History

Historical Back Ground

The Hindu Society of the Nineteen Century Kerala was in the throes of severe spiritual decadence. The lofty Hindu traditions and its philosophical moorings were sadly side tracked by barren rituals and superstitious customes. Social evils like casteism and untouchability with all its ugly faces ruled the roost, drowning out all that was great and glorious in our precious past. This was the time that wandering mendicant Narendra Nath (later became as Swami Vivekananda) aghast at the deplorable signt of the Social matrix here, exclaimed in disgust that Kerala was a veritable mad house of castes and creeds. To redeem this land of Adi Shankara from that moral morass came to the fore a Hindu Reformation Movement named Navodhana Prasthanam. The much needed intellectual and moral leadership for the movement was provided by a clear headed savants, Vidyadhiraja Chattampi Swamikal & Sree Narayana Guru Dev.

Religion for an ordinary Hindu of those days was nothing beyond the mechanical celebrations of some festivals and ritualistic observances of some ceremonies. Those fastidious festivities did made heavy inroads into their Physical resources. In most cases they turned out to be the battle grounds to settle internecine sqabbles and family fueds. Holy temples far from being sanctified places of peace and tranquility were made to become veritable arenas of clashes and violence. The common man was thoroughly demoralised and was throwing his arms up in frustration. No wonder the disillusioned lot started becoming easy victims to proslytisation.

The great Preceptor

Vidyadhiraja Chattampi Swamikal was a unique an uncanny sanyasin. That simple and unassuming Sanyasin was indeed an intellectual prodegy who could enthral even a grand seer like Swami Vivekananda by his deep erudition and spiritual acumen. The liberated soul, as he was, never longed for any personal glorification nor he wanted any organisational prop up. His benign presence and impressive personality was more than a Himalayan inspiration for both the intellectuals and the common folk alike. His trusted disciple Swami Theerthapada Paramahamsa goaded the people of this Pampa basin to form an over arching organisation called Hindu Matha Maha Mandalam, bringing to its fold the entire spectrum of the Hindu diaspora. Under the aegis of this organisation a noval mode of spritual dissemination was eolved and he christened it as Hindu Matha Parishat. This was started in the year 1913 and was dedicated to his great preceptor Sri. Vidyadhiraja Chattampi Swamikal.

The Matha Parishat at a glance

The Hindu Matha Parishat, the week long annual religious convention at Ayroor - Cherukolpuzha, is the prime activity of the Maha Mandalam. This is essentially a panoramic presentation of spiritual discourses and religious expositions by eniment sanyasins and reputed scholars. These sumptous courses of the spiritual feast are interspersed by bhajans and scriptual renditions with appropriate interpretations. This is necessarly an attempt to bring home our traditional ideals and values to make a meaningful impact in our daily life in the present day context. They are held in the spirit of a solemn yagna on the vast sand bed of the holy river Pampa. This gala gathering is acclaimed as the biggest Hindu Convention in Kerala and perhaps one of the most notable ones in the Country.

Vidyadhiraja Cultural Centre

The parishat, steaming on confortably in the prescribed waters for the last 96 years, is certainly the flagship show of the Maha Mandalam. Now planning is under way to add a new dimension to the whole scenario by launching a fresh initiative known as Vidyadhiraja Cultural Centre. This is envisaged as a four pronged endeavour. A first rate reference library with special accent to promote indepth study in our cultural heritage and spiritual moorings is on the anvil. Another part of the Centre is an academic wing designed to conduct regular courses, trainings and competitions aimed at the younger gentry, together with a set of well groomed seminars and discussions meant to rope in the elders. The third in the list is a publication and doucmentation wing. To aid and abet all these activities a full fledged state of the art reprography facility is also included in the scheme of things. Thus Maha Mandalam is all set to emerge as a cultural binary with two effective mass centres, one the Parishat and the other the Cultural Centre.

An illustrative panorama of our past VIPS

We are proud to mention the names of Swami Sadananda, Swami Agamananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Guru Nitya Chaithanya yati, Matha Amrithananda Mayi, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Aryabhata, Swami Satyananda Saraswathi, Swami Nityananda saraswathim, Sri Sri Ravishankar, etc as illustrative examples of the Acharyas who graced the Parishat in yester years. Our greatful memory goes to eminant personalities like V.V.Giri, Ms Prema Panduranga, Sri. K.K.Kelappan, Sri. K. P. Kesava Menon, Sri. Mannathu Padmanabhan, Sri. M.P. Manmathan, Sri. Utradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, Justice Radhakrishnan, Sri. Mallikarjuna, Sri. O.Rajagopal etc. who enriched the Parishat sessions by their participation in the past. We are sure that these names bear ample testimony in general to the tone and tenor of the Parishat.