The placement of Bhagavan’s Samadhi was established in a dream K. K. Nambiar had at the time of Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana in April, 1950. Chinnaswami had envisioned the Samadhi behind the black granite couch in the New Hall so that the lingas at the Samadhis of Sri Bhagavan and Bhagavan’s mother could be viewed simultaneously at right angles from the vantage point of the New Hall. His son, T..N. Venkataraman, who later became the Ashram President, vigoruously supported Nambiar. Other devotees argued that Bhagavan’s Samadhi should be constructed on the Hill citing Bhagavan’s intense love for Aruachala. It was, however, Nambiar’s dream which settled the issue.
Vaidyanatha Stapathi, the architect of the Matrubhuteswara Temple, and K.K. Nambiar took the measurements to determine a location exactly midway between the Old Hall and the newly completed temple over the Samadhi of Bhagavan’s mother. A pit 10½ft x 10½ft x 7ft deep was dug and at its center a smaller chamber measuring 4½ x 4½ feet was constructed of granite stone and lime. The portion external to this innermost chamber was filled-in with sand.
According to the agamas Bhagavan’s body would have to be interred facing eastward but devotees were very clear that Bhagavan should face the Mountain. Thus the south wall of this central vault would support the back of the body. After considerable effort to dig and prepare the burial pit and with the appropriate rites having been performed, Bhagavan’s body was then taken in procession around the Mother’s Shrine at sunset on the 15th of April. Then, amidst a great outpouring of emotion among the crowds of devotees who had gathered, Bhagavan’s body, seated in the full-lotus posture, was lowered into the pit facing Arunachala. The pit was then filled-in with camphor, vibhuti, salt and bilva leaves offered by devotees and finally sealed.
In the years that followed Bhagavan’s Mahanirvana, there was a sense of urgency to build a mantapam over the Samadhi both for the prescribed daily Vedic worship as well as for devotees’ meditation. The construction of the shrine, mantapam and eventually, the front hall, took place in successive stages with foundation stones for the complex laid by Sri Anandamayi Ma in 1952. Work progressed slowly owing principally to lack of funds. Initially, a simple bamboo structure with a palm-leaf matted roof had been erected over the samadhi where the Vedas continued to be chanted, followed by puja. Years passed with gradual improvements and changes being introduced.
By July 1964 the central structure of the shrine with its polished black granite pillars was in place. In August 1966 the Gopuram above the Samadhi and a second granite exterior around the Samadhi were inaugurated. During these years of renovation, the New Hall had been functioning as Bhagavan’s Samadhi for daily Vedaparayana and puja, and thus it proved necessary to ‘transfer the power’ back to Bhagavan’s Samadhi proper. For this purpose Kumbhabhishkam was performed in June, 1967, commemorating the completion of the mantapam and gopuram and rededicating the shrine.
But work on the final stage of the original vision to have a hall built over Bhagavan’s Samadhi still remained to be done. In 1969 just two years after Kumbhabhishekam, a final effort was undertaken. With fund graciously donated by devotees for this purpose, work proceeded right up to 1970 when, on the 3rd May, coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of Bhagavan’s Brahma Nirvana, the Samadhi Hall was inaugurated.
From 1922 and for the four first years at Sri Ramanasramam, Bhagavan lived in a thatched hut in front of Mother’s shrine. He used to sit there night and day on a small elevated seat of cement. It was only in 1926 that Sri Bhagavan’s Hall, (later known as the ‘Old Hall’), was constructed under the supervision of Gopal Rao. The Old Hall was the Ashram’s first proper building, made with brick and mud walls, and served as Bhagavan’s sole dwelling for the next twenty-three years. Dr. Narayana Iyer had given Rs 1000 to finance the construction of what was originally intended to be a kitchen and dining hall. Within a short time, however, it became clear that there was a more pressing need: to have a hall for Bhagavan and the many guests he was receiving on a regular basis. An additional thatched structure was then built in the area of the present day Samadhi hall to serve as kitchen and dining hall.
By the early 1940s the number of visitors to the Ashram had increased significantly. There had been a door on the southern side of the Old Hall opposite Bhagavan’s sofa. The window on the northern side was converted into a door, so that devotees were able to enter by the southern door, have darshan of Bhagavan and exit through the northern door. By the late 1940s, as crowds of visitors grew even more, the Old Hall could no longer accommodate everyone and so during Vedaparayana, Bhagavan would sit outside under a palm-leaf awning. Starting in November 1947 Bhagavan began to spend more time in the thatched Jubilee Hall. Two years later the ten-year construction work on a temple over the Mother’s Samadhi was completed, together with a new hall for Sri Bhagavan and devotees. In the summer of 1949, Bhagavan moved to the new site and the Ashram library was moved into the Old Hall. After Bhagavan’s final operation in December 1949, Bhagavan returned neither to the New Hall nor the Old Hall but confined himself to a small room (later known as the Nirvana Room) opposite the New Hall.
A few months after Bhagavan’s Mahasamadhi, a fire broke out in the Old Hall but fortunately there was no serious damage. In the 1970s, when termites were detected in the Old Hall, efforts were made to eradicate them but within ten years the insects had impregnated the walls and the roof, resulting in severe leakage, flooding and perpetually dampened walls that increasingly showed signs of severe stress and major cracking. By the mid-1980s structural engineers determined that the deterioration of the building due to age, weather, and insects was so extensive that the entire building would have to be reconstructed. Great pains were taken to produce an exact replica of the original building and of the original fixtures and tiles (that were intact) were incorporated into the new building. The renovated Old Hall was dedicated on the 5th December, 1986.
