Poor Ramanujar.
Impelled by the news of celeberation of Sri Ramanujar's 1000 th birth anniverasary by anyone and every one of consequence or insignificance i decided to visit his place of abode at Kanchipuram.
I wished that i hadn't.The road near the temple gates leading to his house was strewn with garbage .It looked worse than a slum with mud and dirt coated smelly buffaloes snorting from their tiny shelters abutting small houses along the concrete road.In here viz Tamilnadu concrete roads are laid mainly in slums.
The house where Sri Ramanujar is said to have lived gave me another shock.It looked totally run down with thorns growing in the tiny garden of this small house.It didn't even receive a coat of fresh paint belying all the fanfare around his birth anniversary!A stack of bamboo poles were laid on the dirty platform outside the locked gates .A resident explained that they were used for putting banners on the date of Sri Ramanujar's birthday .They barred any visitors entry as they are yet to be removed .
This house is full of history.This is where Sri Ramanujar as a married man learnt Vedas, shastras and philosophies from scholars .This is also the house where he renounced domestic life and took up sanyasam when his wife refused to alter her orthodox ways and honour devotees of Sri Vardhar from lower castes .
The house where he is said to be born is in Sri Perumbudur .This is opposite to the Adi kesava temple .When i visited it few years back a elephant was thethered , probably the temple's.The birth place was strewn with grass and straws and reeked of elephants excretions.The house was also locked
In comparison Sri Desikan who is next in popularity and reverence to Sri Ramanujar in Vadagalai Sri vaishnavaite traditions seems to be more cherished .His place of birth in Kanchipuram[750 years back] which is a kilometre away from Sri Vardharajar temple , is neat It is also always locked .Neverthless the road leading to his place of birth is clean .Similarily the house where Desikan resided in Thiruveendra puram where he wrote a number of slokas and held scholarly discourses , is well maintained .So is the place of his refuge for 12 years in Satyagala , a small village .Thanks to individuals initiatives.
Sri Ramanujar is acclaimed by one and all .Sri vaishnavaites of both sub sects hail him as the foremost preceptor and are grateful for strengthning and popularising Sri vaishnavism .Vaishnavaite temples are grateful to him for systemising all temple festivals He is regarded by scholars all over India as a great philosopher and hailed as the propounder of Visishtadwaita which is one of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy.
On other hand he is hailed by many as a man of revolutionary thinking who boldly overcame rigid caste restrictions that prevailed at his times by accepting all irrespective of caste to Sri Vaishnava fold.and treating them all with honour .dignity and respect.He is praised as a great social reformer by atheists , secularists and left.
It is a pity that everyone is of one mind in hailing his nature and achievments in religious and social sphere but no one wants to take the responsibility of showing that great man the smallest courtsey of maintaning and preserving his abodes which are full of history and spiritualism ,.Poor Ramanujar.
I wished that i hadn't.The road near the temple gates leading to his house was strewn with garbage .It looked worse than a slum with mud and dirt coated smelly buffaloes snorting from their tiny shelters abutting small houses along the concrete road.In here viz Tamilnadu concrete roads are laid mainly in slums.
The house where Sri Ramanujar is said to have lived gave me another shock.It looked totally run down with thorns growing in the tiny garden of this small house.It didn't even receive a coat of fresh paint belying all the fanfare around his birth anniversary!A stack of bamboo poles were laid on the dirty platform outside the locked gates .A resident explained that they were used for putting banners on the date of Sri Ramanujar's birthday .They barred any visitors entry as they are yet to be removed .
This house is full of history.This is where Sri Ramanujar as a married man learnt Vedas, shastras and philosophies from scholars .This is also the house where he renounced domestic life and took up sanyasam when his wife refused to alter her orthodox ways and honour devotees of Sri Vardhar from lower castes .
The house where he is said to be born is in Sri Perumbudur .This is opposite to the Adi kesava temple .When i visited it few years back a elephant was thethered , probably the temple's.The birth place was strewn with grass and straws and reeked of elephants excretions.The house was also locked
In comparison Sri Desikan who is next in popularity and reverence to Sri Ramanujar in Vadagalai Sri vaishnavaite traditions seems to be more cherished .His place of birth in Kanchipuram[750 years back] which is a kilometre away from Sri Vardharajar temple , is neat It is also always locked .Neverthless the road leading to his place of birth is clean .Similarily the house where Desikan resided in Thiruveendra puram where he wrote a number of slokas and held scholarly discourses , is well maintained .So is the place of his refuge for 12 years in Satyagala , a small village .Thanks to individuals initiatives.
Sri Ramanujar is acclaimed by one and all .Sri vaishnavaites of both sub sects hail him as the foremost preceptor and are grateful for strengthning and popularising Sri vaishnavism .Vaishnavaite temples are grateful to him for systemising all temple festivals He is regarded by scholars all over India as a great philosopher and hailed as the propounder of Visishtadwaita which is one of the 6 schools of Hindu philosophy.
On other hand he is hailed by many as a man of revolutionary thinking who boldly overcame rigid caste restrictions that prevailed at his times by accepting all irrespective of caste to Sri Vaishnava fold.and treating them all with honour .dignity and respect.He is praised as a great social reformer by atheists , secularists and left.
It is a pity that everyone is of one mind in hailing his nature and achievments in religious and social sphere but no one wants to take the responsibility of showing that great man the smallest courtsey of maintaning and preserving his abodes which are full of history and spiritualism ,.Poor Ramanujar.
posted by K.C. Sujata at
12:03 AM
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