37 year old Narasimha Bhattar has roped in two of his cousins to take forward the Kainkaryam into the next phase at the Sathya Murthy Perumal temple
By the 1980s most of the original inhabitants of Thiru Meiyam had gone away in search of greener pastures. The number of service personnel dwindled from close to a hundred to single digit by the turn of the century. As seen in the story on Krishnamurthy Bhattar, he too left the Divya Desam service to join the corporate world and returned to archaka service only after his retirement. His son too has joined the IT sector and moved to Chennai for a career in the Corporate space.
While Octogenarian Krishnamurthy Bhattar continues his archaka service during the 15 days of his rights every month, the other Bhattar clan who hold the service rights for the balance 15days every month have continued their service with the next gen taking over this century.
Narasimha Bhattar is now 37years old and has been at the temple since the time he was in his mid teens having quit school early. He is now bringing his cousins to join him in the service as there is shortage of personnel at the temple at a time when the devotee crowd has been increasing. While the scenario was challenging in the 1990s, even as he was growing up as a school boy, he received a clear message from his Thatha, Santhanam “He had performed Kainkaryam for several decades and wanted me to continue the service without exploring opportunities outside” Narasimha Bhattar told this writer this week on how the message from his Thatha has remained with him ever since.
“God created us for this kainkaryam. Accept this as his blessing. Do not desire for things and go searching in the outside world.Simply perform Kainkaryam with the fullest devotion” Santhanam Bhattar told his grandson Narasimha Bhattar just before his passing away.
His Thatha passed away in 2003 and he took over the Kainkaryam and has been at the temple over the last two decades. While he has had no formal training in the agamas, Narasimha Bhattar has learned to perform Thirumanjanam, present Thaligai and decorate the Lord from his appa.
The 1970s Famine leaves a lasting impact
The famine in the 1970s sounded death knell for most of the service personnel at the temple but his appa continued the kainkaryam “On most days, we did not have money to cook our own food and the Koil Thaligai was the one that served as our daily lunch. Despite the challenges, my appa and thatha did not give away the Kainkaryam and served the Lord with devotion.”
Kainkaryam for over four decades
During that phase, the cook at the madapalli too left the temple and that service too fell on this family. Even into this century, his appa was paid a salary of just Rs. 400. His Chithappa Kalyana Raman is 62 years old and has been performing service at this Divya Desam for over four decades. “After the famine when most of the personnel left the temple, the then Maniyakaarar Soundararajan asked me to perform Paricharaka service and that’s how I joined the temple when I was just 18 years old”, Kalyana Raman told this writer.
He joined at a salary of Rs. 30 and this has gone up to Rs. 1800 after 45 years!!! He continues to serve both at the Madapalli and the Sannidhi.
Kannan returns from Singapore, joins Kainkaryam
36 year old Karthik Kannan is Narasimha Bhattar’s cousin. He worked for a decade in Singapore before the early lockdown because of the Pandemic led him to return to Oonaiyur, his native village about 5 kms from Thiru Meiyam. He recounts as to how the Lockdown in 2020 served as a great blessing and kindled his devotional interest “I spent a lot of time inside the temple in that phase. Only a select few service personnel were allowed to be present and I sat here contemplating my future. Performing service in a peaceful and quiet environment inspired me to continue this Kainkaryam after the Lockdown.”
“I have continued to receive calls from my former employer and friends in Singapore to get back to corporate work but I have made up my mind to continue the service here.”
He has spent four years at the temple and while the income at the end of the month is not even one tenth of what he received in Singapore, he says the satisfaction he gets from Perumal Kainkaryam is unmatched “When I was at school, an Iyengar devotee bought me a cycle. A Chettiar pitched with the School HM to give me free note books. Uniforms and bags too were given free to me”, says Karthik Kannan recalling the support from the devotees and how his decision to stay back at the temple has provided him with an opportunity to serve the devotees.
His appa Seshadri (Ranganathan to those in the temple circles) is now 72 years old. He had come from Peralam after his marriage and joined temple service almost 50 years ago. He too continues to perform service at the temple support Narasimha Bhattar.
New Gen Kainkaryapaka- Parthasarathy joins in his teens
R Parthasarathy is the youngest of the lot at 26. Given the financial challenges, he quit school after Class IV and joined a Patshala in Srirangam, where he learned the Agamas. He joined the temple just under a decade ago and was part of the procession on that fateful night in 2015 when a lorry knocked down the service personnel during the return trip from the Chitra Pournami event. Like his uncle Kalyana Raman, he too survived and has continued the Kainkaryam over the last decade. “Right from my childhood, my mind was on temple service and have not had any thoughts on working outside. Serving the Lord along with my cousins and uncles has been a great experience sharing the load between the Sannidhi, Madapalli and processional work. We perform this kainkaryam together as a close knit family and help each other in every way possible to give the best experience of Perumal and Ujjevani Thayar to the devotees.”
He says that he is in this for the long haul and while the salary is not big, he has no plans to go outside this Divya Desam and sees Kainkaryam at this Divya Desam as his future and his way of life.
Bhagavatha takes care of the Nandavanam
An interesting addition to Thiru Meiyam Divya Desam in recent years has been Narayana Raman Dasan, a Bhagavatha hailing from Devakottai and who was assigned by Dhanusa Dasa Ramanuja Jeer to take care of the Nandavanam. His daughter is doing her MBA in Coimbatore while he is here full time at this Divya Desam “When I first came here, the Nandavanam was in a dilapidated state. Ever since I have taken care of the daily maintenance. Since I learned knotting flower garlands at a young age, I knot different varieties of flowers and present it to the Lord every day” he told this writer at the joy this kainkaryam has provided to him in the last few years. He has been provided accommodation and food but no salary for his service.
Revival of Festivals
Referred to as Sathiya Giri and Sathiya Kshetram, Thiru Meiyam Divya Desam is surrounded by a huge fort. The rock cut cave temple temple dates back to the 7th Century AD. On the wall just above the deity, one finds images of Brahmma and several Devas. The story goes that when the Asuras tried to kidnap the Lord, Adiseshan let open poisonous air to kill the asuras. As a reference to this incident, one can see Adiseshan being depicted in the same form here - letting out poisonous air- a unique feature at this Divya Desam.
In the last couple of years, the Brahmotsavam, starting from the Pushyam day, has been revived in its full form with Vahana processions after new Vahanas were built recently. Previously, the annual utsavam had been conducted only with palanquin processions.
Chitra Pournami is the biggest festival of the year with Perumal making his way on a 30 km procession to Kadai Kudi where Rama provides Ethir Sevai. Following this, the Gajendra Moksham episode is enacted on the evening of Pournami.
Navarathi Utsavam too has been revived over the last decade. Oonjal for Perumal on Thai 1 and for Thaayar on Thai 2 are other celebratory occasions at the temple.
New Flag Post, Consecration in Aippasi
This week, on Monday, the foundation was laid for the new flag post at this Divya Desam. The renovation and repair works will take place in the coming months with the consecration being planned for Aippasi. Narasimha Bhattar is hoping for a revival of the street procession on the Pushyam day every month as was the historical practice. Perumal also went on a Garuda Vahana procession on Thai and Aadi Amavasya and he is looking to revive these processions as well after the consecration.
Improved Scenario but Salary still inadequate
The salary to these archakas and paricharakas has not topped 3000 and with the thattu kaasu and with the 2-3 marriages they conduct inside the temple, each of them is able to make about Rs. 15000. While they have to manage their families and the monthly expenses within this income, the greatest satisfaction for each of these kainkaryapakas is the delightful feeling of serving at the feet of Perumal. To narrate the Sthala Puranam to the devotees gives them great peace of mind and they are able to sleep well every night.
Krishnamurthy Bhattar has been the senior Bhattar at this temple and had been carrying out his service almost all alone during his 15 days Kainkaryam every month but he is now well into his 80s and with his son firmly entrenched in the IT sectory, it is left to the young and energetic Narasimha Bhattar to carry forward the Kainkaryam at this Thiru Mangai Azhvaar praised Divya Desam.
On his part, Narasimha Bhattar, with the help of his two cousins, is committed to and confident of continuing and carrying on this Kainkaryam into the foreseeable future. And that is good news for the Sathya Murthy Perumal Divya Desam in Thiru Meiyam.
How to reach
Thiru Meiyam is located just under 20kms from Pudukottai off the Karaikudi highway. Train from Trichy starts at 7am and reaches Thiru Meiyam at 8.20am. A train at 10.05am from Thiru Meiyam takes one back to Trichy at 11.25am.
Madurai/Tirupattur bound buses ply every 10-15mins from Pudukottai
The temple is open from 8am –12noon and 330pm-8pm. Contact Narasimha Bhattar @ 7639431930