KOCHI: The arrest of Kandararu Rajeevaru has brought disgrace to the Chengannur-based Thazhamon family, that holds the traditional right to oversee the rituals and practices of the hill shrine. Devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and foreign countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia adore the thantri as the representative of Lord Ayyappa and seek his blessings and advice for poojas and business prosperity. He has been serving as the high priest of many temples including the Ayyappa temple at Jalahalli in Bengaluru where he visits and conducts poojas every year.
The Thazhamon family claims that they are Brahmins from Andhra Pradesh who were brought to Kerala by Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. However, historians say the hereditary rights for Thantra were bestowed on the family after the first fire at Sabarimala temple in 1902.
Before that the Puthumana family and Kuzhaikkattillam family were overseeing the rituals at the hill shrine. It was Kandararu Shankararu who installed the present panchaloha idol of the deity at Sabarimala after the second fire in 1951. After that, his brother Parameshwararu was given the rights. In the next generation, Kandararu Neelakandararu, Maheshwararu and Krishnararu were in charge.
The reputation of the Thazhamon family was maligned by the controversy involving Kandararu Mohanaru who was allegedly trapped in a blackmailing and extortion case in 2006. The thantri who was searching for a servant was taken to the flat of Sobha John, a controversial woman who photographed the thantri along with a woman and demanded a huge amount. The accused were convicted by the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court in 2012. Later the Justice Paripoornan Commission found that Mohanaru did not have the basic knowledge in Sanskrit to conduct poojas. The TDB had stripped him of the thantri rights after the row.