A Patasala in Pazhur, founded by Ramachandra Iyer, the then Collector of Karur, a century ago, has been revived after a decline. He had set up a trust and endowed a few houses, and lands in Pazhur, Sirugamani and nearby villages to run the institution, which produced hundreds of scholars. For almost half a century, it was one of the best in the State. Angarai V Krishna Ganapadigal served there as a teacher for 45 years and shaped several eminent Vedic scholars.

Dwindling income led to a decline in the 1980s and the Kamakoti Pitam stepped in to put things back on rail. It is now being run as sastra patasala and the boys completing ganantha padam are sent to Pazhur for nyayam, sastram and kavyam studies. The properties have been appropriately restored and the monthly expenditure is supplemented by over Rs. 1 lakh honouring the noble intention of the late founder.

Thirty-year old R. Neelakantha Sastri has played a significant role in getting the Patasala up on its feet. He quit a lucrative job in Chennai and moved to Pazhur to serve at the Patasala. Right from his childhood, Neelakantha Sastri had an inclination towards Vedic education and Sastras. At the age of seven, he was enrolled in the renowned Raja Veda Kavya Patasala in Kumbakonam. After completing eight years of study there he came under the tutelage of Sri Mullaivasal Krishnamurthy Sastrigal for Sanskrit and Devadatta Govinda Patil to study sastras for five years.

It was during his three-year (2015-18) Sastras teaching stint in Chennai, that he felt the urge to move to a location away from the distractions of the city. His wife too supported him in his decision and the two moved to Pazhur with their two young daughters in mid-2018. He completely involved himself in the revival of the Patasala on a Gurukulam model.

Students get individual attention, progress according to their capacity. The students are completely at ease and are found engaged in lively debates among themselves and the teacher on matters of subject.

Under the care of Neelakantha Sastrigal, the premises now has a gosala. A library with about 1,500 books has been set up. A full time teacher, Manikanta Ganapadigal, has joined the faculty, apart from Subramanya Ganapadigal, who comes in as a guest faculty and a subject matter expert. The number of students has increased from seven to 16.

Technology is used well to impart education here. An OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for Sanskrit has created an offline corpus that includes over 3,000 books. An online Vaidika group keeps exchanging notes on Sastra. Virtual education could be the next goal.

Mahaswami’s visit

Lauding the benevolence of Ramachandra Iyer, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, who visited the Pazhur patasala on Founder’s Day — December 3, 1942 — exhorted the villagers to continue the good deed. “It will not be wise to let the Dharma of Ramachandra Iyer dissipate. Make the best use of the institution,” said the Acharya, who went on to speak on philosophy and sastra. During his Vijaya Yatra recently, Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswati, who halted at the Tiruvanaikkaval Math, visited the Pazhur patasala and blessed the inmates.

Although the late Ramachandra Iyer’s cause has been given a new lease of life with the funds he had earmarked in his last will, a huge outlay is required to restore the building and other properties. Besides the plan is to allocate funds for medical and religious activities. Jayaraman, auditor in Tiruchi (94433 76766), in charge of the Tiruvanaikkaval Math and Veda Patasala also administers the Pazhur Veda Patasala. For bank transfer: Veda Vedantapatasala and other charities of Ramachandra Iyer: State Bank of India, No 67140346677, IFSCODE: SBIN0001312.