“What we are is God’s gift to us and what we become is our gift to God. I am a contented soul in performing the tantric rites and temple rituals at Sabarimala to self-satisfaction,’’ says Kandararu Maheswararu Mohanararu, the youngest ever Tantri (chief priest) at Sabarimala, who descended the holy hillock after the two-month-long Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season got over on Thursday.
Better known as Mahesh, this 23-year-old priest, son of Kandararu Mohanararu and Asha Mohanararu, assumed charge as Sabarimala Tantri on August 16, 2015, the first day of Chingam in the Malayalam calendar.
His assuming independent charge as Sabarimala chief priest was owing to the ill health of his 92-year-old grandfather, Kandararu Maheswararu, the senior-most Tantri of the Thazhamon family of Chengannur, which has the hereditary right of tantrihood at Sabarimala. The ceremonial re-dedication of the holy 18 Steps (Pathinettampady) after covering the steps with new gold plates in October 2015 was an eventful moment in the tantric life of Mahesh. Mahesh learnt Tantra from the renowned tantric scholar Mullappally Krishnan Namboodiri of the Aluva Tantra Vidya Peedhom. He had completed schooling at Sri Atmananda Memorial International School atMalakkara and B.Com. from Vivekananda College at Mylapore in Chennai. He is doing MA (Sanskrit) at Madras Sanskrit College in Chennai.
The Tantri’s room attached to the Ayyappa temple complex was full of Sanskrit texts that he had brought from Chennai for reading during off-work hours. Reading texts and scriptures had been his main hobby at the Sannidhanam, says the young Tantri, who will be leaving for Chennai on Sunday to attend his MA classes there from Monday itself. However, he has to return to Sabarimala on February 14 for the five-day monthly rituals.
Sabarimala’s youngest ever Tantri looks back at his first Makaravilakku season
