Devoted Vandals?!
The hallowed Kattazhagasingar koil, the temple of the handsome lion of the
forests, is about one kilometer to the east of the outer ramparts of "Vaikuntam
Ranga mandiram" SriRanganathaswamy temple(Peria Koil, Big Temple) in Srirangam.
The presiding deity is Sri Lakshmi Narasimha in the seated posture with
SriLakshmi on His left lap.Only the right foot of our Lord is seen along with
the two lotus feet of Sri Lakshmi. They have a huge presence and are famed for
being boon givers, "vara prasadi".
It is often asked why the azhwars did not sing about this glorious Couple? Ten
of them sang of Sri Ranganatha but not a mention of Kattazhagasingar. Maybe it
did not exist in their times, a fact that isn't easily believed. The temple has
a hoary tradition and is intimately juxtaposed with Sri Ramanuja Darsana.
It is here that the peerless Thiruvarangathamudanar composed the naonpareil
grantha, opus, Ramanuja Noothrandadi. He had to do it twice as Ramanuja
rejected the first edition, so to say. When he was composing the 105th verse,
Ramanuja with his entourage walked in and the poet and his acolytes had to get
up. In memory of this event, only this grantha has two "sattrumurais"
valedictory, ending ceremonies. Amudanar, who was Parasara Bhattar's equal when
it came to debates and arguments, had constructed the hagiography on Ramanuja
so cleverly that Ramanuja couldn't prevent the second edition from being
popularised. Even to this day when Namperumal the mobile deity of
SriRanganathaswamy temple is taken in a procession during the ten days long
festivals, He listens to Ramanuja Noothrandadi in "sabdavaranam" without the
disturbing noises of musical accompaniments or as the say in Hindi
"band-baja". To reiterate, it was at Kattazhagasingar temple that this
magnificent work was consummated.
Koora Narayana Jeeyar the famous acharya of the temple of SriRanganatha who is
credited with many miracles operated from the premises of Kattazhagasingar
temple initially. He was a powerful "tantri" necromancer, who saved the
processional deity Namperumal from being washed away in the Kaveri which was in
spate. He even changed the course of the mighty river Kaveri to prevent yearly
flooding of the Peria Koil, Big Temple. He jumped into a furnace like
sacrificial fire to safegaurd the temple from non-believers. He once captured
an invisible tantri who was bent on hijacking the huge idol of Periya Perumal,
Ranganatha.He was the author of the powerful Sudarshana Sahasram which
describes in detail the idol of the Divine discus and is full of powerful
incantations that can ward off any peril. He was closely associated with
Kattazhagasingar temple.
The founder of the Southern school, Thengalai sect, the great Pillai Lokacharya
discoursed at the Kattazhagasingar temple. He is the justly famed author of
eighteen "rahasya granthas" esoteric tomes, and he and his pupils were always
to be found there. He is considered to be the incarnation of Sri Varadaraja
Perumal of Kanchipuram.
Another doyen of the southern school, Sri Manavalamamunigal was directed to
occupy the mutt in the south Uttara street by Ranganatha Himself. Sri
Manavalamamunigal brought the sand from Kattazhagasingar Temple to rennovate
the mutt alloted to him. He said that the sands of Kattazhagasingar temple were
sacred because it was on these that great secrets were elucidated by Pillai
Lokacharya ,"rahasyam valliyum mann". To this day, in the hall behind the
sanctum of Sri Manavalamamunigal in the south Uttara street, one portion of the
floor is to be found unpaved. The sands can be seen there.
Namperumal visits Kattazhagasingar temple on Vijaya dasami for the "ambu
paythal" shooting the arrow, festival.
Such a great temple is being vandalised in a novel way by, of all people, the
believers.
As we circumambulate the main sanctum of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha we reach the
rear, the eastern side. People have the habit of lighting earthenware lamps
right behind the Deities. The rear wall is blackened and oil soaked. Whether
one should light lamps behind the deity is in itself a moot question. To add
to this nowdays numbers are written on the wall with whatever is available.
These numbers are not mobile numbers but roll numbers! It is obviously the work
of students who are awaiting exam results. They inscribe their exam numbers and
hope that Sri Lakshmi Narasimha will enable them to get top ranks. Though
Narasimha is hailed as "sarvathomukha", He who has faces in all directions, one
wonders at the logic of writing numbers behind The Divine couple's back!
Azhwars have sung that they will use the oceans as oil to light the lamp that
will show Him to them. Sri Vedantha Desika has sung that even the oceans will
not be sufficient when used as ink, to list all His glories. Our vandals use
whatever is available to write the magic digits.
Most use the leftover soot darkened oil in the lamps. These are very difficult
to remove. Others use the yellow turmeric sandal paste given to them on behalf
of Sri Lakshmi. These too are not easy to wash off. One girl came prepared with
fluoroscent mauve chalk and proceeded to write not just her number but those of
her girl friends and who knows boy friends too! The sad part was that her
mother and aunt were encouraging her to write the numbers more clearly. The
Divine Couple will not have any difficulty in deciphering this even on an
"amavasya", new moon night so effulgent is this royal purple colour. One must
do a double-blinded, cohort controlled randomized trial to find out the marks
these vandals secure. The same phenomenon can be seen behind the
Chakrathazhwar, Sudarshana, sanctum in the Big Temple. On the walls of this
sanctum, always in the rear, one can see fence like marks that help the person
to keep count of the number of laps they have completed. Maybe some benefactor
will step forward and put up a black board and chalks. Or as umpires in cricket
matches have, mechanical or battery operated counters or trip meters must be
made available. These counters can have the images of one's favorite deity on
them. May be they can even blare out the trip number and the appropriate
stotra. Um... this seems to be good new business idea... Likewise the pillars
and columns in front of the sanctum of Sri Ranganayaki are suffering from
jaundice. These centuries old stone structures are smeared with the
sandal-turmeric paste given on behalf of Peria Piratti. Inspite of notices on
the nearby walls not to spread this yellow fever devotees continue to
strengthen(!) these rock pillars.
Jokes apart, these practices must be nipped in the bud.
Will these so called devotees do the same in their Pooja room? Why dont they
encourage their children to inscribe the numbers on the walls of their
Koil-azhwar? Why dont they smear the walls of the sanctum in their house with
sandal-turmeric paste and kumkum?
Of what use is writing numbers behind the Divine Couple's back when one's
preparation is inadequate? This vandalisation is totally unacceptable and the
perpetrators must be fined. Temple staff must be stationed at appropriate
places to prevent these acts. Temples that can afford it must put up a CCTV
network to catch these people red handed or may be yellow handed or black
handed!
Cleanliness is next to Godliness it is said. We have uncleanliness next to our
Gods. These so called devotees must be made to realise their mistakes and as a
mark of penitence made to clean up the mess. At least in this way they will
earn some sukrit, punya instead of the papa they gather so effortlessly.
Dr.S.Sundar Rajan MS Ortho, Trichy Mar 23 2009.
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