Nandanar, one of the 63 Saivite saints, is always a model devotee for the believers. For, despite the disadvantages of his social standing, he secured an exalted position by dint of devotion. But atheist and social reformers find in his story a regressive, caste-ridden society that humiliated an ardent devotee on the basis of caste and denied him entry into the Nataraja temple, Chidambaram.
Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, had a different perspective of Nandanar’s entry into the Nataraja temple. “Nandanar saw in the temple, which he was seeking to enter, freedom in his soul,” the Mahatma said while laying the foundation for the Nandanar temple in 1927 in Chidambaram. “I am hoping that this will be really a temple where we will be able to see God face to face as Nanda himself did and I pray that this may be a temple of freedom for everyone who would visit this,” he said. He was there at the invitation of Swami Sahajananda, a Dalit spiritual leader and social reformer.
A trust for education
Swami Sahajananda had established the Nandanar Educational Trust in Chidambaram in 1916 to educate children of the oppressed classes, especially girls. During the pre-Independence days, Swami Sahajananda was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council between 1926 and 1932 and again between 1936 and 1947. Later, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from Chidambaram and remained a member until his death in 1959.
A view of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at a pillar of Sri Sivaloganathar, Sri Nandanar Temple at Chidambaram in Cuddalore district | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar
Gandhiji had a special liking for Swami Sahajananda, probably, because he resisted the conversion of Dalits to other religions and campaigned against beef-eating, the subjects which were close to his heart.
While laying the foundation for the temple, Gandhi also touched upon the topics, urging the Dalits to give up drinking, beef- eating and cow slaughter. He was all praise for Swami Sahajananda, saying “He does not seek to destroy Hinduism itself as I see is being done in many places in the present time.”
Renamed at school
Sahajananda was born at Pudupakkam near Arani in 1890. He was named Munusami.
“He was renamed Sigamani at a Christian missionary school in Tindivanam. He quit the school when there was an attempt to convert him and other students to Christianity. He was forced to repay the money the school had spent on his food,” said Villupuram Lok Sabha member D. Ravikumar, who has published a monograph on Swami Sahajananda.
It was during his stay at Kolar in Karnataka, where his family had migrated to, that he was attracted to spiritualism. He interacted with spiritual gurus and his association with Karapathira Swamigal at Vyasarpadi in Chennai changed his outlook.
He gave him the name, Sahajananda, and advised him to work among the Dalits for their welfare. An authority on Saiva Siddantha, Swami Sahajananda visited Singapore and Malaysia to deliver lectures on the subject.
Memorial announced
Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had announced a memorial for him on a request from CPI(M) leader K. Balakrishnan and Republican Party of India member C.K. Tamilarasan in the Assembly. It was eventually inaugurated by her successor Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
A view of the plaque unveiled by Mahatma Gandhi at Sri Sivaloganathar, Sri Nandanar Temple at Chidambaram in Cuddalore district | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar
Mr. Ravikumar said that after Gandhiji and B.R. Ambedkar signed the Poona Pact, Swami Sahajananda, along with another Dalit leader Rettaimalai Srinivasan, visited the Mahatma. “He prostrated before Gandhi and paid his respects,” Mr. Ravikumar said. Gandhiji visited Chidambaram again in 1934.
The Hindu had extensively covered his visit to Cuddalore and Chidambaram and the function to lay the foundation for the Nandanar temple in 1927. At the function, attended by Congress workers and members of the public, Gandhiji echoed the words of Swami Sahajananda that Nandanar was one of the brightest stars among the “satyagrahis” of India. He also gave a philosophical interpretation of Nandanar’s entry into the Chidambaram temple and the story of his salvation inside the sanctum sanctorum. “You should understand that Nandan was trying to enter [the temple] by giving his life blood not in a temple built of stone and mortar only. Nandan saw in the temple, which he was seeking to enter, freedom in his soul,” the newspaper had quoted Gandhiji as saying.
He said that by their own lives, the devotees of the temple would be expected to purify the inward atmosphere of which the visible stone and mortar could merely be the symbol.
Brahmins castigated
Gandhiji also used the occasion to castigate Brahmins and their temples. “At the present moment, I know many temples, whether they be dedicated to Vishnu or Shiva, entered into and visited by thousands of the so-called Brahmins, which are no temples of God. Let this temple not be an addition to those numerous temples which today disfigure this holy land. But if you want to do that, those who will be in charge of this temple will have to purify their hearts of all anger.” He told Swami Sahajananda to make the temple at once the seat of devotion and a centre of learning.
Responding to Swami Sahajananda’s argument that the ‘khaddar’ (Khadi) movement could not be successful without the removal of the curse of untouchability, Gandhiji had contended the real untouchability would never vanish from the land until ‘khaddar’ was worn.
