After completing a yatra to Kasi, Sarveshwaran Sri Periyava toured Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, and Andhra then proceeded directly to Rameswaram to perform Ganga Abhishegam to Sri Ramanathaswamy to complete His Ganga yatra. It was during the first week of June 1939.
During those days, there was no road bridge connecting Mandapam and Rameswaram. Only the railway bridge existed in those days. Sri Periyava who was camping at Thiruvarur, called a devotee Appayya Kuppuswamy and instructed him to go to Trichy and meet Imperial Bank Narayanaswamy. He was to ask Sri Narayanaswamy to request permission from Chief of Southern Railway for Sri Periyava and few other kainkaryam devotees to walk across the Pamban bridge and transport Srimatam Pooja items with them in a trolley during June 8th or 9th.
Sri Kuppuswamy went to Trichy and met Sri Narayanaswamy and conveyed Sri Periyava’s message. Sri Narayanaswamy assured him that he will meet with the railway office that evening and asked him to come back the following day.
Kuppuswamy stayed back that night at Uraiyur and then went to meet Sri Narayanaswamy the next day morning. He was asked to submit a written request from Srimatam for this. Even though Sri Narayanaswamy’s request to the railway authorities was to give them permission for Sri Periyava to cross the bridge during which there were no trains were scheduled, the authorities said that they will be able to add wooden planks between the tracks to make it easy for Sri Periyava to walk. They asked this to be included in the request letter from Srimatam for them to proceed. Based on this discussion, Sri Narayanaswamy obtained a request letter from Kuppuswamy in the Srimatam letterhead.
Again at 3 pm Kuppuswamy went and met Narayanaswamy. They both went to the Southern Railway office and met the agent there. The office welcomed them and sincerely worked on the request. He also asked them to send a letter to the Chief Transportation Superintendent and prepared it himself and gave it to them.
When they met the Superintendent, they were even more surprised. They understood the importance the officers had given to Sri Periyava’s request. The officer said, “I will contact the Mandapam Camp railway station master and find out the time when there are no trains crossing the bridge and will send the approval with the time along with a person directly to your house. Crossing of the bridge should be complete within the time frame.”
As promised, around 5 pm the next day, a railway officer came and gave a letter. The letter read,
“A cleaned trolley with provision to keep the Pooja items and for up to four people to sit will be provided. The trolley will be fit with an umbrella to protect from the occupants from sun and 6 people will be available to push the trolley. For Sri Periyava and the 10 other person to cross the bridge, wooden slabs will be laid in the bridge between the two parallel rail tracks. We request Sri Periyava and the others to start from Mandapam Camp railway station at 9 am on that particular day and cross the bridge before 10:30 am.”
Sri Kuppuswamy took this letter and informed the same to Sri Periyava.
On that particular at 9 am, the Pooja items were loaded into the trolley and being held by 2 kainkaryam devotees and another two also joined the trolley one sitting on the front and another at the back of the trolley. After the trolley started, Sri Periyava started His journey with four persons going before Him, two on both the sides of Sri Periyava and two others following Him. They all started walking on the wooden slabs that were laid on the Pamban Bridge.
Even though there were strong winds blowing, Sri Periyava walked fast and quickly crossed the bridge. The best was yet to come. When Sri Periyava crossed the bridge, the Chief Transportation was already on the other side with plates filled with fruits waiting to receive Sri Periyava with complete honor.
The officer asked Sri Periyava in a very concerned tone, “Did everything work out well and was it comfortable?” Sri Periyava asked Kuppuswamy to thank the officer. On the following day, after the Ganga abhishegam was complete, Sri Periyava called the officer and gave fruits, two silk dresses and asked him to go to Mandapam that evening to thank the station master and then to Trichy to thank the officers.
The officers who had took Sri Periyava’s request as God’s order and also made sure they provide wooden slabs and also go there before Sri Periyava crossed the bridge to welcome Him were all foreign English officers. This incident shows the respect that even the foreigners had for Sri Periyava. This is a respect that goes above Sri Periyava as a Peetathipathi of Srimatam.
This rare photograph shows the scene of Sri Maha Periyava’s arduous crossing of the 3 km Pamban rail bridge at Rameswaram.