Raghu-Ketu-Thiruppaampuram: Life and Legacy of Thiru TSN

Thiru.Thiruppampuram Somasundaram Nataraja Sundaram (Thiru TSN) is a charismatic personality which gave us an enthusiasm to gather his earlier life and the contributions made by him to the society and to the Lord Sadapuriswarar at Thirupamppuram. They are grouped as follows

His early life and education;

His married life and the affection shown by him towards his family;

As a devotee of “Mupperunthaivangal” Swamy Ramakrishana Paramahamsar, Swamy Vivekanada and Annai Sarathaammai;

As a Social worker who made his contributions for the upliftment of the down trodden and rural people; and Thonder of Arulmigu Saedapureswarar Temple, Thiurpampuram, Thiruvaroor District.

He was born as a fifth son of Thiru. Somasundaram and Tmt. Pattammal, a family which is a devotee of Saiva Samaiyam who were living at Thirupaampuram for the past nine generations at Thiruvizhimizhalai, the temple town of Lord Thiruveezhinathar. He had three sisters, one elder brother and two younger brothers. He studied at Banadurai High School and Govt. High School at Palani.

His ambition is to become a Tamil teacher and so continued his teacher training at Gandhi Vidyalam and to support his family financially, he came to Chennai in search of a job. He had a helping hand from Tmt. G.K. Parvathy Ammal who was working at the Ramakrishna Missionary to join as a teacher in one of the schools of Ramakrishna Missionary Schools at Chennai. At this time he stayed at T.Nagar with an orthodox family of Thiru.W.R Govindan and Tmt. Jayalakshmi Ammal. He became so affectionate towards them and served them as a son till their last days.

He married Selvi. Ramathilagam in Thirukokarnam town, found near Trichy in 1972. He had three intelligent, beautiful daughters who were called by his friends and relatives as “THREE PEARLS” of TSN. Thiru TSN continued his education to fulfill his ambition and became a pulavar by receiving the degrees B.Litt and B.Ed from Annamalai University and M.A degree from Madurai Kamarajar University. He encouraged his wife also to continue her education and she also received degrees to qualify herself to become M.A., B.Ed. He is a good teacher, a good disciplinarian by himself and he has preached the same to his beloved students. Today we find his students not only in our country but all over the globe contributing for the betterment of the human life and society.

He has well planned the education of his daughters also. His elder daughter Selvi T.N. Vijayalakshmi is physically challenged and discontinued her studies. But being very intelligent with administrative capacity she looked after the “Murali Electricals” with her father’s guidance, who later on married to her maternal uncle Thiru. V.Tamilarasu, who is a well disciplinarian and affectionate brother of Tmt.T.N. Ramathilagam. Tmt. Vijayalashmi is having a son Er. T. Vijay Venugopal who is employed in a software company “Cognizant” at present. His Second daughter Tmt. Jayalakshmi is a rank holder, gold medalist with two awards and cash prize winner of Anna University and IIT Madras in her under graduate and post graduate degrees of Engineering. She is married to Er. T. Kumaresan and she is having a very intelligent, talented daughter Selvi. K. Kirthika with multiple skills. His third daughter Dr.Uma Maheshwari became a renowned Dentist under the able Guide ship of Prof. Gnansundaram who is a father of “Oral Medicine and Radiology” in India. Her project “Lip Print” which was submitted to the Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University for the partial fulfillment of degree of MDS under the guidance of Prof. Gnansundaram, [who found a significant place for the Dentistry in Forensic Science] won the best dissertation award [2006] from the “National Academy of Oral Medicine and Radiology”. She is continuously presenting many research articles in the national seminars and conferences thus fulfilling her fathers’ dreams.

His ancestors were made many contributions to the Saiva Samayam, and naturally he was also the follower of Saiva Samayam and when he joined as a teacher in one the schools of the Ramakrishna Missionary he become the staunch follower of the “Mupperunthaivangal” namely Guru Mharaj Ramakrishana Paramahamsar, Swamy Vivekanada and Annai Sarathaammai. He continued to show his Bhakthi and respect to Swami Padmasthanandha and to the disciples of “Mupperunthaivangal” also throughout his life time.

Thiru. TSN in his life time helped many down trodden, rural village people to continue their education for which he has provided food and shelter in his own house. Those who cannot continue their education due to their family background and some other reasons, he has helped them to get trained in electrical and plumbing works. He has helped them to get the ITI certificate to get job. He has helped not only his friends and relatives to construct a house near by his house but also for many people those who were fond of his help to construct their house. His friends used to call him as a “Annathana Piriyar” because of the interest shown by him for providing food for the devotees of Lord Saedapureswarar. In the later stages of his life he planned to construct an “Annathanakoodam” for the welfare of the devotees who are visiting the Temple of Lord Sadapureswarar at Thiurpampuram.

In the later part of the twentieth century he came to know many of his family members were suffering from Raghu- Sethu thosham (Naga thosham). In order to perform the Parigaram for the Naga thosham, he was discussing with his elder brother Dr. T.S Shanmugasundaram and from him he came know about the Thirumpampuram Sadapureswarar temple that, it is also one of the “Parigara Sthalam” for Raghu-Keth thosham. Thirupampuram is a place where his ancestors lived for many generations but he himself do not know much about the naturally beautiful Thirupampuram village and the importance of ancient Saedapureeswarar temple which is located in the centre of the village.

After hearing about the Thirupampuram Saedapureeswarar temple, he immediately started collecting information about the temple and he came to know that it was three among the four (Nalvar) namely Thiru Gnanasampanthar, Appar and Sundarar who recited the songs of “Thevaram” mentioned about this temple. Thirupampuram was known as “Kulothunga Chola Chadurvedi Mangalam” during the Chola period. Thiruppampuram has the combined power of the other five holy places namely, Kudanthai, Thirunageswaram, Nagore, Keezhpermpallam and Kalahasthi. This is the place where the panchalingam represents the five faces of the Lord. Since Rahu and Kethu assumed and lived in single body and worshiped Lord Shiva, this holy place is known as Raghu-Kethu Sathalam. Thiru. TSN gathered the important information of the Temple and visited the temple. He found it was uncared and the deities were not at all maintained at that time.

Those who worship Raghu-Kethu, the Lord and the Goddess of this holy place are freed from their sins. Their wishes are also fulfilled. Raghu and Kethu who are responsible for this greatness have their shrine located in the North-East corner.

Thiru TSN and his family members worshiped all the idols of the temple and were about to come out the temple at that time Dr.Ganapathy Krishnan said to TSN that you are going to perform the Kubaabhishagam for this temple in near future. Thiru. TSN was not impressed by the statement of Dr.Ganapathy Krishanan at the first instance, thinking that to perform Kumbabishigam for this temple in the present condition will be a Himalayan task for an individual. Later on by the wish of Lord Saedapurueeswarar, he took the initiatives to perform the Kumbabishegam for the temple. He visited the temple many times to conduct the ”Uzhavara Pani”. During one such occasion he found a statue of “Attama Nagangal” and with great difficulty he has consecrated the same near the right side of the temple entrance.

Kumbabishegam was performed with the blessings of “Karuda Baghavan” on 11.9.2002 between 9.30am and 10.30am.Tharmapuram, Thirupananthal, Thiruvavaduthurai Adhinakarthakkkal and Ramakrishna Mission Sri. Padmasthanandha Maharaj graced the occasion by their presence. The Kumbabishegam was successful by his untiring efforts of six months. History of Thirupampuram temple- including Thalapuram text was written by Thiru. S. Krishnamurthy and was published to high light the occasion by Thiru. TSN.

After about eight years he again took initiatives to establish 108 stone statues of Nagangal and Bronze idols of Attama Nagangal in the temple and consecration ( Prithishtai) function was performed on 31^st Dec 2010. The main festivals like Masi Magam and Arudhra Darisanam were performed regularly by the efforts taken by Thiru. TSN.

Now Thirupampuram once again become a well known “Parikara sthalam” for the devotees. The beneficiaries are praising the efforts of Thiru TSN and the blessings are poured on the TSN family. Today Thirupampuram village is developed to a greater extent.

He was planning to construct an “Annathana-Koodam” for the devotees of Sadapureesvarar and an Arch near the Karkaththi, the entrance of Thirupampuram village. But he was not able to fulfill is desires in his life time but with the blessings of Saedapureeswarar these works are under progress now.

His views on the present Education System.

1 . Tamil Nadu State Mass education system is very strong but at the same time due importance must be given for the Class Education.

2. Communication skills of the students must be developed at the school level itself in Tamil as well as in English languages in order to reduce the professional unemployment in Tamil Nadu.

3. Students must be given adequate training at the school level to compete in various competitive examinations.

4 Special programmes and training must given to the “School drop outs” to enhance their special talents and skills which are inherent with them.

5. Students must be motivated to develop their personality to meet the demands of the Multi National Companies.

6. Equal opportunities must be given in education for the female and male children by their parents.

His advice for the youth

1. “Health is Wealth”. Every youngster must try to be fit not only mentally but also physically.

2. Every youngster must always update his knowledge to be in the fore front.

3. Every youngster must aware of the fact that the pollution free globe should be reserved for the future generation.

4. Our culture and civilization has to be preserved for the future generation.

Before concluding this brief “Life of Legacy of Thiru TSN”. We will be failing in our duties if we are not mentioning the role played by Tmt. T.N Ramathilagam in Thiru TSN’s life. Always the social workers especially if they are helping for the unknown persons of the family, it will be difficult for their wife’s to adjust in this situations. Whenever Thiru. TSN visits his native village he will be back accompanying one or two persons, those who were in search of job in Chennai or to find a place in the city colleges to continue their study. He will provide shelter and food in his own house to such persons till their problem is getting solved. Some times many students stayed in his house for years together. In the earlier stages of their life, even Annai Kasthuribai Gandhi faced the same situation with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhiji, later on Annai Kasthuribai Gandhi understood the Gandhian Philosophy well and adjusted with Ghandhiji. So also Tmt.T.N Ramathilagam understood the attitude of Thiru. TSN very well and without a word she used to take care of their guests by taking care for their food and shelter as was done by Annai Sarathaammai to the disciples of his beloved husband Gurumharaj Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsar. If their guests were sick during their stay in their house she took special care to provide suitable food with motherly affection till their illness is cured.. She is continuing to look after the legacies left behind by Thiru TSN. We all pray for her long healthy life to full fill the ambitions of Thiru. TSN. This charismatic personality carried out his social work and “Daiva Thirupannigal” for nearly 50 years in his life time. He is neither a politician nor a Government officer or not even a rich man. By his hard working, whatever money he has earned, he has spent for the welfare of the society. He has joined with the Lord Saedapureesvarar in his divinely world on 14.8.2011.

Unveiling the Portrait of Thiru TSN

The unveiling of TSN’s Portrait function was held at Ramakrishna mission school on 14.8.2012 at 4.35 pm. The Swami Padmasthanantha graced the occasion by unveiling Thiru TSN’s Photo. Biographies of Thriu TSN written by Tmt. TN Ramathilagam, Tmt.TN.Vijayalakshmi, Tmt. TN.Jayalakshmi and Dr. TN.Umamashwari Titled “Thirupampuram Nataraja Sundaraththin Vettri Cheriththiram” in Tamil and “Life and Legacy of Thiru. TSN” written by Dr. S.Palani and Dr. P.Shanmugasundaram in English were brought out to high light the occasion. In both the biographies much information about the Thirupampuram temple is given.

Unveiling the Portrait of Thiru TSN by Swamy Padmasthanatha on 14.8.2012 at Ramakrishna School, Chennai.