EO Murugan is fighting all odds to get the Pandya Period temple to its historical glory
He is replacing all the Mosaic stones with traditional Karungal, removing additional stones that raised the floor level up by almost five feet, installing two new Kodi Marams
The huge temple has exquisite sculptures and historical inscriptions
While there has been an aggressive campaign against the HR&CE over the last decade that has been unsettling for those administering the temples, there are certain Executive Officers at some of the large temples who are trying their best to initiate positive developments in their limited time at these temples. This section featured a story in May this year on EO Sivaraman undertaking positive steps at the Ramanathaswamy temple in Ramanathapuram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2024/05/dhanushkodi-rama-temple-shiva-lingam.html) and another one about JC Mariappan during the Panguni Utsavam in March this year at Srirangam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2024/03/srirangam-panguni-chariot-festival-2024.html). This one is about EO Murugan, who against all odds is undertaking a restoration exercise at the Pandya period Kasi Viswanathar temple in Tenkasi.
It has been 18 long years since the previous Kumbabhisekam at this temple. The previous EOs at this temple could neither get the necessary approvals nor the required support from the priests. When Murugan took over as the EO, he was determined to restore the temple to its historic past taking it back to the days of the Pandya rule by removing all the additional and new constructions that had taken place in the decades gone by.
Like at the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/11/venu-srinivasan-srirangam-temple.html), successive renovation works had led to the raising of the floor level inside the temple. Soon after having his late lunch on the occasion of (Manickavachakar) Guru Pooja on Aani Magam, Murugan pointed this writer to the burying of historical inscriptions inside the temple “We have removed a few feet of additional flooring that had come up in the previous renovations and found there were many inscriptions dating back several centuries. Not just inscriptions, beautiful stone sculptures lay hidden because of the raised flooring. Now both the inscriptions and the sculptures are fully visible in front of the entrance to the Swami Sannidhi”, he told this writer in front of the Swami Sannidhi.
Removing Mosaic Flooring- Music Pillars back to its original sound
As has been the case in many temples in Tamil Nadu, mosaic flooring has become part of renovation exercises and it has been no different at the Kasi Viswanathar temple. Swami Sannidhi, Ulaga Amman Sannidhi, Murugan Sannidhi and others had all been replaced with mosaic stones. A great believer in sticking to traditions, EO Murugan took a bold step in removing the entire mosaic flooring and is particularly delighted at the musical pillars producing sound in the way it was originally intended “The traditional Karungal stones has led to the musical pillars presenting sound like from the past. That has given me a great bit of satisfaction.”
The Murugan Sannidhi will see additional stones and structures being removed one feet to get it back to its traditional past.
The roof above the Swami Sannidhi had seen poor renovation. EO Murugan is restoring that as well to its historic past removing the entire stones from the past renovations.
Anti EO Movement
No one gave him the slightest chance to replace the two damaged Kodi Maram (Swami and Ambal) but he has managed to make good progress on that as well. When the ground was dug for the replacement, there were some historical coins found underneath. He bemoans the way wrong information has been spread around to try and pull him down “News went around that huge quantities of Gold were found below the old Kodi Maram. Every part of this restoration has been captured and recorded and is there for all to see.”
He has the fullest faith in Kasi Viswanathar and believes that the Lord will keep him away from such distractions and help him focus on his goal to get the temple back to its historical best in terms of the structures.
Refurbishing the Raja Gopuram
Once again, like in many other temples, shrubs have grown in the tall 180 feet Raja Gopuram on the Eastern side. There are other challenges he has had to face in the repair works of the Tower "Severe winds in this time of the year in this region has led to a temporary halt in the repair works and painting of the Raja Gopuram. While all other repair works are going at full speed, the work on the Raja Gopuram is likely to be a bit slow for the next few months till the wind speed reduces" says EO Murugan.
No Proactive support from the priests in reaching out to donors
There are only two priests at this huge temple with multiple sannidhis. Both these priests (this section will feature a separate story on them soon) have refused to proactively engage with devotee donors to fund this restoration exercise. But EO Murugan is unfazed with the lack of support. In the limited time he is likely to be at this temple, he hopes to go the full distance in making this restoration exercise a success “I am trying to reach out to the network of devotees I had built during my earlier stints including at the Tiruchendur temple seeking their support. While it is challenging without priests’ proactive support, devotees have come forward in good numbers so far in taking this temple back to its traditional structures within the huge complex.”
Even as a large number of devotees are reciting the sacred verses of Manickavachakar on the occasion of Aani Moolam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/11/thiruvathavur-thirumarainathaswamy.html), he takes this writer to one part of the outer prakara that has been dug up five feet and shows the depth of additional construction “The lower walls in the outer prakara contain so many inscriptions that are currently hidden. We would require close to Rs. 50Lakhs to remove the entire additional stones had been built in the previous decades and the century gone by to get this prakara to its original form and structure. Kasi Viswanathar has blessed me thus far in identifying devotees and I am confident that he will show me the way in restoring this prakara too to its historic past. I am keen that all the inscriptions inside the temple are visible to the devotees for them to know the greatness of this temple.”
On the Southern side, there is a beautiful long nandavanam with beautiful flowers that are presented every day to Swami and Ambal.
Other works to be undertaken include a new underground drainage system and rain water harvesting system.
Temple Legend
When Pandya King Parakrama wanted to construct a temple and brought a lingam from Kasi, Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and asked him to follow the ants and build the temple where the ants finally rested. He felt blessed to build this temple dedicated to Kasi Viswanathar and Ulagammal at Tenkasi. A lot of the inscriptions that EO Murugan spoke about and pointed to date back to the 14th and 15th century AD.
There are beautiful sculptures at the Eastern Entrance, many of these are similar to those found in Krishnapuram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/07/non-divya-desam-temple-tale.html) and Srivaikuntam Divya Desam and the exquisite ones at the Kailasanathar temple in Brahmma Desam, near Ambasamudram(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/12/brahmmadesam-kailasanathar-koil.html). These are a real delight to the devotee eyes.
It is likely that the restoration exercise will be completed over the next 12 months and consecration could take place sometime in 2025. One is not sure if EO Murugan will be at this temple till then but when the Kumbabhisekam does take place, a lot of the credit is likely to go to his tireless efforts in getting this several centuries old temple to its historic glory in terms of structure.
The temple is open from 6am to 12noon and 4pm to 8:30 pm