7. Preparations for the Kalady Consecration
The Mahaswamiji was, all the while, painfully aware of the spread of materialism in the country over which his Peetham possessed spiritual jurisdiction. The remedies he adopted, however inadequate in his own estimation, were the establishment of schools for the spread of Vedic and Shastraic learning wherever possible and his attempt to create a generation of Pundits who could go about the country and combat the tendencies of the age both by precept and example. He established a Sanskrit Pathashala at Sringeri on which, as observed already, he caused to be spent annually, by no means small, (in the 1900’s) a sum of Rs.12,000/-. He had about him a succession of advanced students, whom he trained, in the course of the twelve years of his quiet stay at Sringeri and sent in batches, fully equipped to fight the evil of agnosticism.
One other remedy, he had been slowly maturing in his mind. He believed that unless the spirit of the great master, Sri Shankaracharya, again descended on earth, righteousness could not be re-established in the land. He could only pray for the descent. So, why not do something more to help 'the re-descent’! Why not build a shrine at the birthplace of Sri Shankaracharya, and place his statue there, which would continue to be adored and prayed to, by hosts of sincere devotees and from 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 Madhaviya-shankara-digvijayam, an authentic biography on Sri Shankaracharya.
While these thoughts were revolving in his mind, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer came on a visit to Sringeri to pay his respects to the Mahaswamiji. The Guru broached the subject to him. Sir Seshadri Iyer was one who esteemed the blessings of the Mahaswamiji as greater than any other good. So, Seshadri Iyer gladly accepted the holy command, and in spite of his multifarious duties, he proceeded to Travancore and made inquiries regarding the birth place of Sri Shankaracharya as described in the Madhaviya-shankara-digvijaya. There, he learned about the existence of three different places with the name Kalady. One was near Thiruvananthapuram, one near Ernakulam, and another near Kozhikode. On enquiry and with help from the state officials, he found that the description found in the Shankara-Vijaya matched with that of a spot covered by Kuttanad (a low-lying area covering parts of Alleppey, Kottayam and Quilon Districts) falling in the division of Kottayam in Travancore State. And that was the village Kalady that he was looking for. He not only found every description mentioned in the Shankara-digvijaya applicable to the place, but he found that its intrinsic beauty was such as to make it worthy of being the birth place of Sri Shankaracharya.
The River Purna was flowing deep through this land and nature had lavished there, all the wealth of charming scenery. The Dewan then returned to Sringeri and made the Mahaswamiji fully acquainted with the facts. The Mahaswamiji determined to clear the spot all round of the natural growth of centuries and build a shrine there; but this would take a long time and involve great cost and labour. Meanwhile, a small patch of land, where according to local tradition, stood the village where Sri Shankaracharya was born, was cleared and a very eloquent and learned preacher of Vedic-Dharma, the late Pundit Nadukaveri Srinivasa Shastri was deputed every year to go there and conduct Shankara-Jayanti (the day marking the birth of Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada), in the form of a five-day festival, giving lectures every day on the greatness and the teachings of Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada. This continued for some years. People from the adjacent parts of the country would come to this place on such occasions and enthusiastically share in the celebration. In a few years, a longing was created in the minds of the people there to acquire all the land roundabout and build a shrine there for Shankara Bhagavatpada; but it was not easy to get possession of the land.
By this time, eleven years had elapsed since the idea of the consecration of Kalady first germinated in the mind of the Mahaswamiji. Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, who had discovered the birthplace and whose influence was very powerful, was now no more, as also Pundit Srinivasa Shastri. The Mahaswamiji knew that nothing great was achieved without difficulties. He simply bided his time. During 1905- 06, Sri V.P. Madhava Rao was the Dewan of Travancore. This statesman had a great reverence for the Mahaswamiji, ever since he, as Deputy Commissioner received the Mahaswamiji at Shimoga in 1885, while he was on his way to Gokarna. The Mahaswamiji thought that this was a good opportunity for arranging to get possession of the land of Kalady. Accordingly, he sent his agent and Dewan Bahadur A. Ramachandra Iyer, to Travancore on this mission in 1905 C.E. They made known the long cherished intentions of the Guru regarding the consecration of Kalady, both to the Maharaja of Travancore and his Dewan V.P. Madhava Rao.
Here a few words about the agent and the late Sri Ramachandra Iyer may not be amiss.
The agent of the Peetham then was Sri N. Srikantha Shastri, due to whose dispassionate exertions, the prosperity of the Math improved manifold. Brought within the influence of the Mahaswamiji at an early age of twelve, he received his education and training from the Mahaswamiji. He was found to possess an aptitude for management and the material concerns of the Peetham were entrusted to his supervision. The wisdom of the Mahaswamiji's choice is shown by the remarkable progress made by the Math’s Jagirs, in matters financial and in the improvements effected in the institutions of the Peetham. He would have made a name for statesmanship of a high order in other circumstances, but the training he received under his master and the spiritual inspiration he drew from him, led him to devote all his energies to unselfish service under his master.
His younger brother, generally known as Krishna Shastri, was adopted by the wife of the elder brother of Mahaswamiji in previous Ashrama (stage of life), Lakshminarasimha Shastri, learned Nyaya and Vedanta under the Mahaswamiji, became a great Sanskrit scholar and pundit and Dharmadhikari in the court of the Maharaja of Mysore. He was known as Mysore Dharmadhikari Kunigal Rama Shastri (his adopted name) and he and his elder brother had been bound up with the fortunes of the Peetham for about forty years. Srikantha Shastri was also a poet of great merit, specially trained in this branch of fine art under his master. Srikantha Shastri's lament at the departure of the Mahaswamiji and the ode on his mission to Kalady may be mentioned here for their sweet simplicity of style and elegance of expression. His poetical pieces have been published by the Sri Vani Vilas Press, under the title Guruprasada-mahima-adarsa, a mirror of the powers that can be conferred by the grace of the master, an epithet which shows that it was the master's grace that conferred on the author his poetic powers, his chasteness of thought and expression.
Dewan Bahadur A. Ramachandra Iyer was born of very poor parents at Panangudi, a village in Nannilam Taluk, Tanjore District — the only son of his father who had several daughters. His father, at great sacrifice, gave him English education. After the completion of his education, Ramachandra Iyer was first employed as a schoolmaster on a monthly salary of Rs.70/- in Malabar. He then took the B. L. Degree and settled at Madras as a lawyer of the High Court of Judicature. He soon rose to be the leader of the Bar and became distinguished for his forensic skill and learning. The Maharaja of Travancore requested the Government of Madras to select someone for the Chief Judgeship of the Travancore High Court. The choice of the judges of the Madras High Court unanimously fell on Mr. Ramachandra Iyer. He accepted this offer, though, peculiarly, he was a loser thereby, for he had a very lucrative practice at the Madras Bar and his salary as the Chief Judge of Travancore was far below his income as a practising vakil. But a Judge's quiet life was more congenial to his temperament. With his earnings as a lawyer, he had built a decent house in his native village, had purchased landed property there and placed his parents in comfortable circumstances. He himself had no children; but his sisters had many, whom he brought up and educated at his expense and he spent a considerable portion of his earnings in giving stipends to poor, deserving students.
Hardly had a year passed after accepting the Chief Judgeship of Travancore, when he was invited by the Maharaja of Mysore to accept a judgeship in the Chief Court of Mysore. He accepted the position and was a Judge till he retired. He had seen the Mahaswamiji for the first time in 1891, when in response to the invitation of his friend, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, he had gone to Mysore where the Mahaswamiji was putting up in the Dewan's quarters on his way to Rameshwaram. In 1895, when the Mahaswamiji was at Bangalore on his way back from a tour, Ramachandra Iyer had the second interview. He was a good and upright gentleman, with high principles and liberal with his purse in a good cause; but so far he had shown no inclination for any religious pursuit. The Mahaswamiji, however, was able to note his latent possibilities. He simply invited Ramachandra Iyer to Sringeri, where there would be greater opportunities for leisurely conversation. This, Ramachandra Iyer did at the earliest opportunity, when his heart was touched by the Mahaswamiji's deep piety, his immense learning, and his simple, unostentatious life, amidst all the grandeur of his position. One visit was succeeded by another, till he made it a rule to spend all his vacations at Sringeri. Little by little, he learnt at the master’s feet, till spiritual quest became his one, all-absorbing pursuit. He now wished to retire altogether from public life and simply waited for the master's permission. Three years he waited for getting the required permission and when at last he got it, he retired, though the Maharaja was loath to part with his services and thereafter he devoted himself solely to the service of his spiritual master.
Now to resume the narrative: Mr. Ramachandra Iyer and Mr. Srikantha Shastri went to Travancore and had an interview with the Dewan, V.P. Madhava Rao. They then went to Kalady and inspected the place. The River Purna was flowing by, in a clear limpid stream; the bathing-ghat there was held sacred by the neighbouring villages and people used to come and bathe there on sacred days like the new moon, the tradition here being that Sri Sri Shankaracharya bathed at this very ghat. Nearby was a shrine of Krishna, as also a Math belonging to a Nambudri Sannyasin. All the land about, known as Kalady Sanketa, belonged to this Math; but the sannyasin of the math had only jennmi right (the hereditary owner of the land, who traditionally could not sell it) - that of a land-lord and was entitled to nothing more than a fixed light-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 of India, then Lord Curzon, for the preservation of antiquities and conservation of ancient monuments. Similar enactments came into force in the Indian States. The Government of Travancore acting under this Resolution acquired the land of Kalady, freeing it from all encumbrances in order to carry out the desire of Mahaswamiji to commemorate and preserve the birth place of Sri Shankaracharya and place it as an offering at the disposal of the Mahaswamiji. The Maharaja also sanctioned a sum of ten-thousand rupees for clearing the land of the growth of centuries and building a shrine there. The agent reported all this and the great generosity of the Maharaja of Travancore to his master, who, seeing that the times were propitious for the carrying out of his long cherished object, ordered that preparations might be speedily made for a tour to Kalady.
He consulted Sharadamba for a sign, for he never undertook anything significant without getting the Mother's permission. Two chits were placed, one in either palm of the image; the Mahaswamiji made prostrations at the feet of the Mother and waited for one chit to drop. That in the right hand was the first to drop and it indicated the wish of the Mother that the Mahaswamiji should start at an early date. Magha-shukla-panchami, Paraabhava, about February 1907, was the earliest auspicious date for the commencement of the tour and preparations for the same were immediately taken on hand.
Soon after this, the agent of the Peetham received a letter from the Private Secretary to His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore stating that it was His Highness’s intention to visit the Mahaswamiji in Sringeri before the latter set out on his journey and that he would be in Sringeri before the fifth day of the dark half of Magha and inquiring whether this would suit the Mahaswamiji’s convenience. The journey of the Mahaswamiji had already been fixed in accordance with the Command of Goddess Sharadamba for the fifth day of the bright half of Magha. So it was decided that the Mahaswamiji would set out on that day, proceed to Kigga which was the Ashrama of Vibhandaka Rishi and reside in the closeby Narasimhaparvata for a fortnight, then come to Sringeri on the way and give his Blessings to the Maharaja, who would arrive there to visit him and after that, proceed on his further tour.
The officials of the Math, as commanded by the Mahaswamiji, made all necessary preparations for the intended tour of the Mahaswamiji as well as for receiving the Maharaja in a manner befitting the dignity of the Math.
The Mahaswamiji had become so accustomed to his quiet, contemplative life at Sringeri and Narasimhavana during those twelve years that he could not easily reconcile himself to the idea of parting from the Sharada shrine for a period of several years, for a tour, with a large body of followers, attendants and other servants, horses and cows, bulls and elephants, infantry and a small contingent of horsemen, materials and palanquin-bearers and all other paraphernalia of royalty meant slow marches, not more than say, ten miles at a stretch, halts at important villages on the way, long or short according to the circumstances of each case, so that the journey to and back could not be done under three to four years.
On Friday, the fifth of the bright half of Magha in the year Paraabhava S.S.1829 (1907 CE) in the auspicious moment of Abhijit Muhurta, the Mahaswamiji finished his religious duties for the day and set out from his residence in Narasimhavana with the images of Sri Shankaracharya and Sri Chandramoulishwara before him, crossed the Tunga River, went to the Adhishthana of his Guru, received his permission, went to the temple of Sri Sharada and after deeparadhana, performed his prostrations and recited some verses in a voice choked with emotion, which is worth quoting. It runs:
किं नाहं पुत्रस्तव मातुः सचराचरस्य जगतोऽस्य ।
किं मां दूरीकुरुषे देवि गिरां ब्रूहि कारणं तत्र ॥ १ ॥
किं चाहुराचार्यपादास्त्वद्भक्ता मद्गुरूत्तमाः पूर्वम् ।
औरसतनयं मां तव कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ २ ॥
आनीय दूरतो मां मतस्त्वत्पादसविधमतिकृपया ।
परिपाल्य च सुचिरं मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ३ ॥
अतिपरिचयादवज्ञा प्रभवेत्पुत्रेषु किं सवित्रीणाम् ।
न हि सा क्वचिदपि दृष्टा कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ४ ॥
कादाचित्कनमस्कृतिकर्तॄणामप्यभीष्टदे तरसा ।
नाहं सकृदपि नन्ता कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ५ ॥
गुरुरूपेणाबाल्यात्सोढ्वा मन्तूंश्च मत्कृतान्विविधान् ।
परिरक्ष्य करुणया मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ६ ॥
जगतां पालनमनिशं कुर्वन्त्यास्ते भवेत्कियान्भारः ।
अहमम्ब दीनवर्यः कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ७ ॥
पापान्निवार्य सरणौ विमलायां मे प्रवर्तने तरसा ।
कर्तव्ये सति कृपया कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ८ ॥
यद्यप्यन्यानन्यान्देवानाराधयामि न त्वं ते ।
सर्वात्मिकेति चपलः कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ९ ॥
यात्राऽशक्तमिमं मां गलितशरीरं रुजा समाक्रान्तम् ।
पात्रमहेतुदयायाः कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १० ॥
तव सद्मनि गुरुसदने विद्यातीर्थालये च बहुसुखतः ।
खेलां कुर्वन्तं मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ ११ ॥
त्वत्क्षेत्रनिकटराजन्नरसिंहाख्याचलेन्द्रश्रृङ्गाग्रे ।
स्वैरविहारकृतं मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १२ ॥
त्वत्पादपूततुङ्गातीरे विजने वने चरन्तं माम् ।
अनुघस्रं मोदभरात्कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १३ ॥
तुङ्गातीरे दिनकरनिवेशनिकटस्थले विपुले ।
ध्यायन्तं परतत्त्वं कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १४ ॥
तुङ्गातीरे रघुवरमन्दिरपुरतः सुदीर्घपाषाणे ।
कुतुकाद्विहरन्तं मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १५ ॥
जातु च नरसिंहपुरे तुङ्गातीरे सुसैकते मोदात् ।
विहृतिं कुर्वाणं मां कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १६ ॥
यतिवरकृतात्मविद्याविलासमनिशं पठन्तमतिमोदात् ।
कुहचित्तुङ्गातीरे कस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १७ ॥
शङ्करभगवत्पादप्रणीतचूडामणिं विवेकादिम् ।
श्रृण्वन्तं नृहरिवनेकस्माद्दूरीकरोषि वद् वाणि ॥ १८ ॥
The following is the substance of this song: ‘You are indeed the Mother of the entire Universe; but am I not your child in a special manner? Why then do you send me away from you now? Has not my master and your devoted worshipper handed me over to you as your own true-begotten son? Why then do you now send me away from you! You brought me here from a distance, O Mother, kept me by your side a long time and guarded me safe and now you send me away. Familiarity indeed breeds contempt; but is it so between a mother and her children? I am getting old and infirm; ailments are assaulting me. I was till now passing my time happily, visiting my Guru's shrine or the shrine of Vidyatirtha (Vidyashankara) or wandering at will on the heights of Narasimhaparvata, or in the lovely solitudes of Narasimhavana or quietly meditating on the banks of the Tunga at the large place near the temple of Suryanarayana or moving about on the very long stone in front of the temple of Lord Rama on the bank of the Tunga or sitting on the fine sands of the Tunga, reciting to myself the Atmavidyavilasa of the best of Yatis (Sadashiva Brahmendra) or hearing that poem of Sri Shankaracharya, Vivekachudamani. Why then do you now send me away from you?' This is the central theme of the poem.
Then the Mahaswamiji left the place with tears streaming from his eyes and continually looking back to take one more look at Goddess Sri Sharada. It has already been stated that the desire on the part of the Mahaswamiji to rebuild the temple of Sharada in stone was of long standing and that steps had been taken towards its realization. As fair progress had been made in that direction, the Mahaswamiji, when he came out of the temple after his visit to Sharadamba, laid the foundation stone of the temple, gave to the masons who had come from South India, Prasada, conveying his blessings and after seeing them commence the work, set out on his journey.
In accordance with the custom in the Math, he placed the image of Sri Shankaracharya and the metal box containing the Chandramoulishwara in the golden palanquin which had been decorated and placed near the outer gateway and walked for some distance. The inhabitants of Sringeri came there and with prostrations to the Mahaswamiji, submitted to the Mahaswamiji their feeling that Sringeri without him would be unendurable, and that they were afraid that they would not continue to enjoy in his absence, immunity from diseases and other evils. The Mahaswamiji, who could not bear the sight of distress of any kind, pacified them with his kind looks and kinder words. Many of the inhabitants begged the Mahaswamiji to enter their houses and purify them by the dust of his feet; and the Mahaswamiji went into the houses of a good many people and accepted their offerings.
That evening at 6 O’ clock, he set out from Sringeri and rested the night at a village named Hulugara about two miles from Kigga in the house of Chennakeshava Rao, a person well known in the Malnad areas. The next morning, the Mahaswamiji accepted Pada-Puja, Bhiksha and other services rendered by Chennakeshava Rao as well as a donation of two thousand rupees offered by him out of his devotion for the consecration of the Kalady. The Mahaswamiji considered the unexpected gift of money as a good omen for the success of the undertaking and blessed Chennakeshava Rao. In the evening, he proceeded to Kigga and encamped there.
On the next day, the Mahaswamiji worshipped Rishyashringeshwara in the prescribed manner with offerings of clothes and ornaments and gave tirtha and Prasada to his disciples assembled there. He remained at Kigga that night. The following morning, he left Kigga and reached Narasimha Parvata, a hill situated at a distance of five miles from Kigga. There, absorbing his mind in Brahman, he became immersed in an ocean of bliss. He remained in that place till the fifth day of the dark half of Magha. On the evening of that day, he set out for Sringeri and arriving there, halted.
The next day, at nine o’clock in the morning, the Maharaja Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV with the Maharani of Mysore as well as His Highness, the Yuvaraja of Mysore, arrived in Sringeri. By the command of the Mahaswamiji and in accordance with the custom, the officials of the Math and the inhabitants of the place welcomed the Royal party at the entrance to the village with great loyalty and devotion and conducted the Maharaja, seating him in a Golden palanquin to the Math. The Maharaja alighted from the palanquin at the entrance to the Math and entered the temple of Sri Sharada on foot and performed his prostrations before the Mahaswamiji who was seated in the presence of Sharadamba. He then received Prasada from the lotus hands of the Mahaswamiji. After mutual inquiries of welfare, the Maharaja took leave of the Mahaswamiji. Again, at five o’clock in the evening, the Maharaja crossed the Tunga River and proceeded to Narasimhavana and had a private interview with the Mahaswamiji. The Maharaja expressed his appreciation of the kindness of the Mahaswamiji in having postponed his journey for his sake. The Maharaja had already issued necessary instructions to receive the Mahaswamiji in a fitting manner and look to the comforts of his camp when the latter travelled through his territory and requested the Mahaswamiji to stop for a few days at his capital on his way to Kalady.
It has already been stated that His Highness Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV was born as the result of the blessings of Sri Narasimha Bharati Mahaswamiji, the Guru of the Mahaswamiji. The Maharaja was an unexampled combination of all that was best in Eastern and Western culture. Brought up and trained by an Englishman in the best traditions of Western culture, he yet retained a deep attachment to and reverence for the hoary ideals of ancient India; his piety was almost instinctive. His life, in the midst of all royal pomp and luxury, was simple and sanctified by sincere faith in the scriptures. Withal, as the ruler of the premier State of India, he was administering his wide dominions with a political insight and ability that are fully marvellous, initiating great reforms in consonance with modern democratic ideals yet preserving the best traditions of Indian rulership.
The Mahaswamiji blessed the Maharaja with the Upadesha of the Srividya and Shivapanchakshari mantras and presented him, for his worship, a Srichakra and a Shivalinga and also taught him the mode of their worship. The Maharaja then took leave of the Mahaswamiji humbly stating that he would await the arrival of the Mahaswamiji in his capital city of Mysore. The Mahaswamiji performed the Mahashivaratri worship in Sringeri itself. On the fifth day of the bright half of Phalguna in the year Paraabhava (1907 C.E), he continued his journey and passed through Kadur, Hassan and Tumkur districts. In these places, the officers of the Government rendered all necessary assistance to the Mahaswamiji and his entourage in a manner befitting the love and regard shown by the Maharaja towards the Mahaswamiji and earned his blessings.
A.Ramachandra Iyer, who had retired from the Judgeship of the Chief Court of Mysore and E.R. Subbaraya Iyer, a qualified and expert engineer 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 Sanketa and build the shrines for the image of Sri Shankaracharya and that of Sharadamba. It would take two or three years for the Mahaswamiji 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. ◀◀◀▶▶▶