Arun Kumar Somaskandan: Nurturing Modern Tech To Bring Devotees Closer To God Via Purohits
Arunkumar Somaskandan
Founder & CEO
Pujas, Havans, Kathas etc, all have been a part of our traditions and lifestyles that we have been passed on to by our parents, who got it from their parents and so on. One community that has significantly carried the traditions and customs on its shoulder is the purohit and pandit community. However, very little has been done for the upliftment of this community. Pandits often face challenges to secure a stable income, which in turn leads to struggles obtaining loans, insurance or even get married. If we carefully observe, there is no lack or scarcity of purohits in the country.That gap lies in connecting the purohits to the devotees.
Besides, it has been a long standing complaint that Indian youth are highly influenced by American and European cultures. With India fast becoming a truly global environment in terms of economy, food and culture, what does it take to make sure our youth do not forget the richness of being Indian?
The youth today have a hard time to living upto the traditions and cultural chores of their family. Some grew up to understand it thoroughly and how to go about it, while some need guidance and assistance to carry out the customary pujas and rituals every year. Added to it, the chaos of the metropolitan cities, further complicate finding a Genuine Pandit to perform the rituals and pujas in a Professional Manner.
Hailing from a family of ‘Purohits', Arunkumar Somaskandan identified this gap between the pandits and the devotees. An engineering post graduate working in a top IT consulting firm, quit the job to establish a platform for pandits Harivara.com
Assisting with a Plethora of Devotional Needs
Right from performing a puja, going on a pilgrimage, visiting a temple, conducting a puja near a temple, consulting a Vedic Pandit to getting a muhurat fixed, every devotional need is addressed by Harivara's single platform. Thus, one single platform for all kinds of devotional services.
Traditions & culture has transcended all barriers including language. Currently, harivara.com offers its services for 10 languages in 13 different cities including 16 pilgrimage places to visit and perform pujas. Pricing is one of harivara's several unique propositions. Harivara has set a standard price for all Kinds of Pujas, Rituals & Puja materials. The overall package of any puja is set in the most standard norm that devotees can handpick as per their budget and requirement and the Devotee can choose to get the Puja Materials delivered at their Door Step as per their convenience.
More so, taking the services a notch higher, harivara also facilitates e-puja services. For International Devotees who seek to perform a puja, Harivara's pandits log in through a zoom or Google meet and guide the devotees virtually throughout their puja.
Besides, while devotees find it difficult to even find a place for performing their pujas, harivara helps them to not just find a perfectly divine place but also help them seamlessly perform the puja.
Benefiting the Entire Value Chain with Technology Intervention
Arunkumar intends to integrate all spiritual services into one single platform including pilgrimages, meditation, Yoga and expanding into astrology, numerology and vastu services. The ePuja services is focused on enabling devotees to even record and Watch Listen to the puja later, thereby bringing the tech enablement into the spiritual dimension of our lifestyle. Further, Harivara is keen on bringing the AR VR tech too in the puja services. Research & development is being conducted to bring in the power of augmented reality and virtual reality to allow people not just listen, but actually experience the Puja Live Virtually which is being performed else where on behalf of their family.
“One of the greatest satisfaction for me is the fact that our platform has been able to provide a stable livelihood and better standard of life to thousands of families. Right from the purohits to the puja material vendors, every stakeholder in this value chain has benefitted tremendously through our platform”, says Arunkumar.
Rightly so, purohits now find a stable income with their monthly or weekly payments while being able to use their skills to its maximum potential. At the same time, the platform has received positive feedbacks from the devotees who find it extremely comfortable to find
Arunkumar Believes in Team Effort and his advice is to take care of your team well & in return your team will take care of your Customers”
More so, taking the services a notch higher, harivara also facilitates e-puja services. For International Devotees who seek to perform a puja, Harivara's pandits log in through a zoom or Google meet and guide the devotees virtually throughout their puja.
Besides, while devotees find it difficult to even find a place for performing their pujas, harivara helps them to not just find a perfectly divine place but also help them seamlessly perform the puja.
Benefiting the Entire Value Chain with Technology Intervention
Arunkumar intends to integrate all spiritual services into one single platform including pilgrimages, meditation, Yoga and expanding into astrology, numerology and vastu services. The ePuja services is focused on enabling devotees to even record and Watch Listen to the puja later, thereby bringing the tech enablement into the spiritual dimension of our lifestyle. Further, Harivara is keen on bringing the AR VR tech too in the puja services. Research & development is being conducted to bring in the power of augmented reality and virtual reality to allow people not just listen, but actually experience the Puja Live Virtually which is being performed else where on behalf of their family.
“One of the greatest satisfaction for me is the fact that our platform has been able to provide a stable livelihood and better standard of life to thousands of families. Right from the purohits to the puja material vendors, every stakeholder in this value chain has benefitted tremendously through our platform”, says Arunkumar.
Rightly so, purohits now find a stable income with their monthly or weekly payments while being able to use their skills to its maximum potential. At the same time, the platform has received positive feedbacks from the devotees who find it extremely comfortable to find
and perform their pujas as per their Family Customs and without the hassle of procuring all the Puja Materials.
Awards & Accolades
Essentially, this platform has transformed the way people carry out their spiritual responsibilities. Now, devotees are no more confined to the boundaries of the physical places. This tech enablement, although new, is welcomed by the purohit community with open arms. Working towards this reformation of the puja experience, Arunkumar has secured several accolades including having incubated by Nasscom in the initial years.Arunkumar’s harivara.com was also awarded the Startup of the Year 2017 by Anna University.
Success driven by All Round Community Upliftment
Arunkumar believes success is a team effort. And Harivara team comprises of not just the technical team but also the purohits and the puja material delivery personnel. Thereby, harivara takes good care of its team by helping them with their finances, loans, insurances etc.
Sharing his thoughts on the importance of upskilling in this industry, Arunkumar says, “It is imperative to stay abreast with the changing times. This industry is particularly such that requires the stakeholders to continuously grow their skills and cope with the technology infuse.”
Arunkumar, as a leader of this unique industry believes in the balance between customer and vendor feedbacks. While Vendor feedbacks keeps the firm informed about the customer's expectations. Customer feedbacks too gives a clearer picture of the success of the operations. Combining these two and implementing a blend of such feedbacks makes way for success. Harivara.com is not just a platform, but an ecosystem of communities coming together to keep the traditions and culture alive. With a little more intervention of technology in the future, harivara.com is poised to cement the industry growth trajectory and bring purohits and pandits to the mainstream shareholders of the country's economy. All thanks to Arunkumar & his Team.
Awards & Accolades
Essentially, this platform has transformed the way people carry out their spiritual responsibilities. Now, devotees are no more confined to the boundaries of the physical places. This tech enablement, although new, is welcomed by the purohit community with open arms. Working towards this reformation of the puja experience, Arunkumar has secured several accolades including having incubated by Nasscom in the initial years.Arunkumar’s harivara.com was also awarded the Startup of the Year 2017 by Anna University.
Success driven by All Round Community Upliftment
Arunkumar believes success is a team effort. And Harivara team comprises of not just the technical team but also the purohits and the puja material delivery personnel. Thereby, harivara takes good care of its team by helping them with their finances, loans, insurances etc.
Sharing his thoughts on the importance of upskilling in this industry, Arunkumar says, “It is imperative to stay abreast with the changing times. This industry is particularly such that requires the stakeholders to continuously grow their skills and cope with the technology infuse.”
Arunkumar, as a leader of this unique industry believes in the balance between customer and vendor feedbacks. While Vendor feedbacks keeps the firm informed about the customer's expectations. Customer feedbacks too gives a clearer picture of the success of the operations. Combining these two and implementing a blend of such feedbacks makes way for success. Harivara.com is not just a platform, but an ecosystem of communities coming together to keep the traditions and culture alive. With a little more intervention of technology in the future, harivara.com is poised to cement the industry growth trajectory and bring purohits and pandits to the mainstream shareholders of the country's economy. All thanks to Arunkumar & his Team.