Devotees are complaining about the poor condition of stone inscriptions in Sri Thyagarajaswamy temple, popularly known as Sri Vadivudaiamman Temple, in Tiruvottiyur. The inscriptions, which were removed from the prakaram of the temple during the renovation in 2014, have been placed under a clump of coconut trees. They are covered with bird droppings and remain inaccessible to devotees.
Unique history
Ma.Ki. Ramanan, founder of Bharathi Pasarai, an organisation that does service in temples, said that the inscriptions were records of the temple’s unique history. “There are inscriptions from the time of Chola kings in the temple. Only about 20 have been installed in what is called an inscription park. But there are no explanatory boards and you cannot read the script. The stones are beneath trees, if even one of them get uprooted in some cyclone, the inscriptions would be lost to posterity,” he lamented. The stones were affixed on granite pillars and are now open to the sky and can be damaged due to vagaries of nature, he added.
A regular visitor to the temple, S. Ambigaidas, said that paintings of stories of Vattaparai Amman holding a torch for Kamban to compose a poem on Her and others that were removed during the renovation were yet to be affixed on the walls.
“Some of them have deteriorated with time as they have been kept near the cattle shed. These are large canvases framed in teak. This is a large temple with three dwajasthambams and there are many tales about the deities. It is one of the 51 Sakthi Peetams and devotees from everywhere come here. There are no proper signages,” he pointed out.
Another devotee A. Narayanan said that on Tuesdays, Fridays and on important days the temple saw a lot of crowds but there were no toilets for them. He also complained about the bad condition of the temple’s two tanks.
‘Paintings salvaged’
Officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, said that the renovations were done in 2014.
“We will take steps to clean and move the inscriptions to another location within the temple. About 20 more inscriptions have been kept under safe custody for want of place. We have salvaged whatever paintings we could and have hung them in the prakaram,” the official said.