Priests spar over shape of Tirumala idol’s tilak

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 22

The popular hill shrine at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh is caught in a controversy over how the idol of Lord Venkateswara should be decorated.

A tussle has broken out between the two warring Vaishnava sects of the temple priests on how the “Namam” (forehead mark or tilak) of Lord Venkateswara’s should look like. There has been a long-standing rivalry between “Thenkalai” and “Vadakalai” sects of priests over matters of temple rituals and traditions.

The row has touched a new low when the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) chief priest Ramana Deekshitulu’s son and priest Arun was suspended for applying “wrong shape of Namam” on the idol. The action followed a complaint made by the Pedda Jeeyar Swamy, one of the hereditary chief of a Mutt located in Tirumala.

The Mutt claimed that the priest had put the Thenkalai Namam instead of Vadakalai Namam.

The “Vadakalai” sect of priests prescribe a ‘U’ shaped Namam, while the “Thengalais” root for a ‘Y’ shape one. Incidentally, both the sects belong to the Sri Vaishnava group and are also often referred as the Iyengar Brahmins.

The rival sect of priests has threatened to move the court over the alleged “intentional change” in the “Namam” of the idol. According to the temple priests, the size and shape of the “Namam” are governed by the principles of “Vaikhanasa Aagamam.”

The change was noticed by Sri Pedda Jeeyar Swami who complained to the TTD authorities. The TTD, in turn, kept a tab on the performance of the priest and took the decision to exclude him from “Abhishekam” duties after they found him erring over the matter of applying “Namam” to the idol.

An apparent change in the practice on what adorns the idol has resulted in one of the sects planning to approach the court. It is not the first time that the two groups have sparred over the matters of temple tradition.