Sri Rompicharla Bhattar Venkata Ramanacharyulu is a native of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.), India. He was born in Akulamannadu, Krishna District and comes from a family of Temple Priests and Archakas. The family members of Sri Ramanacharyulu manage to this day the Kodanda Ramaswamy Temple in Akulamannadu with daily Pujas and services.

Sri Ramanacharyulu pursued training and study in the theory, practice, and methods of Hindu religious rituals and worship at the Vaikhanasa Vidyanilayam, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. During this period, he had the great honor and privilege of studying under his paternal uncle Sri Pardhasaradhi Bhattacharyulu, Asthana Pandit at Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam, who was honored by titles like “Sri Vaikhanasa Ratnakara” and was bestowed the title of “Vidwat Kavi Sarvabhowma” by the President of India.

Sri Ramanacharyulu passed the Pravesha and Vara Examinations [conducted by the A.P. Government Religious Endowments Department] that qualify him to perform religious services in several areas: Vaikhanasa Agama Sastra; Vastu Sastra; Jyothish Sastra; Brahmotsava Karyakramas; Devalaya Prathishtapanam; Daivika Karyakramas (related to Gods); Manushika Karyakramas (related to humans like Namakaranam, Annahprasana, Sraadha Kriyaas).

Experience: He worked as Archaka from 1981 to 1990 at Sri Anjaneya Temple and Sri Kodanda Ramaswamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh; as Pradhana Archaka (Chief Priest) from 1990 to 1995 in Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Sivaji Nagar, Tharasa (Maharashtra), and as Pradhana Archaka from 1995 to 2001 in Sri Vijayalakshmi-Ganesh and Hanuman Temple in Mouda, Nagpur District, Maharashtra, India. He joined the D/FW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas, in October 2001. Sri Ramancharyulu speaks fluent Telugu, Marathi, and Hindi. His wife Smt. Radha , son Sesha Sai and daughter Surekha live in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Sri Rajanikant Purohits no longer associated with this temple

Janakbhai Shukla was born in the village of Kosmada, district of Surat in Gujarat, India. He completed his high school education in Sanskrit and obtained the traditional priestly education from his father who was a practicing priest at the local temple in Kosmada. Janakbhai completed his undergraduate studies with a B.Sc. degree from the South Gujarat University.

As a young man, Janakbhai worked as a priest at the local temple in the Kosmada Village under the guidance of his father. He then emigrated to Zambia in Central Africa where he served as a priest for the Radha Krishna Temple of Ndala for over thirteen years. Before coming to the U.S. in 1993, Janakbhai was in the United Kingdom serving as the Chief Priest for the Hindu temple in Birmingham. Since his arrival here, Janakbhai has earned the respect of our Hindu Community of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex by his dedication to the temple.

Janakbhai has very good knowledge of astrology. He likes to entertain the devotees with his Bhajans and Kirtans during which he plays the harmonium and tabla. He is conversant in Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati and English. Janakbhai and his wife Harshaben are proud parents of two sons - Himanshu and Parimal. Harshaben has training in education (BA, B.Ed) and has thirteen years of experience in teaching.

Sri Harshvardhan Shukla hails from the Rewa District in Madhya Pradesh (M.P.), India. He started his Sanskrit Education and traditional priestly practice both at a very early age, away from home, in a temple environment. Sri Harshvardhan continued his education and obtained degree of Shashtri (Bachelors) in sanskrit and then further completed degree of Acharya (Masters) in sanskrit , from the Sampoornanand sanskrit University (Varanasi,UP).

Sri Harshvardhan learnt and received the knowledge of traditional Hindu rituals (north indian style) under the guidance of his uncle Shri Ramalal Shukla, who has immense knowledge of Karmakand and has been practicing it from last 40 years.

Earlier Sri Harshvardhan, had started performing duties of a temple priest, during his early days as student, in Sanyas Ashram temple, in Mumbai, Vileparle . And then later on worked as independent pundit, along with some of the renowned pundits in Mumbai, from last 9 years, and have gained very good knowledge of karmakand practices.

Before coming to US in 2006 , Sri Harshvardhan was Acharya (Head Priest) in Mauritius, in Shri Sarvagoon Nidhannath Mandir, for 3 years. His Experience also includes of teaching Sanskrit , vedic rituals and karmakand practice, to junior students of sanskrit. It is worth mentioning that Sri Harshvardhan does have a very good voice and has been Singing bhajan, dhun and sankirtan.

Sri Mahalingam Parameshwaran is a renowned sastrigal from Chennai area performing poojas and homams since 1980. Sri Mahalingam comes from rich vedic knowledge and experience in Hindu religious rituals and worship. Sri Mahalingam studied in Raja Veda Kavya Patasala, Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, India.

Sri Mahalingam has studied and practiced prayoga's in Asvalayana Suthram (Rig Vedam), Apasthamba Suthram (Yajur Vedam), Bodhayana Suthram (Yajur Vedam) and Drahyayana Suthram (Sama Vedam). Sri Mahalingam learned prayoga shasthram from renowned teachers Sri. Pattu Sastrigal (Yajur Vedam), Sri A. G. Ekambara Srowthigal (Sama Vedam), Sri. P. Sivarama Srowthigal (Sama Ganam) and Sri Y. V. Sastri (Chandi and Mantraupadesam).

Experience: Sri Mahalingam has performed duties of priest since 1980. Performed duties of priest at Sri Thalapureeswarar Devasthanam, Thirukolaka-Sirkazhi from 1999 to 2003. Then Sri Mahalingam moved to Singapore to perform duties of priestat Singapore Dakshina Bharatha Brahmana Sabha from 2003 to 2004. Sri Mahalingam moved to USA 2005 to perform duties of priest at Mahavallba Ganapathy Devasthanam flushing NewYork. Then Sri Mahalingam performed duties of priest at Sri Lakshmi Temple Ashland, Boston from 2005 to 2006. Sri Mahalingam joined our DFW Hindu Temple, Irving, Texas in April 2006. Sri Mahalingam speak fluent Tamil and English. Sri Mahalingam also fluently read and write Sanskrit, Tamil and English.