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ARTICLE : Keeping alive a 450 year-old tradition in TN

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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