Controversy hits temple makeover at Yadadri

Hyderabad: The Rs 1,800-crore development of the Yadadri temple complex is being designed as per Vaishnava customs, against the practice at the temple which has always given priority to the Madhwa and Smartha traditions. 

The Yadadri temple has no idol of either Ramanujacharya or the 12 Alwars (Tamil poet-saints who devoted their lives to Vishnu), except for a small one of an Alwar. The Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA) is now developing an Alwar Mandapam with 12 sculptures-cum-pillars, each one costing '19 crore. It is also developing a few other mandapams around the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Lakshmi Narsimhaswamy temple.

“Besides, we are developing a mandapam for the saint Ramanujacharya (founder of the Vaishnava tradition),” YTDA vice-chairman G. Kishan Rao told mediapersons.

At the entrance, idols of Abhayanjaneya Swamy (the kshetra palaka, protector of the shrine), Bhakta Prahlada, Yadadri Maharshi (who meditated on Lord Narasimha and became the hill Yadagiri) and saint Ramanujacharya will be installed, Mr Rao said.

Telangana Archaka Samakhya president Gangu Bhanu Murthy said Yadadri had a mixed culture and Lord Lakshmi Narasimha was the deity for not only the Sri Vaishnavas but also Madhvas (followers of saint Madhvacharya), Shaivaites, Smarthas and Vaidikas (followers of Adi Shankaracharya) and even Niyogis.

“Devotees of Lord Shiva in the Vaidika/Smartha/Shaiva tradition have Lord Narasimha as their family deity. A majority of Madhvas, especially those belonging to the Vyasaraya Mutt, have Lord Lakshmi Narasimha as their family deity. The Yadadri temple is a symbol of mixed traditions with Vaishnava and Vaidika priests,” he said.

Palakurthi Narasimha Ram Siddanthi, known as Kodakandla Siddanti for writing the panchangam (almanac), said equal priority is given to both Smartha and Vaishnava traditions at Yadadri. 

The government has to take suggestions from experts in other traditions while taking key decisions over the development of Yadadri, the siddhanti and Mr Bhanumurthy said. 

Priests at Yadadri, who were not willing to be identified, said there was no sculpture or idol of Saint Ramanujacharya inside the temple. The introduction of idols of the saint and the Alwars was an indication that it would become a Vaishna shrine, a priest said. “The Alwar mandapam was not in the original plan and was added later,” he said.