Śrī. N. P. Seshadri Dikshitar, Śrī. N. S. Parasurama (Chellappā) Dikshitar (1890-1970), Śrī. N. P. Narayanaswamy Dikshitar (1924-1998)

In the medieval period two Dikshitar brothers belonging to the Saṅkṛti-Gotra, to name them, Śrī. Narayana Dikshitar (Somayājī) and Śrī. Seshadri Dikshitar (Somayājī) and their families migrated from Tamil Nadu to Kerala and got settled down in Nurani Agrahāram, Palakkad Dt. They were sons of  the great Śrauta expert Śrī. Parasurama Dikshitar (Somayājī) who belonged to the Āhitāgni vaṃśa since several centuries.

Śrī. Seshadri Dīkṣitar in Sannyāsa Āśrama

While Śrī. Narayana Dikshitar and Patnī, Smt. Eswari Somapīthinī and his brother Śrī. Seshadri Dikshitar (Somayājī) and Patnī, Subbalakshmi Somapīthinī decided to stay permanently at Nurani, the great philanthropists, VKR Sons of Vadakkanthara offered a Gṛhadāna to Śrī. Parasurama Dikshitar,  the son of Śrī. Seshadri Dikshitar and respectfully invited him to stay in the Agrahāra and to conduct Agnihotra for the well being of everyone. Gṛhadāna to an Agnihotri was considered to be a Mahādāna. Śrī. Parasurama Dikshitar accepted it and moved to the nearby Vadakkanthara Agrahāra and got settled there.

Śrī. Seshadri Dikshitar was a Nityāgnihotrī and the village atmosphere was highly congenial to him for the conduct of rituals like the Darśa-Pūrṇamāsa-Iṣtis. Towards end of his life he almost became a Mumukṣu and a man with steady knowledge, a sthitaprajña, when, he decided to enter into Sannyāsa Āśrama. A few months later he attained Samādhi at Palakkad. 

Śrī. N. S. Parasurama (Chellappā) Dīkṣitar

Śrī. N. S. Parasurama Dikshitar also known as Chellappa Dikshitar now having shifted to the Vadakkanthara Agrahāram with his wife, Smt. Lakshmi Somapithini, continued his Agnihotra and Iṣtis, without break. The Gṛhasthas of the Agrahāra came to understand the spiritual worth of Śrī. Parasurama Dikshitar and often requested his presence and services in the Vaidika rituals being held in their household, to which Dikshitar used to agree readily and happily. In the year 1913 or 1914, with the co-operation of everyone, he performed an Agniṣṭoma (Somayāga) at Chandra-sekhara-puram Agrahāram, situated on the bank of Kaṇṇāḍi river, a tributary of Niḷa Bhāgīrathi (Bhārathappuzha). While staying in Vadakkanthara, Śrī. Dikshitar could perform another Somayāga too called, the Ukthya, the third in the sapta-soma-saṃsthās.

Śrī. Chellappa Dikshitar’s learning coupled with sincerity had attained wide acclaim and acceptance and he became a special invitee for many of the smārta samskāra rituals. The neighbouring Agrahāras too always wished his presence and supervison. He used to walk all over the distance and keep up the scheduled time.

He had formed a deep and lasting attachment towards his native village Nūraṇi which resulted in conducting the Bhagavat-sevā most of the days during the Tamil month of Āḍi. He took the lead in the Vāram – the Krama mode of pārāyaṇa of the Veda – for a maṇḍala. It is to be noted that experts from all over the South used to take part in it and return to their native places with a semblance of pride and Sri Chellappa Dikshtar always commanded praise and admiration from all of them. 

The feat of extraordinary personal capacity of Śrī. Dikshitar was known to the world when he organizised an Atirudra-yajña at Vadakkanthara, for the first time, during 1955-56  with all spiritual fervour. It is said that everyone who participated in it yielded a harvest of good vibrations throughout their life. 

Once he had to proceed to Tamil Nadu for the conduct of a Yāga which gave him an opportunity to perform a Cayana-yāga for himself there itself. It is to be presumed that this was in the year 1963 or 1964. Thus a Garuḍa-cayana was performed by him and Śrī. Parasurama Dīkṣitar became a Mahāgnicit, a person who has performed the Mahāgnicayana. Śrī. Dīkṣitar passed away at Vadakkanthara Agrahāram in the year 1970. His antyeṣti was performed according to the the Āhitāgni-saṁskāra prayoga under the guidance of Svargīya Śrī. Somasundara Dikshitar.

His 2 sons and 3 daughters are living now -- well-settled with grand-children and all the blessings of life.
                                                                   

Śrī. N. P. Narayanaswamy Dīkṣitar

Śrī. N. P. Narayanaswamy Dikshitar, by profession, was a Chartered Accountant. He was born to Śrī. Parasurama Dikshitar in the year, 1924. He underwent adhyayana, set up the tretāgni, through the ritual of Ādhāna and got himself qualified to perform the Somayāga. An Agniṣṭoma with his Patnī, Smt. Sita Savitri Somapīthinī was conducted in the year 1995 at Nūraṇi Agrahāram, strictly according to the Sūtras. The 16 Ṛtviks invited from Kumbhakonam and its surrounding places officiated in this Yāga. Thereafter, he continued the Nityāgnihotra in Delhi. A Cāturmāsya was also performed by him. Without any interruption to the Agnihotra anuṣṭhāna he passed away in the year, 1998.

This Somayāga conducted by Śrī. Narayanaswamy Dikshitar may sometimes be recorded as the last one performed in Kerala by the Dikshitar family................or the Pālakkād Iyer Agnihotris.

 नमो महद्भ्यः।

[Thanks are due to Sri. N. P.  Krishnamoorthy (son of Sri N. S. Parasurama Dikshitar) and Sri. N. N. Parasuraman (son of Sri. N. P. Narayanaswamy Dikshitar) for conveying biographical details.]

There is a mention of one "Shalappa Dikshitar" under Kalpati (Kalappatti)  P.O. Vedakkenturai, (No.302) in "A Catalogue of Ahitagnis and Srauta Sacrifices in Recent Times" by C. G. Kashikar & Asko Parpola : Srauta Traditions In Recent Times, under Aiyar Ahitagnis of the Palghat Dt. in AGNI, The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar by Frits Staal, Volume II, Berkeley, 1983. p. 226.

[Note : Name and place have been mis-spelt in the above book. It is copied here as it is.]