This is exactly what has happened at the Adipurisvarar temple at Tiruvottriyur. For the past several weeks, the temple has come under relentless assault. The result: the floor of the corridor around the perfect central shrine has been dug up; inscriptions of the Pallava and Chola kings laid on the floor prised out, thrown around and broken into pieces; a long mosaic pedestal built to house the sculptures of 64 Saivite saints; Sivalingams and their pedestals, installed behind the main sanctum, yanked out and thrown around; the outer granite walls of Murugan shrine and the Kuzhandai Easwaran shrine, belonging to the Vijayanagara period, needlessly cemented up with a few inches of concrete; and a concrete mantap built in front of the granite-pillared mantap of these two shrines.
All this has been done, in violation of Government Orders and the canons of preservation and conservation of ancient temples. Besides, hundreds of garishly painted figurines of Nandi, Sivalingams and Bootha Ganas have been erected on top of thetall prakara wall of the temple; scores of beautiful sculptures of prancing horses, Krishna playing the flute, dancing maidens, wrestlers in action, shepherds shivering in winter-day cold, situated in the Vijayanagara period mantapa, have been painted with a thick coat of polyurethane; and the spacious granite floor of the Tiruvottriyur Easwaran shrine and Vadivudai Amman shrine, removed and relaid with polished granite slabs.
All this assault has taken place right under the nose of the officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department of theTamil Nadu Government, in the name of renovating the temple for kumbabishekham. The irony is that Dr. R. Nagaswamy,The worlds most efficient and cost effective Cheap Bathroom Decoration Products? former Director, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, made this observation on August 24, 2013: The greatest temple which attracted almost all the Chola kings between 900 ACE and 1300 ACE is the Adipurisvarar temple at Tiruvottriyur. All Chola kings have visited it. The temple has as many as 150 full inscriptions. Not much damage has been done. Dr. Nagaswamy was speaking on Madras under the Cholas at the C.P. Ramawami Aiyar Foundation, Chennai. As he finished his speech and listeners came out, T.R. Ramesh, president, Temple Worshippers Society, showed them the pictures of what was happening at the Adipurisvarar temple.
What is appalling is that several inscriptions, more than 1,100 years old,You benefit from buying Cheap Carving Products ex-factory and directly from a LED manufacturer: which had been laid on the floor in the corridor around the main sanctum, have been dug up and thrown around and some of them are broken into pieces.
Satyamurthy, former Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, who has been involved in the conservation of several ancient temples, said, Without any knowledge of conservation, the renovators are dismantling and reconstructing temples because it is easier to reconstruct them than conserve them. The Tiruvottriyur temple has attracted attention because the temple is in Chennai. But such atrocities are taking place in hundreds of temples across Tamil Nadu. Indeed, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) Heritage Committee has declared the Adipurisvarar temple and the Marundisvarartemple at Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai, as Grade I heritage structures,These Cheap Building Materials can, apparently, operate entirely off the grid. meriting importance. Any renovation in these temples should get the clearance from the CMDA Heritage Committee. Did the HR and CE get the permission from the committee, asked a conservationist.
When contacted, P. Dhanapal, Commissioner, HR and CE Department, said the flooring of the corridor around the Adipurisvarar sanctum was being relaid because the original granite stones were uneven, some had sunk even to a depth of several inches and people could not walk. We are using only unpolished granite slabs for re-flooring, he claimed. The Sivalingams had earlier been placed on irregular pedestals and so we are re-organising the lingams, he said. The inscriptions had been wrongly placed in the past on the floor. They were being removed now to be installed in a suitable place. The Sivalingams had not been thrown around and no Avudiayar (pedestal) had been broken, Mr. Dhanapal said. It was under the advice of the Archaelogy Department that polyurethane coating had been given to sculptures, he added.
Jothilakshmi, the temples Executive Officer and Assistant Commissioner, HR and CE, said the temples renovation was taking place only after obtaining the opinion of the chief sthapati and the advice of the engineers and estimates were prepared. The granite floor around the main sanctum was being relaid because it suffered from undulation. The newly built cement concrete mantaps in front of the Murugan and Kulandai Easwaran shrines were built because the devotees wanted shade.
The Festival of Trees Committee, which hosts an annual event during the holiday season, is considering using the facility, she said. Proceeds from the Festival of Trees will benefit the Miracle League. The group will need permission from the Recreation Commission, which currently leases Legion Field.
The City Council voted in May to terminate that lease agreement, effective Jan. 1, in order to begin the conversion into an entertainment venue, complete with ampitheater, a rebuilt pavilion area, new entries and remodeling of the existing building.
The roof must be stabilized to make the building habitable, along with a few other improvements, which Knight said the citys facilities maintenance staff and volunteers will handle.
As for how the full project will be funded, There is not a definite cost estimate at this time. We are taking this project one step at a time. We will be exploring the options (of) private donation to assist with the costs, but have not begun this process, Knight said.
Planning Director Randy Vinson, who has designed a model of the planned facilities, previously said they will include an ampitheater with a bandshell that is 36 feet tall and 36 feet across at the stage opening.It is designed to be constructed out of rough-sawn pine that we will have milled from trees at the citys land application facility, he said.The concrete slab stage will sit on a 4 foot tall granite base and be sited in the southwest corner of the park facing out toward U.S. Hwy. 278.
The intent is to use the traditional form of a bandshell to help direct the sound out toward the audience, thereby reducing the need for amplification as well as keeping the sound directed toward the more commercial areas and away from the residential areas, he said.Plans also include a 150 x 38-foot pavilion to be constructed out of rough-sawn pine timbers, with granite bases at each column and pine columns and beams holding the roof structure.
The design will be similar to the pavilions in Turner Lake Park and Clarks Grove and will be placed where the old pavilion was, Vinson said.The existing fair building will be renovated and the restrooms will be upgraded. We would like to put a new granite veneer base below the window sills, open up the blocked in windows and add operable wooden shutters to protect the windows when the building is not in use, he added.
We will also build a monumental gateway into the park off Mill Street out of rough-sawn pine with a granite base. The gateway will be large enough to accommodate tractor-trailers, he continued. The same design for the monumental gateway can be used in a scaled down version at two new proposed pedestrian access points, one near the YMCA parking lot and the other at the end of Sockwell Street.
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