Uttara Swami Malai Temple, New Delhi

In pre-independence days the Tamilians in Delhi worshiped a wooden idol of lord Swaminatha given by Sri Ramana Maharshi. Since 1944 the Delhi Tamilians have been celebrating Kantha Sashti with grandeur. Despite this, they were yearning for a temple for Lord Swaminatha built in southern style of architecture. Ramakrishnapuram which is like a mini Tamil Nadu now, was a forest area then with a hill located at the centre. The devotees thought that this was the appropriate place to build a shrine for Lord Muruga who loved hills for his abode.

Meanwhile, a Ganesh temple in Sarojini Nagar, Delhi was consecrated in 1961. On the same night, one devotee had a dream. In his dream an elderly person asked him to escort him to his residence. Acceding to his request the devotee accompanied the elderly person. At one point he stopped and said that his dwelling place had come and suddenly disappeared. Amazingly, that was the same location they had chosen as Lord Muruga’s abode.

As a first step towards this, they went with this proposal to Jadguru Sri Chandra Sekarendra Saraswathy Swamigal of Kanchi Mutt. Swamiji graced them with his blessings. Then the devotees quickly got the government’s approval for the project.

In the past, a king called Surajmal had planned to build a holiday resort at the same place. But his father dreamt that at one time that place housed a Shiva Temple and hence the idea was dropped. This was documented with the Government and this made the approval easy. Head of the Thiruppanandal mutt Sri Muthukumaraswami Thampiran commented thus, ‘Whoever the ruler of the kingdom, Lord Muruga has ensured that none could alter his chosen abode.

In the year 1961 a committee by the name of ‘Sri Swaminatha Swamy Samaj’ was formed. This committee purchased that land from the government. Work began on the construction of the temple and stones were brought from Pattumalaikuppam near Valajapet and sculptured in Mahabalipuram. The sage of Kanchi gave his blessings and asked them to use the remains of the stone from which Senthilandavan’s idol was made before sixty years for making the presiding deity in the sanctum sanctorum. The devotees were delighted to know this.

This stone was lying in a place called ‘Kurukkuthurai’ in Thamiravaruni river basin. Kurukkuthurai mentioned by Sri Sankaracharya was a stretch more than one mile in length and breadth. Moreover in those sixty years many portions of this stretch had turned into dunes. For the devotees to excavate that vast area was a mammoth task. The priest of Nellaiyappa temple suggested they consult octogenarian Sri Sundara Dikshidhar for his help as he was actively involved when the stone for Senthilandavan was taken from that place sixty years ago. When they sought his help for this purpose he was elated and said that so far he had only completed 50% of his life’s mission and God had kept him alive only to complete the remaining 50%. He said he could guide the devotees to the exact location where the stone was lying.

Thirty labourers were employed to excavate the stone. After they worked for a full day and night, the triangle shaped stone was found lying ten feet underneath. The stone was dug out at an auspicious time on 2^nd of June 1965 and sent to Mahabalipuram. Lord Muruga came in the form of Paramacharya to bestow his grace.

The tests and trials did not end there. When the sculptors began their work on the stone they found that the sound emanating from it revealed that it was not a suitable stone for carving a male deity. The sculptor Ganapathy got perplexed and went to have the darshan of Jagadguru in Kanchi. There he was standing in the queue when Maha Periyava (‘the great sage’) called him by his side and asked to carry on with his work. He said that with time everything would be alright and it happened so.

His Holiness Śrī Chandrasekarendra Swamigal blesses the vigraha at Kanchipuram, April 1970.

The work was over and the idol was sent to Jagadguru’s perusal. After a quick examination, he remarked “You have carved the rudraksha mala in stone to distinguish Him from Lord Swaminatha in Swamimalai.” Sculptor Ganapathy was amazed to hear this. Even the dimunitve nuance could not escape from his scrutinizing eyes. (Lord Swaminatha is adorned with rudraksha stringed in silver.). Jagadguru kept the idol with himself for a whole day and night. He was so overwhelmed with happiness that could not keep his hands off the idol of his lord. He performed vibuthi abishekam (smearing the sacred ash) on the lord. Ganapathy sthapathi shared this with the assembled devotees during the consecration of the temple.

The devotees were put to some more tests by the almighty. The rest of the statues for the temple were ready and the time 6.30 A.M to 8.30 A.M on 8^th September 1965 was chosen as the auspicious time for laying the foundation stone by Sri Sankaracharya. But all the devotees plunged in sorrow after the radio announcement that the Pakistani air force had planned to attack the Indians. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who was to preside over the foundation ceremony expressed his inability to attend the function. Relief came in the form of another radio announcement and the subsequent siren sound announcing the defeat of the Pakistani Air Force. The Indians had sighted the Pakistani aircraft at 4.30 A.M at Shadhra near Delhi and shot it down.

Foundation was laid at the exact time as planned. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr Bhaktavatsalam and Sri Sadhuram Swamigal presided over the foundation ceremony. A few minutes before the foundation ceremony prime minister sent a message. The essence of the message was that Lord Muruga, the commander of the celestial army took charge of the three forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) and victoriously put an end to this war as soon as it started. He further wished the function a grand success.

Agama¹ sastra prescribes 25 items to be kept beneath the idol. Those 25 items along with Subramanya Sarva Vaseekarana Yanthra² were to be placed underneath the idol. This was also an interesting phenomenon. As ordained by Sri Sankaracharya, the head of the Dharmapuram Agama Veda Patasala, Sivashri Swaminatha Sivacharyar had carved the yantra on a silver plate. At the same time, Ganapathi sthapathi had also drawn a yantra on a paper and received the blessings of Maha Periyava (as Sri Sankaracharya is affectionately called). A confusion arose over which yantra was to be placed beneath the idol. After a close analysis it was found that one yantra was more related to Lord Shiva and another to Lord Muruga’s Shanmuka Yantra. Thus the Shanmuka yantra was engraved on the other side of the silver plate overnight and was embedded under the peetam³ of the idol. Thus Lord Shiva and Lord Muruga are incorporated in one idol as Sivaskanda Murthy to bestow their benevolence on Delhi city.

Yet another interesting thing happened. The towers over the sanctum sanctorum of all the temples are designed in such a way that the rays of the sun fall on the presiding deity on specific days of the year and surya puja (salutation to Sun God) is performed on those days. The committee approached the Weather Research Center at Delhi to identify the days on which the sun’s rays would fall on the deity. The center said that they would need a year to observe and report. Since, the auspicious day for the consecration of the temple was nearing and the tower was built without leaving space for the sun’s rays to come in. The temple was consecrated on 7^th June 1973 in full splendor.

In the following month of March after the consecration, the temple priest opened the sanctum sanctorum before his usual time. He was surprised to see the sun’s rays adorning the deity’s left side. He further observed that during the period from March 20^th to 23^rd the morning rays of the sun completely covered the idol for some time. Surya puja is performed on these days every year. This was not just by chance, his holiness Sri Sankaracharya’s foresightedness played an important role here also. When the construction was going on he advised to place the main gate a few feet away from where the sculptors had already planned. Thus Lord Swaminatha, enshrined in Swamimalai near the River Cauvery has chosen a hillock facing the Yamuna (on whose banks his maternal uncle played as a child), in Delhi as his abode, and showers infinite grace on his devotees.

In the years that followed separate shrines were built for Meenakshi, Sundareswarar, Ganesha and Navagrahas. A hall of Sculptures and Adi Sankara prayer hall followed next. On Rahu kalams special puja is performed to Goddess Vishnu Durga who is also mounted on the hill. North Indian devotees assemble in large numbers to attend this puja. Sikh devotees from far off places like Amritsar come here to offer their prayers.

A Sikh devotee has fully involved himself in all the activities of the temple like taking out the idol for procession on specific occasions and prasadam distribution since 2001. When we climb the steps to have the darshan of the presiding deity there is a small shrine built in the memory of the serpent, Nagaraj who suddenly appeared and entertained the devotees when the temple project had not started and disappeared back into the hill after some time.

A sacred peepul tree stands majestically, extending its branches far and wide near Idumban’s shrine. It was a small sapling when the hill was identified as the location for shrine. Two peacocks and a rooster wandering around the temple premises bear testimony to the fact that Lord Swaminatha’s benign grace pervades the entire area.

The wedding scenes of Meenakshi Sundareswarar, Valli Murugan, measuring nine and a half feet in height are exquisitely sculptured on the wall behind Lord Ganesha’s shrine. Even today Kandha Sashti celebrated every year by the Tamilians all over Delhi is a major and grand event. Apart from this Thai poosam, Panguni Uthiram, Vaikasi Visakam, Navarathiri, and Tiru Karthikai are also celebrated with fervor of devotion.

During the Tamil month of Karttikai small oil lamps are lit along the path from the main entrance up to the hill top. One regrets the lack of thousands of eyes to absorb the splendid beauty of the many lamps, just as Arunagirinathar bewails in one Kandhar Alankaram, ‘Why did not the creator Lord Brahma create me with four thousand eyes to behold the beauty of Lord Muruga!’

Padi Viha on January 1^st and St. Arunagirinadhar Vizha on 2nd October started by Guruji Shri A.S. Ragavan are celebrated with intense devotion every year. We are transformed to that era when we talk with nanogenarian Mr. S. Pattabiraman, who has spent his whole life serving Lord Swaminatha since the time the hill was discovered. He fondly recalls the days he spent with His Holiness Sri Sankaracharya to discuss about the temple structure and administration. They approached Sri Sankaracharya once when there was scarcity of funds. He arranged for the funds and said that the lack of funds was like a river had dried up and predicted that a time was sure to come when nobody could stop the overflow. Mr. Pattabiraman became very emotional and said his prophecy came true and that till date there was only flooding of funds.

The Delhi Tamilians blended the Tamil word malai for the hill and the Hindi word mandir for temple and began to call the temple as Malai Mandir. Devotees who are not Tamilians also call it the Malai Mandir and that has become its permanent name.

Our Lord Swaminatha is as soft and sweet as the cream from milk ('malai' in Hindi). Let this temple forever be called the Malaai Mandir in praise of our Lord, Lord Swaminatha.

¹The Agamas are a collection of Sanskrit’ Tamil and Grantha scriptures chiefly constituting the methods of temple construction and creation of idols, worship means of deities, philosophical doctrine, attainment of six fold desires and four kinds of yoga.