AP Temple visits

[Update]: Our efforts on Srikurmam temple has borne fruit. A report about the start of temple renewal can be seen here

Moopidevi, Machilipatnam and Mangalagiri visits:

January 26th Dr T Satyamurthy the founder and PRO Chandrasekaran visited the Moopidevi Subrahmanya temple, another devi temple at Machilipatnam and the Mangalagiri Narasimhaswamy temple.

In Moopidevi temple, modernization was done to the maximum way and the temple plinth has sunk below the ground level of the current tar road on its front. So the tiles has not allowed the rain water to seep through and normally stagnates.

REACH suggested that the plinth around the sanctum at least be exposed and a bridge like entry point be given around to go into the sanctum. Water should be allowed to seep into the ground and not stagnate.

In the devi temple, the renovation is done by utmost care by the temple authorities, the royal family from Machilipatnam, related to our REACH AASAI Chairman, Shri. Ravi Sam.

In Mangalagiri temple, the front tower at the temple blow the hillock, needs to be exposed, by removing the additional weights like cement flooring of each tier, the huge sign boards and the signage done at the footage of the tower. This would save the Gopura, as old as that of the ill-famed Kalahasti temple.

The front mandapa also needs rectification. The heavy weather coarse wrongly done needs to be removed and relaid using lighter lime mortar and to a minimal level.

We again visited Mangalagiri temple on the 19th of February along with ASI staff who are honorary advisors in REACH too. They studied the Gopura and strictly recommended removal of additional materials and expose the original wooden structure with which the whole Gopura has been built. Plans are also afoot to build the Gopura on the East side too with the help of structural engineers consulting from the IIT.

Here are the photos.

Moopidevi temple

Devi Temple, Machilipatnam

Mangalagiri

AP Temple Visits 2

Visits to Dharmalingeswara group of Temples in Darupalam, Vishnu temple at Srikurmam, Narasimhaswamy temples at Simmachalam and again to Mangalagiri.

The Dharmalingeswara group of temples are totally neglected temples belonging to the late 11th to 14th centuries and are in constant threat due to the illegal mining happening in the hillocks that surround the temple valley.

Floors have moved away, pillars falling apart and the inscriptions gleefully white washed for ages. All this were highlighted during the joint visit done with the local Dharmalingeswara trust personnel and the endowments department officials.

Thanks to Chilkur Rangarajan and Shri. Vizag Dhiwakar deserve praises and thanks for bringing this temple to our attention and to that of the AP endowments department. The Commissioner had shown special interest and has promised help soon.

Here are the photos of Dharmalingeswara temple Dharupalam.

The problems were common feature in other temples we visited. Srikurmam, Mangalagiri etc. Heavy weather coarse, white wash and heavy usage of modern materials. If these are removed and original structures brought back to life, we can save all these temples.

In Srikurmam, the murals of Oriyan style exist only in this temple, not even in Orissa! They must be at least 300 years old and electrical wiring and white wash all around were marring the beauty of this temple. The mandapa also had heavy weather coarse.The Roads department were to renovate using modern materials and God sake, we went there a day before, to stop the tendering process of the modern renovation! We thank Srikurmam Vishnu for this endeavour. The star turtles also are bred in this temple vicinity and the forest department was forcing few enthusiasts to send the turtles to the forest. Luckily a recent court order has made the tortoises stay back in this temple, having the typical Oriyan style of temple architecture.

Shri. Dhandapani the ASI engineer, and the team climbed atop the mandapa to dig and expose a small portion of the heavy weather coarse to prove that the dead lime is still inside, cement had not blend with the weathering and worst, vegetation roots have spread inside and were playing havoc in breaking away the structures!

Srikurmam photos are here to see

Simhachalam temple is well maintained except for the heavy weather coarse we explained earlier. Some stitching of the North Western pillars of the sanctum also needs to be done. Otherwise, we can proudly say that this is one of the well maintained temples in AP, with minimum alterations and modernization.

Here are the Simhachalam photos.

During our Tirupathi workshop we had visited the Vakulamma temple in the Tirupathi Bangalore Highway, just located at the outskirts of the Tirupathi town. Sad plight and the temple atop a small granite hillock is left hanging, as there is no way to climb up and reach the temple. The Vimana and the Gopura seen from below show the masterly work done by the Vijayanagara craftsmen in lime which is still intact, in spite of abandonment and growth of vegetation. heavyquarrying is going on all around and like a rat eats away all the crumbs around a big bun, the merciless quarry men have broken and chipped of huge chunks of granite from all around, and the temple is left high and dry, literally. When Venkateswara is happy in Tirumala and Tirupathi, his hapless mother Vakulamaligai alias Vakulamma is left sobering in this temple atop this cliff, always surrounded by the hounding ‘click click sound of chisels and hammers all throughout the day and night Will the endowmenys board save this temple, make a way to go atop and start poojas there?

Photos of Vakulamma Devi temple, Tirupathi

Hope the trips, reports and the action to be taken by the endowments department will save the temples mentioned above.