The modern construction that had come up in 2005 adjacent to the Vellai Gopuram has been finally demolished restoring the Grand Old Look of the historical Eastern Tower - a new Nandavanam will come alongside the East Uthira Street
Dungeon to Heaven - The new home provides for High Ventilation, Free Air Circulation, Hygienic Environment and a Peaceful surrounding to Andal
Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, Board of Trustees,
Ranganathaswamy Temple Srirangam is a delighted man for he has finally managed
to demolish the new modern type construction that had come up adjacent to the
Vellai Gopuram in the middle of the previous decade on the East Uthira Street and restore the Eastern Tower to its grand historical old looks. As part
of yet another restoration initiative undertaken over the last 15-18
months at the Srirangam Temple, a new home has been found for Andal, the sacred elephant of the temple within the temple complex, next to the Ul-Andal Sannidhi.
The last decade and a half had been a torrid time for
Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple’s other ‘Andal’, the sacred elephant who wakes
up early every morning and brings water for the Lord ahead of Vishwaroopam. In
2005, a new modern building was constructed adjacent to the famous ‘Vellai
Gopuram’. While on the one hand, the new building destroyed the architectural beauty of the
historical Tower on East Uthira Street, for the view from the Northern side of
the East Uthira Street was completely blocked, on the other, it made for a dungeon like stay for Andal.
The Tall Modern Complex that had come in 2005
blocked the visibility to the Vellai Gopuram
With road traffic having increased substantially over the last
15 years, there has seen a rise in vehicles from the Northern side of Srirangam
passing through the East Uthira Street. With the new large sized construction having
coming up right next to the Vellai Gopuram, Elephant Andal had to endure many a
sleepless night amidst the noisy movement of vehicles late into the night. The
auto stand was just opposite the home. The tall building was also constructed
alongside the towering Eastern wall and this prevented ventilation into Andal’s
Home. There was minimal air circulation within this complex for the building
was flanked on two sides by the Huge Temple Wall and the Vellai Gopuram. The
building was also a RC based construction. There was no drinking water facility inside. And bathing too was an issue.
The location after the demolition
of the big modern building
The new large building also posed a challenge during the
processions in Thai and Maasi when the Lord provides darshan around the four
Uthira Streets for it consumed a lot of space restricting movement of devotees around the Vellai Gopuram.
Overall, it was a challenging phase for the elephant. With the devotional wave striking temples in Tamil Nadu over the last decade or so, the focus of the temple had largely been on devotees and issues relating to them with the welfare of the elephant remaining sidelined.
Finally as part of the larger restoration exercise of the Srirangam
Temple, Venu Srinivasan was insistent on the demolition of the modern complex. As with the removal of many of the ugly constructions (that had come up over the last 50-75 years) within the very many Sannidhis of this huge temple, he was keen that this high rise building too be removed.
The authorities went through the process of securing the approval of the Commissioner and the Committee. A plan was rolled out to move the residence of Andal into a comfortable
zone within the temple complex. A number of unauthorized constructions leading
to the Ul-Andal Sannidhi had been removed as part of this restoration programme
that began in 2014-15. And the huge open
space adjacent to Goddess and Saint Poet Andal was identified as the new home
for Andal, the temple elephant.
Features of the New
Home
As has been the case with the larger restoration at the Srirangam
Temple, the focus of this new home for Andal has been on Ventilation, Free Air Circulation, a Hygienic Environment, constructing a Traditional Structure and most importantly on providing a peaceful
environment for the elephant to help her perform the daily service to Lord
Ranganatha in an energized manner.
Venu Srinivasan’s Trust which has undertaken this activity
has spent around Rs. 30 Lakhs on the construction of this new home for Andal.
The entire complex is a Granite construction using similar stones that one
finds across other parts of the temple. The East facing home provides for a lot
of sunlight into the complex both from the East and the West (in the evenings).
There is enough breathing space for Andal with large open spaces at this new
residence. There is a new shower coming inside the complex that will allow for
bathing of Andal every morning. Very soon, only is likely to find a small
nandavanam in the outer precincts of this complex. Drinking water facility has
also been taken care of for Andal.
Mahout Rajesh, who takes care of Andal almost as a parent
would of a child, says that in the fortnight after the move, Andal has found this
new home very peaceful “After 9pm, there is almost no noise for about 8 hours
and this provides for a solid sleep. Very often, over the last 15 years,
vehicular movement in the night and during the day disturbed the rest patterns.
There is now a solid sleep pattern and Andal seems lot happier at this new
home.”
He jocularly remarks that while this new home is good news
for Andal, it is challenging for him. While earlier he stayed in the temple
quarters, with the moving of the elephant into the temple complex, he too has
moved in along with Andal. And thus he spends well over three fourths of the
day (and night) in the same complex. But
the peace and happiness that he now finds in Andal far overshadows the personal
challenge of him having to spend almost his entire time at this new home away
from his family.
Joint Commissioner of the Srirangam Temple, Pon Jayaraman
says that given the attention that was paid to keeping the traditional looks of
the temple, the new home for the temple elephant took around a year to
construct with granite stones used for construction “We went through the whole approval process and hence did not hurry
this move. Once we set up the Nandavanam, we will allow devotees to visit the
new home of Andal.”
Devotees of East Uthira Street are delighted at the
demolishing of the tall complex that they say took away the sheen from the
Vellai Gopuram. For the first time in almost 15 years, we are now able to view
the Gopuram in its entirety from our home on the Northern Side of the East Uthira
Street.
While a number of the previous restorations at this temple
over the last 5 years were focused on devotees and bringing back the
architectural beauty of the temple, this one is particularly commendable for it has attended to the long standing needs of the sacred elephant and has provided a peaceful home for Andal within the temple complex.
Interestingly, there has been a space allocated for another elephant in
this new home and the word is that the Srirangam Temple could very soon have a
2nd elephant under its fold.
3 comments:
Wondwrful!!!
As usual very nice write-up ��������
Hopefully Shri Venu Srinivasan Swamy will spend a fraction of this to construct previously promised boundary wall for Swamy Koorathazhwan nandhavanam.
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