(LATE)NADIPURAM KADAMBI RAGHAVACHAR

NADIPURAM KADAMBI RAGHAVACHAR
(this happened about 65 years back)

Raghavachar was one of the first cousins of our fathEr. His wife’s name is smt Pendamma.
Pendamma was from one of the families of veda vritti brahma vritti families of Nadipuram..she had one younger sister who waS married to a gentleman frOm Kancheepuram, smT pendamma used to call our fAther as “Anna” (Meaning elder brother) though she was senior in age to our mother she used to call our mother as “Manni” an honorific form of elder sister in law.
For any function in our house smt pendamma and smt singaramma (who was a cousin sister of our father and married to Dodda padam family) used to come and take part in the function and also do the kitchen duty or kitchen help.
Sri Raghavachar was very orthodox in his life stile. Due to the partition of property among the brothers of sri raghavachar shifted to Mysore. Seeing the orthodox way of sri raghavachar having heard about him the then pontiff of Parakala mutt SriBRAHMATANTRA Abhinava Ranganatha Mahadesikan appointed him for the work of “Madhkalam/Madokalam/madokalam” this duty pertains to preparing food for the pontiff and offering it to him during the afternoon. After all the rituals and pooja connected with the main deity of the Parakal mutt (Sri Hayagrivar) is over the preparation of food has to be done by a married orthodox person and it is to be first offered to the deity and them the Potiff will cover his head with a cloth and come near the door of the place where the food is prepared(Madapalli) and say thrice “Biksham Dehi” then the food prepared separately for the pontiff is offered only thrice into his leaf cup. This usually is very bland with no taste. This food is supposed to be taken in privacy by the Pontiff.
Sri raghavachar was given a residence on one of the units in the Dharmachathram (at present where the Hayagreeva college is functioning) There were other families also residing there who were orthodiox srivaishnavites and working in the parakala mutt. He was also provided with free food for himself and his wife. sri raghavachar was so orthodox he never used to take food in any of the houses of even the closest relatives. He had only one daughter. He partitioned the land ahd gave the half of it to his daughter and from the other half he gave it to venkata desikan and venkata varadachar the sons of his late elder brother. He had bequeathed this portion to his nephews after his passing away.
Sri raghavachar was a very good swimmer and even when the cauvery was in floods he used to swim in the river while he was at Nadipuram. He was a very good oarsman and he could easily navigate the river raft even during floods when the traditional rafters were afraid.
At Mysore His daily routine was to go to the Kukkarahalli lake early in the morning have bath and come home and perform the rituals of a householder including pooja and then go to the parakal mutt and join in any of the duties (Kaikaryam) and prepare food for the pontiff separately. This will also be offered to the deity along with those prepared for the consumption of others. The pontiff usually takes food only once in a day.. on certain days like newmoon day and sravanam and other days the Pontiff will fast. It was very rare that Raghavachar used to miss his duty even for a single day. He considered this as an honour betowed upon him by “Lord Narayana” for the merit he has accrued in the past. He was not a disciple of Parakal mutt but disciple of Andavan ashramam of Srirangam like all the Nadipooreans.
Shall we say that on one bad day when he went to Kukkarahalli lake there was not much crowd. He washed his clothes and entered into to the lake for his bath. By that time one srivaishnava idiot came there . he kept his golden strap watch and his clothes and entered water for a quick bath.. He knew Raghavachar and had some small talk. He came out of the water and dressed hurriedly and left. Raghavachar took his bath and performed sandyavandanam after adorning with 12 namam took the washed clothes and went home to perfomm his daily routines at the house. While he was in the middle of the pooja a police party led by one head constable and 4 constables came to his residence along with this scum of a fellow. This person had complained that when he went to take bath in the lake there was no crowd and there was only Raghavachar . he had kept his gold strap watch along with his clothes. When he retuned he forgot to take the watch and when he returned also there was no crowd in the Kukkrahalli lake. Raghavachar had seen his removing the clothes and also the gold strap watch and he must have taken it. The police wanted to search the house and after pooja Raghavachar who was not well versed in the local life permitted them to search the house . It was not found. How ever the police took Raghavachar into custody and took him to the head police station situated at the present Nehru circle (the junction of Irwin road and Asoka Road). By that time our father came to know about it and went to the police station. Raghavachar told the police that he did see the gold strapped watch being removed and kept along with the clothes but he did not take it nor searched for it. When our father asked him as to howhe knew that it was a gold strap and how come that he was in water and can see the watch strap and tell the police. He once again told our father he was not far away from the bank and as he did see the watch strap with watch he told the truth to the police. Our father sent words to the pontiff of Parakala Mutt. The pontiff was angry that a person of Raghavachar’s caliber has been humiliated and asked the police to release him. In the meanwhile our father told the police that he will deposit twice the cost of the watch strap with the police and asked for the release of RaghavachaR. THE POLICE FLATLY REFUSED SAYING THAT AS A CASE HAS BEEN REGISTERED ALREADY AS Raghavachar himself says that he has seen the watch strap kept with the clothes and as there was not much rush at that time Raghavachar will be produced in the court and he will have to obey the court’s decision.
The pontiff who was the Rajaguru of the Highness of Mysore he sent words to the King and asked him to intervene. I think at that time the Highness was at banglaore or so it reached the Highness by late in the evening. He immediately sent the order to release Raghavachar.
So he was released.. from the prison Raghavachar went direct to the Kukkarahalli lake and took bath changed the sacred thread and came to the Mutt and sitting in front of the sactum went on weeping and weeping. Even the pontiff did not say anything. As the pontiff did not want anyone other than Raghavachar to offer the afternoon “Bhiksha” even he had not taken any food. Raghavachar sat until the next morning and started to do his dury from the next day.. even the pontiff chided him as to why he told the police that he had seen the other person had kept the watch with golden strap and how can see the strap from the place where he was taking bath. Once again Raghavavchsrt told the pontiff that he did see the golden strap. The case was dropped.
TAIL PIECE: The person who had lodged complaint with the police had lots and lots of problems in the family and his eldest son died within the course of one month from the date of the above incident. This person who had complained and who was rich and could be clasified as above middle class person died in penury.
May be this was a coincidence or may be due to some other cause or may be due to the curse of God!