Kancheepuram:

A couple of years ago, Thandarai, a village near Uttaramerur in Kancheepuram district, witnessed two significant events. The ancient Perumal (Vishnu) temple was pulled down and replaced with an ugly concrete structure by villagers, who were ignorant about its heritage value. Nearby, the Kunteeswarar temple, which would have faced a similar fate, was spared due to the timely intervention of a taxi driver in the locality.

While one can only see the grand Nayak-style Perumal temple in some old photographs now, the good news for heritage lovers is the renovation work on the Chola-period Kunteeswarar temple.

No alterations would be made to the original structure. The demolished Perumal temple and the Kunteeswarar temple are managed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department.

“It was a taxi driver, who alerted us that some people were going to demolish the Shiva temple too,” said J Chandrasekaran of REACH Foundation, an NGO working towards creating awareness about heritage and renovation of ancient structures. “When we visited Thandarai, the Perumal temple had been demolished and a new one had been constructed on the spot. We soon sent a letter to the state HR & CE department which gave us permission to renovate the Shiva temple using our own funds,” he said.

While heritage experts believe a lot of inscriptions and sculptures could have been lost with the demolition of the Perumal temple, they are happy that at least some rare inscriptions on the walls of the Kunteeswarar temple that belong to early Chola and Vijayanagar periods could be preserved.

“There are a few rare inscriptions in Tamil and Telugu on the walls of the Kunteeswarar temple. The later Chola inscriptions and those belonging to the period of Kampanna Udayar (a Vijayanagar king) and the Nayak reign show the transactions that took place in Kancheepuram during those days. The Nayak kings renamed the village Seetharama Puramu. The Telugu inscriptions on the lintel are testimony to this fact. We are taking maximum care to restore it,” said Chandrasekaran.

Even though the renovation work is on, it’s not easy as the vegetation had gone deep into the walls between the Arda Mandapa and Maha Mandapa. “The stones were removed and re-laid carefully. We are working on repairing the cracks on the wall and the ceiling. Since 70% of the temple has been ruined, it needs special care,” said S Murugan, a worker who is involved in the renovation.

Lack of funds, however, has slowed down the progress of the renovation work. “We lost the Perumal temple due to ignorance. We don’t want to see the same thing happening to the Shiva temple. We will constitute a team to generate funds for the renovation work. We will also appeal to the people to donate for this good initiative,” said M Subramaniam, a villager.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / August 19th, 2012