Remember Kantararu Mohanaru, the controversial former tantri (traditional chief priest) of the famed Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple ?
In a denouement of sorts, the 55-year-old “junior” tantri stunned a three-member inquiry commission by admitting that he neither knew Sanskrit language nor how to perform certain elementary pujas.
The last time one heard about the priest was when the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) barred him from discharging his tantric duties.
This was after he was caught with a woman in a flat in Kochi which later turned out to be a mysterious blackmailing case.
Kantararu Mohanaru’s name was also connected to actress Jayamala’s much-hyped claim to have entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Pujas
While deposing before the three-member Justice K S Paripoornan Commission inquiring into the irregularities in the Devaswom Board in Kochi on Monday, Kantararu Mohanaru was asked whether the pujas at Sabarimala were being conducted properly.
Mohanaru: They are done without much problems.
Commn: Do you know Sanskrit?
Mohanaru: No 
Commn: Then how come you were an expert member in the board which interviewed priests?
Mohanaru: I gave marks only for the pujas.
Commn: Have you studied tantras and mantras?
Mohanaru: We have traditionally been ...
Commn: Tradition and all are fine. Just because the father is king the son need not become king. Do you know the vedas?
Mohanaru: No
Commn: Do you know the Veda mantras?
Mohanaru: No
Commn: Do you know Bhagya Sooktham?
Mohanaru: No
Commn: Then how do you do pujas in Sabarimala?
Mohanaru: There, we don’t conduct pujas using these mantras.
Commn: Don’t you conduct Ganapathy Homam and other pujas there?
Mohanaru: I do it myself with some other mantras.
Commn: But isn’t Bhagyasooktham an essential element of Ganapathy Homam. Ok let it go. Do you know the star in which Ganapathy was born ?
Mohanaru: No.
“This is surprising. This concerns the affairs of the lord and the devotees of a great temple.
We do not want to ask you more questions. In fact, we did not intend to ask all these... circumstances forced us to.
We wanted to know more. But we are not troubling you,’’ a truly stunned Justice Paripoornan and Justice B M Thulasidas remarked.
 Former  Central Bureau of Investigation director D Karthikeyan is the third member of the commission.