When 21-year-old Sankar Datt Panaru boarded a general compartment in a Kerala-bound train from Haridwar in the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand in 2014, he knew nothing about Kerala, except the tantric tradition followed in the southernmost State. A follower of Kashmiri tantric tradition, Mr. Panaru had his tantric education at Gita Kutir Vishwavidyalaya at Ludhiana in Punjab, which was followed by a year-long higher Vedic education at Haridwar.
Though Mr. Panaru started making a living at a very young age by doing odd jobs at small temples in Haridwar, a steady income continued to elude him even after his education. It was a sage at Haridwar who told Mr. Panaru about a priest from Kerala, who used to visit Haridwar at regular intervals. The only detail available was that the priest hailed from Thriprayar in Thrissur.
“When I boarded the train, I did not even know how much time it would take to get to Kerala. The train reached Thrissur after three days. I had not eaten anything all those days as I had hardly ₹400 with me. I just wanted to meet the priest. Though I caught a bus to Thriprayar from Thrissur, the conductor dropped me off at Puzhuvil, around 10 km away from my destination,” says Mr. Panaru.
“I described my plight to the people nearby, but no one could guide me to the priest. An autorickshaw driver told me about a priest at Painkannikkavu Sreekrishna Temple nearby who used to visit the Himalayas and took me to the temple. It was the priest I was looking for. When I narrated my ordeal, he first served me a plate of porridge. It was the beginning. I have been his trusted lieutenant at the temple for more than 10 years now. Over the years, he taught me the rituals in the Kerala tantra,” says Mr. Panaru.
Though Kerala has one of the largest north Indian migrant populations in the country, hardly anyone comes to Kerala for priestly jobs since the rituals in the Kerala tradition are more complex and deeper than those in Kashmiri Saivism or other tantric traditions.
On the other hand, priests from Kerala have been at the helm of the affairs at temples like Badrinath. Though he knows both traditions now, Mr. Panaru says the spiritual experience he receives while performing the rituals in the Kerala tantric tradition is more profound.
