HVK Archives: Keeping alive a 450 year-old tradition in TN
Keeping alive a 450 year-old tradition in TN - The Times of India
V R Mani
()
08 September 1996
Title : Keeping alive a 450-year-old tradition in TN
Author : V R Mani
Publication : The Times of India
Date : September 08, 1996
The Ramanatha Swamy temple here is known throughout the
country as one of the four important Hindu pilgrimage
centres but what is not known widely is that the temple
has a long tradition of having only Maharashtrian pri-
ests.
There are a dozen priests, all designated `chief pri-
ests', from Maharashtra Says the 70-year-old retired
priest Eshwar Vathiyar, "We came here about 450 years ago
following a tradition of priests who had performed pooja
to Lord Shiva here."
There is not much evidence available to prove that the
priests have been here for the last 450 years, but a
Tamil book "Cholas in Ramanathapuram district" talks
about Maharashtra Bharmin priests having been given land
in 1659 by the then ruler if Ramnad, Raghunatha Sethu-
pathy. It is not clear why Maharashtra Brahmins came to
settle here but P. S. Sriraman, assistant archaeologist,
ASI, Madras, surmises that some of them could have come
as pilgrims to worship the `jyothirlinga' (there are a
dozen jyothirlingas in the country) and settled here And
Maharashtrians are great Shiva devotees.
"They would have known about 'jyothirlingas' from Ellora
where there is one," Mr Sriraman reasons. In the south,
`jyothirlingas' are found only in two places - Rameswaram
in Tamil Nadu and Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.
Rameswaram, historical records say, has been a place of
pilgrimage for several hundred years. The massive temple
has four shrines - two for Lord Shiva, one for his con-
sort Vishalakshi and another for Lord Vishnu - and most
of the construction has been by the Sethupathys, the
erstwhile rulers of Ramnad. Mr Sriraman feels the four
shrines could have been located in different places
initially and built by various rulers but later it would
have been brought into one complex.
According to legend, Lord Rama had wanted to perform Shiv
pooja here after vanquishing Ravana in Lanka. he, there-
fore, sent Hanuman to Kailash to get a stone for Shiv's
idol. But Hanuman could not turn up before the appointed
auspicious time. Therefore, Sita, consort of Rama, made a
linga out of sand and both performed pooja. In the mean-
time, Hanuman also returned with a stone from Kailash. he
insisted that the stone he had brought should also given
its due. It was because of this the temple came to have
two shrines for Lord Shiv.
The temple is also unique, according to one of its pri-
ests Vittal Barve, because it has a shrine of Lord Vishnu
in yoga sayanam (lying in meditative pose) as opposed to
anantha sayanam (sleeping pose). At Vishnu's feet Rava-
na's brother Vibeeshana is shown as standing.
The priests, barring a few, have lost touch with Mahar-
ashtra or Marathi, Says Vittal Barve, 43, who left a job
in Pune to take up the priest's job here four years ago,
"Only six families can write or speak Marathi." However,
90 per cent of the families still continue to marry from
Maharashtra. All of them speak good Tamil and some of
their children are now talking to professional courses.
There are 35 Maharashtrian Brahmin families (about 250
people), all attached to the temple. Prior to the 1970s,
the priests were paid Re 1 as salary and a part of the
temple revenue. Now they have been made "government
servants". Not all of them are happy with the way they
were being treated by the temple authorities till recent-
ly." Even religion matters were decided by officials,"
said Mr Vittal Barve. He also accused the erstwhile
temple officials of trying to divide the priests by
giving a few duty in shrines where the pickings were
lucrative.
But with the appointment of Mr Sankaranarayanan as the
new executive officer, Mr Barve says, things have looked
up. But that has not helped improve ties between fellow
Maharashtrian Brahmin priests and their families. Says
Ravikumar Barve, "It is all personal pique that has led
to the community getting divided." Mr Vittal admits he
came with a lot of hopes but they lay shattered now. "I
wonder why I came here.... Our organisation is in tat-
ters," he laments. But that has not stopped some of the
families from making their children priests. Thus a
tradition continues, bickering notwithstanding.
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