For those in search of solace

Sri Prasanna Venkateswara temple in Gunaseelam sheds divine light on the distressed. PREMA NANDAKUMAR writes....

GUNASEELAM is a favourite temple, quiet, with open surroundings and the Cauvery murmuring close by. During one of my visits, it was just spreading twilight when I went in through the outside gate. Suddenly a young lady rushed at me from nowhere and caught my hands in a vice-like grip. ``He drove me out at night. He beat me again and again and pushed me out of the house. I banged at the door but he would not open. I was all alone at night on the road, whole night...'' Her eyes were shining brilliantly and glistening with tears.

Quietly an elderly lady came near and tried to lead her away, while a gentleman who had also appeared began to say, ``Sorry madam. It is our daughter.'' I understood. The mother and daughter walked away into the darkness to a building closeby while the father repeated to me the recurring tragedy of a dowry- harassment case. The girl had been ruthlessly kicked out in Bombay and a kindly neighbour had given him a telegram. By the time he had gone to Bombay, the girl had become incoherent with fear of the dark. Now she had improved and was on the road to normalcy. ``We have been here for nearly a month. The Lord is the only help for poor people like us!'' he said with feeling, bringing his palms together while gazing at the gopuram.

Lord Prasanna Venkateswara of Gunaseelam exemplifies the familiar Tamil dictum: Moorthi siridhu, keerthi peridhu the form is small, its fame is immense. Situated on the northern bank of Cauvery in Musiri district, the tiny village is still surrounded by the greenery of Nature. For centuries the spot has been a curative centre for those in the grip of mental disorders and an extant document says the village was gifted to the deity by a king, Deva Maharaya, and the document is also associated with Emperor Krishnadeva Raya. The temple has been administered by a group of hereditary archakas who are also trustees by rotation.

Surrounding the temple is the outer circle where there are a number of buildings big and small. There is a large building set apart for people with mental problems who can come and register for a period of time and take the curative course. The temple authorities help you with ritualistic rules like the raksha- bandhan to indicate the start of the programme. When I discussed with a person familiar with this aspect of the temple, I was struck by the scientific way in which the cure was offered. No miracles are assured or sought after. The quiet surroundings, the fellowship of others heroically battling to take control of their selves, the togetherness while chanting god's names sitting in front of the deity, the discipline of early morning baths in the cool water of the Tirumanjana Cauvery, the intake of food prepared in the temple as prasad (not mere food that nourishs the physical body but the gift of God that strengthens the soul) and a palpable faith that someone is closeby to help one in any circumstance achieve the transformation. There is a success rate of 95 per cent, I am told.

One can have a full view of Prasanna Venkateswara who appears as the familiar icon of Tirupati. The conch and the discus on his left and right upper hands, the right lower directing our sight to his feet, the left lower resting on his leg. However, a stick is also propped up on his right shoulder. The priest explains to me that those who are sick are given 0the assurance that here is a God who is already striking at and driving out the hobogoblins of the mind that afflict the patients, so they need worry no more. I marvel at the way our ancients had analysed the inscapes of the mental planes of consciousness and set up this form of Venkateswara.

Probably the first one to come up with this brilliant idea in a vision was the Rishi Gunaseela. Legends associated him with the rise of the temple. A worthy disciple of the famous sage Dalbhya, Gunaseela was enchanted by Venkateswara at Tirupati and prayed to the Lord to come to his ashram on the banks of the Cauvery. Accordingly, the Supreme came down again from the heavens as Prasanna Venkateswara. In course of time, the place was overgrown with anthills. The temple has been renovated from time to time and right now activities have begun for the samprokshanam next year. Stone work is going on in a large pandal set up in the other precints of the area.

Prasanna Venkateswara has several strings of gold and salagrama garlands. The deity is impressive, but not forbidding. One notes a gentle compassion in the face, and in the eyes. Call it what you will, a visionary's dream, a sculptor's marvel or the devotees heart: yet, each one of the moolavar images in our temples looks the same but appears different! Our particular salutation here is directed to the gold-plated stick in the Lord's hands. We shan't worry any more!

The archaka points out the Lakshmi on the chest of the deity. ``There is no separate temple for the goddess, Lakshmi never leaves the Lord for even a moment, ahaahillen iraiyum as Nammalwar says.''

The circumambulatory passage is paved with stone. One can often see patients going round or doing anga-pradakshinam tarry for a while to have darshan of the vimana and proceed again on the pathway . Here also, the psyche of the patient has been taken care of by the temple builders. Atop the vimana are figures of the Lord's incarnations and mighty lions. It comes as a surprise that not garuda but lions have been chosen for representation. One immediately associates the choice with Durga and Tantra, imaging the kinetic force of Vishnu-Durga making a direct contact with the evil in man and driving it away. Such an origin for the choice of images on the Vimana is possible for Gunaseelam as a curative clinic is part of a large vision our temple builders had when religion was closely related to the life of the community in terms of education, dance and music.

A thousand years ago the Chola kings had made arrangements for hospitals with beds, herbal gardens and nurses in temple environs. Stone inscriptions still carry some names for our benefit. Tirumukkudal had Kodandaraman Asvatthama Bhattan. The chief physician for Kunrattur temple was Kulottunga Chozha Mangaladhirajan Siralan. Srirangam's Dhanvantari temple dedicated to the health of the community had the famous Garudavahana Pandithar in charge of its activities. It is possible Gunaseelam too had such facilities and eminent physicians before. At present there are two helpers for those who come to spend specified periods of time and undergo the course known as ``vaaram''. If one's firm devotion for the Divine springs from the heart helped by the external image of Prasanna Venkateswara, a definite cure for ailing patients also springs from within them inspired by the same deity.Situated in serene surroundings,

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