Madras temple launches religious revolution

Whoever thought that the Tamils deify only M G Ramachandran and Khusboo, building shrines for them at Madras and Tiruchi respectively, must sit up and take notice.

A one-and-half-foot pancha-loha (five metals) idol of Tamil nationalist poet Subramania Bharati has been installed at the Madhya Kailash temple complex at Adayar in the city.

What more, unlike the shrines for MGR and ''Kushbambia'', which have been as promptly forgotten and left to ruin as they were ''consecrated'', Bharati's idol has come up at a traditional temple amidst the idols of Lord Ganesh, Lord Siva, Lord Surya and Lord Hanuman. And the deity has been named as ''Bharati Azhvar'', like the 12 Vishnu devotees who lived between the eighth and twelfth centuries.

''A temple should reflect the social aspirations and sentiments, so that men coming close to god are respected and offered pujas,'' says orthodox Iyengar brahmin and temple trust secretary S T Swami. ''Bharati fulfils that condition. And just because he was a contemporary of some of us, he should not be ignored.''

Swami says humans like Adi Shankaracharya, Madhavacharya and Ramanuja were similarly worshipped at the temple. There are also idols of Tamil poet-saint Manikavasagar, another poet Abhirama Bhattar and the latter along with goddess Abhirami.

''It's in their company that Bharati has been placed, facing Lord Vishnu, as he was an ardent devotee of both Shakti and Lord Krishna.''

The Bharati idol was put up on Independence Day, and from that day regular pujas and offerings are being made to the deity. The plan is to celebrate Bharati's birth anniversary as a small temple festival, ''correcting the historical mistake'' that Bharati was trampled to death by a temple elephant. ''Bharati died four months after the temple elephant attacked him,'' says Swami.

However, does it jell to call a Saivite Iyer Brahmin an ''Azhwar'', a honorific generally reserved for a Vaishnavites? Swami begs to differ. ''The word refers to the one who has conquered himself. Bharati conquered himself when he wrote lines like: Theeinil kai-yai vaithal, unnai theendum inbam thonthruthada Nandalala (I feel as if I have felt you when I even feel fire). The complicated poetic line implies that though fire, or Agni, is part and parcel of our ritualistic life, it is misinterpreted by most in too simplistic terms.''

Swami has no objection if ''Bharati Azhwar'' is called by some other name.

But then, controversies and debates are not new to Swami or the Madhya Kailash trust, of which industrialist-cum-race horse owner M A M Ramaswami and newspaper magnate Sivanthi Adithan are among the chief patrons.

''Defying doubts, suspicions and opposition, we have introduced a scheme -- members's parents's death anniversaries are performed if Rs 5000 is paid,'' says Swami. ''The presiding deity, Lord Ganesh acts as the kartha (a person in whose name the rites are performed), and there is no caste bar.'' According to him, 1,700 people have enrolled under the scheme, which can pass on from father to son and so on without extra payment.

The 25-year-old temple has also revolutionised the concept of worship. As Swami points out, ''For a change, the devotees themselves can perform pujas, make offerings and also do the aarti.''

He was asked why south Indians should defy tradition and follow the north. ''But they did not obviously remember the truth,'' says Swami. ''Aandal offered the garland she had worn to Lord Vishnu, and hunter Kannappa offered his own eyes to Lord Shiva. They did not follow any north Indian custom or tradition. We had been doing it and we should continue to do it, even if it means reviving a forgotten tradition.''

Swami has also installed an ''invented'' deity of Ayanthra Mahaprabhu, an arthanari (half-man-half-woman)-like idol of Lord Ganesh and Lord Hanuman. ''It signifies the beginning and end of life, as conveyed by Lord Ganesh, the beginning of sounds, namely 'om', and Lord Hanuman, the son of Vaayu, or air, whose leaving our system signifies the end of life.''

The new deity, installed in 1994, has been a big draw. And Swami now plans into the future, to ensure that all religious ceremonies are performed only to the accompaniment of Tamil chanting, translated from the Sanskrit original.

''True, Sanskrit has its sanctity and originality, but how can anyone appreciate a prayer if he does not understand it? And if only our womenfolk understand what their grooms recite and promise when they enter the holy wedlock, both would know where to draw the line and what to do -- and what not to do.''

Some sociological revolution this may be, but a religious one first.