Coimbatore has a long history of Rama Bhakthi. The city has a very impressive Kothandaramaswamy Temple at Ram Nagar, and that marked the beginning of the big time evolution of the city from good to great.

There are several devotees of Lord Rama who have been chanting his name or writing pages and pages of ‘Sri Rama Jayam.’ Binny Subba Rao and his family have been conducting the Sri Rama Navami festival at their house, ‘Lalitha Nivas,’ at West Ponnurangam Road, R.S. Puram, for near 75 years. The celebrations have, in the past, been visited by the Pontiff of Shringeri, His Holiness Abhinava Vidyatheertha Mahaswamigalu, a number of times. Binny Subba Rao, and his descendants, have hosted several concerts, processions, prayers, annadanam, and discourses in this connection over the decades. Even today, his sons, S. Nagarajan and S. Balasubramaniam, conduct it with complete devotion and dedication.

K.V. Srinivasan, a retired banker, had been collecting stories and snippets about Ramayana from books, magazines, discourses, and the television for more than 30 years now. Later on, he decided to write it down. It took him about five years to complete the task. Ekambaram Mama, of ‘Sri Rama Nama Bank,’ got the opportunity to meet him, and is now in the process of publishing it as ‘Tatva Sagara Ramayanam.’ The book will hit the stores in another few months.

Sethuraman, of Ganapathy, and his associates have been collecting crores of ‘Rama Namams’ over the last many years on behalf of the Sri Rama Nama Bank. The bank was started on the directions of His Holiness Paramacharya Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi of Kanchipuram during the final decade of the twentieth century. The bank prints notebooks meant for writing down the names of Shri Rama, and distributes them all over the world. The devotees write down Rama Namams and return the notebooks to the bank. So far the bank has accumulated over 7000 crore Rama Namams. In turn, the bank distributes the ‘Rama Kotis’ to the various temples and houses while conducting Rama Japams.

Ekambaram Mama has travelled all over India as part of this mission. Dr. Kanchana and P.S. Ramakrishnan carry the Rama Nama Bank notebooks during their annual visits to the U.S.A. While Dr. Kanchana spends her time writing Rama Namams, her husband P.S. Ramakrishnan, who has been reading ‘Sundara Kaandam’ (the part of the Ramayana in which Lord Hanuman discovers Sita and informs Lord Rama about her whereabouts), for more tha three decades, and continues to do so by completing the entire episode in one sitting on certain days.

The Kamban Kazhagam at Coimbatore, with G.K. Sundaram, the Chairman of Lakshmi Mills, has also done much to propagate the Ramayana. Several scholars have rendered the story of Rama throughout the year. Coimbatoreans have undertaken several Bhadrachala and Ayodhya Yatras, in order to have a darshan of Maryada Purushottam Shri Ramachandra. The well-known Advocate Ardhanariswara Iyer of Ram Nagar used to be a great devotee of Lord Rama, and had the name of the Lord on his lips while breathing his last. Asoka M.K. Krishna Chetty used to write the Rama Namams all his life.

Coimbatore is truly fortunate to have a special ‘Sita Kalyanam’ at the Arulmigu Kodandaramaswamy Temple in Ram Nagar on the 15th of July, 2016, on the completion of the 100 Crore Rama Nama Japa Yagyam, thanks to the efforts of Gopinath, a sincere devotee who is doing it with the interest of the people in mind. “It is possible to perform 300 japams of Shri Rama Nama in a minute. I request all of you to join me and chant from your houses or office. Please congregate and chant. Kindly record the details and return it to me. Also, kindly attend the Sita Kalyanam celebrations.

“I have printed and published a short ‘Sundara Kaandam’ by Madhwacharya, in 43 short paragraphs, in both Tamil and English, along with the horoscope of Lord Rama. If the same is preserved and worshipped in our household it will keep the devotees free from the ill effects of the planets and jealousy of others, while bestowing health, wealth, long life, and happiness upon the devotees. Please read this short version of the ‘Sundara Kandam,’ chant Rama Namams, and attend the Sita Kalyanam. In addition to bestowing auspiciousness on you, it will also grant the holy communion with Lord Rama’s most ardent devotee, Lord Hanuman,” Gopinath said.