ABSTRACT
Within the cramped, dark, stifling interior of Kannan’s ‘office’, the desk was covered with ragged papers, books, some coins, betel leaves and vibuthi (holy ash). The walls showed numerous certificates, pictures of deities and photographs of Kannan’s deceased parents. Kannan himself was seated behind his desk awaiting the next supplicant from a long line of patiently waiting individuals and small groups. He was an elderly man wearing a green and orange versti, his head shaven and a sacred thread tied around; the horizontal vibuthi marks were smeared across his forehead, upper arms and chest, and his fingers were white from the many applications of vibuthi he had bestowed upon his supplicants. Outside, long queues of people waited to receive his advice, guidance, help and reassurance; they had come from across the peninsula to this Krishna temple to see him.
