Saffron sunrise in Visakhapatnam tribal areas

Visakhapatnam: A silent but a steady ‘saffron renaissance’ is going on among the tribals in Vizag Agency. The Agency till date has been dominated by Christian missionaries and churches are seen at every corner of the villages. Sarada Peetham of Pendurthy has now mooted a proposal “on the request of the tribals” to build at least 42 temples in Paderu and Araku mandals in the first phase to bring the tribals, who the seers say have been alienated from the main stream, into the Hindu fold.

Land has already been identified to build these temples and the Sarada Peetham has got the elders of these 42 villages to sign petitions requesting the Peetham and authorities to build temples in their neighborhood. The Peetham has also approached the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) authorities, seeking its intervention in the temple construction project as part of the temple authority’s ‘Dharma Prachara’ work - propagating Hindu dharma.

“TTD has been concentrating only in towns and big cities and ignoring the remote tribal villages due to which other religions are on a propaganda spree in Agency tracts. There is an urgent need to spread Hindu dharma and a need to take it to remote tribal areas where other religions already exist. We have requested both TTD and the state Endowments department to take forward the proposals of the tribals to build the temples,” Swamy Swaroopanandendra Saraswathy of Sarada Peetham told Deccan Chronicle.

The Peetham has offered to meet the expenses for installing the deities at the temples, which will run into a few lakh of rupees for each temple. According to Peetham estimates, it will cost around Rs 10 lakh to construct each temple. Notably, Hindu religious and spiritual organisations have started visiting tribal areas in Vizag Agency and are conducting various programmes including charity work of distributing blankets during winter. Special holy trips to the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirupati are also being conducted often.