Last year in 2024, around the same time as end-April 2025, I undertook my customary annual pilgrimage of the Divya Desam temples, offering worship in the 9 famous temples in and around the town of Tirunelveli, and known popularly as “Nava Tirupati Divya Desa kshetrams“, besides at two other temples in Tirukurungudi and Vanamamalai. And I also did not miss the opportunity at the same time to visit and worship at two other famous Divya Desam temples in Kanyakumari District — Tiruvattar and Tiruvanparisaram. It was a memorable pilgrimage indeed.
This year in 2025, I set out again on a pilgrimage to 6 divya desam temples that turned out to be no less memorable. This time it was to Mayiladuthurai (aka Mayavaram) that I headed on April 28th.
This “yaathra” was specially momentous because it also coincided with my being able to witness the grand event and spectacle of the “kovil mahasamprokshanam” of a little known yet magnificent temple in the small nondescript hamlet of Vilanagar, about 5 kms from Mayavaram. This is an ancient temple dedicated to Sri Varadaraja Perumal and his Consorts, Sri Devi and Bhudevi.
In effect, this year’s annual pilgrimage for me, personally, was a “double blessing” indeed since not only was I able to receive the grace of the divine deities in the 6 divya-desam temples but I also witnessed — from thrilling ring-side, close quarters and for the very first time in my life — a gala kovil re-consecration at a “maha-samprokshana mahotsavam” !
My presence at the “maha-samprokshanam” on those three days between April 28 through April 30, seems to have been divinely pre-ordained and it came about under the most unexpected of circumstances which I briefly explain below.
Sometime in November, 2024, a very good friend of mine whose acquaintance I have had over the last 40 years, Sri. S.Kothandaraman (SKR) suddenly called me over the phone from Bangalore one day.
SKR told me that during one of his own recent pilgrimage to the famous Parimala Sri Ranganathar Temple in Mayavaram, the Bhattar there in the sanctum had suddenly began telling him about the sad plight of a Perumal temple in the village of nearby Vilanagar. His curiosity being aroused, SKR and the Bhattar (Rangatha Bhattar) then drove to Vilanagar to take a look at the temple.
SKR told me that when he saw the derelict state of the temple, it nearly broke his heart. He resolved then and there at Vilanagar, that he must do something about it … do whatever was possible to garner public support amongst the Sri Vaishnava and other Hindu “asthika” communities to raise funding for renovation of the almost ruined temple and conduct its “maha-samprokshanam”.
Making discreet enquiries about the temple with the local villagers and with the Executive Officer (EO) of the temple who held custodial and administrative oversight on behalf of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Commission (Hindul Religious and Charitable Endowments Commission), SKR concluded that Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple’s pathetic state of dereliction, neglect and utter impecunity was to a great degree the result of the Commission’s own apathy.
SKR appealed to me to join hands with him in his efforts to raise funds and public support for the project he had undertaken. He explained to me that he expected me to spread the word. He also told me that he was also seeking the aid of the INDIC COLLECTIVE TRUST, an NGO devoted to the cause of preserving Hindu heritage and temple institutions right across the country, especially Tamil Nadu. One of the trustees of INDIC was the firebrand activist, Sri T.R.Ramesh of the Temple Worshippers Association, who was a crusader for the cause of restoration of temples to local Hindu communities and for wresting away governmental control through the HR&CE.
SKR’s passionate appeal to me sounded so genuine that I at once readily agreed to offer him all the support, financially and morally, that I could possibly do to enable him to succeed in his project. I suggested a crowd-funding campaign which I could easily launch through my social media/online platforms but he dissuaded me explaining that he would then fall foul of the HR&CE Dept. which prohibited him or INDIC to raise public funds on its own. This made me aware of the “dog-in-the-manger“, “zero-sum gaming” attitude of the HR&CE with regard to financing temple reconstructions. Therefore I decided on my own behalf to privately circulate within my own circle of family, relatives and friends, both in India and abroad, an individual appeal for funds to realise SKR’s project. Below was the appeal that I sent out and which thankfully, did elicit some positive response from a few donors!
AN APPEAL TO ALL SRI VAISHNAVAS and ALL WORSHIPPERS
From:
M.K.Sudarshan (pen-name “Unknown Sri Vaishnava” & Author of “Unusual Essays of an Unknown Sri Vaishnava”, “The Epistles of a Prolific Pontiff”, “The Nondescript God: Abstraction or Paragon?” and “A Tale of Two Cities: The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedantins”)
Across our country today, amongst Hindu “aasthikas”, we see a growing
awareness of the need for the community to reclaim ownership over Hindu
temples.
One of the main reasons for such expanding popular awareness amongst the Sri
Vaishnava community in Tamil Nadu is that ordinary people, temple-worshippers
and religious-minded people are now, more than ever before, able to witness
the abject plight of many of their ancient temples and the sheer neglect, disuse
and decay into which many of them have fallen.
One such temple is in the small, almost unknown village of Vilanagar (aka
“chinna Kanchi”) hardly a few kilometres away from the other Sri Vaishnava
“divya desam” temple of Sri Parimala Ranganatha Temple, Mayiladuthurai,
Tanjore District of Tamil Nadu.
The Sri Vaishnava temple at Vilanagar is home to the Deity of Sri Varadaraja
Swamy Perumal and his Divine Consorts, Sri Devi, Bhudevi and Neeladevi. The
majestic archa-murthy in the sanctum is an imposing 12-feet tall icon of Perumal
whose mesmerizing figure matches the glory of the same Deity presiding in the
great temple at Hasthigiri Hill at Kanchipuram as Sri Devaraja Swamy Perumal.
The antiquity of this great temple is evidenced by references to it in puraana
dating back to earlier millennium as well as in late Chola-period epigraphy (Kulothunga Chozhan reign).
This temple in Vilanagar is now in a state of utter disrepair and sheer neglect. Pilgrims visiting Mayiladuthurai to worship at the Parimala Ranganatha Temple hardly have even heard of this equally grand temple nearby.
If this Varadaraja Perumal temple is left to rot away in its current state, it is not
very long before it will get wholly abandoned and may simply disappear forever
both from the landscape as well as people’s memory. As a community, we Sri
Vaishnavas should not remain a mute spectator to such a destruction of our
cultural legacy and heirloom.
Sri S.K.Raman is a very dear friend of mine who brought to my attention the sad
plight of this temple at Vilanagar. He is a very dear friend of mine (a Chartered Accountant like me) lives in Bangalore and is himself a very learned Sri Vaishnava, very devoted to many causes of the Hindu faith. Together with his wife, Smt. Vaijayanthi, Raman also headed an orphanage for destitute children. He happens to be the grandson of the great Sanskrit Scholar of yester-decades, U.Ve. Agnihotram Sri Ramanujachariar (President of India Medal winner).
Raman represents a Public Charitable Trust called INDIC COLLECTIVE TRUST
(www.indiccollective.org) . He himself visited the Vilanagar temple on several occasions in the course of three to four months and painstakingly took
stock of the pathetic condition of the kovil.
On my own behalf and on behalf of my friend S.K.Raman of Indic Collective
Trust, I am making this appeal to all SRI VAISHNAVAS and ALL TEMPLE
WORSHIPPERS to please generously contribute to the INDIC COLLECTIVE TRUST
which helmed by Sri Raman has undertaken a project estimated at Rs. 35 Lakhs
for the renovation and restoration of this magnificent temple at Vilanagar that
has fallen upon very sad times and condition. The details of where to send your
contributions are all given in the attached fact-file prepared by Sri Raman.
May Sri Perundevi Thaayaar sametha Sri Varadaraja Perumal bless us all !
M.K. Sudarshan
21 November, 2024
******************
By end of the March 2025, SKR had successfully raised the required funding for the renovation and the “maha-samprokshanam“, thanks largely to the generosity of individual philanthropists in Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi and a few corporate CSR assistance.
Sri Ranganatha Bhattar and the priests of Vilanagar hamlet were overjoyed! Sri Varadaraja Perumal’s temple was going to be given a complete make-over and the Deity’s archa’s divinity restored!
All repairs to the temple were completed by mid-April and the the schedule for the “maha-samprokshanam” were drawn up and rituals commenced from April 27… a series of joyous religious events conducted with both fanfare and fervour!
SKR and his wife graciously invited me to be present on all three days. I explained to them that it would be my rare privilege. However, I would have to dedicate a day and half to my pilgrimage to the other six divya-desams which I would be visiting for the very first time in life. After I had finished that tour, I would definitely hasten back to Vilanagar to witness the grand finale and consummatory festivities of “maha-samprokshanam” on the last day of 30th April! Not for anything in the world would I ever miss a golden opportunity to witness “maha-samprokshanam” ritual procedures at such close quarters and to understand their significance and elaboration.
**********
In a series of the blogposts to follow, I intend to recount my experiences of the “maha-samprokshanam” at Vilanagar Varadaraja Perumal Kovil…. but then not before I have first narrated a brief travelogue about my “yaathra” to the following 6 “divya desams” in the near and far vicinity of Mayiladuthurai where the Azhwars had performed their “mangalaasaasanam“:
Sirupuliyur
Tirukannapuram
Tiru Indhaloor
Therezhundhur
Tirukannangudi
Tiru Thalaicchanga
***********
During my 2024 yaathra to the “nava-Tirupati” temples, I had landed in Tirunelveli, a town eponymously named after the presiding Deity there, Nellai Appan. When one enters a great temple-town like Tirunelveli, en route to any other places of pilgrimage around the main temple, one ought to pay due obeisance first and foremost to the presiding Deity of the town or city for He is its Lord. So, I had commenced my “yaathra” then only after offering mindful worship to Sri Nellaiappan and seeking his permission and blessings for a successful tour.
Similarly, now in April 2025, at Mayiladuthurai, I paid due obeisance to the presiding Deity of the town, Mayuranatha Appan! I stood outside his temple, on the banks of the large, tranquil temple-tank, folded my hands and gazed long at the tower… I had a grand “gopura darsanam“. I felt immediately assured that my onward pilgrimage over the following two days would certainly get completed without any hitches or trouble.
(to be continued)
Sudarshan Madabushi