TIRUCHY: Vows are fulfilled as hair goes off the head, but troubles, they continue. The queue in front of the temporary shed of hair-dressers near the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam never ends, for there are only three bathrooms at the decades-old facility to give the freshly-tonsured heads a wash.
As the number of devotees at the temple, administered by the state’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, swells, the crowd in front of the tonsure centre set up near the Vadakku Vasal (North Gate) also grows; from single digit on week days to 50 to 100 on weekends to more than a thousand on festival days, especially during Chithirai (April-May).
Devotees TNIE spoke to said that, at times, the tonsure facility, where 12 hair-dressers work in shifts, is too crowded and the taps at the bathroom go dry, forcing them to walk to the shrunken Kollidam river, some 2km away, or to look for other sources.
R Krishnan, a devotee from Thanjavur, who visited the tonsure facility a month ago, said that after the ritual, he could not find any source of water, and was forced to take a bath under a roadside public tap. “The situation is very disappointing, as the devotees of the centuries-old temple, especially women, are often seen struggling for privacy to take bath,” he said.
Tiruchy Corporation says HR&CE dept should build tonsure hall
It’s not just the devotees, the hair-dressers too have to endure such suffering. The hairdressers at the shed said the situation is worse during the Chithirai festival as they work from morning till late night.
Calling for the construction of a fully-equipped tonsure hall, a hair-dresser, who has been offering the service for the last 15 years, pointed out, “There is no proper water supply for the devotees or for us. Sometimes, devotees have to bring water in cans just to take bath.”
V Jawagar, the ward 2 councillor of Tiruchy city corporation, under which the shed falls, said he had raised the need for a fully-equipped tonsure hall at the recent corporation council meeting. “Not everyone can walk 2km to the river to take bath. The authorities should take steps to construct a permanent tonsure hall with adequate water supply, dressing rooms and sanitation facilities at the earliest,” he said.
A corporation official said the onus of constructing the tonsure hall lies with the HR&CE department.
When contacted, a senior HR&CE official in Srirangam told TNIE that the department has not received any petitions regarding the issue. “If such requests are made, we will take appropriate steps,” he said.