KANCHI MUTT LALGUDI AN ANCIENT ADI SANKARAR SANNIDHI CONSECREATED BY MAHAPERIYAVA IN 1913

I recently visited my native village Lalgudi near Trichy and it was 12/05/24 Adishankara Jayanti so after visiting the Saptharishiswara temple we visited the Kanchi Mutt Lalgudi, an institution that was established by Shri Mahaperiyava before his sojourn at Mahendramangalam in 1913. When I reached,the sankara jayanti poojas were over and preparations were on for the Veedhi ulaa to be held in the evening with Adishankarar's vigraham which I was told was the only Adi Sankarar vigraham consecreated in all the areas around trichy and this veedhi Ula is very popular over the years

HOW TO REACH: Lalgudi is a bustlng extention of Trichy now and the temple of Saptharishishwarar is the geographical centre. The red stone gopuram gave it the name of LALGUDI from the invading moghuls. Once you reach the temple arch take a left on the NEW STREET. A furlong down this road will bring you to the Kanchi Mutt Lalgudi. The peaceful surroundings are enchanting. It used to house a bustling vedapatashalai and many eminent vidwans have studied here in the past sadly its not so today

LEGENDS AND HISTORY: It is mentioned in the book,"Pujya Mahaswami Divya Charithram by Shri Sambamoorthy sastrigal in page 18 that he established a shankaralayam in Lalgudi, a veda patashala was established in 1913 and later many vidwans emerged from here From family sources and other references I gathered these impressions, Periyava had special affinity for this matam since this was the first Shri ADI SHANKARAR prathishtai done by Periyava after his initiation to sanyasam. Engineer, Gopalakrishnan,Munsif Krishna Iyer (my paternal great grandfather),Judge L.S.Parthasarathy Iyer played a major role in this pratishtai. Periva himself had narrated this in 1959-60 to late Shri L.K.Saptharishi Iyer(Son in law of Angarai Annadhanam Iyer) who was the Mudradhikari of the mutt at lalgudi and the son of Munsif Krishna Iyer , that HE remembers the poornakumbam was given by Munsif Krishna Iyer during the event in 1913. Mahaperiyava visited the mutt in 1959-1960 for 10 days and performed chaturmasyam while staying in angarai village nearby. In 1977 Shri Jayendra saraswathi swamigal performed the Kumbabishekam and so also another kumbabhishekam under his tutelage was performed in 1994 . Pudhu periyava instructed to do Balalayam in 2012 and wanted to celebrate the 100th year anniverary of first prathishtai but could not come after the kumbabishekam. The bhaktas of Lalgudi are eagerly awaiting Shri Sankara vijayendrasaraswathi swamigal's visit for which HE has consented so good days ahead seem possible for the Lalgudi bhakthas and the Lalgudi Kanchi madam. As you enter there is a spacious courtyard as shown in the pic above which takes you into the building housing the Adishankarar sannidhi I visited after the Jayanthi celebrations

The area behind houses a huge pond but is now dry. It was once helpful in performing pitru karyas in the past.

There is a sandhyavandanam mandapam behind that seems encroached by the local homeless persons. The far end houses the adhishtanams of many sanyasis who were part of Kanchi mutt in their poorvashrama. The term used by the narrator was abathsanyasams . some pictures of the Sankara jayanthi I received later

A humble request is for devotees of our matam to visit this serene institution with a history from 1913 and experience the blessings of Adi Sankara, Mahaperiyava, Puduperiyava and BalaPeriyava HARA HARA SANKARA JAYA JAYA SANKARA