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STHALA PURANAM.Pdf l INTRODUCTION The presiding Deity of Uttara Swami Malai Temple complex in New Delhi consecrated on the 7th of June,1973, as Lord Sivaskanda Murthy popularly worshipped as Lord Swakanda Swami . The construction of the temple complex has a Lord chequered history of nearly thirty years. Lord Siva Skanda Murthy has been a personal God to since a handful of ardent Bhaktas commenced celebrating the Sree Skanda Shashti festival from the year 1944, in New Delhi. As the years rolled-by, Sree Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha, formed in 1949, took over the celebrations, as a public function, in the year 1950 .The devotion to the Lord swelled and gathered momentum and in 1955, a South Indian industrialist and philanthropist from Patna, a fervent devotee , offered to pay for a metal icon of Lord Subramania with Valli and Devasena, for worship and taking them in a Procession ,each year at the end of the festival. The Sabha had, however, no proper place for installing the idols and conducting the daily proojas. Nevertheless, the devotes did not lose heart but commenced searching for a temple for Lord Swaminatha Swami. Sree Swaminatha Swami or Subramania or more popularly and Commonly ,called as Murugan , Shanmukan , Arumugan or Kandan in South India, is known as Lord Kartikeya in Northen India. There are, however, temple exclusively for Lord Kartikeya as the Presiding Deity, in the North . the temples dedicated to the Lord in South India are usually built on a hill or hillock or an elevated spot Tirupparamkundram , Palani , and Tiruttani on hillocks Swamimalai on an elevated spot Tiruchendur on the sea coast are the well known ones for their sanctitiy and dignity and have a long cherished religious history . They are also associated with famous saints and savant who lived and created deeply devotional religious literature and songs, sung in many a home. Location of A Mound For Construction of the Temple In 1961, a small mound was noticed by the devotees in the then undeveloped Ramakrishnapuram. The devotees felt that the mound could be a suitable location for building a temple for the Lord. It was the same year, the Kumbhabhishekam of Lord Vinayakar temple was performed in Sarojini Nagar. Both the places are not very far from each other. Coincidentally, a devotee had a dream on the day of the dream, a venerable very old man was deemed to have appeared before the devotee and asked the latter to lead him to the place of his abode. The devotee took the totrering old him to some distance. The old man, at that stage, pointed out a mound at some distance, as his place of abode, thanked the devotee for the assistance and disappeared all of a sudden. The next day, the devotee gathered his fellow devotees who were all interested in building the temple and led them all to the mound, he was supposed to have seen in the dream, the previous night, in the company of the old man. Lo and behold! It was the same mound that had been located a few days earlier, by the devotees, as suitable for the construction of a temple for the Lord. What further coincidence of a temple for the Lord. What further coincidence could one surmise than that Lord Swaminatha Himself had manifested before the devotee and confirmed duly the location that had been in the minds of his devotees. The mound as it was seen in 1961 Another elevation of the mound . The short tree seen has now growing big and is near the idumban temple (Insert) The structure seen on the mound has a legend. It seems that one Surajmal wanted to build a rest house for himself It seems that in Indraprasta days there was a temple for Lord Siva at that place . His father had a dream about the existence of the temple. He dissuaded his son to stop the construction which he did. It was against this background and other facts placed before him that his Holiness the Paramacharya of the Holy Kanchi Kama Koti Peetam, Blessed the commencement of the Temple Project, in principle. His benediction in 1961, proved a good augury for the subsequent course of events, over the years.Its should be started, in this context, that top of the hillock in North India, admirably conforms to the traditional practice of building temple for the Lord on hillocks in South India- the homogeneous religious and cultural unity of India, was thus to be maintained and preserved. Approiately, it came to be named as Uttara Swami Malai complementary to the well known sacred Dakshina Swamimalai, built several centuries ago, on an evevanted place. Historicity of the Mound An unexpected further coincidence, hitherto unknown, also came to the notice of the devotees at that time. Shri Ramachandra Dikshitar, then Deputy Director General of Archaeology got verified from the Physical map of Delhi whether the mound could have some special significance or historicity. He found that there was a mark “ R.P.” on the map , to indicate that it was once a religous place of worship . How significant these two letter “R” and “P” were will be shown elsewhere, in the succeeding Paragarphs. Birth of Sree Swaminatha Seva Samaj and the Early Efforts Dr. B. Gopala Reddy was the then Union Minister of Works, Housing and Supply in the Council of Ministers. With the background course of events and the archaeological evidence, with its historicity, placed before him, the Honourable Minister was good enough to allot the mound and the surrounding area to the initial devotee promoters, for a consideration of Rs.25,000/- on the condition that they formed themselves into a Registered Society. Thus, was born the Sree Swaminatha Seva Samaj on the Vijaya Dasami Day in October,1961, and the commencement of worship in a humble "Balalayam". Many public spirited citizens, all devoted to the Lord, joined the promoter Bhaktas to build the temple. It was registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, Act XXI of 1860, (Punjab Amendment Act 1957, as extended to the Union Territory of Delhi) by the Registrar of Societies, Delhi. Its Registration No. was S.1991 of 1962-63, dated the 5th of April 1962.The newly Registered Society was fortunate to have Sangeeta Kalanidhi Shri T.L.Venkatarama Iyer, Honourable Judge, Supreme Court of India, a renowned scholar, a master of Carnatic music, a pious and a deeply religious man, as its first President. By the Grace of the Lord, the newly formed Society was able to mobilize the initial funds from the devotee public, for the purchase of the plot. assume the Presidentship of the Samaj. In the year 1963, Shri O.V. Alagesan, the then Honourable Minister of Petroleum and Chemicals, in the Union Cabinet, became the President, succeeding Justice Shri T.L.Venkatarama Iyer. Under the aegis of the new President, the office bearers were able to launch a scheme of fund collections for the laudable project. Shri Alagesan was also able to prevail upon Shri M. Bhaktavatsalam, the Honourable Chief Minister of Madras (as Tamil Nadu was then called), for help in mobilizing funds from the temples in South India. An official letter was issued by the Chief Minister to all the temples in the South, to help the Samaj in its sacred venture. It was a very graceful gesture on the part of the Chief Minister. The response was very encouraging. A team of office bearers of the Samaj proceeded to South India to solicit and receive the blessings of His Holiness Jagatguru Chandra sekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (Venerable Paramacharya) of the Holy Kanchi Kama Kati Peetam and of His Holiness Sri La Sri Kasivasi Arul Nandi Thambiran Swamigal of the Sri Kasi Mutt, Tiruppanandal, for the project. His Holiness of the Sri Kasi Mutt was extremely generous by making a land endowment of the value of Rs.1.50 lakhs. The original picture of Lord Balasubrahmania Bhaktas climbing an improvised pathway to placed for worship “Balalayam” presently seen Celebrate The first Sree Skanda Shashti under a canopy in the Aadi Sankara Hall. after the decision to build the temple at the Sthal. Assumption of the Office of the President, by Shri. R. Venkataraman This intial endowment gave a tremendours fillip to the poineering efforts of the budding Samaj. Various temples of South India contributed encouraging monetary help to the Samaj to go ahead with the task of construction of the temple for Lord Swaminatha Swami in the Capital , that would stand as a sequel religiously, culturally and architecturally , to temples in the South, decicated to the Lord. At this stage of intiating the preliminary steps in mobilizing the needed resources for commencing the construction of the temple Shri O.V. Alagesan relinquished his ministerial office and returned to Tamil Nadu. .Shri R.Venkataraman, present Patron-in-Chief who had held high profile political offices and high profile Ministerial offices in the State of Tamil Nadu as Minister of Industries and in the Union Council of Ministers, Holdings the crucial portfolio such as Industry, Finance and Defence and finally, as Pooja Rashtrapathiji, had just in 1964, embered from the political arena of tamil nadu was joining the all India arena as a tall political figure took over as the third President of the Samaj succeeding Shri.O.V. Alagesan. His Holiness the Pramacharya of the Holy Kanchi Kama Koti Peetam, who has graciously monitoring the progress of the Samaj, at every stage. In its formative years, advice him to assume the Presidentship of the Samaj. Pattumalai Kuppam rock with garland Ths rock was making sculptured statues Sarvashri V.Ganapati Stapati, K.Balakrishnan,at Pattumalai Kuppam, Walajabad,for Pooja cut for before Commencing cutting and scuituring of idols and statues The subsequent history--continuous methodical record of progress of the Samaj in building the temple complex and in enhancing its religious sanctity as an ideal place of worship over the year would show beyond all reasonable doubt that the assumption of the office of President by Shri R.Venkataraman, was apparently in response to a divine message to him as it were from Lord Swaminatha Swami Himself, through His Holiness the Paramacharya and not a mere succession of the office of President ship of the Samaj.
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