CHENNAI: Over 167 years ago Arunachala Mudaliar, the munsiff in the Mugappair village in Chennai, had a dream in which none other than Lord Narayana spoke to him. The message was this – “ I am buried in your land. Construct a temple in that very place and install me there.” When the munsiff heeded the dream and dug out his land, there was indeed a nine and a half foot statue of Lord Narayana – almost the same size as the statue of Lord Venkateshwara in Tirupati.
The deity was installed at that spot and was called Adi Kesava Perumal.
The history of the idol prior to that is not known to the trustees of the temple. Their guess is that during some religious riots the statue must have been buried lest it got damaged. Very soon, over 100 years ago, the deity became popular as one which had power to bless people with the wealth of children and came to be called Santhana Srinivasa Perumal.
The Maha Samprokshanam of the temple took place on June 24, witnessed by around 10,000 people.
Office bearers of the Santhana Srinivasa Perumal Public Charitable Trust made the arrangements for the Jeernodharana Mahasamprokshanam.
The ceremonies were performed according to the Pancharatra Agama of the Tenkalai tradition. The five members include the Paramparai Dharmakartha and committee chairman M S Ganesan, secretary V Apparao, treasurer V Venkateswaran, joint-secretary, M R Santhanam and vice chairman G Kanniappan. With 100 police personnel and 50 NCC students assisted by a 100 temple volunteers, the holy water used for consecrating the temple, the new Rajagopuram and the newly installed idols of Anjaneya and the Santhana Lakshmi Thayar was mixed in a water tank and sprayed on devotees with sprinklers. There was free darshan for thousands of devotees that day and annadanam was served for around 1000 people.
Temples are receptacles of human energy. The more people gather around and pray, the more powerful the idol becomes. A place of worship gains its energy through three means – the nature of the sculpture of the idol which has been crafted by master sculptors according to the specifications in the agamas, the dedication with which the priests chant the mantras and place their offerings and the devotion of the people who come to the temple.
The increasing number of people visiting this temple in a remote location at Chennai shows that all these three factors are in place.
Devotees call the place ‘Then (south) Tirupati’ as the idol resembles the one at Tirupati, says the souvenir on the temple issued by the Trust during the Samprokshanam.
While on most days there are a 1000 devotees who visit the temple, the number is 2000 on Thursdays and Fridays and 10000 on Saturdays and Sundays.
There is a special queue on Saturdays for a ticket of Rs 20. “There is no hundial in this temple and even for a donation of one rupee, a receipt is given,” says Apparao.
Childless couples come here for special prayers on full moon day and during the stars of Tiruvonam, Punarpusam, Revathi and Swathi. No special charges are made for this offering, trust members say. The Trust also engages itself in social service activities such as distributing free books, notebooks, school uniforms and writing equipment to students of the Corporation schools around the temple and takes care of the needs of the inmates of a home for the visually impaired in Poonamalee. It also organises free marriages for the poor and gives away clothes and essential items for people affected by natural calamities.
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