Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has pledged regular financial support for a 70-year-old temple priest from a village near Kumbakonam after a social media appeal highlighted the priest’s difficult living conditions and financial struggles, as reported in Business Today.
The appeal, shared on X by social media user Krishnan Srinivasan on behalf of Dhandapani Subramaniam, described the hardships faced by the elderly priest, who serves at multiple temples in Padagacheri, a village near Valangaiman in Tamil Nadu.
According to the post, Subramaniam is unmarried and lives with his 78-year-old widowed sister. Despite serving at the village’s Sivan Temple, Perumal Temple, Vinayagar Temple and Murugan Temple, he reportedly has no steady source of income.
The appeal stated, “No income. Struggling to buy medicines, pay for transport, etc,” adding that a neighbour has been providing the siblings with tea and dinner every day while also preparing offerings for the temples. It further noted that the house in which they live is in poor condition and requires repairs.
Responding to the appeal, Vembu said the village was located close to his own native place and assured that assistance would be arranged.
“Sad to see this temple priest’s plight. It is near my village in the Kumbakonam area. We will contact him and arrange for regular support,” Vembu wrote on X.
Beyond extending help to the priest, the Zoho founder also used the opportunity to urge people who had migrated away from their native villages to reconnect with their roots and support local temples.
“I am also going to appeal to people who left all these villages: we abandoned our ancestral villages and abandoned our temples. Prosperity alone will not make us happy. We have to do our duty to our ancestral land and our kula devatas and grama devatas,” he wrote.
Vembu also reflected on India’s traditional values, cautioning that rapid modernisation should not come at the cost of cultural and spiritual heritage.
“Our culture and spirituality have always emphasised simple living and high thinking – contentment at the core. That survived thousands of years but risks being swept away in the tsunami of modernity,” Vembu said. “It is time for us to rethink, at least those of us with the means.”
Sad to see this temple priest’s plight. It is near my village in the Kumbakonam area. We will contact him and arrange for regular support.
I am also going to appeal to people who left all these villages: we abandoned our ancestral villages and abandoned our temples. Prosperity…
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) June 23, 2026
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