Bhairava Ashram at Rajulakandriga village, close to Nagalapuram waterfalls, 40 km from Puttur, is home to about 50 dogs. Served with biscuits, vegetables, milk and vegetarian diet, these canines are revered as “Kala Bhairavas” (a Hindu deity known as the fierce aspect of Lord Shiva and ruler of Time).
The ashram took its birth at the tranquil forested location last year, when a practitioner of Ayurveda and Siddha medicines, Jagannatham Yesu Padham (58) of Balreddi Kandriga hamlet of Uttukottai taluk of Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, three km from Chittoor district border, migrated here to take care of his family of dogs. People of this village forbid pet dogs in households since generations.
Two decades ago, while returning from the jungle after collecting herbs, Yesu Padham came across an injured puppy. He took it home, nursed it and released it into the street, but it wouldn't work. The pup lingered on, and a week later two more joined it. In a few years, a small family of canines was formed. Threatened by villagers, Yesu Padham tried several times to release the dogs at other places, but they would reappear soon.
For the next one decade, he became a favourite of dogs, and their numbers gradually increased, and so was the intimidation of the neighbourhood to “free himself from attachment of dogs, or face banishment from the village”. For another decade, the opposition from the villagers increased, and many dogs were poisoned and clubbed to death.
On December 31, 2015, Yesu Padham took a New Year resolution to live for his family of canines. His wife, Ribka (55), and daughter, Priya (25), supported him to go ahead with the painful, yet inevitable move, to leave their native village. Known as “Kala bhairava p (lover of dogs), Yesu Padham is popular as a Siddha practitioner in a number villages on the Chittoor district-Tamil Nadu border. One of his admirers provided him land to set up his Bhairava Ashram at Rajulakandriga village.
After his arrival at Rajulakandriga, the number of dogs in his company grew gradually, as the local stray dogs joined him. The canines, which take a strict vegetarian diet, including wild grass chutney, have turned into docile animals.
Having rescued a number of dogs from road mishaps and diseases, Yesu Padham says that he would continue to be in the service of “Kala Bhairavas” till his last breath. He recently obtained an old SUV and uses the vehicle as an ambulance for transporting the injured or sick dogs to hospitals.
