What is a Sripadam/ Sripadam thangigal ?

What is a Sripadam/ Sripadam thangigal ?
"Sri Padam " The Lotus Feet of Sriman Narayana is the most sought after ,admired,a source for absolute peace ,happiness,mental stability,tranquility, you define it as you desire.The Golden ultimate action by all of us "surrender unto His Feet" is the journey all of us try to attempt and undertake.

While a number of us may have heard about SriPadam Thangigal a term to denote a group of persons who have dedicated themselves in the service of the Lord. They are the persons who carry the Archa Vigrahams of the deities,The Lord with His consorts,Thayar,other Lords in the temple ,Alwars and Acharyas .

Where all you find sripadam thangigals ?
In the Srirangam PeriaKoil you can identify these persons by their head gear which they wear in red colour. In Chennai you have SriPadam Thangigal at Triplicane Parthasarathy Temple,Nanganallur temples.Sathayanarayana Temple at T.Nagar.The SriPadam Thangigal at Triplicane ,over the years have organised themselves into an association and we are informed there are 100 srivaishnavite volunteers. As and when Swami Veera Raghavan has to visit Sriperumbhudur from Thirvellore,or for Devadi Rajans grand functions,Swami Mudaliyandan ThiruMasi Kettai Utsavam,the group involve themselves in these activities

SRIPADAMTHANGIGALS OF DOMBIVILI, CHEMBUR MUMBAI
In Mumbai we have Sri Balaji Sripadam thangigal sabha at SSAP Sri Balaji Mandir ,Dombivili (over 100 sripadams) & Sri Prahalada Varadhan Sripadam thangigal sabha at Chembur Sri Ahobila Mutt (around 100 sripadams). All of them are well educated ,employed having good position as well.



It is a great sight to see ( kana kan kodi vendum) over 100 of them gather early in the morning 6 A M during the SriRamanuja jayanthi when lord Sri Parahalada Varadha along with his consorts and Bhagwad Sri Ramanuja is carried on the shoulders of sripadams right from Ahobila Mutt , Chembur to Sri Krishna Sabha, Matunga situated about 8-9 Kms from Chembur.
SRIPADAMTHANGIGALS OF DOMBIVILI
Sri Balaji Sripadamthangigal Sabha was formed with the blessings of H H Srimad Srimushnam Andavan Swami in the year 2002 during the Mahasamprokshanam of the temple RajaGopuram.Since then the sabha has come a long way.
Many youngsters have joined the team of Sripadams over the years and have actively participated during the various festivities of the temple. The volunteers dedicate themselves in carrying the Arch Vigrahams from one sannadhi to main mandapam,Purappadu within the temple,main purappadu on the main streets around the temple. On the Garuda Vahan Purappadu Day it is a sight to see all youngsters about 100 of them in their teens some in the age group of 20 - 30,sporting ThiruNamam and in the attaire a Srivaishnavan visit the temple.On Bramha Utsavam Days they dedicate themselves for the purapadu of the Lord and after the night purappadu and upto the time the Swami returns to His Asthanam ,they are around to maintain the schedule.
The Sripadams have been assisting the temple in their various activities and also during the functions .
What are the other activities of the Sri Balaji Sripadam Thangigal Sabha ?
CATCH THEM YOUNG
"Catch them Young” has been the slogan. A sizeable number of kids in the age group of 6 to 12 are encouraged into the sampradaya activities . Especially during Brahmotsavams ,these youngsters join the Purapaddu for Thayar & Perumal to assist the seniors.






SRI VISHNU SAHASRANAMA PARAYANAM

Every Sunday @ 10 A M , Sri Vishnu Sahasrnama Paryanam is being recited at Sri Balaji Mandir , Dombivili and Akanda Sri Vishnu sahasranama Parayanam is held once in year.
VEDA / PRABHANDA CLASSES
The Sabha has been Conducting Veda Prabandha classes since long and shall continue to do so.
PURASATI ANNADHANAM
Over the years , one of the noble kainkaryams undertaken is to provide prasadams to all devotees visiting the temple on all Saturdays in the month of Puratasi.(for the whole day)
ASSISTANCE TO TEMPLE MANAGEMENT
The sripadams undertake various kainkaryams at Sri Balaji Mandir, Dombivili voluntarily assisting the temple management in smooth conducting of various functions.
ORGANISING LECTURES / UPANYASAMS
Whenever any learned scholar visit the temple , the sabha takes the opportunity to arrange for short upanyasams for the benefit of all sripadams and devotees during the Sundays after conclusion of Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Parayanam.
SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE
Our E Mail network has been very effective. With a humble beginning 10-15. Today the E Mail network has crossed over a 1000. This in return gets multiplied as many sripadams share these informations in their network .These informations are being shared in the various yahoo groups of our sampradaya.Various inputs received from our sripadams are being shared with our Email contacts. We have recently initiated our Blogspot from where one can be hooked to various activities of our sampradaya.
The Sabha has recently initiated a New Blogspot namely.,
www.sripadams.blogspot.com
wherein various informations & links wrt to our sampradaya are made available at one stroke. The special attractions are ;
1) The direct link to video links with regard to various function of our Srivaishnava Sampradaya through youtube.(ramaswamy43)
2) Link to “sravanam” 24 hours FM radio channel wrt to our srivaishnava sampradaya.
3) Links to knowlegde treasures of our sampradaya through E Books .
4) Sri vaishnava calendar.
5) Photo albums
6) Various articles of our sampradaya written and shared by many learned scolars.
7) ……..more to come
VISIT TO DIVYA DESAMS
The sabha has arranged visit to Pandharpur and Sri Vari Seva kainkaryam during Annual Brahmothsavam at Tirumala, Tirupathi. In the days to come the sabha intends to expand and organize such events in future.
CONTRIBUTION TO OUR COMMUNITY
The Sabha has recently initiated a forum namely ., VARAN. This enables all those hooked into the network all over the globe to have access to the informations about the eligible VARANs.In addition to the above the Sabha has been of assistance informing about job opportunities and many sripadams have benefited by this & settle down to a good job.
We invite all Srivaishnavas around the globe to encourage such activities and also help in creation of such groups in all important temple towns. Let us pray Lord Sriman Narayana for increasing this tribe manifold.