[Chaturamnaya] His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharati - 19

[S Jayanarayanan]

 http://svbf.org/journal/vol8no1/2006_10_swamigal.pdf
 
 
Preparations for the Kalady Consecration
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The Swami was all the while painfully alive
to the spread of materialism in the country over
which his matha claimed to possess spiritual
jurisdiction. The remedies he adopted, however
inadequate in his own estimation, were the
establishment of schools for the spread of Vedic and
Sastraic learning wherever possible, and his attempt
to create a generation of pandits who could go
about the country and combat the tendencies of
the age both by precept and example. He
established two Sanskrit pathasalas at Sringeri.
 
One other remedy had been slowly maturing
in his mind. He believed that unless the spirit of
the great master, Sankara, again descended on
earth righteousness could not be re-established in
the land; he could only pray for its descent.
Why not build a shrine at the birthplace of
Sankara, and place his murti there, which
would continue to be adored and prayed to by
hosts of sincere devotees and f rom which a
perennial stream of spiritual influence could flow
and flood the land? But the very birthplace had
become a dim memory; still it could be identified
by the description given of it in Madhava’s
biography.
 
While these thoughts were revolving in his
mind, Sir K. Seshadri Aiyar came on a visit to
Sringeri to pay his respects to the Swami; the guru
broached the subject to him. Sir Seshadri gladly
accepted the command, went to Malabar and by
enquiries found that Madhava’s description fitted
an uninhabited region in Travancore State.
 
The Swami resolved to clear the spot of the
natural growth of centuries and build a shrine
there; but this would take a long time and involve
huge cost and labour. Meanwhile, a small patch of
land where, according to local tradition, stood the
village where Sankara was born, was cleared and
a very eloquent and learned preacher of Vedic
dharma, Pandit Nadukaveri Srinivasa Sastry was
deputed every year to go there and conduct
Acharya Jayanti, a five-day festival in honour of
Sankara’s birthday, giving lectures every day on the
greatness and teachings of Sankara. This
continued for some years.
 
In 1905-06, V. P. Madhava Rao was the
Dewan of Travancore. This statesman had great
reverence for the Swami ever since he, as Deputy
Commissioner, received the Swami at Shimoga in
1885 while he was on his way to Gokarna. The
Swami thought that this was a good opportunity
for arranging to get possession of the land at
Kalady. Accordingly he sent his Agent N.
Srikantha Sastri and A. Ramachandra Aiyar to
Travancore on his mission.
 
The two had an interview with Dewan V. P.
Madhava Rao. They then went to Kalady and
inspected the place. The river Puma was flowing
by in a clear limpid stream; the bathing ghat here
was held sacred by the neighbouring villagers and
people used to come and bathe here on sacred
days like the new-moon, the tradition here being
that Sankara bathed at this very ghat, when he
came here for the last time to perform his
mother’s obsequies.
 
Nearby was a shrine of Krishna; as also a
matha belonging to a Nambudri sannyasi. All the
land about, known as Kalady Samketa, belonged
to this matha; but the sannyasi of the matha had
only janmi right--that of a landlord and was
entitled to nothing more than a fixed small rent
paid by the cultivating tenants who possessed
permanent occupancy rights. It was not easy to
oust these tenants or bring them to part with their
rights.
 
Just at this juncture came the Act of the
Governor-General India, Lord Curzon, for the
preservation of antiquities conservation of ancient
monuments. Similar enactments came into force
in the Indian States and it was now easy for the
Maharaja of Travancore to acquire all the land
known as the Kalady Samketa place it at the
disposal of the Sringeri Swami.
 
The Maharaja also sanctioned Rs. 10,000
for clearing the land of the growth of centuries
and building a shrine there. The Agent reported
all this to his master, who, seeing that the times
propitious for carrying out his long cherished
object, ordered that preparations be speedily made
for a tour to Kalady.
 
He consulted Sharadamba for a sign, for he
never undertook anything great without getting
the Mother’s permission. Two chits were placed,
one in either palm of the deity; the Swami
prostrations at the feet of the Mother and waited
for drop. That in the right hand was the first to
drop and it indicated wish of the Mother that the
Swami should start at an early date.
 
Maghasukla 5, Prabhava, about February
1907, was the earliest auspicious date for the tour.
 
A. Ramachandra Aiyar, who had retired
from the Judgeship of the Chief Court of Mysore,
and E. R. Subraya Aiyar, an engineering expert
who had been a high official of the Mysore
Government and had since retired, were deputed
in advance to Kalady to clear the limits of the
Kalady Samketa and build the shrines for the
murtis of Sankara and Sharadamba. It would take
two or three years for the Swami to reach Kalady.
So these two retired officials left Mysore in 1908,
two years being considered sufficient for the work
they had to do at Kalady.
 
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