Hyderabad: The Telangana government appears to have ignored well-known seer Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy for the much-awaited inauguration of renovated temple of Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy scheduled for March 28.
As the seven-day Vedic rituals for the re-opening of the temple began on Monday, the focus was on the absence of Chinna Jeeyar, who is considered as spiritual guru of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
It was the Vaishnavaite seer who had fixed the mahuratam for the inauguration of the temple located at Yadadri, about 60 km from Hyderabad.
The renovation of the temple is the brainchild of the Chief Minister KCR, who wants to develop it on a par with the famous Tirumala temple of Andhra Pradesh.
The seer has been involved in the mega project to advise the Telangana government on renovation of the temple and performing rituals as per the scriptures.
During his visit to the temple to review the renovation works in October last year, KCR had announced that eight days before reopening of the temple, Sudarshana Yagam with 1,000 Ritwiks will be performed under the supervision of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. This had come days after KCR visited his ashram during which the seer fixed the mahuratam for the consecration of the temple.
The Chief Minister has also announced before the media that Chinna Jeeyar has committed one kg gold for the temple from his ‘peetham’ for the temple renovation.
KCR announced a donation of 1 kg and 16 tolas of gold on behalf of his family. Several ministers, leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), businessmen and eminent personalities have donated gold for the gold plating of ‘Vimana Gopuram’ of the temple, which required 125 kg of gold.
However, the authorities are now going ahead with the temple inauguration without Sudarshana Yagam. The temple officials cited pending construction and logistics as the reason for the decision.
Asked if Chinna Jeeyar has been invited for the rituals and the temple inauguration, Yadadri temple executive officer N. Geetha Reddy said no special invitation has been extended to anybody. “We welcome all those who want to attend the yagam and other rituals,” she told reporters.
Last week, Chinna Jeeyar had made it clear that he will not go uninvited.
Everything appeared okay between the seer and the government till early last month. Things appeared to have taken a different turn with the inauguration of the 216-feet statue of 11th century saint Ramanujacharya. Named as the statue of equality, it was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 5 at Chinna Jeeyar’s ashram at Muchintal on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
KCR had not received the Prime Minister and also skipped the unveiling ceremony as he was ‘indisposed’. He did not attend the subsequent events held as part of 1000th birth anniversary celebrations of Ramanujacharya. He also stayed away from the concluding ceremony attended by President Ramnath Kovind.
The Chief Minister was reportedly upset with the seer as the inaugural plaque did not carry his name. It only had the name of Narendra Modi. However, the spiritual leader later clarified that KCR’s name was not included in the plaque as they were informed that he would not be able to attend the event due to some health problem.
Interestingly, KCR had visited the ashram two days before the unveiling of the statue to participate in the rituals. This was his last visit to the ashram and since then he has been avoiding China Jeeyara’s programmes.
Ahead of the Yadadri temple’s inauguration, Chinaa Jeeyar last week left Hyderabad for his ashram at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.
Some remarks made by the seer in response to queries at a news conference at Vijayawada ashram on March 18 indicated the differences with KCR. “I don’t have a gap with anybody but if the other side feels there is a gap, I can’t help,” he remarked.
He was also asked if he would attend Yadadri temple inauguration. He made it clear that they give advice when somebody approaches them. He said they did not have the habit of poking their nose into something or running after somebody.
The seer last week found himself at the centre of a row after alleged remarks on tribal deities Sammakka and Sarakka went viral, angering the tribals.
Various tribal and Dalit organisations and leaders lodged complaints with the police seeking action against him.
The seer, however, clarified on March 18 that he did not demean the deities. He said some portion from his speech made 20 years ago was picked up now and presented out of context.
He also remarked that somebody might have deliberately done this out of jealousy after seeing their recent success with the unveiling of the statue of equality.
