Nanjundapuram village with its thatched roofs, narrow roads, old buildings and potti kadai looks like something out of a Bharathiraja movie. At one time the Noyyal River’s Raja Vaikhaal (Grand Canal) cut through the village feeding its vast coconut groves and betel leaf plantations. There are old temples still standing and the Bathrakaaliamman one is highly revered. It is this temple that keeps them united and prosperous, say the inhabitants of the area. The temple is 150 years old.
A kalvettu (stone inscription) that was excavated from the temple premises in 2012 reveals that the temple was built in 1864 by Kondamoopan Chetty. The fifth generation of Kondamoopans take care of the temple now. “This temple belongs to three sons in our family who are our grandfathers. It marks the heritage of our village and of our family. It is an honour to serve it,” says K.Vijiyia Balaji, who was the major contributor of funds and put in a lot of effort to renovate the temple premises recently.
Over 10,000 people were offered Annadhaanam and many more visited the temple on its Maha Kumbhabishekam last May. It has one of the largest Kundams (fire pit) that measures 60 feet and the temple celebrates every occasion with grand fervour. Says Balaji, “During festivals and celebrations each community takes on a particular responsibility and we work in co-ordination. It feels like brothers coming together to celebrate a family function.” The temple has no hundi and all its expenses are handled by the family.
T. Rajathi from the village applies the kumkum prasad offered by the priest in the Bathrakaliamman temple on her forehead. She says that their Amma has blessed many. “From education and job to marriage and children, the goddess never refuses our sincere prayers”. Rajathi herself had prayed for a Government job, and now she is teaching in an elementary government school. In gratitude, she donated her entire first month salary to the temple.
The family owns two other temples, built around the same time as the Bathrakaaliamman Temple. They are a Vinayakar and a Pandurangan temple. This is the only Pandurangan temple in Coimbatore and probably one of the oldest in Tamil Nadu. Kondamoopan Chetty dreamt of someone who stood on a brick with his hands on his hips. It resembled Lord Pandurangan who is said to love bhajans. He took his dream as a sign, for his people loved to sing bajans, and so he built the Pandurangan temple in his village. “People sang in the temple every evening in those days. The street outside the temple was packed with people on important occasions and one could hear them from anywhere in the village”, says J. Agilan, one of the sons of the family who takes care of the temple.
As Balaji opened the Pandurangan temple doors for me a very old Tambura fell from the corner of the temple hall where it rested against the wall. Obviously it has not been in use for years. The sanctum has the idols of Pandurangan who stands flanked by his wives Satyabhama and Rukmani.
The Pandurangan statue is a replica of the one in Pandaripuram temple in Maharashtra that Koondamoopan Chetty visited after his dream. There are many paintings on the wall from Kondamoopan Chetty’s time, but they are now covered in dust. “Some are more than 200 years old. We threw away many because the frames fell apart”, Balaji says.