The Artha Mandapa and Maha Mandapa are now being completed,with the top stones coming up covering all the important areas. The photos are here to see
The renovation of Kailasanathar temple at Uttaramerur has started attracting press and public far and wide.
As on January 2010, all the stucco (limestone) figures and figurines have been completed on the vimana and few are given here in this link for you to see.
The same day, some important modern techniques were used to restore the heritage structure, thereby bridging modern techniques to save ancient marvels!
After a year full of research and consultations, testing and recording the stitching of granite using Stainless steel rods and proving their strength while being used as a stitching material along with a binder material made of epoxy, stones which lie below and the foundation level have been successfully retained without being rooted away, thus saving crores of rupees and time in removing all the stones used to build the temple! I.I.T Civil Engineering department Prof. Mathews and his PG research student Ms. Anupadma, and the company which provided the drilling and filling materials M/s.HILTI deserve our thanks and appreciation for their co-operation and services.
Cracks appearing at the bottom most part of the foundation, were ‘stitched’ using grooved Stainless rod thus the cracked granite stone is put back to a single repaired stone thus becoming integral using epoxy based grouting compound to bond the stainless steel rod with the granite core.
1) Drilling holes diagonally so that the hole passes through both halves of the broken granite…
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2) After which the holes are cleaned to remove all the powdered granite chips and slurry
3) Then comes the pumping in of the epoxy putty grouting material
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4) And the insertion of the grooved Stainless steel rod,
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5) filling the holes with the same ground granite powder..
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6) and ahoy ..The crack is stitched
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See pictures of Lime mortar work going on…
We had been walking above a raised mud bund always to have entry and access into the sanctum sanctorum. When cleaned, that turned out to be the Chandikeshwara shrine’s foundation!!!
See pictures..
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The chandikeshwara shrine base seen.. Old picture where workers gain access and now …!
Uttaramerur temple progress as of 14th April 2010
The panoramic view of the Uthiramerur temple as on Tamil New year day is
here:
The other photos of Uthiramerur temple:
