Peravur awaits consecration

Temples flourished when people preferred to stay in those places where there was abundant supply of water for irrigation and drinking. In that way, Chola Kingdom was blessed by the river Cauvery and its branches. Numerous Temples were built and renovated by the Cholas and endowments were created to take care of the places of worship. Queen Sembian Madhevi started replacing the brick structures with granite as this move would not only make the Temple strong but involved less maintenance cost if properly maintained. Little did they anticipate that the following generations would allow wild growth of plants over the structures and destabilise them. The negligence on the part of the locals has resulted into the loss of many ancient structures fully or partly. It is sad that many such Temples come under the control of HR&CE dept of the Government.

Rebuilding /Renovating becomes too expensive in these days. Even the Government prefers the work to be undertaken by the donors by mobilizing major part of the expenditure. Unless the locals find donors who come in a big way, the Temple is  abandoned and left to the mercy of the Nature to take the toll slowly. Identifying these structures , creating a database , writing columns , publishing photographs do not bring adequate relief to the dilapidated Temples. It requires the direct involvement and attention of someone who can talk to the villagers and create awareness. Of late, people have started realising that the rural Temples needed immediate attention. As they are not financially sound to extend monetary help, they prefer to give help physically at the time of construction and consecration. Philanthropists should make use of this situation and try to help them so that the Heritage is preserved.

Peravur, a "Thevara Vaippu sthalam" is a sleepy hamlet which depends mostly on agricultural income. As people started migrating to other green pastures, the Shiva Temple that belong to the Chola period was left uncared. It had lost its compound wall. What's more! Even the shrine of the Goddess remains untraceable as it would have fallen down completely many decades ago. No attempt was made to reconstruct it during the last consecration some fifty years back. The situation was more disturbing few years ago as the Mahamandapam in front of Sri Adhitheswara was open to sky at many places. One could see parts of the broken bricks that fell over a Shiva Lingam beneath the roof. The idol of the Goddess was seen inside the Ardhamandapam. However ,Puja was conducted once in a day though there were very few patrons.

It was understood that the HR&CE dept granted some amount which could be utilised only to build the compound wall on two sides and the remaining sides were yet to be completed. Hence it was left to the donors to take the construction /renovation work before going for consecration. It was under this scenario, Ardhra Foundation came forward to build a new sannadhi for Goddess Gnanambika. The generous contribution of the donors helped to build the structure in a month's time. Only painting work remains to be done. It is also initiated to conduct the consecration on Wednesday,April 9th and the locals are eager to conduct the function as per the tradition. The Temple can be reached from Aduthuai ( ~ 6 km ) , a place between Mayiladuthurai and Kumbakonam. Further details may be had from 09840744337 and 09445188830.

Karuppur is 2 km away from Peravur. The situation is similar to that of Peravur ; the Ambal Sannadhi is no longer there. The sannadhis of Ganesa and Subramanya are in shambles. The only remaining sannadhi is that of Lord Shiva   which is cracked at many places due to the growth of deep rooted trees. Even this sannadhi may fall down at any time if ignored. The Temple Tank, "Thiruvaasaga Kulam" (the reason for naming it after Saint Manikkavasagar's "Thiruvasagam" is not known even to the elders of the village). There is a reference about Karuppur in 7th Thirumurai by Sundharamurthi Nayanar. As there are many places by this name, it is difficult to fix which place was referred by Sundharar. There is also a Shiva Temple nearby at a place called Kanchivaai. Kanchi is also called Kachi in Tamil Literature. As Sundhaar's Thevaram Hymn says, " kachchiyan in Karuppur Viruppan.." we may link these places as "Thevara Vaippu Sthalams" However ,it has to be studied in detail .The locals are very eager to see the Temple back to its original glory. May their dream  come true.