Temple visits
Myself and my friend visited Suruttupalli (Palli Konda Eeshwarar) and Nagala puram (Vedha Narayana Swamy).
The folks have done such an excellent job in collecting all facts that I thought I am better off linking their posts.
I liked Nagalapuram better for the following reasons:
- It’s maintained better, less crowded.
- The temple has not lost its ancient touch in the name of ‘renovation’ though I did find some rooms cropping up usng the old stone pillars. The phenomenon of ‘Surya Puja’ is amazing, a testimony to the architectural brilliance of our ancestors.
‘Suruttupalli’, for all its uniqueness among the Shiva temples is sadly too ‘modernized’ for my liking. It kinda sucks when old temples are filled with granite, painted with all sorts of Ramarajan colors, and made a marketplace by purohits.
Both temples are very accessible from Chennai and definitely worth a visit.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:59 am
Same here PK. Where I grew up, there is an old temple called “Arulmigu Pralayagaleswarar Thirukkoil”
The walls surrounding the inner sanctum is all full of old tamil inscriptions from top to bottom. One of my favorite childhood past-times was attempting to decipher what was written.
The geniuses who decided to ‘renovate’ in the last decade or so, paved the ground with concrete etc throughout the temple and now most of the inscriptions at the bottom portion of the wall for a few inches is all covered for good. Granted it is more convenient to walk around now, but what about the precious history?
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
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June 22nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
/* It kinda sucks when old temples are filled with granite, painted with all sorts of Ramarajan colors, and made a marketplace by purohits */
The solution is easy. Pay the purohits what they would potentially get from the market place and remove the granite and ramarajan colours.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:15 am
In the last few years my father has been involved in renovating a number of temples. I can only guess the amount of difficulty in trying to find the right artisans and material etc. I am sure most people aim to renovate things to the best of their ability and trust me it is not easy. Send me an email, will you. I am sure my dad will appreciate some real involvement from the younger generation.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:18 am
Ram,
First things first.. kovil enga irukku? I might want to go there
I heard similiar cribbings from those more knowledgeable about these matters in madurai meenakshi temple…some ‘erasing’ happened during amma’s first regime.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 am
Pradeep
Thank you for the comments!
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:24 am
Hawkeye
Welcome.
I am not sure about removing the granites and ramarajan colors will be effective all the time. Some things may not accomodate Ctrl+ Z as much as we would like.
I agree with you on paying the purohits the market rates.
Their official wages would be like few hundred bucks per month even now.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:49 am
WA
Kandippa cribbing is easier than doing some constructive work.
I am not an expert in these matters.
However, what i did notice was
- I am not able to gauge the antiqiuty of the temple by looking. It looks fairly modern. I don’t know about you but i would feel odd if thiruvanaikovil had its entire ‘kal tharai’ removed and replaced with something contemporary.
This looks like some wealthy contractor had built it recently, not like a temple which was built by Vijayanagara emperor Vidhyaranyar (which i came to know after reading it in blogs)
The Nandhi is painted white, i even commented to my friend that this should be installed very recently…. Nandhi (on the outside) white color la irukkum during old times?
I go to temples less for Bhakthi and more for history and to just be in that ‘period’ atmosphere. I don’t enjoy modern temples for these reasons. i specifically avoided going here for pradhosham just for the crowd factor….
They charged 10 rs. just to enter one section… I am not sure why…. En friend kettadhuku he was told some reason. We were given receipt only when we demanded it…
- this was unlike the nagalapuram temple(built by krishnadeva raya). where too they have added used what looked like hollow blocks but which looks more like stone. You notice only when you see cement plastering… otherwise its not visible at all…very subtly done..
idhuku mela enakku solla therila…
Maybe your dad would know better if he visits there. Sure will mail you.