4th February Heritage trip

We had some great feedback for our heritage trip we had on 4th February 2012.

Mr. Veluswamy has recorded the travelogue very well with some nice photographs here. 

Ms. Priya Baskaran also has written on the Rayar Kulam Hanuman temple in a very nice manner. Read here.

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 4^th, 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!

Lecture on PrePallava Architecture on 30th July 2010

The CP Ramaswami Art Foundation has been conducting series of programmes to remind us of our rich heritage. Recently we had our founder Dr T Satyamurthy talking on the excavations and findings he did one with his stint in ASI (Murugan Temple, Saluvan kuppam) and the other he is working now, as REACH FOUNDATION's founder trustee. (Vepathur Veetrirunda Perumal Temple).

The photos of the lecture and the audience who gathered are HERE and the copy of the write up which came in THE HINDU - Friday review (dated 13th August 2010) is here for you to see

and here is the newspaper link

Madras Day

REACH FOUNDATION did its share of remembering the commencement of Madras Day. When NDTV approached us for locating a heriatge house appropriate for theirstory on Madras Day, Art Collector and Numismatist Raja Seetharaman's house at Chindadripet was suggested by our founder Dr.T. Satyamurthy. We had a visit one day before to obtain permission from the house owner and fix the d-day for the shooting. LastSunday, we did the shoot and it is shown in the later part of this news reel.
Our salutations to the fighting spirit of these 2 women, mother Sulochana and her daughter Lakshmi, who shared their experiences with us. We wish NDTV shows this again during Madras Day.(Aug 22nd)
More photos taken during the interview with the inhabitants of this great Heritage house are seen HERE

Saraswathi Pooja by REACH FOUNDATION

Sudden impromptu idea given by member S. Natarajan made us inform all members by SMS and emails about conducting the Saraswathi Pooja last Sunday 27th Sept 2009. It is also part of our heritage as we are conducting our inscription reading epigraphy classes now regularly, it is right on our part to start conducting the Saraswati Pooja from this year onwards.

The venue : Class room at Ramakrishna Mission Hr Sec School

at Danadapani Street, off. Burkit Road, T. Nagar, where our regular classes take place. Luckily, we saw the black board with the Bank of Parota ( !!) exam marks and cleaned it before the start of the pooja and changed the same as 'Saraswathi Pooja - REACH foundation) .

Natarajan was kind enough to buy all requisite items along with the picture of Goddess Saraswathi for the pooja. Founder Dr. Satyamurthy, our epigraphy teacher S. Ramachandran along with his daughter Sindhu, trustee PN Subramaniam, Natarajan and his two daughters who sang melodiously Varaveenam and Srichakra Raja Singhaasani.. all attended to make a grand start.

Mr. Varadarajan a historian and our patron also graced the occasion.

P.R.O Chandrasekaran started the pooja with the traditional mantra chanting and did the pooja rituals. Small but elite crowd has indeed made a start and we wish the forthcoming years'

celebrations would be on a larger scale and participation.

Concluding part of Inscription classes - Pulavar Kannayyan's speech on ancient numbering system and maths!

As a concluding part of the Inscription Classes, as per our teacher Shri.S. Ramachandran's advice, we had called upon Pulavar Kannayyan of Mayilam who is a living encyclopedia on ancient number and arithmetic prevalent in early Tamil period and an inscriptions' enthusiast., who is just 78 years old young! When REACH contacted him for making arrangements for his visit to the session we wanted to conduct, this young man denied any carfacility, said he will just travel by bus and wait at T.Nagar bus stand at the appropriate time!

The D-day came and today (10th may 2009), he was waiting for our member S. Natarajan to pick him up from T.nagar bus stand.

Venue: Takkar Baba Vidyalaya, Vinobha Hall, Venkatnarayana Road, T.Nagar, Chennai,India

Even though we started late, waiting for the VIPs to arrive, we had a punching and effective compering and start by S.Natarajan. I missed taking a snap of Natarajan, but I will compensate next time. Sorry, Natarajan, for missing you in the photo shoots!.

The invocation song was sung by Ms.Swarnamalya, our student who was also instrumental in getting us the class rooms for free, when the epigraphy course was conducted at Janaki- MGR w omens' college, Adyar.

Pulavar (Poet) Kannayyan was introduced to us by Shri.S.Ramachandran, our epigraphy teacher. Pulavar Kannayyan had been a village accountant, a bold and straight forward man of yester years, aspiring to learn and learn more, be it ancient maths, inscriptions, historical facts, records from almost all government treasury related to land records, etc.

In his speech, Pulavar Kannayyan briefly explained the various forms of ancient Tamil numbers, the fractions, as well as the proof of short hand prevalent in marking land records in Tamil short-hand some 400 years before, much before the advent of English Pitman's short hand form!

Member-students, Shri. Prabhakaran and Subramania Pillai shared their awe and experiences they had in the epigraphy class they attended and voiced the mind of all students who had attended Shri.S. Ramachandran's class, which comprised of not only epigraphy lessons, but also the bit og history and facts related to each of the inscriptions we studied.

T.S. Subramaniam, the HINDU magazine and Frontline's senior reporter who also attended the
classes as a student was in praise of Shri. S. Ramachandran's knowledge, and thanked on behalf of all students Shri.Ramachandran for concluding the class in grand style with the most effective introduction of ancient numbers and systems by the only scholar now available, Shri.Kannayyan.

Our founder Dr.T.Satyamurty emphasized the need of making more students and interested persons from the common pool to learn inscriptions, as well as art appreciation from temples and heritage buildings to enable the common man become more aware of the value of our heritage. He was happy to note that the students enjoyed the classes and announced that plans to have more sessions would soon follow by the month of July 2009.

REACH plans to have the certificate issuing function in a befitting manner soon for the students who have attended the classes and also is planning for regular heritage trips, art appreciation courses and epigraphy classes.

The photos are uploaded here.