He looks just like any other saffron-clad ‘sanyasi’, but for the strikingly-different images all over his body.
Lakshmipathy Swami, who is better known as ‘Tattoo Swami’, hails from Udupi in Karnataka and is famous for his arduous treks to various pilgrim shrines across the country. Apart from universal objects like the Sun and the Moon, Lakshmipathy Swami got the images of Hindu deities such as Sri Venkateswara, Narasimha, Siva, Kali, Garuda, Hanuman, Ranganatha etc and saints like Madhwacharya and Vadiraja tattooed all over his body. There are 30 images on his body, including some on his forehead, temple and chest, which were done by a professional tattoo artist in Bengaluru.
Feeling irritated at the sight of youngsters getting weird images of dragons, serpents and grotesque creatures tattooed on their body, the 63-year-old monk replicated the same concept with divine images. “The cost of tattooing them alone cost me Rs.1 lakh,” he told The Hindu while proceeding to Tirumala.
His padayatra is meant to spread the message of peace, love and brotherhood enshrined in Sanatana Dharma. In the first leg of his trek that started in April from Udupi, he reached Tirupati after covering Mantralayam, Srisailam, Mahanandi and Ahobilam. From here, he visited Mangalagiri, Amaravati, Vijayawada, Draksharamam, Annavaram, Simhachalam, Arasavilli and Srikoormam and again reached Tirupati early this week. He walks around 30 km a day.
Lakshmipathy's pre-monastic name was Satish Achar, whose family roots are in Hunsur town, located between Mysuru and Kodagu. While his parents passed away at an early age, he lived with his elder brother till he attained 14 years of age, after which he took sanyasa. Since then, he has been wandering in search of truth and to spread the essence of Hinduism. The swamiji has a social face too. He has donated blood for around 30 times and has also donated a kidney to a friend in need. “After certain age, doctors have advised me against donating blood”, says 63-year-old monk.
From Tirupati, he has started his north-Indian tour to shrines like Ujjain, Rishikesh and Haridwar, which he will sign off in his home town of Udupi.
