Music legend Ilaiyaraaja recently found himself at the centre of a controversy during his visit to the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple in Tamil Nadu. The composer entered the sanctum of the temple to offer his prayers. However, his visit took an unexpected turn when priests and devotees informed him of certain violations.
According to a News18 report, Ilaiyaraaja was asked to step out of the sacred chamber where the deity is housed. The temple authorities reportedly informed Ilaiyaraaja that the area is not accessible to the public. They further requested him to leave the sacred space. After being made aware of the situation, Ilaiyaraaja respectfully stepped out of the chamber.
Despite the minor disruption, Ilaiyaraaja was still able to have the darshan of the deity and complete his visit to the temple. However, a video of him being escorted out of the temple premises has gone viral on social media.
Ilaiyaraaja reportedly visited the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple to seek blessings before the release of his music composition Divya Pasuram. He was accompanied by Sadagopa Ramanuja Jeeyar and Sadagopa Ramanuja Iyer from the Sri Andal Jeeyar Mutt in Srivilliputhur.
Take a look at the video below:
Ilaiyaraaja is a legendary Indian musician who was born on June 3, 1943. His contributions span over 48 years in the Indian film industry. Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 7,000 songs and scored music for more than 1,000 films. He has performed in over 20,000 concerts worldwide.Â
His work mainly focuses on Tamil cinema but also includes Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. Ilaiyaraaja was one of the first Indian composers to incorporate Western classical music harmonies into Indian cinema.Â
He was also the first South Asian to reportedly compose a complete symphony. In 1986, he became the first Indian composer to record a film soundtrack using computers for the movie Vikram. Additionally, he created Thiruvasagam in Symphony in 2006, which was India’s first oratorio.
