Mandir - A Brief History
The earliest to perpetuate and popularize the Sankara Jayanthi in Twin Cities was Sri Rajagopala Iyer and his team. Subasri, an activist of Bombay Tamil Sangam and as the founder of Sri Ramnavami Cultural Festival at Secunderabad (1962) had the occasion to have the darshan of His Holiness Sri Mahaswami and Sri Pudu Periawal at Elayathangudi. This motorized in him the sense of services to social and cultural causes. This put in Subasri, the thought of establishing Sankara Mandir with a hall for conducting religious and cultural activities as there was no venue with fixity for such activities.
With the help of Mr. A K Subramanya Pillai, ITO, a follower of Sri Krupananda Variar, Orator and Scholar, Ramayana Lecture Series was organized in 1965, a beginning for fund drive. From then it was a flood of contributions, an acknowledged blessing of HH Paramacharya. Full fledged Ramayana Festival Committee with Sri K N Anantharaman, ICS, Chief Secretary, AP, as Chairman was constituted. Sri P K Muthuswamy Iyer, an ardent devotee of Sri Mutt also joined the committee. VAriar's Ramayana discourses were a religious history, followed by two more festivals in 1966. Padayatra of Sri Kanchi Paramacharya with Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamiji began in AP, and the Acharyas set their lotus feet at Secunderabad on 06-03-1968.
Blessings of the Acharyas had its instant reward. Sri Ennala Balaram gifted land for three temples at Skandagiri, one for our Mandir. Poojya Sri Swamiji chose the present site for housing the Mandir. The Sankusthapana on 22-05-1968 and Kumbhabhishekam on 05-09-1968 of our Mandir were performed by the holy hands of Acharyas, a dream come true. With the dynamic Chairman Sri S Gopalan, CE, AP and a sizable donation from Sri Ramanavami Cultural Festival and above all with the blessings of Acharyas, the Mandir was anchored to stability.