmotsavam as the Raksha Bandanam Bhattar. In a couple of days, on Monday (April 1), he will join as the Engineering Director in a global IT firm having just let go a coveted position at a Top Tier 1 IT company headquartered in Bangalore. Through the entire Panguni Utsavam, he wore a large smile and was complimented by everyone for finishing the Thirumanjanam on the Panguni Uthiram night before 5am, an unprecedented occurrence in recent decades.

But his life has not been all smiles, for his parents went through treacherous few decades. Though his forefathers had been hereditary priests for several centuries at the temple with an annual service of 180days in multiple sannidhis, family circumstances and internal family decisions led his appa, the revered VS Narasimha Bhattar, to not having an ‘official’ murai at the temple in the phase when Aravinda Bhattar was a young boy. Given the financial challenges in the family (there was not enough money to even pay his school and college fees), his amma, Ranjani, asked him to focus on academics and he came out on top in Class X with over 80%. Despite not having the official Murai at the temple, Aravinda Bhattar was closely attached to the Divine Couple and would not miss a single purapadu as he walked along with the Lord during the street processions. Every day, he would stand in the queue and have darshan in the perumal sannidhi, hoping for things to turn around.

He says in that challenging phase, Nandhu Bhattar, who holds over 200days service rights, offered his appa a Kainkaryam role whenever possible and thus his appa was able to perform service at the sannidhis.

His amma was his biggest guiding force in life and gave him the much needed confidence and belief that one day this family would get back their Kainkaryam.   He recounts his amma's role in a move that turned out to be the turning point in his life “The year was 1994 and I was not yet 15. We (boys my age) were playing street cricket in Mela Uthira Veethi when my amma went to SKR Bhattar and posed a polite question as to when all these boys would start performing Kainkaryam. That was a big turning point as that question led SKR Bhattar to begin an initiation process into temple agamas.”

He credits SKR Bhattar for the systematic way in initiating the temple krama in the young boys “Being a school teacher, dealing with young boys came naturally to him. He began with slokas and then created a Q & A format where he would pose challenging questions and see how the young boys faced up to it. He would then provide the answers that registered forever in our minds. During that period of 4-5 years in the late 1990s, he also taught us Thiru Aradhana Krama and Samprokshanam event management lessons. In the summer vacation, we were with him all through the entire two months learning vigorously under his tutelage.”

His grand father V Srinivasa Bhattar was an agama expert and Aravinda Bhattar learned a lot under him as well. He also learned Agni Kaaryam exclusively and in great detail from his Thatha. In 1996, his thatha directed him to perform the Sannidhi Paricharaka Kainkaryam so he could watch the pooja krama from close quarters “My Thatha liked me a lot and I spent a lot of time with him during the first two decades of my life. He would challenge me with questions after SKR Bhattar’s classes and stump me most of the time as I fumbled for answers. On most occasions, I had to go back to SKR Bhattar for more insights. On his part, SKR Bhattar took it as a challenge and expanded the syllabus to include the parts raised by my thatha so it benefitted all the students.”

After the formal learning from SKR Bhattar, he learned one year exclusively one on one under  SKR Bhattar as well as his appa who also taught the agamas and pooja kramas in that phase to all the Bhattars including Sundar Bhattar.

At the turn of the century, Aravinda Bhattar had becoming extremely confident in the Pancharatra Agama and the temple pooja krama. In 2002, he had Deekshai from his Thatha that made him eligible to enter the Sanctum and perform Thiru Aradhana inside the Sannidhi. He was involved in the Samprokshanam that year playing a supporting role to the Chief Bhattars.

By this time, he had completed his Masters Degree in IT at the St Josephs College. He wanted to live a life around the temple as right from his childhood he had developed a quiet bonding with the divine couple and searched for jobs in the Trichy area but could not find a good one. The family had lived a hand to mouth existence during his school and college days and having completed a Masters degree, his amma directed him to reach out elsewhere for a job.  Till  that time, even though they had lived all their lives in Srirangam, the family did not even have a house of their own.

Staying in his Chithappa’s house in Villivakkam, he widened his job search and found one for Rs. 5000 just under two decades ago in Madras. He was always interested in IT and helped out the final year students at St. Josephs with their projects. In 2006, he secured a big break in his corporate career when Global IT firm Covansys (earlier CBSI and later CSC) – a company whose PR this writer handled – offered him a job that almost doubled his then salary. 

Through this phase, he would come every weekend to Srirangam to perform small Kainkaryam but without an official archaka murai.

His amma always wondered as to why they did not get the Murai that they had been entitled to (the reason had been an internal family decision). She would meet the temple authorities every now and then and ask them probing questions. Between 2011 and 15, this gained in intensity and finally the temple handed his appa the archaka Murai orders that had been absent all through his life till then “It was a momentous achievement. It looked like she extended her life only to ensure that her family secured their rightful dues. She had fought for long for these rights and instilled in me the confidence to fight for our rights. When my appa went to the hospital to show her the order letter which provided for a 90 day Murai (split equally among the three brothers) annually, she had one look at it and I could see the delight in her eyes. She felt her duty had been done in this life and passed away in that happiness.”

Having lived in great financial difficulty for a large part of her life, his amma was also happy that her son had secured a stable job at a top IT firm for by this time he had moved to Cognizant. Within six months after her passing away, he joined as a Project Manager at Infosys, something he says his amma would have been delighted to hear.

That year, he was actively involved with the Samprokshanam anchoring the Thayaar Kundam and later in 2019, he performed a similar role at the Uraiyur Kamalavalli Nachiyar temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/09/uraiyur-kamalavalli-nachiyar.html).

Aravinda Bhattar recounts as to how his appa was stickler for tradition and the temple processes “I had to first anchor the big utsavam at Uraiyur and then utsavams such as Vasantha Utsavam, Poochatru at the Ranganathaswamy temple before I could be handed the Raksha Bandhanam responsibilities for the Brahmotsavams. After completing all these, I went to my appa and asked him if he would permit me at least now. He directed me to KSB to take guidance from him for the Pavitrotsavam. It was a challenging 10 days and KSB was with me through the utsavam. It went well and as a positive sign, it rained during the utsavam.”

In 2022, he joined Wipro as a delivery head. In the last fortnight, on the first day of the Panguni Brahmotsavam soon after he tied the Raksha Bandhanam, he received the appointment order as an Engineering Director from Agilisium Consulting, a Datamatics firm founded by former Cognizant staffers. He says that Ranganatha and Ranganayaki Thayar have been with him right through his life “Every time, I have faced a big challenge, the divine couple have saved me and provided me the right opportunities.”

People have now recognised his agamic knowledge and the devotional way he performs Thirumanjanam and offers are flowing in. In recent years, there have many offers to anchor Samprokshanam events in temples across TN. He has just received invitation to participate in the mandalabhisekam event at Naimisaranyam and the 100th year celebratory event at the Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal temple in Mylapore (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/01/vedantha-desikar-srinivasa-perumal.html). 

In the last many years, he has refused close to 15 overseas corporate opportunities, each of which would have been turned out financially lucrative so as to continue his service at the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. Like Harish Bhattar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2024/03/srirangam-panguni-uthiram-2024.html), he takes his time during the Thirumanjanam and with his strength in agama, performs the sacred bath in the way it should be. 

While he sports a big innocent smile most of the time and is quiet to himself much like his appa Narasimha Bhattar, he has no qualms in taking on anyone who interfere unreasonably in his Kainkaryam. 

From taking to the corporate world in the just over two decades ago in financially turbulent times, Aravinda Bhattar is now in a delightful space having secured the hereditary rights that had been missing for a few decades during his appa’s youth. He is already initiating his sons, Anirudhan and Aprameyan, into the Vedas and the Agamas and is keen for the next gen to continue the hereditary service that his amma had fought for so long. He himself along with Harish Bhattar, Sriram and Sridhar Bhattar is getting deep into Agama research. 

This last fortnight has been a particularly enjoyable period for him. The Thirumanjanam on the Panguni Uthiram night has been widely appreciated for the quality of its conduct and that has given him a lot of happiness and self-satisfaction. The Rakshana Bandhanam role is something that he respects as a big responsibility. Through this entire utsavam, he was always ahead of time to ensure that he performs his role to the best of his abilities and enabling the succeeding events to proceed smoothly. On the corporate front, he has just bagged a coveted directorial role in an IT firm. From a hand to mouth existence in the 1970s and 80s, he has managed to turn around the financial fortunes of the family as well as secure back the hereditary rights. After the passing away of his uncle (whose son is away from India), Aravinda Bhattar and his appa have now got 45days service annually in addition to another 30 days provided by the temple. He is now upbeat that he will be able to perform round the year kainkaryam with the 75days service and become even more devotionally attached in his service to the Divine Couple.