May 1, 2025: Early in the morning I prepared to travel from Mayavaram to attend the grand “kovil mahasamprokshanam” of Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple at Vilanagar. But then first, I wanted to complete my planned pilgrimage to the 6th and final “divya desam” viz. Thalacchanga Nanmathiyam Perumal Kovil in the tiny, virtually un-locatable village of Thalacchangadu near Akkur in Mayiladuthurai District. My plan was to have darshan of the Deity there by 8 AM that morning and thereafter reach Vilanagar Village, about 20 Kms away, by around 10 AM so as to be on time for the ritual commencement of the “mahasamprokshanam“.
On the road to Thalaicchangadu Village, I was suddenly asked by the driver of my hired rental taxi-cab, Pachiappan, to turn on the GPS map on my mobile. I was taken aback by his request and asked him, why, didn’t he know the route to the this temple?! His reply both amazed and disturbed me.
“Sir, I’m a native settled with my family in Mayavaram for over 30 years now. I’ve always made my livelihood as a cab-driver. I’ve ferried thousands of pilgrims like you over the years… and their families too… to the scores of kovils in this and neighboring districts… Tanjore, Seerkazhi, Nagapattinam… One thing I have noticed is that the pilgrim traffic varies greatly in density. The number of pilgrims I have driven to the various “navagraha sthalam-s” (temples for the planetary gods like Guru, Rahu, Budha etc…) by far outnumbers others. Next, I find that the numbers of pilgrims doing the rounds of various Shiva-sthalam-s also is considerable. To all these oft-visited temples in these districts, I am very familiar with the road routes. I know exactly the way to even remote villages where these “graha” and “shiva sthalams” are situated. So, I drive there without any difficulty.
“However, Sir, I have to tell you that the general pilgrim traffic to “Vishnu-sthalam-s” in these districts is really no more than a trickle, comparatively speaking. The numbers of Vaishnavas who hire my services to drive them to various Divya Desams located around here is very small indeed… So, since I drive so few pilgrims to Vishnu-sthalam-s so infrequently, often I lose my way to these kovils… I forget the route and which is why I request my customers to please help me stay on course through the use of their own GPS system on their mobiles.
“I am very sorry to trouble you, Sir, but this Thalacchangangudi Kovil is one of those rarely visited temples… I remember having driven there several years ago. It is tucked away somewhere deep inside a nondescript village several kilometers off the main highway. Which is why I am aksing you to use the GPS navigation system”.
When after much touble locating the village driving through narrow, kuccha, winding rural roads, we finally reached the gates of the temple, indeed, I was sad to see how forlorn and deserted the ‘kovil‘ looked.
When I entered the temple under its main archway and gopuram, I noticed there was not a soul to be seen anywhere inside.
Inside the main sannidhi, I saw a lone man — he seemed to be a watchman — seated on ricekty old chair, writing up what I presumed was an accounting ledger. He looked up to see me with a quizzical look and said:
“It’s too early for darshan… The Bhattachari of the temple usually comes here only around 10 AM to open the sannidhi and perform the morning rites. You can wait if you wish. Otherwise, you can walk up to the doors of the sanctum and have a look at perumal through the grill doors”.
“Yes, please I would like that”, I said and my voice echoed off the desolate walls and roof of the temple.
While the temple forecourt itself was dim and musty, surprisingly, when I went closer to the sanctum and began peering through the grill-framed door, I could see the deity bathed in a bright, brilliant swathe of light. The archamurthy was beautiful to behold ! The “vadivu azhagu” in fact took my breath away.
I recited a few stature verses and a prabhandam paasuram and slowly walked out of the main shrine, asking the watchman the way towards the Thaayaar Sannidhi, the shrine for the Lord’s Consort. I was shown the way:
As I ambled across the outer courtyard slowly towards the shrine, my heart truly bled while seeing the generally unkempt, drab and poorly maintained ambience of this ancient, beautiful temple. When I strode into the sannidhi of Thaayaar and peered into the darkness, to my shock and distress I saw that not even a garland or bare ornament adorned her archa-svarupam…. Again, I felt myself choking on a lump of glum emotion rising inside my throat…
As I peformed the customary circumambulation (“pradakshina“) of the temple, there was one thought that kept nagging my mind. Given what I had seen to be the general state of neglect and desolation of this Sri Vaishnava divya desam, still the sanctum sanctorum I had seen was nonetheless brilliantly lit and shone indeed in a strange divine luste. I wondered how that could be possible… It did seem rather strange.
The answer I found when I came upon a commemorative plaque — a small stone tablet that had been cemented into the wall on the north-eastern corner of the outer “praakaram“.
The plaque told me that back in 2019, a group of Sri Ahobila Muttam sishyas had collected funds to the tune of Rs. 184,000/- to install a solar-energy equipment that would keep the interior of the temple — especially at least the “garbha-griham”, the sanctum — well and brilliantly lit on most days of the year when the sun shone. It also made me surmise how sorry might have been the situation otherwise if the solar-equipment had not been installed! No grid power or else only erratic grid-power to the temple would have perhaps kept it plunged in semi-permanent darkness …. or more often than not….
What a pathetic state of affairs for a Sri Vaishnava Divya Desam!
If a premier religious institution like the Sri Ahobila Mutt can raise resources to install a solar-equipment for a poorly maintained temple like Thalacchanga Nanmathiyam temple in remote Akkur village taluk, why could it also not come forward to take the initiative to repair and renovate the temple, perform its “mahasamprokshanam” and encourage its vast following of sishyas worldwide to actively contribute to its ongoing upkeep?
Surely, wouldn’t that at least improve what my rental cab-driver, Pachiappan of Mayavaram, had earlier complained to me about — that the Vaishnava pilgrim footfall into this famous, lovely Perumal Kovil was virtually NIL throughout the year?
(to be continued)
Sudarshan Madabushi
If we Brahmins do not take care of our native village temples ,even during our time we will see many of the Divya Devan temples except may be Srirangam or Tirupathi becoming another thalachangadu, totally ruined. We stop blaming the Government and do our responsibility