'Anuthama'

Coming Straight from the Kaveri!

Author: 'Anuthama'* (in Tamil)
Some years back, I had gone to Orirukkai with Tiru Atmanathan, my brother-in-law
. I was very eager to have a look at the works done for the Paramacharyar Manima
ndapam there. For me who went with the expectation of listening to the music of
the chisels as if it were the sculptural world of the Pallava times, there was n
othing there. Only a few workers were there since it was the noon time of a Sund
ay. Even those people had gone for their lunch recess. Some thatched sheds were
seen here and there in the vast expanse of land.
When I thought that it was this expanse of land that was having within itself hi
ghly skilled sculptural works, the best skills of trained sculptors and the ordi
nary people who supported them, Maha SwamigaL took vishva rUpa within my mind. I
recollected and experienced again the first time I had darshan of PeriyavargaL.
It was the year 1940. My elder brother was in Tiruvazhundur. Having come to know
that SwamigaL was taking bath in the Rishaba Kattam there, I went there accompa
nied by our friend Bhavani Maami. When we reached the Mayavaram Kaveri banks in
a trot, it was seen that SwamigaL was on the opposite bank of the river. A crowd
had thronged the area. In the rush, that Maami held my hand and helped me cross
the river. We would have reached the edge of a large circle of the crowd--that
was all! As if a lightning flashed, PeriyavargaL surveyed the crowd momentarily,
ascended his 'mena' (palanquin) and disappeared.
We got back home, feeling depressed and sad. My father sent me with that Maami t
o the village where SwamigaL was camping.
We reached the village and stood in the central courtyard of the house (where th
e sage was staying). The pujas were over. SwamigaL was conversing with people at
a side of the courtyard. When we both prostrated to him and got up, a disciple
asked, "From where do you come?" Before we could open our mouth, PeriyavargaL sa
id, "From Mayavaram, straight from the Kaveri"!
My surprise won't be contained in words. How did he recognize two women who had
just come to an edge of a large circle of crowd of over a hundred people? He had
already ascended the 'mena'? How is this possible? I was overwhelmed by tremors
of ecstasy. I couldn't raise my tongue to talk. With me standing amazed, that M
aami told the details about us. He inquired about my father-in-law and my husban
d, blessed and gave me the prasAda. That tremors are not gone yet even today.
In a simliar vein, an incident (happened) 18 years after this darshan. We were t
hen residing in Velur. I expressed my desire to my husband that I longed for an
eye-filling, peaceful darshan of PeriyavargaL. He said, "You go today itself. St
ay there for four days and have his darshan to your heart's content. I may have
to come to Chennai on office work (after four days). I shall accompany you back
home from Chennai." I started with happiness.
At that time, Maha SwamigaL was camping in the premises of Chennai Sanskrit Coll
ege. I stayed in a relative's home. Every morning I would take bath and be prese
nt in the Sanskrit College. I would wander the area with the expectation of sigh
ting him somewhere. As if to meet my expectation, he would suddenly come out fro
m somewhere and bless someone. I would watch and enjoy it from a distance. After
watching the puja, I would receive the tIrtham, get back home and have my meal.
Then I would go again in the evening. I would watch the puja, listen to the gra
ceful discourse of PeriyavargaL and then only would return.
Since there was a tremendous crowd I could not go near PeriyavargaL, prostrate a
nd get his blessings. The day of my returning had also come. Considering that it

would be difficult for my husband to locate me when he comes at the puja time i
n the evening, I was standing on the last row of the gigantic thatched shed. Wit
h disappointment and longing, I was surveying the stage.
My husband came. He asked me, "What, had an eye-filling darshan?" I replied with
a tsk-tsk. "Yes, I had eye-filling darshan and ear-filling speech. But then I c
ould not go near him even once and prostrate to him?"
"For a week you have been in PeriyavaaL's dRSTi dIkSaNIya? Bathed in that look o
f grace. Still you have a grievance? Do you want him to see you, introduce himse
lf and say 'How do you do' to you? Are you such a celebrated woman? This is not
just greediness, but also too much an expectation," said my husband.
We bowed to him then and there, outside the pandal. I bid farewell mentally, loo
king at the stage that was far away. At that time, a disciple who was standing n
earby SwamigaL on the stage waved his hands in our direction with a gesture of c
alling someone to the stage. "Look, Periyavaa is calling someone near," I said w
ith jealousy.
My husgand hurried me, "Come come, we need to reach Velur this same night." Some
body touched his shoulder and said, "Aren't you Padmanabhan? Periyavaa wants you
and Anuthama to come to the front."
We proceeded to the front in surprise, everyone giving way for us. When we prost
rated to the sage and got up, he smiled at me and began, "Your father in Mayavar
am..." Like an asadu I interrupted him and said, "My father is no more now." He
continued, "No no (I am referring to an earlier time). At that time you all came
with the news that it was your aNNA's seemantham." I was stunned. A wave of bli
ss spread thoughout my body.
He asked my husband, "Ennada, I did (took) bhikSA in your house, you remember?"
My husband replied, "If Periyavaa asks me this way, what can I reply?" SwamigaL
gave a short, uproarious laugh and then asked a disciple to bring the prasAda pl
ate. vibhuti, kunkumam, matrAkSata were found on the cane plate that was brought
. He gestured to bring a fruit. A sweet lime fruit was brought. He took it, surv
eyed the fruit turning it this way and that, pressed it against his chest once,
and then placed the fruit on the plate.
"Both of you take these things together," he directed us.
When I got up prostrating he asked, "Anuthama*, (you) have satisfaction now?"! M
y eyes were flooded. My tongue got stuck to my upper jaw. I took leave with a bo
w. A mahAn to whom thousands of people the world over surrendered, who was a wal
king God on the earth, remembering and recollecting by going several years back
in time and blessing a woman who did not know if she was fit to stand in his san
nidhi and lived somewhere in a corner--how can that mother's heart be described
in words? That bliss is still green in memory.
Note:
* For those who are not familiar, 'Anuthama' (pen name of Smt. Rajeswari Padmana
bhan) was one of the famous Tamil fiction writers during the period 1960-1990, a
contemporary of such great women writers as R.Chudamani, Lakshmi and Rajam Kris
hnan.
Glossary:
akSata - unbroken rice, barley, whole, uninjured
aNNA - (Tamil) elder brother
asadu - (Tamil) a dunce, dullard, dimwit
dIkSaNIya - to be consecrated or initiated, relating to consecration
dRSTi - seeing, viewing, beholding, the mind's eye, wisdom, intelligence

Ennada - (Tamil) a second person singular form of address meaning 'you know what
', often used to indicate a close association.
maami - (Tamil) a brahmin housewife
seemantham - a pre-birth ritual for a male child, done between the fifth and eig
hth months of pregnancy.
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