Tenkasi Kasi Viswanathar Temple Gurukals

One of the two Chief Priests who is currently managing the pooja at the huge Kasi Viswanathar temple in Tenkasi is touching 60 and due for retirement in a few months. Kailasa Bhattar, who began his association with the temple in the early 1990s as a support priest, has expressed his intent to not continue his service after retirement given the souring relationship with EO Murugan and the other Chief Priest Senthil Bhattar.

Till the construction of the tall Raja Gopuram, priests from the Kutralanathar temple and the Kasi Viswanathar temple jointly managed the pooja kramas at the two temples amongst themselves but the services in the two temples were split and separated following the consecration. In the not too distant past there were four  priests at the Kasi Viswanathar temple but this has now halved this year. With Kailasa Gurukal's non inclination to continue after retirement, there will be just the one Chief Priest at this Pandya Period temple in the heart of Tenkasi. Despite a booming devotee crowd and an ever increasing Thattu Kaasu, not many young agama graduates are ready to take up service as archakas in remote temples administered by the HR & CE. And that is not a healthy sign going forward.

When Pandya King Parakrama wanted to construct a temple and brought a lingam from Kasi, Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and asked him to follow the ants and build the temple where the ants finally rested. He felt blessed to build this temple dedicated to Kasi Viswanathar and Ulagammal at Tenkasi.  There was a Perumal Sannidhi in between the two but with the differences between the Saivites and Vaishnavites, this was taken out and installed in a separate temple South of the Kasi Viswanathar temple. It is there that one now finds the Murugar Sannidhi.

Celebrations are now grand at this temple with Thiru Kalyanam on Aippasi Uthiram, Brahmotsavam in Maasi and Theppam on Avani Moolam. Contrasted with the quiet period in the 1970s and 80s, huge crowds now throng the temple on these festive occasions.

Interestingly, both these priests do not have any historical connection with the Kasi Viswanathar temple.  Senthil Bhattar, who will be the sole Priest at this temple after Kailasa Gurukal's retirment, had for long been associated with the Kailasa Ashramam performing Sri Chakra pooja at the Raja Rajeswari temple in Bangalore in the 1990s. He had also been at an overseas temple for a brief period. After completion of class V, he joined the Dharmapuram Atheenam Patshala where he learnt the Agamas.

His appa was instrumental in the development of the Pillayar temple in NGO Colony, Tirunelveli making it a popular temple among the residents of that town in the second half of the previous century.

When the HR & CE called for applications for the post of a priest at the temple in Tenkasi just under a couple of decades ago, his appa keen for him to return to TN so as to be nearer to him, directed Senthil Bhattar to apply and thus he made his way to the Kasi Viswanathar temple as an archaka in 2006.

Sitting at the Kulasekara Nathar temple, a sub temple of Kasi Viswanathar temple where he is the Raksha Bandhanam priest for the Kumbabhisekam, 46year old Senthil Bhattar recalled to this writer earlier this week as to how his childhood plan was to get into a military school but things turned out otherwise “I had learned spoken English and was to get into a military school, but even before the results, my appa got me enrolled into the Patshala so I could continue the archaka service. Ever since my graduation from the Patshala, I have been involved with temples over the last three decades.”

Having joined the temple at a salary of around Rs. 2000 in 2006, he now gets close to Rs. 20000 “I never thought I would be performing archaka service in this huge temple but from out of nowhere, Kasi Viswanathar brought me here and has taken good care of me financially over the last two decades” says Senthil Bhattar, happy at the way things have turned out for him in his life.

He is also the one who is accompanying EO Murugan seeking donor support for the Thiruppani works at the Kasi Viswanathar temple. He continues to be associated with the Kailasa Ashrama that had given him the break in the 1990s.

His 16year old son is learning the agamas at the Patshala in Thuthukudi and he is hopeful that he too would continue in this traditional line of service.

Hailing from Papankulam, about 25kms from Tenkasi, Kailasa Gurukal completed his class X from a school in Pathamadai, where at the Shiva temple his appa performed archaka service at a miniscule salary. 

It is Manickavachakar’s Guru Pooja evening and its Kailasa Gurukal’s day of duty at the Swami Sannidhi. After completing the evening pooja and sitting in front of the Durga Sannidhi, he told this writer as to how financially challenging his life had been in his childhood “My appa moved from one temple to another in the Tirunelveli region in the hope of higher salary but all through my childhood while he performed service in many temples, the salary remained low and we had a tough time in the 1970s.”

Given this background, he made his way away from temple service into the corporate world working in Chenganacheri for a brief period and then in the fertilizer sector till the early 1990s. In a surprise turnaround, Chidambareswarar Bhattar, the Sthaneegam asked him to provide support service at the at the Kasi Viswanathar temple “I came to this temple in 1993 and performed archaka service assisting him till 1999 when he passed. And then as a replacement to him, I worked at a daily wage of Rs. 30.”

Though he had played the role of a support priest for six years and then donned the role of a temporary priest on daily wages for seven years, the permanent order was not forthcoming “I was a strict priest who followed the processes and this did not go well with the EOs of the time. When I went to court and secured the High Court order for my appointment, they deliberately posted me at the then dilapidated Kulasekara Nathar temple. HR & CE expected me to leave after sending me to a deserted temple. There were no devotees and no thattu kaasu at that time and it was financially very challenging in that early phase but that direction to the dilapidated temple turned out to be a blessing in disguise as for the first time in several decades, a devotee from Chennai came forward to undertake all the repair works at a cost of Rs. 1crore all by himself and consecration of the temple took place during my service there. I look back with great pride that the vibrant temple that one sees today and the overflowing crowd at that temple is a direct outcome of the Kumbabhisekam I performed at that temple.”

The 7th pay commission salary has been due for several years but his salary has not been revised and remained at Rs. 8000. But he is happy that he has been able to give a financially secure childhood to his two daughters, something that he himself had not enjoyed during his schooling days. 

In the current Thiruppani works taking place at the Kasi Viswanathar temple, he has refused to make his way out of the temple on tours across TN with the EO of the temple to reach out to devotees to secure donor support. And that has not gone well with the EO Murugan. 

Kailasa Gurukal says that he has enjoyed a glorious three decades of temple service in Tenkasi having been personally roped in by the then popular Chidambareswarar Bhattar to perform service here "I am not seeking extension and will retire soon in a happy state having served with distinction earning a good name with the devotees as a committed priest."

For long, there has been demand for him to perform consecrations and homams elsewhere. After his retirement this year from the Kasi Viswanathar temple, he is confident that the God will show him the way towards anchoring consecrations in temples in TN. 

But for the Kasi Viswanathar temple, there may be challenging times ahead unless the EO is able to convince Kailasa Gurukal to continue his archaka service. There are not Brahmin Priests forthcoming to take full time charge even though the huge devotee crowd is thronging this temple and unlike the past, there is good thattu kaasu on offer to the priests. Senthil Bhattar will have to shoulder a huge responsibility of managing the temple all alone with 'outsourced' priests to assist him, especially in a phase where the Thiruppani works are on and Kumbabhisekam is likely to take place next year.

The current trend is for those that have learned the agamas to explore opportunities in consecration events in temples as against taking up full time archaka service in remote temples that is likely to leave a severe shortage of Brahmin Priests in remote temples in the decades ahead. It is unlikely this trend will reverse as there is big money on offer for 2-3 days of Kumbabhisekam even in remote temples in TN and young agama grads are happy doing a few such events every month rather than 10 hours of daily service at the temple.