Thursday, October 20, 2011

Epigraphy Class inauguration on Oct 2nd 2011

We had an encouraging number of students from various walks of life registering themselves as students for the third batch of class on Tamil epigraphy, and 8 of them braving the ordeals of time management of doing the advance course in epigraphy, learning 'Grantha'! 30 plus was the final figure for the Tamil epigraphy class!

The inauguration was at Ramakrishna Mission school, at Dandapani street, off. Burkit Rad, T.Nagar on October 2nd.

being Gandhi Jayanthi we had invited students from the nearby Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya, students who are taught Gandhian philosophy, to render the invocation, but sadly, they didn't turn up! May be they were busy in the function in their own school!

We had student - member Mrs. Janaki coming to our aid and singing the Saraswathi song for invocation.

As usual Dr Satyamurthy's welcome address was a thought provoking lecture cum invitation, which made our chief guest sit up and listen carefully.

Swami Yathunatha Nanda of RK Mutt graced the occasion and delivered his blessing lecture.

The Chief guest eloquent speech in Tamil was the high light of the day. He elaborately spoke in length the various names he had deciphered from the sangam literature linking them with those of Harappa finds and insisted that knowledge on language, its script and then site excavations threw new light on the longevity of the Tamil age, proving beyond doubt in ancient nature and insisted that the sangam literature were not mere literature but the history etched well in time, for us to research out more.

Epigraphy teacher Ramachandran was again at his best, bringing out various quotes from various sangam literature as well as epigraphs and reinforced Mr. Balakrishnan's idea.

The students were enthralled to be amidst an an august, learned gathering and were sure that the classes to commence would enrich their knowledge further.

The surprise package for the day was introduction of Mr. Vinoth Rajan, done by PRO J. Chandrasekaran, the teacher for grantha classes! Even though he was absent on the inauguration day, it was revealed that Mr. Vinod was an I.T guy, 26 year old wiz-kid who had specialized the unicoding and scripting various Indian fonts and putting them on the global net map! Writing various scripts for him is a child's play. When we tried to get a teacher for Grantha, most of them 60 plus, they denied travelling or making upto the classes every week end. Vinod turned up as saviour when PRO Chandra requested him to take the grantha classes and now it is learnt from the students that the next 2 Sundays were met with good response from the Grantha students, as they were happy to freely discuss with their young teacher and shred their inhibitions of learning a language so late in their lives!

Thanks Vinoth Rajan for making it sound easy to them!

The photos of the inauguration are here for us to see.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

World tourism day 29th August 2011

Thanks dear ITDC, Tourist guide federation and the kids from Thiruthandalam, you made us feel that we are really close to our motto of making the rural villagers getting educated on heritage (Rural education And Conservation of Heritage is our real long name, which is abbreviated to R.E.A.C.H !)

It was really a memorable day for many NGOs and organizations like us.

ITDC wanted to spend the world tourism day in an useful manner and Mr.P.Asoka called us to put the plan in action.
He asked, can we bring in some children to go around Chennai, in 5-6 hours time?

I said, "Why not? but not city bread children, but children from Rural village who might not even crossed the highway from their village!"

"Great" he exclaimed. Said, "Chanrda bring them to ITDC office on 29th August, World tourism day. ITDC will sponsor the bus, we will pay for the lunch and you may..."we'll pay for their tickets," I promised without a second thought!

I called upon Tree Natesan of exnora, to help me out scouting the right school and children. Government high school from Thiruthandalam, responded positively, thanks to their correspondent. He arranged the exams running concurrently for another day and managed to send the kids from 8th standard. He said, This is a life time opportunity for the kids! I couldn't resist," he said. He came all the way to Koyambedu, the point of drop and pick up, we have committed to Parveen Travelks, who had sent the bus at the behest of ITDC. Mr. Gopal of ITDC was in constant touch. So was Mr.Asoka, the Tourist Federation president, even though he was on a tour. Natesan, , me and the correspondent of the school Mr.Ramachandran, gave a real test for the connectivity of all the mobiles in odd hours!

The D-Day came and the well behaved kids from the village landed spot at the Koyambedu bus stand. After few moments of silence and hesitation, they were on full throttle once the flagging of the bus was over! Songs, dance and discussing frantically among themselves, they seemed to enjoy and grasp what best they could. Mrs. Esther Rani from the federation was an able guide and many were asking her who know her in the museum, "What did you leave you job and join as a teacher?".

I had announced some prizes for the kids for writing an essay or a poem, painting a scene etc. after they reach their homes. I promised them that after their exam holidays, I would make a sudden trip to their school and check the entries and give them away the prizes. That turned out to be more challenging as they posed questions to me and got answers. In museum, Mr. Balu the senior curator had arranged from a nearby canteen some 'spicy' food, for which the tourist' federation footed the bill and after the Egmore museum, it was the wish of the Correspondent that they be shown the Birla science planetarium. After the planetarium visit, all children demanded a visit to the beach. Looking into the paucity of time and that they had to reach their village as early as possible, I took them to the nearest Besant Nagar beach, from the planetarium at Kotturpuram. They were thrilled and all proudly pulled out their pocket money (most of the parents had given Rs.100/- to each kid!) to buy some eatables in the beach. They shouted when they dipped their feet in the water, till their voices turned hoarse! Back, with loads of memories, they made themselves happy and of course all who made this day possible, a happy one too.!

--

J. chandrasekaran

The pictures are here for you to see

Saturday, January 15, 2011

தோள்சீலைக் கலகம் புத்தக வெளியீடு

வரலாற்று ஆய்வாளரும், நமது ரீச் பவுண்டேஷனின் கல்வெட்டு ஆசிரியருமான திரு. எஸ்.ராமசந்திரன், திரு. கணேச நாடாருடன் இணைந்து எழுதிய வரலாற்று ஆய்வு நூலான தோள்சீலைக் கலகம் - தெரிந்த பொய்களும், தெரியாத உண்மைகளும் என்ற நூலின் வெளியீட்டு விழா, சென்னை மயிலாப்பூரில் உள்ள பாரதீய வித்யா பவன், மினி ஹாலில் கடந்த 07-01-2011 அன்று மாலை நடந்தது.


ரீச் பவுண்டேஷனின் தலைவரும், தொல்லியல் வல்லுனருமான தியாக.சத்தியமூர்த்தி அவர்கள் நூலை வெளியிட, நடனமணி, கலைஞர் ஸ்வர்ணமால்யா அவர்கள் முதல் ப்ரதியைப் பெற்றுக் கொண்டார்.

துவக்க உரை ஆற்றிய திரு.கணேச நாடார் அவர்கள் இந்நூல் ஒரு வரலாற்று ஆய்வே தவிர, எந்த இனத்தவரையும் குறித்து எதிர்த்தோ, ஆதரித்தோ எழுதப்பட்டதல்ல என்று தெளிவு படுத்தினார்.

திரு. தியாக. சத்தியமூர்த்தி பேச்கையில், ஆய்வு எனும் சொல்ல் வரலாற்று ஆய்வாளர்களிடையே குறைந்து வரும் நாளில், சமூக ஆய்வும், சரித்திரா ஆய்வும் ஒருசேரச் செய்து, மேனாட்டு மோகமன்றி, தன்னிலையாக, தெளிவாக சரித்திரப் பதிவை செய்யும் முதல் நூல் இதுவாகத்தான் இருக்கும் என்று புகழுரைத்தார்.

நடனக் கலைஞர் சொர்ணமால்யா பேசுகையில், தாம் வாசித்த முதல் சமூக ஆய்வு நூல் இதுதான் என்றும், இளைஞர்களுக்கு சமூகவியலைப் பாடமாக சொல்லித் தரக்கூடிய வகையில் இந்நூல் அமைந்துள்ளது என்று பேசினார்.

திருவாளர்கள் செந்தீ நடராசன் - நிறுவனர், செம்பவழம் ஆய்வுத் தளம், எஸ்.டி. நெல்லை நெடுமாறன் - வரலாற்று ஆய்வாளர், ஜெ. சிதம்பரநாதன் - ஆய்வாளர், சமூக இயக்க ஆய்வு மையம் (SDRC), ப்ரவாஹன் - ஆய்வாளர், SISHRI ஆகியோர் சிறப்புரை ஆற்றினார்கள். காலமின்மையால் ,ஏற்புரையை திரு. எஸ். இராமச்சந்திரன், நூலாசிரியர் சுருக்கமாக முடித்துக் கொண்டார். இது ஒரு கூட்டு முயற்சி என்றும், ஏற்புரையை தமது சிஷ்ரி குழுமம் சார்பாக தாம் ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதாக எளிமையாக ஏற்புரையை முடித்தார்.

நிகழ்ச்சி ஒருங்கிணைப்பாளர் நந்தர் (எ) தங்கம் விஸ்வநாதன் மிக அருமையாக நிகழ்ச்சியைத் தொகுத்து அளித்தார். கவிஞர் ஓகை நடராசன், ரத்தினச் சுருக்கமாக நன்றியுரையை முடித்துக் கொண்டார்.

சமூகம் சார்ந்த எழுத்து, வரலாற்றுப் பதிவு இரண்டுமே, இருமுனைக் கத்திகள். அப்படி ஒரு நூல் வெளியிடுபவர், அறிவியல் பூர்வமாகவும், சான்றுகளுடனே வரலாற்றைப் பதிவு செய்யும் மத்திய தொல்லியல் ஆராய்ச்சிக் கழகத்தில் தலைமை பொறுப்பு ஏற்று ஓய்வு பெற்ற தியாக.சத்தியமூர்த்தி அவர்கள். முதல் நூலைப் பெறுபவர்,பிரபலம் அடைந்த நடனமணி, நடிகை. அப்படி இருவரும் நூல் வெளியீட்டுக்கு, அதுவும் சமூகவரலாற்று நூலை வெளியிடமுன்வந்தார்கள் என்பதே, நூல் ஆசிரியர்களின் சரித்திர ஆய்வுக்கும், சிந்தனைத் தெளிவிற்கும் ஒரு முன் உதாரணம்.

அத்தகைய ஆய்வுக்கூற்றுகளை அழகாகக் கையாண்டு, நல்லதொரு நூலை தமிழ் மக்களுக்கு அளித்த SISHRI.ORG அமைப்பாளர்களுக்கும், நூலாசிரியர்களுக்கும், ரீச் பவுண்டேஷன் தனது வாழ்த்துக்களைத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறது.


Tamilhindu.com's review on the book is here

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Heritage trip - 4th Dec 2010 with Kathie

The plan was to see Thirupparkadal, Thiruppukuzhi, Dammal and Poigainallur temples, as announced. And we were to return to Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya Vinobha Hall by 3 pm, so that Kathie’s lecture can be held on time.

But fate had a different call all together!

Ever energetic Kathy@ Katherine@ Sivadasi joined a select few on 4th, which included Dr.T.Satyamurthy too, who was explaining things to us.

We first landed at the Thirupparkadal Prasanna Venkatachalapathy temple whose mythology goes like this

But saddest part, the day started with a rude shock! Sands, sands everywhere! Around the sanctum sanctorum, around the Mandapa, everywhere where our eyes could reach, the masons, in the name of renovation were applying their best minds to modernize this heritage temple with all the weirdest materials which are a taboo for heritage work: Tiles, marbles, granite pillars cemented over, the poor cousins Jaya Vijaya standing unopposed to their cement ashes smear and so on. Even the open mandapas were not spared! The open sides were filled with brick mortar and tiles were laid as final finishes. The Vimanas were worst hit. They were just refilled with cement finishes.

Here comes the death knell:

SAND BLASTING WAS HAPPENING IN FULL FORCE!

The facts are:

Cement NEVER plasters with granite and lime mortar.

Tiles will disallow any view on natural expansion and contraction of lime mortar or stone works, to enable us repair in future.

The cemented of pillars were done not to strength\then any lintels, but to fill some greedy contractor’s/ officials coffers.

Sand blasting creates micro fissures into the granite structure, thereby truncating its life by just another 10 years or so. The reason is, the surface hardness of granite is lesser than the sand’s surface hardness which is bombarding with great force. Also sand blasting permanently removes away the inscriptions if any around the sanctum sanctorum.

With heavy hearts we went to the adjacent Adiranganatha temple, where the inscriptions are intact around the sanctum sanctorum but sadly the evil force @ contractors’ next target was this temple! Will the concerned HR&CE authorities take note of this blatant violation of rules laid for renovating heritage temples and stop the menace? The Adiranganatha is an excellent piece of work believed to be more than 1600 years old, as it was in Fig tree (Atthi maram). See pictures here.

Then we went on the main road, to reach the rarely visited Karapureeswarar temple, which had inscriptions as early as that of Paranthaka’s and some stunning icons around the sanctum sanctorum, in the goshtas; we also saw a Jestha Devi sculpture intact with his son and daughter, Gomukan and agnidevi. Here, the priest had passed away few years before and the priest’s wife had taken over the mantle. Modern Karaikkal Ammayar indeed! We talk of woman empowerment and her we see a woman already doing that. But the sad reality is that, income is sparse, no thought of any renovation, in this temple, where the inscriptions and icons are of great importance and the old temple gopura has some eloquent old reminiscences of fine stucco wok. We seek philanthropists to think and act on how to do some basic repair work in this temple and save our heritage.More than that any steady income for the priestess can also be planned. REACH will surely support any such endeavour. See pictures here.

Next, crossing the Bangalore highway, we went to the Azagiya Ramar temple (See a fantastic record of all temples in Kaveripakkam in this blog).

The presiding deity is Vishnu and the Ramar shrine is on the left hand side when you enter the temple. Signs of Pallava workmanship is evident and also the Thayar shrine has its share of inscriptions, all fragmented and distorted stamping the presence of Chola domain. Modern renovation again has removed most of the antique look here, but the Rama, Sita; Lakshmana idols are fantastic, as they replicate bronze idols in every sense. Just think of using granite instead of bronze! So, is the fine artistry that we feel the deft handedness of the sculptor, who had brought the delicate finish of bronze in granite. Also seen were some fantastic carvings of windows and steps in granite. See pictures here.

Next to the Ramar temple, very close is the Selliamman temple, where we waited for almost an hour to get the doors open to have a look at the main deity, which we believe should be one of the oldest reliefs of Chola regime. But luckily, we saw some very old idols stuck on the compound walls, of early craftsmanship depicting Shiva and also the icon from which the design of Mangalsutra (Thali) was derived! Also, a beautiful carving on the pillar of a woman saint with long Jadamudi was also seen. See pictures here.

Next, we went to the nearby Abaya varadar which also can be spelt as Abaaya varadar (as we spell in Tamil அபயவரதர் அபாயவரதர் ஆகிவிட்டார்!) s we see the state of maintenance around the Temple. Believed to be older Pallava Shrine, renovated by the early Cholas, the miniatures in the pillars around the sanctum sanctorum are a `must see’ work and the flying devatas and ganas, Ramayana scenes in the arda Mandapa now white washed with lime are also a ‘must see’ figures. The temple is surrounded by cow dung and blackish gutters a reservoir for mosquito breeding and there was no electricity for us to view the temple properly for long hours! Temple cleaning groups, Vaishnavaite devotees please take note of this temple for your next cleaning operation and the temple is under private control and the priests are also not available. Some local enthusiasts have taken the mantle of priesthood and are offering the daily rituals and prayers. The Krishnadevaraya Mandapa just outside the temple is also in a dilapidated condition, full of filth and cow dung. In fact it serves as a cow shed for the locals now! See pictures here.

Coming with a sad heart, we were surprised to see a Old mosque built with temple artisans and granite, just slightly ahead of the temple, on the left hand side. This is also badly encroached and there is no direct access to the mosque. Beautifully done, this also serves as a cow shed. A broken Urdu inscription lies there and the mosque also needs immediate conservation measures. The story goes like this: when the Muslim invaders wanted to plunder the Abhaya Varadar temple, the artisans made this mosque with all features which are seen in a temple and proclaimed that the temple has already been converted to a mosque and thus saved the Abaya Varadar temple behind. This mosque is also a beautiful testimony to ancient architecture and REACH seeks attention and help from our heritage lovers and Muslim brethren to also save this heritage mosque, which would be the ONLY mosque which was originally built with granite temple like pillars and structure with minars above made of lime stucco (not temples being converted into mosques, like we see in many places).See this picture and a few pictures next to this, showing various angles of the mosque in worn our condition.

Also see member Shriram's photos here

An article appeared in Times of India dated 11th January 2011 , thanks to Saju the reporter, who responded immediately.

Here is the link

There were some more ancient temples we were to visit, but paucity of time and threatening rains made us rush back to Chennai, as the evening was waiting for Kathie to deliver her lecture in Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya, Vinobha Hall the same evening.

So, we have some more to chew in days to come: Another visit to Kaveripakkam, Dammal, Thiruppukuzhi and Poigainallur. The Gods are nice and they wait!

Heritage trip on 4th December 2010 with Katherine Brobeck.

The plan was to see Thirupparkadal, Thiruppukuzhi, Dammal and Poigainallur temples, as announced. And we were to return to Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya Vinobha Hall by 3 pm, so that Kathie’s lecture can be held on time.

But fate had a different call all together!

Ever energetic Kathy@ Katherine@ Sivadasi joined a select few on 4th, which included Dr.T.Satyamurthy too, who was explaining things to us.

We first landed at the Thirupparkadal Prasanna Venkatachalapathy temple whose mythology goes like this

But saddest part, the day started with a rude shock! Sands, sands everywhere! Around the sanctum sanctorum, around the Mandapa, everywhere where our eyes could reach, the masons, in the name of renovation were applying their best minds to modernize this heritage temple with all the weirdest materials which are a taboo for heritage work: Tiles, marbles, granite pillars cemented over, the poor cousins Jaya Vijaya standing unopposed to their cement ashes smear and so on. Even the open mandapas were not spared! The open sides were filled with brick mortar and tiles were laid as final finishes. The Vimanas were worst hit. They were just refilled with cement finishes.

Here comes the death knell:

SAND BLASTING WAS HAPPENING IN FULL FORCE!

The facts are:

Cement NEVER plasters with granite and lime mortar.

Tiles will disallow any view on natural expansion and contraction of lime mortar or stone works, to enable us repair in future.

The cemented of pillars were done not to strength\then any lintels, but to fill some greedy contractor’s/ officials coffers.

Sand blasting creates micro fissures into the granite structure, thereby truncating its life by just another 10 years or so. The reason is, the surface hardness of granite is lesser than the sand’s surface hardness which is bombarding with great force. Also sand blasting permanently removes away the inscriptions if any around the sanctum sanctorum.

With heavy hearts we went to the adjacent Adiranganatha temple, where the inscriptions are intact around the sanctum sanctorum but sadly the evil force @ contractors’ next target was this temple! Will the concerned HR&CE authorities take note of this blatant violation of rules laid for renovating heritage temples and stop the menace? The Adiranganatha is an excellent piece of work believed to be more than 1600 years old, as it was in Fig tree (Atthi maram).

Then we went on the main road, to reach the rarely visited Karapureeswarar temple, which had inscriptions as early as that of Paranthaka’s and some stunning icons around the sanctum sanctorum, in the goshtas; we also saw a Jestha Devi sculpture intact with his son and daughter, Gomukan and agnidevi. Here, the priest had passed away few years before and the priest’s wife had taken over the mantle. Modern Karaikkal Ammayar indeed! We talk of woman empowerment and her we see a woman already doing that. But the sad reality is that, income is sparse, no thought of any renovation, in this temple, where the inscriptions and icons are of great importance and the old temple gopura has some eloquent old reminiscences of fine stucco wok. We seek philanthropists to think and act on how to do some basic repair work in this temple and save our heritage.More than that any steady income for the priestess can also be planned. REACH will surely support any such endeavour. See pictures here.

Next, crossing the Bangalore highway, we went to the Azagiya Ramar temple (See a fantastic record of all temples in Kaveripakkam in this blog).

The presiding deity is Vishnu and the Ramar shrine is on the left hand side when you enter the temple. Signs of Pallava workmanship is evident and also the Thayar shrine has its share of inscriptions, all fragmented and distorted stamping the presence of Chola domain. Modern renovation again has removed most of the antique look here, but the Rama, Sita; Lakshmana idols are fantastic, as they replicate bronze idols in every sense. Just think of using granite instead of bronze! So, is the fine artistry that we feel the deft handedness of the sculptor, who had brought the delicate finish of bronze in granite. Next to the Ramar temple, very close is the Selliamman temple, where we waited for almost an hour to get the doors open to have a look at the main deity, which we believe should be one of the oldest reliefs of Chola regime. But luckily, we saw some very old idols stuck on the compound walls, of early craftsmanship depicting Shiva and also the icon from which the design of Mangalsutra (Thali) was derived! Also, a beautiful carving on the pillar of a woman saint with long Jadamudi was also seen.

Next, we went to the nearby Abaya varadar which also can be spelt as Abaaya varadar (as we spell in Tamil அபயவரதர் அபாயவரதர் ஆகிவிட்டார்!) s we see the state of maintenance around the Temple. Believed to be older Pallava Shrine, renovated by the early Cholas, the miniatures in the pillars around the sanctum sanctorum are a `must see’ work and the flying devatas and ganas, Ramayana scenes in the arda Mandapa now white washed with lime are also a ‘must see’ figures. The temple is surrounded by cow dung and blackish gutters a reservoir for mosquito breeding and there was no electricity for us to view the temple properly for long hours! Temple cleaning groups, Vaishnavaite devotees please take note of this temple for your next cleaning operation and the temple is under private control and the priests are also not available. Some local enthusiasts have taken the mantle of priesthood and are offering the daily rituals and prayers. The Krishnadevaraya Mandapa just outside the temple is also in a dilapidated condition, full of filth and cow dung. In fact it serves as a cow shed for the locals now!

Coming with a sad heart, we were surprised to see a Old mosque built with temple artisans and granite, just slightly ahead of the temple, on the left hand side. This is also badly encroached and there is no direct access to the mosque. Beautifully done, this also serves as a cow shed. A broken Urdu inscription lies there and the mosque also needs immediate conservation measures. The story goes like this: when the Muslim invaders wanted to plunder the Abhaya Varadar temple, the artisans made this mosque with all features which are seen in a temple and proclaimed that the temple has already been converted to a mosque and thus saved the Abaya Varadar temple behind. This mosque is also a beautiful testimony to ancient architecture and REACH seeks attention and help from our heritage lovers and Muslim brethren to also save this heritage mosque, which would be the ONLY mosque which was originally built with granite temple like pillars and structure with minars above made of lime stucco (not temples being converted into mosques, like we see in many places).

There were some more ancient temples we were to visit, but paucity of time and threatening rains made us rush back to Chennai, as the evening was waiting for Kathie to deliver her lecture in Thakkar Baba Vidyalaya, Vinobha Hall the same evening.

So, we have some more to chew in days to come: Another visit to Kaveripakkam, Dammal, Thiruppukuzhi and Poigainallur. The Gods are nice and they wait!

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Andhra Endowments Department joins hands with REACH FOUNDATION

A three day workshop was conducted on the 27th, 28th and 29th of December 2010, at the Sri Venkateswara Employees' Training Academy at Tirupathi, by the Endowments Department of Andhra Pradesh, in collaboration with REACH foundation an NGO working towards heritage conservation. (www.conserveheritage.org), to educate their staff on the correct measures and methodologies on heritage conservation, applicable to the temples across their state.
REACH FOUNDATION has been working on areas like conservation and renovation of ancient temples and heritage structures, teaching inscriptions to interested persons and conserving antiques in many private collector's museums. It also conducts awareness camps throughout the state of Tamilnadu on the understanding and appreciating heritage structures and the importance of ancient science.

The three day workshop was inaugurated by the traditional chanting of mantras by the devasthanam priests. The SV university girls rendered few invocation songs. The 5 faces of the traditional lamp was lit by the Honourable minister for endowments, Shri.Jupalli Krishna Rao, Shri. JSV Prasad, the commissioner of endowments, who was instrumental for this workshop to happen, the founder trustee of REACH, renowned archaeologist Dr.T.Satyamurthy and then Velu sthapathi from the endowments department and finally by Joint E.O of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam, Shri.K. Bhaskar.

The minister inaugurated the workshop and also released the conservation manual prepared by REACH FOUNDATION specially for the A.P. endowments department. While addressing the gathering, the minister lauded the effort of their department seeking technical advise from the archaeological and conservation experts, instead of allowing modern construction methods creeping into the temple renovations, thus depriving the temples from its originality and antiquity. He assured that his Government would surely apply the models laid out as a result of the camp and would henceforth take the issue of conservation seriously, thus preserving the heritage temples across the state.

Dr. T. Satyamurthy, who delivered the key note address emphasised on adopting the traditional concepts and ancient science to prolong the lives of all heritage structures, than blindly following modern methods.

He said, they were not against modernity, but chose select proven methods where need be, but try to minimize the use of modern materials and stick to the traditional time tested materials and methods for conservation and renovation, deploying the age old Jirnodhara concepts.

The commissioner was more vocal and straight forward in his observations on the current practises his department followed. He dissuaded the engineers from allowing mosaic tiles, acrylic paints and cement based gaudy constructions on and above a heritage structure. He said the conservation manual would henceforth be their guide book and no one should submit quotations only with an MLA's letter and cost, but also include the technical evaluation of the structure, giving due importance of retaining the originality of the heritage temple.

In fact, after every session, the commissioner used to throw questions on the participants, and if found they were not able to answer, he would give the answers from the points he had jotted down.

Dr. Badrinarayanan, former director of Geological Survey of India explained the basic types of stones used in heritage temples, and those available in Andhra, the key differences and methods to identify a male stone, or a femal stone or a neutral stone.

Shri. Kanade, Shri. K.K.Ramamurthy, Mr.Dayalan, Mr. Sriraman, Ms. Srilatha all experts from the Archeological Survey of India addressed the gathering with documenting methods in temples like Ankorvat, Restoration of temples in Kerala, Methods to follow while conserving a temple, conservation of bronzes and murals in temples, respectively. A paper on the various activities done by REACH and another paper on importance of lime and lime mortar written by Shri. Tapan Bhttacharya of ASI, Kolkatta was read out by their PRO, J.Chandrasekaran. Members P.N.Subramaniam, and Ramnatha Mani gave ample support and back stage arrangements for all the paeprs to be presented on screen without any hindrance.

The 200 odd mebers of the Endowments department were disciplined lot and attended both days' session with great interest and enthusiasm. The group of senior staff including the sthapathis Rangarajan and Velu, Srinivasan, and the Chief engineer R. Jagan Mohan and his team of engineers did an excellent job in coordinating the whole event which includes stage arrangements, banners, food and tea, accommodation and darshan arrangements for the whole group, etc, in detail and were very professional in their approach and deliverance. Special thanks to Shri. Subbarao who was the man Friday for all activities who worked as abridage between the REACH, the NGO organization and his department. Also we should mention special thanks to Mr. Srinivasan who was made in-charge for the guest house and food arrangements.His hospitality and availability at all times for the visiting conservation experts is worth mentioning.

The photos are here to see.

REACH also did a quick trip to the Vakulamma temple atop a heavily quarried granit hillock, lying just outside the Tirupathi city on the Nellore Highway. Quarrying was rampant around, and the temple atop is sure not seeing any pooja for atleast 500 years. No way to go atop, REACH wanted the TTD to take care of this heritage temple which incidentally happens to be the temple for the mother of Balaji, Vakuladevi!


The members also went for a trip to the Gudimallam Shiva temple, considered the oldest living temple in whole of India, which has the Shiva linga with a human figure made as a relieved structure from a well polished stone. this temple is now maintained by the ASI and is close to the Renigunta city. Please click here for photos.

The special darshan arranged by the commissioner atTirumala, for Balaji darshan and the laddus we carried back home, made thid event a memorable one and of course a mile stone in REACH's activities.

On the 29th, the whole team visited Uttaramerur Kailasanadar Temple, renovated by REACH and also visited the Sundaravarada Perumal temple, also a heritage Pallava period temple, retained in its prestine grandeur and style, located in the same place. Various aspects of renovation were explained to the visiting engineers and officers and site work on stone, granite stitching method and stucco and on lime -mixing were explained to them in detail.

This we think is a first time collaboration between a Government Endowment board and a dedicated heritage conservation oriented NGO,happening in India.

The credit fully goes to the current ebulient and charismatic Commissioner of the Endowments Department, on whose idea the whole thing shaped up.REACH assures that in all forthcoming conservation efforts by the endowments department
, they will share the best of their expertise and make this wedding a memorable one!
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REACH in news

The news articles about the workshop is shown here: