We the devotees believe totally
in God and go to temples regularly ~ it is not simply a habit but a belief –
totally immersed belief – the one of surrendering ourselves in the Lotus feet
of the Lord. When we visit the
various temples, often we feel sad over the poor maintenance and derelict
attitude of those managing the temples.
The Vaishnavaites call them ‘108 Divyadesams’ – similarly for Saivaites
there are 275 – ‘Paadal Petra Stalams’ – of which 32 are in the Tondai Nadu. Some are big, some small – all equal in
divinity …. In the city of Chennai
is the famous Thiagarajaswamy temple at Tiruvotriyur. This temple is several centuries old,
eulogized by poets, scholars and devotees alike, affirms the splendor of India’s
religious tradition and spiritual ethos.
Tradition holds that this Shiva stala was
the first temple ever on the face of the earth and was called ‘Adipuri’ (‘the
primordial town’). In the same vein, the moolavar here is called
Adipureeswarar. Shiva is present as Agni or fire. He is also present as a
swayambu lingam of earth covered with a kavacham removed only on the occasion
of the Karthikai Full Moon. The place
“Thiruvotriyur” existed many centuries earlier to the formation of
Chennapatnam.
By some accounts it is stated that the
great grammarian Pannini sat in penance here and worshipped with staunch
devotion obtaining the sutras which formed the basis of his exponential
treatise on Sanskrit grammar. From 1835
to 1858, Sri Ramalinga Adigalar visited Otriyur everyday, for 23 years and
received the blessings of Sri Thiagarajaswamy.
Sri Ramalinga Adigalar composed
31 verses on Shiva titled Ezhuttariyum Perumal Maalai’ and 102 verses on
Shakthi titled ‘Vadivudai Manikka Maalai’.
Now this place is in news for
wrong reasons…… Historians, archaeologists and devotees are up in arms against
the renovation of Thyagarajaswamy temple, popularly known as Sri Vadivudai
Amman temple, in Tiruvottiyur ~ reports The Hindu newspaper.
Temple authorities have removed
granite slabs with inscriptions from the temple floor and are replacing them
with rough granite. This ancient temple, classified as a ‘paadal petra sthalam’, contains
the most number of inscriptions in this part of the country. “Tamil saint and
poet Vallalar had sung at the very spot where the idols of Arunagirinathar and
Murugan were — both have been removed now. The temple is being renovated but
its identity is being destroyed. The officials are rude whenever we question
them,” said a devotee. R. Nagaswamy, former director of the Tamil Nadu
archaeology department, said, the temple could have originally been a brick
structure that existed around the 7th century AD. “Around 1020 AD, Rajendra
Chola rebuilt it. The stones have been there for over 1,000 years. The expert
appointed by the government for restoring the temples has not been consulted
for the renovation,” he said.
The Tirupati temple had planned
to cover Vijayanagara inscriptions with gold sheets but the courts dismissed
the idea. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department
had replaced the flooring in the Parthasarathy temple with granite but devotees
objected to it, Dr. Nagaswamy said. According to S. Swaminathan, author of
several books on temples, the inscriptions serve as proof of our history.
“There are methods for the preservation of 1,000-year-old inscriptions. The
stones have remained there for centuries. What is the need to move them now?
Can an executive engineer replace a stone in the Taj Mahal?” he said.
T.R. Ramesh, president, Temple
Worshipers Society, said a few slabs of inscriptions were broken when they were
moved without adequate care. “Damage has been done to not just the inscriptions
but also to some Shiva lingams. The temple had 11 ‘ekadasa rudra’ Shiva lingams
that are now in a shambles,” he said.
An official in the HR&CE department,
which manages the affairs of the temple, said the stone inscriptions on the
floor near the Durgai Amman Sannidhi in the Aadhipureeswarar shrine were
removed so they could be reinstalled in a suitable spot. Similarly, lingams
behind the Aadhipureeswarar Sannidhi were removed to be placed on a dais. “The
flooring in the temple is being redone,” the official said, adding “the
inscriptions were placed wrongly on the floor, in the past. Usually, they are
found on the walls of old temples. In order to safeguard the inscriptions, they
are being re-installed suitably so the public can view them.”
sad state of neglect... the temple - management !!!!
On a different plane, photograph taken by
a research scholar of the State archaeology department on her mobile phone has
helped unearth rare Chola-era paintings at an Adipuriswarar (Lord Shiva) temple
in Tiruvottiyur. The findings, archaeologists said, were rare as this is the
first time paintings of the Chola era have been discovered in Chennai, which
experts believe was only a peripheral part of the ancient dynasty.
A team of archaeologists and epigraphists led by
S. Vasanthi, commissioner-in-charge of the archaeology department arrived at
the temple, and having inspected the wall, found that the painting, and others
around it, were genuine. They were confirmed as belonging to the Chola era, due
to their colour and unique style. The colours yellow and red, a senior
archaeologist said, were predominant in Chola paintings, while in those of the
Vijayanagara era, blue — especially peacock blue — was the primary colour. While
the panel or framework of the paintings is about 8.5 feet high and 1.5 feet
wide, the visible portion of the paintings only stretch to 3.5 feet on the
wall. An archaeologist said the painting was possibly the work of Chola King
Parantaka – I (907– 951 A.D) and depicts Lord Shiva adorned with gold ornaments
on his chest and waist. A unique feature of the painting, he said, was the
style of the head-gear in it – a knot with flowers atop it.
The significance of the paintings,
according to archaeologists, lies in the fact that during the Chola era,
Tiruvottiyur and its adjoining area Thondai Mandalam, were considered a buffer
area on the northern portion of the kingdom, between the warring dynasties –
the Chalukyas and the Cholas, in ninth century A.D. As a result, these areas
were very well maintained by the Cholas to ensure that they did not fall into
the hands of their rivals, the Chalukyas. And so, the localities were well kept
and beautified and temples here were elaborately painted.
All that is history as
the Temple
authorities are destroying its antiquity
without concern for its
heritage values.
Photos of the temple : courtesy
www.vadivudaiamman.org and recent photo and news courtesy : the Hindu newspaper.
