A stone Marvel for you

Darasuram is a place which is about 10 km from Kumbakonam and has an ancient shiva temple which is a heritage site. This temple has story of 63 Nayanmars depicted in stone sculptures carved all around the temple.

Sure, it would be a treat to see The Marvel in stone in our ancient temples as  can be seen from pictures below:

Grand Entrance to the Darasuram temple, Kumbakonam

The Nandi before the temple entrance

The lawn before the temple premises

The Moat around the temple wall

The stone chariot with horses forming the base of the mandapam entrance

The main Mandapam housing the lord

The stone elephants at the entrance to the mandapam

The stone lian - front side

The Lion tail behind the pillar

Intricately carved stone structure with stories of 63 Nayanmars

View of the corridor along the perimeter wall

Lady with the musical instrument with Ganesha in the top

Same Ganesa in coin size on pillar

Sarabeswarar in stone

various yoga poses around the temple

Single person in different yoga poses

Pregnant woman in standing delivery pose - advanced medical sciences of yesteryears  depicted 

Advanced yoga poses of olden times beautifully depicted in stone

Fighting scenes with weapons in hand

3 persons with 4 legs but appearing as 3 full fledged  individuals

Temple Gopuram with Dhakshinamurthy Sannidhi

A Monkey removing lice

A combination of a cow and an elephant in stone

A cow showering milk on Shiva Lingam

Roof paintings which is more than 1000 years old

Sculpture of the Chola King who built this temple

Mother with the baby

Stone door with carvings

stone window in different  designs

picture depicting goat fight of olden times

Legs with intricately carved  nails 

We dedicate this post to the Great Sculptors and the Chola Kings who patronised them for their great works which is both realistic and ahead of times .Long Live our Rich Heritage and let us atleast see, enjoy and preserve them.

Nelvoy - Uthramerur - Daily Pooja Scheme

This is ancient temple presently in a shed built by Mr Venkatesh of Chennai,

Nelvoy temple with Swamy, Ambal and Nandi

The  temple is being taken care of by Mr Shankar, who is a Sivan Adiyar and by profession is a trader in salt. Inspite of Sandhai, on pradosham days he physically presents himself here and arranges for special abhishekam and prasadham. Nearly 100 people attend the pradosham pooja.

Mr Shankar with Sakthi Kulam in the backdrop

This temple has once upon a time had 2 temple tanks (Kulams) - one Shiva kulam and the other Sakthi Kulam. The Shiva kulam is presently dry and the sakthi kulam has some water in  it.

The Shiva Kulam which is dry . The bund and the stone steps can be seen.

As requested by Mr Shankar who manages the daily pooja with his personal resources, we have for the last 2 months giving special abhishekam materials like Rose water, Vasanai podi, Sandal paste, Viboothi, honey, dates,sugarcandy etc for panchamritam, vilva podi, arugambil podi, nellikai podi, chembaruthi podi, arisi podi, oil, manja podi, etc  for each Pradosham which is celebrated in a grand manner twice a month. 

There is electrical connection to this temple and also a borewell for supply of water

Kummbakonam - Melakaveri - Daily Pooja Scheme

Renovation Work in progress

This is an ancient temple which was recovered by the effort of the locals.

 The government in lieu of the Mahamagam ( celebrated once every 12 years)  which falls next year has identified about 25 temples in and around Kumbakaonam which require renovation  and has sanctioned funds about Rs 40 lacs per temple. The Brahmapureeswarar temple in Melakaveri , Kumbakonam is one such temple and the pictures below show the current status of the work in progress:

The entrance Rajagopuram with exposed bricks

The Mandapam pillars

Scaffolding put for plastering work

The idols kept out during renovation

This temple has a huge water tank which is full of weeds now.  The picture below shows the tank view from the temple.

Tank view from the temple

The main diety is Lord Brahmapureeswarar and the Goddess is Periyanayagi Amman. Other idols include Lord Ganesa, Lord Muruga and Kasi Viswanathar with Nandi, Chandikeswarar etc.

The Lingams with Rudraksha Malais given by us

We spoke to Balu Gurukkal who does regular pooja and to supplement his present paltry income he has agreed for a monthly remittance of Rs 300 to be credited to his bank account directly. Since the idols are kept outside the sanctum sanctorum and no additional collection is forthcoming this supplemental income would encourage him to perform pooja with greater devotion.

Kaavan Thandalam -Twin temples - Uthramerur - Daily Pooja Scheme

Kaavan Thandalam is a village about 15km from Uthramerur on the banks of River Cheyyar.The twin  temples are more than 1500 years old and has been renovated a few years back.

In this village there are 2 shivan temples opposite each other. One on the banks and the other opposite this temple with a road in between.

First let us know about the riverside Kasi Viswanathar temple in which Rishi Kaseebar meditated and prayed to this Lord.  Visiting this temple  is equivalent to visiting Kasi/ Rameswaram. It is also a Pithru Parihara Sthalam.

Benefits of visiting this temple

Entrance Arch to the Cheyyar riverside temple

Banner showing Old pic of the temple at the time of Kumbabhishekam

Riverside view from the temple

Kasi Viswanatha Swamy Sannidhi

Visalakshi Amman Sannidhi

Koteeswara Swamy Sannidhi

Rishaba Vahana Dharisanam on Pradosham days

This temple is being taken care of Palani Siva who has no vision and is devoting his full time and energy for restoration of old Shiva temples and ensuring daily pooja in all these temples. He is well versed in Thevaram songs and recites them regularly. He has renovated and consecrated atleast 4 temples as a one man army.

His request for resources was accepted and Rs 500 per month for each temple has been accepted and is being paid from May 2015.

The other temple across the road in Kaavan thandalam is also a Shiva temple whose pictures are given below:

The Bali Peedam, Kodimaram and the Nandi

The Navagraha Sannidhi

The Swamy

The Amman

The couple who maintain the temple with Palani Siva

The Nandavanam in the northern side 

The front mandapam with Swamy & Amman Gopuram

The upkeep of this temple is good and the local couple seen above, clean the place and do all things necessary for the daily pooja under directions of Palani Siva.

 In June they have also launched Daily Annadhanam Scheme and nearly 40 deserving people gain by this scheme.

This village has not much resources and hence they depend on donors to support their cause. Recognising their intentions and effort, it has been decided to pay monthly a sum of Rs 500 for each temple to uninterruptedly perform daily pooja in both the temples.