Heritage trip-Oct-2nd-2010- Vruddachalam

When we were told that the Vruddagirieeswarar and Kuzhanjiappar temples of Vruddachalam were so important worshipping Temples and especially the Vruddagirieeswarar temple is supposed to be the oldest among the South Indian temples, patronized by the Cholas, sung by the Saivaite saints, Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar, we wanted to visit these places one day. And that day came on 2nd October 2010.

We also had information on Pennadam Thoonganaimadam temple,which has an unique vimana and also many mythological stories, and we visited Pennadam temple too.

Guided by our teacher S. Ramachandran, a group of 10 members from PSVP and temple_cleaners REACH FOUNDATION visited these temples. Interesting features were:

• The Vruddagirieeswarar temple really looks too ancient.
• The temple tower Gopuram side walls contain beautifully sculptured dancing women.
• The roof of the front mandapa as soon as you enter the temple, has beautiful mural paintings,belived to be done some 100 good years ago.
• The Nandi Mandapa is supposed to be made in the memory of Sembian Maadevi
• Mythology has strong stores and reference to Sundara Moorthy Nayanar as well as Appar.
• The Lord having named as old man, living in the oldest Mountain, was shunned by Sundarar as he refused to sing an old man. The amman appeared to him as Bala Ambikai, and made him sing at this temple!
• The Kandaradittan Thiruvoil has his name inscribed at the entrance.
• The Bairava at the Kandaraddittan Thiruvoil looks menacing and a typical Chola sculpture.
• The inscriptions of various regime are rich, but are seldom maintained cleanly. See photos as a proof.
• The word `manikkam' refers to devadasis in the area, which appears in many inscriptions and this shows their influence and importance in temple worship as well as donations.

The temple is not maintained as it should be and we saw trees overgrowing on the temple towers.

Beggars stray a lot inside the temple premises.

The Kuzhanjiappar temple is just some 5 kilometers away from the Vruddagirieeswarar Temple.

It has an eerie effect with the strange looking cement sculptures carved around the most modern and gaudy looking temple.

It seems this temple hosts shelter to handicapped animals! We saw a cow with an extra pair of foot, a goat with a broken limb and few handicapped monkeys and deers sheltered in a park made for them, behind the temple premises.

As per the priest, the moolavar is a svayambu and looks so. They worship it as Murugan.

The belief is that those who pray to Kuzhanjiappar will get all their desires fulfilled.

• See this link in Shaivam.org

The Thoonganaimadam temple at Pennadam is also a calm and clean temple, except for the eye sore called the temple Vimana. A beautiful Pallava styled Vimana, sadly over painted with latest acrylic paints, with the least aesthetic sense of artistic fervour. The old murals painted outside the amman shrine were over done with newly sprayed Acrylic paints on the grills and walls.

A solitary pillar lying at the South west corner of the amman shrine interestingly has a Rajendra inscription on 4 sides and a pre-independence inscription on the fourth side. Some 'Rao Bahadur' or 'Sir' had shown his loyalty when the queen and king had been coronated in Delhi. Similar stone pillar was also seen on the South East corner of the 4 roads surrounding the Vruddagirieeswarar temple also. See the photos gallery.

The inscriptions were sadly white washed a lot in both the temples and in Vruddagirieeswarar temple, people have written with lamp soot on and above the inscriptions so vehemently, that we can very well conduct a competition for inscription lovers that if they read those verses correctly and completely, seen around the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, they will be given a year free supply of lamp oil!

The temple authorities were so curious in Pennadam that they doubted our extra time spent reading inscriptions and taking photographs around. We explained them patiently about REACH and its activities and then we were told that the local HR& CE officers themselves are quoting 4 times the cost for tree killer chemicals to their own staff. This made them desist the plan to buy and apply tree killers on the trees growing on the unique Thoonganai madam vimana!

The adjacent high raised shrine was built to the order of a devadasi who lived and wanted to see the Lord from outside, as she was not allowed to enter the main shrine (This story is not authentic, I think, as Devadasis were the next to Brahmins and Kings who were allowed to have access to all places at the temple).

Stories apart, these temples are worth a visit for the Vruddagirieeswarar temple for its ancient value and beautiful temple campus adorned with great sculptures, inscriptions, murals and mythological stories,

the Kuzhanjiappar story for the svayambu Murugan shrine and the eerie effect this temple causes ;)

and the Thoonganai Madam temple, which has a differently styled Vimana, tonnes of inscriptions and

The Dwarapalakas totally depicted in a different style.

Reach in news -15th October Times of India

REACH has members who are vigilant of any damage happening on heritage and member Jayakumar, a teaching faculty of Kalakshetra was fast enough to inform us the heavy quarrying happening in and around Pudukkottai.

Dinamalar the Tamil vernacular was the fastest to respond to our call and published the article the next day. See here.

Times of India carried an article the next day . Thanks to our member Jayakumar who brought this to our notice; with his help we could appeal to the state minister for Archaeology, Shri. Thangam Thennarasu, in person (our PRO Chandra waited outside his office for almost 2 hours to deliver the letter in person) and gave news to these dailies.

Ironically, in the same page of Times of India, just below the Pudukkottai quarrying article, there is another article which says ASI is documenting all rock-cut caves. Thanks but the irony is the most bombed rocks are from Pudukottai and Madurai regions, which claims most number of caves to exist as documented by ASI!!

Lecture on Ayodhya

There was a lecture on Ayodhya hosted by the Viswa Hindu Parishad, in which PArliamentarian Subramanaim Swamy delivered a guest lecture. Professor A.K. Sharma along with Dr T Satyamurthy were the few archaeologists who had visited the Ayodhya site and have excavated below the current Masjid structure. They both talked on the existence of the Vishnu shrine, corraborating evidences from Puranas and ancient manuscripts from famous scholars and poets along with supporting artifacts available at the site of dispute. Now as the court verdict is already released, we are releasing our photos of the function conducted at Chennai on September 4th, 2010.

REACH in NEWS - in Pudiya Thalamurai

Article in Pudaiya Thalaimurai on temples of South

The Pudiya Thalaimurai magazine covered a cover article on the after effect of Kalahasti and the reporter had an elaborate article covering the trevails of Tamilnadu temples. Our founder Dr. T. Satyamurthy had given a detailed report as well as I (Chandra) shared the centre piece photo) of the cracked lintel stone of Varadaraja Perumal East tower, which is unfortunately not yet repaired, but only white wash (to our eyes?) is going on without mending the cracks.. Also, the claim of the IIT academician does not stand any weight. Negligence and use of cement to further add weight to the already cleaving Gopura is the root cause. The cover picture is of the Perumathur temple which I took while returning from the Chidambaram Symposium.

Please see the link here.

Reach in news -September 2010

We wanted to create our website www.conserveheritage.org in an easier way and decided to create exclusive blogs for each tags to put the RSS over there..

Pls read:

http://reachinnews.blogspot.com/2010/09/reach-in-vak-september-2010.html

Heritage lectures galore in September 2010

This month was filled with lectures of our beloved heritage speakers for REACH members.

Earlier on the 4th of September, Dr Satyamurthy talked showing a power point presentation about the famous Adichanallur expedition and archaeological excavations he did while he was in the ASI to bring out the site's comparable age with that of Mohenjadaro and Harappa. This talk was held as the monthly heritage talk series by the Tamil Heritage club actively supported and mentored by Prof S.Swaminathan and his friends. The photos are here for you to see

Then, Dr T Satyamurthy gave an exclusive lecture through a power point presentation on the various technical aspects and the congregation of various arts like sculptures, fresco paintings, temple architecture, dance forms, superior earth quake resistance science and all the best of the world poured into one form of a superior temple 'the Rajarajaeswaramudayar temple' which was later called as the Brahadeeswara temple and also commonly known as the Big temple, on the 15th of September 2010 for the staff and students, heritage enthusiasts at Kalakshetra, Thiruvanmiyur. Here are the photos. Some 500 people attended this session.

Again, Dr Satyamurthy and Dr Chitra Madhavan were among the few invited special speakers on the celebration of the BIG temple's 1000th year of consecration on the 18th September 2010 hosted by the CP Ramaswami Iyer Foundation at Greames Road and here are the photos.

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

Modern history to cave man site - A trip within Chennai-19th June 2010

REACH FOUNDATION conducted a heritage trip from Kundrathur to MahaNyam, Malayapattu Village off the Kundrathur- Sriperumbudur road, which leads you to Manimangalam -Tambaram. From the Mandap on the yesteryears Rajapattai to the burial sites in the MahaNyam and Malayapattu villages, we had a heady cocktail of history, paleolithic, cave man, Chola, Nayaka, late 19th century Mudaliars and a dilapidated Choal period gajabrushta shrine unattended in Kundrathur, finally ending atSomangalam, one of the Thondai Mandala Navagrahasthalas.

Members from Tamil Heritage Foundation, (Subashini from Germany), Ponniyin Selvan Yahoo group, REACH, temple_cleaners yahoo group and Madame Deborah Thiagarajan the owner of Dakshin Chitra were among the distinguished, varied members who took part in the heritage trip.

The photos are here to see

Tamil Heritage wardens meet on 20th June 2010

Sundar Bharadwaj @ SPS (Siva Pada Sekaran) of Ponniyin Selvan Varalatru Peravai (PSVP) conducted a get together for all like minded personalities from India and abroad before the scholars leaving for the Coimbatore conference conducted by the Tamilnadu government. Many issues not really covered by the symposiums and such conferences - digitization and bringing all Tamil heritage related publications and available documents, voices, videos under one umbrella by Tamil Heritage Foundation, the built heritage conservators and those who take the temple architecture and its art appreciation and inscriptions to common man - REACH Foundation, Professor Swaminathan and NHM (New Horizon Media) and Kizakku Padippagam media man Badri's Tamil heritage forum, Prakrithi foundation, Indian Science monitor Mr. TKV Rajan, Historian Dr Chitra Madhavan, Project Madurai fame Dr. Kalyan, ASI archaeologist P.S. Sriraman, Sidda heritage practitioners, Siddars, and heritage lovers met together for a brain storming and discussing strategies of how to bring our efforts in an united manner and build synergy. The introduction of all groups were fantastic and Ponniyin Selvan had been the inspiration and this story has made many realities work, like Poetry in stone run by Vijay and his team, REACH foundation initially started by bunch of youths later guided to form a foundation headed by renowned archaeologist Dr T Satymurthy. It is he who worked on Adichanallur the most ancient site of Tamil culture so far unearthed, the Sangam age Murugan temple near Tiger caves on the Mamallapuram road and now bringing out the most ancient Pallava temple at Vepathur near Kumbakonam. Ironically such scholars were not even invited by the Tamil Semmozhi conference is a different subject to discuss and this is this blogger Chandra's personal view, not to offend anyone concerned), and to top it the THF founders Dr N. Kannan and Subashini Tremmel who were present and shared their vision to the heritage wardens of Chennai. The Sidda medical Palm leaf donors spoke on the ancient science and medicine, their values and the unfold secrets now getting digitized to usher a new light on the world's oldest and time tested medicine of Tamil land. A Siddar himself presented himself in this forum today and showered his blessings for all the voluntary work being done by the above said groups. Any omission in this fast news flash of the function which just happened this morning, is not intentional and those attended and who are missed out may bring this to our notice by emailing to reach.aasai@gmail.com

The pictures are here for you to see

REACH Founder speaking on Kalahasti tower

Noted Archealogist Dr Sathyamoorthy explains Temple Tower Collapses-Interview in www.vhtv.in
content bank direct view links are as follows

http://vhtv.in/index.asp?fl=GOPURA%20SARIVU-TAMIL in Tamil

http://vhtv.in/index.asp?fl=GOPURA%20SARIVU-ENG in English

Pls see and comment

Inscription learning -certificates issuing function

An excellent summary of the function has been reported by our trustee and moderator of Ponniyin Selvan Yahoo groups, Shri. Sundhar Bharadwaj @ Sivapatha sekaran -SPS:
Dear Friends,

Certificates for those "students" who completed EPIGRAPHY reading course were
distrubted by Hon'ble Minister Thangam Thennarasu. Lakshmi Machine Tools Gp CBT
Mr. Ravi Sam presided over. Dr. Sathyamurthy and Dr. Rajvelu rendered speeches
on the subject.

From our side Natarajan, Plastic Chandra took part in event management.
Nandakumar Selvaraj attended.

Minister experessed his happiness in attending this meet and distributing the
Certificates.

Apart from sharing all our concern of creating awareness to protect the
monuments, he shared his responsibility and readiness in guiding us to put this
into action and commended the efforts of REACH on special areas.

He Observed: Somehow OUR Forefathers preserved these Cultural Assets and passed
on to us in spite of several invasions and challenges by way of external
Cultures all these period exceeding about 10 centuries ...

How can we permit these to be perished right in front of our Own eyes - in this
21st Century - when we claim that our Technology is superior and resources are
much better than the past ?

That was a soul-searching Speech by the Hon'ble Minister.

Then on the lighter note, he too enjoyed recalling his reading Ponniyinselvan
and discussing with his friends during his (Annamalai) University days in
Chidambaram (in early 80s).

He also recalled of having visited Udayarkudi - searched for Ravidasan
inscriptions etc..

He also recalled of having gone through Thiruvalangadu Copper Plates .. and
observed on Uthama being mentioned very less...!!

And commended the activities of PS group as well in creating more awareness
among the youth !

Also observed re threat to some cultural asset :: It was brought to his
attention and immediately reached CM almost at midnight - who in turn - called
the concered Authority and ensured the threat (by negiligence) was moved away.

And our long time dream - much discussed HERITAGE CLUB in SCHOOLs - is being
putforth in the Assembly session for allocation of funds !!

We - PS - REACH - AASAI - all thanked the Minister for all his support.

We will discuss and invite the Honble Minister for our PS MEET after the
Chemmozhi manadu !

sps

Photos of certificate function-06-05-2010 taken by REACH Chandra@ Plasticschandra

I request student Siddarth C to share the photos of students he had taken, so that it can be memorable for the students concerned.

Protection of monuments

s - Talk by Minister Thangam Thennarasu in certificate issuing function on 6-5-2010

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050751100400.htm

Better Laws for protecting the whole hillock having brahmi letters

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/07/stories/2010050751140400.htm

Field trip of second batch of epigraphy students to Thirumukoodal

Mr. L V Krishnan, a retired Scientist was one of our second batch of students and he had made an excellent report of the trip we conducted for the epigraphy students on 17th January 2010.

Thank you Mr. Krishnan! we need more volunteers to write on various heritage issues and such findings, tarvelogues etc.

REACH Team.

================================================

Report on a Field Trip of the Second Epigraphy Batch organized on Jan 17, 2010

About ten persons from the second batch of the epigraphy course run by AASAI/REACH Foundation went on a field trip to the Thirumukkudal temple on January 17, 2010 to read some of the inscriptions with the help of the guru Sri Ramachandran. Dr. Sathyamurthy was also present with his geologist friend.

The temple and the inscriptions that fill practically the entire surface of its walls are remarkably well preserved. It was possible to read the inscriptions directly without the need for estampaging.

We began by reading the inscription found on the முப்பட்டைக்குமுதம் of the outer surface of the south wall that begins with இராசேந்திரசோழன் மெய்கீர்த்தி as given below (text no. 1). We then went on to read the inscription about the hospital found on the eastern part of the front wall on the north, which may also be found below (text no. 2). The pillar of a recently added structure was too close to the wall and covered some part of this inscription.

Though there are references to hospitals and institutions for teaching medical sciences in ancient India, the Thirumukkudal temple inscription appears to be the only source providing details of a hospital including the name of the physician in charge, the list of medicines and the payments in cash and kind made to the staff. Surgery and the surgeon also figured in the inscription!

We also attempted to read some inscription on the inner face of the southern outer wall (behind the garbagriham) that seems to relate to a grant to the temple priest for keeping a lamp burning. The reading had to be done with the help of a torch as there was no power and no light in the area. The part that was read is also given below (text no.3).

It was about one in the afternoon when we completed reading of the inscriptions. We were hungry but the Temple provided us with tasty Thayir Sadam prasadam.

We then went on to the Sundaravarada temple in Uttaramerur. The route we were advised to take turned out to be rather long, but when we reached the temple, we were provided delicious prasadam in the form of chakkarapongal, puliodarai and dadhyodhanam. The temple is unique in having three garbagrihams one above another. After visiting the temple we went on to the Kailasanathar temple being renovated by REACH and found the work progressing well.

Inscriptions as read

Text no. 1

இராசேந்திரசோழன் மெய்கீர்த்தி

திருமன்னிவளர இருநிலமடந்தையும் போர்செயற் பாவையுஞ்சீர்தனிச்செல்வியும் தன்பெரும் தேவியராகி இன்புற நெடுதியலூழியுன் இடைதுறைநாடும் தொடர் வனவேலி பிடர்வனவாசியும் சுள்ளிச்சூழ்மதிய் கொள்ளிப்பாக்கையும் நண்ணற்கு அருமுரண் மண்ணைக்கடக்கமும் பொருகடல்மீழி முத்தரையர் தம் முடியும் ஆங்கவர்தேவியர் ஓங்கெழில்முடியும் முன்னவர் பக்கல் தென்னவர் வைத்த சுந்தரமுடியும் இந்திரன் ஆரமும் தெண்டிரல் ஈழமண்டலமுழுவதும் எறிபடைக்கேரளர் முறைமையிற்சூடும் குலதனமாகிய பலர் புகழ் முடியுஞ்சேர் செங்கதிர்பாலையுஞ்சங்கதிர்வேலை தொல்பெருங்காவல் பல்பழந்தீவுஞ்செருவிற்சினவி இருபத்தொருகால் அரசு களைகட்ட பரசுராமன்மேவரும் சாந்திமற்றீவரண் கருதி இருத்திய திருந்தகமுடியும் பயங்கொடு பழிமிக முயங்கியில் ஒதுகிட்டு ஒளிந்த செயசிங்கன் அளப்பரும் புகழொடும் பீடியில் இரட்டபாடி ஏழரையிலக்கமும் நவநிதிக்குலப்பெருமலைகளும் விக்கிரம சக்கரக்கோட்ட முதிர்பட வல்லை மதுரை மண்டலமும் கரமிடை வளைய் நாமிணைக்கோணையும் வெஞ்சிலவீரர் பஞ்சப்பள்ளியும் பாசுடைபணைய மாசுடைதேசமும் அயர்வி வெண்கீர்த்தியாதிநகர் அவையில் சந்த்ரிரன் தொல்குலத்து இந்திரரதனுந்தன் விளையரர்களத்து கிளையொடும்பிடித்து வலத்தொடு குலதனக்குவையும் கட்டரண் செறிமிளை ஒட்டவிஷியமும் பூசுரர்சேய்நல் கோசலை நாடும் தன்மபாலனை வெம்முனையழித்து வண்டுறைச்சாலை தண்டபுத்தியும் ....

Text no. 2

ஆதுரசாலை வீரசோழனில் வியாதிப்பட்டு கிடப்பார் பதினைவர்க்கு பேரால் அரிசி நாழியாக அரிசி குறுணி எழுநாழிக்கு நெல் தூணி ஐந்நாழி உரியும் வியாதிப்பட்டு கிடப்பார்க்கு பலபடி நிபந்தக்காரர்க்கும் கிடைகளுக்கும் பாத்திரர்க்கும் சிவஸ்யஞ்சொல்லியாணியாக தனக்கும் தன் வர்க்கத்தாருக்கும் பெற்றுடைய ஆலப்பாக்கத்து சவணன் கோதண்டராமன் அசுவத்தம்பட்டனுக்கு நாளொன்றுக்கு நெல் முக்குறுணியும் காசெட்டும் சல்லியக்கிரியை பண்ணுவானுக்கு நாளொன்றுக்கு நெல் குறுணியும் ஆதுலர்க்கு மருந்துகளுக்கு வேண்டும் மருந்து பறித்து விறகிட்டு பரியாரம் பண்ணுவரிருவருக்கு நாளொன்றுக்கு நெல் குறுணியாக நெல்பதக்கும் காசொன்றாக காசிரண்டும் ஆதுலர்க்கு வேண்டும் பரியாரம் பண்ணி மருந்திடும் பெண்டுகளிருவருக்கு பேரால் நாநாழியாக நாளொன்றுக்கு நெல் குறுணியும் பேரால் காசரையாக காசொன்றும் ஆதுலர்க்கும் கிடைகளுக்கும் பாத்திரருக்கும் வேண்டும் பணிசெய்யும் நாவிசன் ஒருவனுக்கு நாளொன்றுக்கு நாநாழி ஆதுரசாலை வீரசோழனில் ஆண்டொன்றிலருமருந்து ஸ்ரீப்ராஹ்ம்ய மகருக்கு இப்படியொன்றும் ... இப்படி ஹரிதகி படி இரண்டும் கோமூத்திர ஹரிதகி படியிரண்டும் தசமூலஹரிதகி படியொன்றும் பிப்லாதக ஹரிதகி படியொன்றும் கண்டீரம் படியொன்றும் பலாகோரண்டதைலம் தூணியும் பஞ்சார்கதைலம் தூணியும் ஸ்ரீலஸ்ரத்தா கோரண்டதைலம் தூணியும் கண்யாதிதைலம் தூணியும் ..... பதக்கும் சாக்ருதம் பதக்கும் வில்வாதி க்ருதம் பதக்கும் மண்டூரவாகம் இரண்டாயிரமும் மஹாசுமனத்ரி இரண்டாயிரமும் தந்த்ராதி இரண்டாயிரமும் பஞ்சகல்பம் தூணிபதக்கும் கல்யாணலவணம் தூணி பதக்கும் இவையடுகைக்கு வேண்டும் மருந்துகளுக்கும் நெய்யும் ... வும் உள்ளிட்ட .... ஆண்டுதோரும் புராண.. சர்வ பசுவிநெய் பதக்கும் கொள்ள காசுநாற்பதும் ஆதுலசாலையில் இரா எரியும் விளக்கு ஒன்றுக்கு எண்ணெயாழாக்காக நாள் முன்னூற்றறுபதுக்கு எண்ணெய் நாற்பத்தைந்து நாழிக்கு காசிரண்டேகாலும்.. ஜனநாதன்... ல தன்யனுக்கு பங்குனி உத்திரம் தொடங்கி புரட்டாசி திருவோணத்தளவும் பரம்பாலூர... தண்ணீர் கொடுவந்து வைத்துச் சாய்ப்பான் ஒருவனுக்கு நாளொன்றுக்கு நெல் குறுணியாக நாள் நூற்றெண்பதுக்கு நெல் பதினெண்கலமும் ஏலத்துக்கும் இலாமிச்சத்துக்கும் நெல் இரு... ண்ணியாஹம் பண்ணின பிராமணர்க்கு தக்ஷிணாகம் வெற்றிலை வெருங்காய்க்கும் நெல் கலனே தூணி இருநாழி முழக்கே முச்செவிடும் வயலைக்காவூர் காணியுடைய மாதவன் தாயன் வர்க்கத்தார்க்கு புரட்டாதி திருவோணத்து நாள் உடுக்கும் பரிசட்டம் இரண்டுக்கு காசொன்றே எழுமாவும் மூவாயிரத்து இருநூற்று நாற்பத்து முக்கலனே இருதூணி பதக்கு அறுநாழி உழக்கே முச்செவிடுக்கும் காசு இருனூற்றொருபத்து ஆறறையே இரண்டு மாவுக்கும் இக்காசு பத்ராவிடில் காசொன்றுக்கு தண்டவாணி ஒன்றோடொக்கும் பொன்காசு நிறைகால் இடுவதாகவும் இப்படியாண்டு ஆறாவது நிபந்தம் செய்தபடி இந்நிபந்தம் தழுவக்குழைந்தானான அபிமானபேரு பிரம்ம மாராயன்

Text no. 3

கோவிசய நிருபதுங்க பல்லவ விக்கிரம வருமக்கு யாண்டு இருபத்து நாலாவது காடுபட்டிமுத்தரையர் மகனார் அரிகண்டப்பெருமானாருக்கு ஊற்றுக்காட்டுக்கோட்டத்து சீயபுரத்து சபையோமொட்டிக்கொடுத்த பரிசாவது திருமுக்குடல் விஷ்ணுபடாரர்க்கு நுந்தாவிளக்கெரிப்பதற்க்கு தந்த எங்கள் கையிற்றந்த முப்பதின் களஞ்சு நாலுப் பொலியூட்டு ஆண்டுவரை களஞ்சின் வாய் மூன்று மஞ்சாடிபொன் ஆயனப்படியால் நாற்களஞ்சரையாலும் ஏறிலும் கறுங்காலும் நாற்பது நாழி எண்ணை நூற்றின்பதி ....

Article on REACH in Money-Life Magazine

Dear Heritage enthusiasts,

Ms. Savita Narayan, who also writes regularly on heritage, in Heritage India had taken REACH FOUNDATION to a new height by featuring our organization where money matters! In Money-Life magazine run by Ms.Sucheta Dalal in a regular column titled 'Beyond Money', the February 2010 issue highlights our founder's work and REACH visions in a precise manner and makes us reachable to more readers in other states other than Tamilnadu. We wish more members would now give hands in our endeavours of saving and preserving heritage.

REACH's International Conference in 2009

The THIRD International conference "Space time place 2009" by the educational wing of REACH FOUNDATION, AASAI, in collaboration with ASI Chennai Circle and Bharatidasan University, in Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu India was held last year (17th to 22nd August 2009) and more international scholars read our papers of international interest in the said conference.

As we received the photos very late, we have uploaded the same here.
REACH apologizes for the inordinate delay. We'll also give you the brief of papers which were read out soon in our web site www.conserveheritage.org

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.

Inauguration of 2nd batch of epigraphy

The Inauguration of the second batch of 'Introduction to Tamil Epigraphy' conducted by REACH- AASAI went on well on 2nd of August 2009, with the serene atmosphere of Ramakrishna Mission school adding the positive energy around. Swamiji Padamasthananda, the secretary of Ramakrishna mission at T.Nagar inaugurated by lighting the lamp and delivering his key address. The photos are uploaded here

UTTARAMERUR RESTORATION UPDATES..

Pls see this link..

Kindly join yahoo group: temple_cleaners,donate generously for restoring such temples..

Lime removal at Varadaraja Perumal temple -Kanchipuram

The famous Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram is known for its intricately carved 100 pillar mandap. Due to ignorance, it was white washed for ages and the pillars now have thick coats of white wash mostly at the bottom half of the pillars and the mandap's periphery. A philanthropist, native of Kanchi,is now a famous patent lawyer having office at almost all the cities in India, had vowed back to get his beloved deity's temple back to its glory and he had selected REACH for the cleaning of this pillar mandap, the kitchen (filled with black carbon soot, again settled on the walls for ages). So we had started the work last week and have put the best ASI trained workers and one full time supervisor for this task. First phase comprises of the mandap work, later after few months we'll be cleaning the whole kitchen (madapalli for Thaligai) to remove all the soot and carbon using scientific methods.
See the pictures here..