KOTTAYAM: Swami Athuradas, a legendary figure who has etched a matchless and unique path for selfless service and whose name is regarded as a synonym for the promotion and popularisation of western homoeopathy and costless system of native medicine treatment in the state, passed away on Friday after a protracted illness. His end came in the wee hours of Friday at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi. He would have crossed 99 on July 16.
The cremation of Swami Athuradas is slated for Sunday at 10 am at Sachivothamapuram, Kurichy, off Chingavanam, near here. The body will be brought here on Saturday and will be laid in state at the Kurichy Ashram from 9 am for homage paying.
An emergency meeting of the directorboard of the Athuraseva Sangham which met on Friday afternoon at Kurichy has decided to go by the will of Swami Athuradas, in which, he has directed that his mortal remains shall be consigned to flames instead of preparing a 'samadhi.' Swami Athuradas was the lifelong president of the Athura Seva Sangham and founded the Kurichy Homoeo Medical College in 1958.
He handed over the institution to the NSS later, with an objective for a calibrated growth of the stream of homoeopathy.
The only research institute for homoeopathy in the country under the Central Government is functioning on the campus now. Born on July 16, 1913, as the youngest of the seven children of the late Ayyappa Kurup and Kunju Pennamma of Chediyattu house, Channanikkad, and named as Vasudevan Nair, his life had passed through many travails in his younger days before turning him into Swami Athuradas.
Throughout his missionary zeal, he led a simple but fruitful course of life and always reached out to the poor in distress, earning a sincere reverence cutting across caste, creed and religion.
True to his moorings and secular credentials, he had set up a Gita Mandir at his abode in Kurichy, to promote prayers of all religions under one roof. It was under his leadership that a housing colony for the poor was established in Malampuzha in 1968.
Another important contribution which will remain in his name in the annals of history is the establishment of 19 working women's hostels in various parts of the state and neighbouring ones to address a genuine demand in a transforming society. Swami was behind the setting up of Central Schools at Vaikom and Pathanamthitta, apart from a slew of nursery schools and other educational institutions.
A holiday was declared on Friday to the Athurasramamrun educational institutions as a mark of respect to the departed soul.
The entire contributions and works of Swami Athuradas, spanning over sevenandahalf decades for the betterment of society and providing succour to the poor, was markedly different from that of the general class of sanyasins and ashram heads, especially that of the contemporary times.
In spite of a multicrore valued Ashram and Sevasangh properties in his fold, he led a spartan and noncontroversial life. Without any pomp and glitz in the usual mould or nursing any ambition for fame and power, he treaded a different path. As he passes away as 'a swami of the poor,' he will remain as a unique saint for posterity.