Thousands of devotees have done it. A Christian and Muslim doctor have done it. A blind brother and sister have done it. A two-year-old girl and a 92-year-old woman have also done it.

These are the kind of people who have joined a 'mass movement' in Tamil Nadu (and some other parts of India and the world) to create the 'basis' for a temple dedicated to Danvantri, the Hindus' God of Medicine.

S Muraleedhara Swamigal, who floated the trust Sri Danvantri Arogya Peetam, with the bottomline of 'Makkal Pinitheerkkum Maruthuvamanai', at Walajahpet, near Vellore, is the moving force behind the project.

The whole idea started as his mother was a cancer patient and father was a diabetic. Though he lost both of them successively, his mother made him promise that he would do something in his capacity as a priest to save people from dreaded diseases like cancer. She died within an hour of his registering the trust.

"You find crowds at two places these days: at the doctor's clinic and temples. Once the doctors give up hope, people rush to the temples for solace. We want to reverse the process - worship Dhanvantri for a disease-free life and, if need be, approach a doctor," explains Muraleedhara Swamigal very succinctly.

Every temple has yantras placed under the peetam (base) on which a deity is hoisted. The granite Dhanvantri idol, measuring about 6 1/2 feet, will be placed on top of 50 crore mantras written in praise of him on paper.

The trust has so far collected 30 crore mantras and wants to hasten the process as it finding it difficult to safeguard the books and papers on which the mantras have been written.

The printed books, with mantras in seven languages, are by themselves very interesting. They come with a form seeking details of the person writing the mantras. You are also requested to mention the reason - it could be to cure your migraine or simply for the good of humankind - which will be fed into a computer and mentioned during the mass prayers held by the trust.

The books come with space to write 108 or 1008 mantras and cost Rs 5 and Rs 10 (available in Chennai with Giri Traders). So far, people from 65 countries have sent in the mantras.

The Christian doctor considers Dhanvantri his guru and the Muslim doctor calls his clinic in Dindigul, Dhanvantri Clinic.

The two-year-old girl wrote the mantras eight times for the sake of her grandfather who had kidney disease as she was an orphan.

The 92 year-old woman said she had so far done nothing for society, and so wrote the mantras for a disease-free world.

This concept of burying written mantras was adopted during the construction of the Anjaneya Temple in Nanganallur, Chennai. But the 'Likhita japam' papers were buried under the temple's flag post (dwajasthamba). In the Walajapet Dhanvantra temple, the mantras would become the yantras under the main deity.

Since the 'strength' of the written word would not last beyond a year, Muraleedhara Swamigal is a man in a tearing hurry to get the 50 crore mantras at least by April 14.

There is a parallel preparation for building this temple. The utsava Dhanvantri, a cute panchaloha idol about a foot high, has been doing the rounds of Tamil Nadu and other places in the country for homams.

The plan is to conduct 108 homams (the last one being at the consecration of the temple) for the utsavar and his companion, the Chakrathazhvar.

Each homam is performed with the help of 500 herbs, 100 types of flowers and 50 types of fruits. After the homam, the idols are bathed in honey. The ash from the homam and the honey are given as prasad (and medicine) to the participants.

The minimum cost of inviting Dhanvantri to your home and performing the homam will be about Rs 15,000, says Muraleedhara Swamigal.

The trust has so far performed 65 homams and has bookings for even the 97th homam. The 42nd homam was an all-woman affair at Sathyamangalam, Erode, and the 54th, held at the same place, was an all-caste homam.

Even for the bhoomi pooja for the temple, a couple would be selected for every one crore mantra from any part of the country.

The main idol would be placed on a lotus base (padma peetam) around which the mantra would be inscribed. On the one hand Dhanvantri will be holding the pot of nectar (amrita kalasam) and have a seendhal kodi (herb) hanging by his side.

The best part is that a leech (atta poochi, in Tamil) would be sculpted on his chest (leech therapy was part of the Indian medicine system and is practiced now in western countries.)

Regarding the temple construction, which would be about 30,000 sq ft on 3 acres of land, people can pay Rs.500 or more per sq ft. Dhanvantri also being the God of Wealth, the Swamigal says the returns would be manifold.

"I am trying to carry the whole society with me. Will you believe that we received two books filled with mantras that were written by a blind brother and sister, praying that nobody should be born blind? With so much of positive energy going into writing the mantras, can you imagine the positive force the temple would be radiating?"

Muraleedharan Swamigal says, "Inge Oru Thani Manithan Deivam Agiran (Man becomes God)" because the prayers of one man can help save so many others.

He is all excited about the upcoming homam on January 28, 2004, at G P Rani Mahal, Walajapet. Since there is a boom in divorce cases and families are separate fast, the trust decided to dedicate this homam to couples to live peacefully and happily together. Anyone can participate in the "Thambathi Thaambathiya Anyonya Dhanvantri Maha Homam" and "Mahalaksmi Homam" to be held that day.

The swamigal may be succeeding in bringing people together for a good cause, but it is a struggle bringing out the mantra books (the books came into the scheme only to streamline the system), sending out the prasadams for those who have written in, and raising money for the temple at the same time.

The one-man army is managing to keep the show going because of that promise he made to his mother.

Even those living abroad can participate in the whole process by sending $ 25 to get 50 books with space to write 1008 mantras. The books will be sent by post pronto, as also the prasadam.

The money for the mantra books, homam or just abhishekam (Rs.500) can be sent to the account number of Shri Dhanvantri Arogya Peetam, 29161, Union Bank of India, Ranipet.