Atheist Temple Officer, Christian Reporter and a Honest Devotee of Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple

Hindu devotees’ indifference to rank corruption and deliberate mismanagement in our holy temples in Tamilnadu is saddening. Here we cover the story of the corrupt and atheist Officer of HR&CE Dept. who chose to attack traditions and rituals in the holiest temple of Vaishnavas, Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Srirangam, TamilNadu.

Srirangam is a holy town situate between the rivers Cauvery and Coleroon, near the city of Tiruchirapalli, popularly known as Trichy in Central Tamil Nadu. Srirangam, Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple is a huge temple complex with beautiful temple towers, fine architecture, murals and inscriptions, besides the finest icons and statuary. Its main temple tower is the highest temple tower in all Asia. It also has enormous properties, endowments, jewellery and valuables, buildings, vacant sites and huge hundi and other incomes running into crores of rupees. There used to be a fine system of management in the Srirangam temple with selection of one person of merit from three different denominations to form the management committee.

Like all good systems of hereditary trusteeship in temple management, this system too was diluted by successive atheist Tamil Nadu Governments and the nefarious HR & CE Department. For the last few decades, the trustee appointments in Srirangam temple had more political and unethical grounds of appointment than merits. This, sadly, is true for most of the important temples in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Government and HR&CE Department appoint politicians and sycophants as Temple Trustees so that their misdeeds in Hindu temples and endowments would remain unquestioned. A Govt. appointed Trustee of the Srirangam Temple being arrested for land grabbing under Goondas Act soon after the fall of the DMK Govt. in 2011 bears testimony to this.

Atheist Agenda in Tamil Nadu Temples

For many years, the Dravidar Kazhagam – an atheist party, supported by its follower and protector, the DMK party, has been carrying out its anti-Hindu activities in the heart of temples. It has done so with the covert and overt support of Christian missionaries, Naxalites and atheist (read anti-Hindu) groups. For Christian Missionaries whose intent is to undermine Hindu icons, customs and rituals wherever they are revered, no tool can serve them better as an anti-Hindu agency than the Dravidar Kazhagam. One famous example of undermining the rituals is the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi passing a GO permitting unqualified members of the public to ‘sing in Tamil’ in the Pooja area very near to the Sanctum of the famous Chidambaram Temple in March 2008. The hooligans fully protected by the Police rushed to the temple next day to support this. They were Naxalites, Hindu atheists, Christians and a few Muslims. A melee ensued, resulting in ten priests and trustees being put in jail on holy Sivaratri day. Having thus wreaked havoc in the holiest of Siva Temples, which was not even under their administrative control, would they leave alone Srirangam Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple under their control?

Atheist Executive Officer

Srirangam Temple’s Executive Officer is of the rank of Joint Commissioner. Enters an atheist officer in 2011, who has utter disdain for Temple rituals. He would not acceptance of ‘theertha prasadam’ of the Lord. He has instructed priests of Srirangam temple many a time were forced to offer Naivedya to the Lord of various Kala poojas at one go in morning pooja itself, so time is ‘saved’ in allowing devotees for darshan, objective being uninterrupted Rs250, Rs500 & Rs1000 Darshan. He has also stopped on many days the ritual of Viswaroopa Darshan held in the mornings when the crowd of devotees is expected to swell to accommodate darshan for ‘paying’ devotees. Not even in Tirupati temple where hundred thousands of devotees visit a day you can see such violations. It can be seen whether it is DMK or ADMK in power, it is all the same. Interference in rituals by the officer is done with certain sadism.

Servitorship and honouring the devotees of Lord Vishnu is an important part of Sri Vaishnavism. In fact, more honour and glory is due to His devotees than the Lord himself on certain occasions. Many saints have recorded this important aspect of Vaishnavism as ordained by The Lord Himself. One such ritual observance is the ‘Brahma Ratham’ ritual in the Srirangam Temple, where one of the descendants of the original Parasara Bhattar and Vedavyasa Bhattar is honoured before Lord Ranganatha with temple honours twice a year, and then carried on a palanquin from the temple precincts to his home near the temple. Similarly, for having rendered Azhwars' hymns, a descendant of Arayar family is honoured by taking him in a palanquin once a year. It is the religious belief that these honours were ordained on Ranganatha’s devotees and their descendants by the Lord Himself. The atheists around Srirangam instigated by an atheist Executive Officer of the rank of Joint Commissioner started ‘poster campaigns’ against the ritual decrying that a man could be carried in a palanquin by other men in this 21st century.