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        Growing patronage from the locality and more visitors have made the Sakthi Vinayagar Bhaktha Samajam at Vadapalani to formulate plans for the spacial expansion of its famed temple.

        There is also a popular demand for the installation of Lord Shiva idol in Sakthi Vinayakar temple at Dhanalakshmi Colony, but due to space constraint the long-felt desire of many devotees are left unfulfilled. 'On festivals and religious occasions, the temple is crammed with multitudes throughout the day and number of arrivals is increasing by the day. Hence, we have drafted a proposal for expanding the temple from its rear-side,' informs P Prabhakar, president, Sakthi Vinayagar Bhaktha Samajam and former manager at Addison Company.

        Located at the western end of Senthil Andavar Street, the temple was set up after a group of people at the colony went around to enlist 300 donors who poured in funds to set up a modest shrine with just a presiding deity in 1978. Also, the then Panchayat Board allotted a piece of land at a dead end of the colony for the proposed temple.
 

Sakthi Vinayagar Bhaktha Samajam president P Prabhakar and its secretary R Ramamoorthy in front of the temple at Dhanalakshmi Colony

        In course of time, more statues were added including Navagraha (planetary Gods) icons, Anjaneya idol and Vijaya Durga figurine. Daily poojas are being held without fail for the main deities. The temple also has papier-mache idols of Perumal, Ayyappan and Murugan, all of which are mounted on pedestal at the rear-side for public viewing and garlanding the moulded icons. Realising the steady rise of visitors to the temple and running its administration an uphill task, the managing committee handed over the entire affairs to a newly-formed Samajam led by

        P Raghavan, the brother of the its present chief, nearly 13 years ago. One of the milestones was the consecration of rajagopuram (tower facade) in 1998 which further made the Vinayagar deity a centre of religious fervour in the neighbourhood.

        On the eve of Vinayaka Chathurthi, a 10-day cultural fete is organised in which the Samajam invites talented and renowned artistes in music and dance to stage performances. For many years, Mandolin Srinivas, a resident of the locality, is giving a free, inaugural recital to flag off this cultural jamboree at Satkhi Vinayagar temple. 'It is to be noted that we pay for every artiste who performs in our Chathurthi festival. But living with us for long, Srinivas has never accepted fees for his show,' informs Prabhakar.

        During Navarathri, the nine-day festival over an avatar of Goddess Lakshmi, the focus is on promoting talents from the locality who stage their events on a podium in front of the temple. 'We mobilise funds through donation and sponsorship from local people. There is good public support for us to undertake social projects like health and eye camps and mass feeding,' says R Ramamoorthy, secretary, Bhaktha Samajam.

        For the eye camp held during February - April, the Samajam has tied up with Sankara Hospital at Pammal which used to send a team of doctors for diagnosing patients. Those in need of operations are taken by the hospital team to Pammal and after eye-surgery, all of them are transported back to the colony. Free spectacles are also distributed through sponsorship. 'We supply calender to nearly 1,500 families in the colony in partnership with civic groups. Also, we issue local directory for the use of our residents,' explains Ramamoorthy.

        Recently the Samajam carved out a wooden replica of an expanded temple with an upper storey and presented to Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati for his views. But the pontiff on seeing the two-tier model rejected it stating that Aagama Sastra don't approve of a two-tier structure for a temple. 'So, we dropped such a model for our temple expansion. But when we told him of the demand for Shiva idol in the temple, the Kanchi seer asked us to install Shiva - Parvathy couple in utsava moorthy (for procession) model for conducting pradosha rituals every month. He also expressed a wish for a Murugan idol (utsava moorthy) for conducting kirthigai, sashti and other rituals,' recalls Prabhakar.

        Now the only option the Samajam has to install these idols is through expansion of the temple at rear-side. 'We have approached Prasad Lab who owns the vacant plot at the back-side of the temple for giving us just half-a-ground at concessional rate for us to fulfill the wishes of devotees and accomplish the task set out by the Kanchi seer,' he informs. In near future, at least 30 per cent of all social activities of the trust will focus on uplifting the poor and underprivileged and in this direction, a free dispensary near the temple is also being toyed with.

        At present, the Samajam and their patrons are waiting for a favourable response from Prasad Lab on the issue of providing land for them to expand the temple, a landmark of sorts at the far end of Vadapalani.