TEMPLES REVIVAL

REACH FOUNDATION normally does not support temple building which are done with modern techniques and also renovations which are new and not heritage temples. But a special exception is Shri. Vadapalani Ram murthy's renovation efforts and his latest temple renovations. He is a 70 year old-young lone warrior who always strives hard for ruined temple identification and rebuilding. This episode catches up the latest renovation of a Shiva temple at Neyveli which is a village close to the Poondi Reservoir, and it is believed that the 18 siddars worship Lord Agneeswarar daily in formless form! Miracles are happening daily and we were also witness to few of them! Readers willing to donate to this cause can contact Mr. Ram murthy on his number 9940398648 and REACH Chandrasekaran on his number 944441181. The brochure both in English and Tamil are scanned and shown here.

Labels: agneeswarar, heritage temples, miracles, neyveli, temple renovation, Temples, temples revival

Brothers Shri. AVS Raja and Shri.AVS Baabu of vernacular magazine Amudasurabhi (Tamil) of the Shriram Group companies, were keen on renovating the ancient temple in their ancestral village Aaroor near Soraiyur on the Seyyar Aarani Road. They sought the advise of REACH FOUNDATION to unearth the temple's history and inscriptions. Our founder Dr T Satyamurthy and PRO Chandrasekaran made a preliminary visit and to their joy and pleasure, it was found that the temple was certainly a new find for scholars as the inscriptions on the wall were not yet deciphered. Reading few Pallava and few Parantaka Chola inscriptions REACH sent its team of inscription students (from AASAI- the educational wing of REACH FOUNDATION) along with their main Epigrapher and Historian S. Ramachandran on 4th October 2009 to unveil the findings. The sanctum sanctorum was dug around and was cleaned by the enthusiastic villagers. Out of 13 inscriptions some 4-5 were estempaged and read out. New facts of the Bengal connection (Bangalanaadudaya பங்கள நாடுடைய...) and the connection of Lada desam kings with that of the Cholas were found wanting of more digging out of the inscription stones which were buried. The name of the adorning deity Vishnu also added to the puzzle. Aeindra puratthu vishnu grahaperumal or Aeichatra perumal,(அஇந்திரத்து விஷ்ணு அல்லது அஇச்சத்திரத்துப் பெருமாள்.. ) is not yet deciphered. Both names have greater ramifications even if either of them are true!!!

Flickr or Picasa, or group file attachments, it is becoming difficult to share files as the limits are to less from either of the above sites. So, we are posting the article in jpeg form which mentions about the work of REACH and thanks to the editor and the reporter of Kalki Tamil Magazine for this good coverage. Small mis-quote is that the Varadaraja Perumal temple is more than 2000 years old and only the 100 pillar Mandapa is of Vijayanagar Period. The reporter had mentioned the temple itself as that of Vijayanagar period. Any way, thanks for the magazine to cover our story to reach more readers and join hands with us

Labels: heritage conservation, Kalki. REACH FOUNDATION, temple renovation

The Vishnu Temple after the Aavin milk dairy, at Semmenjeri, at OMR Chennai, had an unique problem.The 16 pillared mandapa before the main shrine and the two 4 pillared mandaps before the Thayar and Andal Sannidhi were fully covered with thick coat of paint. Later the trustees of the temple, found that it looked ugly and they approached REACH FOUNDATION for removal of the paint, without affecting the structure and material composition of the granite pillar.

We took up this challenge, brought in geological experts, researcher from IIT in civil, our founder trustee Dr. T.Satyamurthy and P.R.O Chandra devised a method to clean the mandap in 2 days and one night using paint stripper first and then blasting them off with high pressure water jet. Normally this cleaning is proven and faster, against the conventional cleaning of granite walls and pillars for which HR & CE uses sand blasting ruptures the surface and develops fine cracks. The sculptures on the pillars were also retained to the finest details by this method. Thanks to the trustees Mr. Srinivasan and Mr. Kannan who gave us the opportunity to do this and develop a far more safe and clean technology than sand blasting.
See the photos here.

Labels: cleaning pillaras, REACH FOUNDATION, restoration, sand blasting, Semmenjeri, temple cleaning, temple renovation, water jet cleaning

We had visited Anoor or Annoor near Chingelpet after seeing the report of TOI on 7th of June 2009.

Founder Dr.T.Satyamurthy, Epigraphist S. Ramachandran, Members S. Natarajan and PRO of REACH FOUNDATION J.Chandrasekaran visited after consulting with Mr.Devarajan the man spear heading the renovation at Anoor. The photos are loaded here.

Exciting were the reliefs of Ganesha and Jyestha Devi along with Gomukan and Agni Devi found on the temple walls, which proclaim the ancient nature of this temple. Near by is the ASI maintained Munkudumi Eswarar Temple which has also some elaborate sculptures and this ws also one of the temples renovated durting Dr. Satyamurthy, our founder's tenure in ASI.

Estimation is ON and we expect to take this up after completion of Uttaramerur Kailasanathar Temple, which would be completed by August end.

None would have forgotten the Adinarayana perumal temple visit in 2006.

Now the message of REACH had reached this villages and the Rural Public are cleaning and maintaining the temples,but dilapidation is rapid. Unless we act fast, these two laterite stone built temples , 1) Adi Narayana perumal Temple and 2) Samaya Iswarar temple will soon collapse.

See pictures here.

The sad plight of the erstwhile Chola temple, the Chintamanieeswrar Temple in Sattankuppam, alias Koviladi island near Pazaverkadu or Pulicat is now not seen but a modern temple standing at the site, show casing how best a temple SHOULD NOT BE MADE! Acrylic paints, blunt shrines and colourful sign boards atop make the temple a mockery. Neglected a discarded inscriptions stones can be seen in the above photo album and REACH had already informed the State Museum to pick up those and keep safe in their custody, as the temple has no chance of fixing them back again in their original position!

Member Ashok had sent a photo album in pdf format and member Ragothaman had written on this temple heritage trip in his blog.

Good news is that 5 member team from Art of Living lead by Mr. Shriram and Ms. Raji Swaminthan joined us for this heritage trip. We hope the message will make an attempt to make the Hon'ble Shri Shri Ravi Shankarji to address his world wide audience and disciples at least now to adopt one heritage village each, for its 'temple centric' improvement and renaissance. Kumudam also published a story on these two temples and we hope now things will turn around and the fruit will be borne by both REACH and the villagers for renovating these shrines.

Ashok's pdf photo compilation and the Kumudam story in vernacular language (Tamil) is filed in our yahoo group files section.

Mr. Ratan had sent new picture albums to be viewed here and here.