Friday 21 February 2020

Sri Vaagheeshvarar Temple / Vaageeswarar Temple / ஸ்ரீ வாகீஸ்வரர் கோயில், பட்லூர், Patlur, Erode District, Tamil Nadu.

03rd February 2020.
This Vaageesvarar Temple’s Visit was a part of Heritage Visit  to the temples, Hero stones and Heritage sites around Anthiyur and Athani, scheduled on 03rd February 2020. In this visit we tried to cover the ancient temples with inscriptions or with some Heritage value. 


Moolavar : Sri Vaageeshvarar
Consort   : Sri Soundarya Nayaki

Some of the salient features of this temple are….
The temple is facing east without any entrance arch or Rajagopuram. Balipeedam and Nandhi are under a meta colour sheet shed.  Moolavar is of swayambhu. There is no images in the koshtam. In the outer prakaram  sannadhi for Vinayagar, Arumugar, Chandikeswarar and Bhairavar. Ambal sannidhi is in the artha mandapam.
 
ARCHITECTURE
The sanctum sanctorum consists of sanctum, antarala and artha mandapam. Ambal is in artha mandapam facing south. The ardha mandapa pillars has the reliefs elephant worshiping Lord Shiva, Vali &  Sugriva fight, Vinayagar, etc,.

The pathabhandha adhisthana is built with stone and sanctum with ekathala vimana  and mandapam are built with brick.



HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONS
There are 9 inscriptions recorded from this temple, which includes a separate stone inscription on a slab stone. As per the inscriptions this place was called as Pattil Oor.

The inscriptions belongs to 13th Century Kongu Chozha Veera Rajendran  ( 7 inscriptions ) and 14th Century  Hoysala King Veeravallalan –III ( one inscription ).

Veera Rajendran period inscriptions records the gift of 1 achchu towards to-wards construction of Maha mandapam by a Erode Rajaraja peruntheru  Merchant Mupperudayan Ponnambalavan, Sandhya Deepam by Pandya Vettuvar Punnathoorali’s daughter Paandaandi, gift of land by the villagers of Pattil to this temple, 3 Sandhya Deepam by Kodumbur Vettuvar Pillai, donation of Pattil village with Pasungannithazhai Eri and the land it irrigates, 3 Sandhya deepam by Vettuvar Periyathevan’s son Periya Pillai alias Periyathevan, privileges offered to the various Nadus and the temples of Kodumudi, Karur, Thirumukkudal, Venjamakudal and Thirumuruganpoondi and the donation made to Thirunanaa ( Bhavani Shiva temple ). The above temples are also mentioned in this temple’s inscriptions.

 Inscription on a stone slab
Inscription

TEMPLE TIMINGS:
The temple will be kept open between 08.00 hrs to 12.00 hrs and 16.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs.

CONTACT DETAILS:
Gurukkal may be contacted on his mobile number 9500397777 for further details.

HOW TO REACH:
This temple at Patlur is about 500 meters from Anthiyur – Ammapettai  and Bhavani – Vellithiruppur Road Junction.
The temple at Patlur is 22KM from Bhavani, 40 KM from Erode, 120 KM from Coimbatore and 400 KM from Chennai.   
Nearest Railway station is Erode.

LOCATION: CLICK HERE




 Kavasam of Bhairavar
Elephant worships Lord Shiva
  Pillar relief - Vali & Sukreevan fight
---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---

Thursday 20 February 2020

Olageshwarar Shiva Temple / ஸ்ரீ ஒலகேஸ்வரர் கோயில், ஒலகடம்/ Olagadam, Erode District, Tamil Nadu.

3rd February 2020.
This Olageshwarar Temple’s Visit was a part of Heritage Visit to temples, Hero stones and Heritage sites around Anthiyur and Athani, scheduled on 03rd February 2020. In this visit we tried to cover only ancient temples. The first visit was to this 12th to 13th Century Shiva temple.


Moolavar : Sri Olageshwarar
Consort   : Sri Ulaga Nayagi

Some of the salient features of this temple are…
The temple is facing east with a 3 tier rajagopuram. Balipeedam, Dwajasthambam and Rishabam are immediately after the rajagopuram. Moolavar is swayambhu. In Koshtam Vinayagar, Dakshinamurthy, Lingothbavar, Brahma and Durgai.

In prakaram sannadhi for Vinayagar, Sri Valli Devasena Shanmuga Subramaniar, Chandikeswarar, Bhairavar, Navagrahas, Chandran, Suryan and Saneeswaran. Ambal is in artha mandapam facing south. In addition to this there are some Hero stones and details will be posted separately.

ARCHITECTURE
The sanctum sanctorum consists of sanctum, antarala and artha mandapam. The adhistanam is of very simple padabandha adhisthana with tripatta kumuda.  The Artha mandapam might have been constructed after the sanctum. The Rajagopuram was constructed during Vijayanagara period.


HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONS 
As per the inscription this place was called as Ulagavidangam and Lord Shiva was called as Vageeswarar. Since this temple bears the 13th century inscriptions, this temple my belongs to 12th century or before. The 13th Century Kongu Chozha Veera Rajendran's 24th year rule inscription on the Sri Valli Devasena Subramaniar sannidhi’s entrance side stone records the construction of this sannadhi Kundramerintha Pillayar ( Lord Muruga is also called as Kundramerintha Pillayar ) by Vadakari Nattu Ulagavidanga Village Kallai Vettuvar Karunchokkan Valiya Chokkan.

A 13th Century Kongu Pandyar Sundara Pandyan period inscription on the maha mandapam entrance side stone opposite to Sri Subramaniar sannadhi records the  gift of land to this Olageshwarar Temple and it also mentions the erection of Soolakal on all the four boundaries.

A 13th Century Kongu Chozha Kulothungan’s 5th year rule inscription on the Maha mandapam entrance side stone opposite to Ambal sannidhi records the gift of land to this temple by Vadakarai Nattu Ulagavidanga Village Kallai Vettuvar  Sadaya Nammpillai.

The 13th century ( without King’s name and year ) inscription records the King’s direct order of gift  to Vadakarai Nadu, Poovaniya Nadu, Kizhangka Nadu and Venkala Nadu. Since the inscription was damaged very heavily the details are not known.

The 13th Century Kongu Chozha Veera Rajendran's 34th year Rule inscription on the maha mandapam west wall records the gift. The details are not known.

The 14th Century Kongu Chozha Vikrama Chozha period inscription on the maha mandapam north side wall records the gift and the details are not known.

During renovations some of the stones are interchanged and some were lost. Hence the inscriptions of Vikrama Chozha, Tribhuvana Veera Thevar, etc., are not complete and do not have continuity.

Kumbhabhishekam was conducted in 1894 and 2003.


Vijayanagara period inscription

TEMPLE TIMINGS:
The temple will be kept open between 07.00 hrs to 11.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs.

CONTACT DETAILS:
Sri Eswara Gurukkal may be contacted on his mobile 9597097614 and 9842639376 for further details.

HOW TO REACH:
This Shiva Temple at Olagadam is about 300 from Olagadam EB office on the Olagadam to Rajakumaranoor Road.
Olagadam is  9 KM from Anthiyur, 17 KM from Bhavani, 41 KM from Erode and 420 KM from Chennai.
Nearest Railway junction is Erode.

LOCATION: CLICK HERE




--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA---

Wednesday 19 February 2020

Mahakaliamman Kovil / Sri Mahakaliamman Temple / ஸ்ரீ மகாளியம்மன் கோயில், Chithode, Erode District, Tamil Nadu.

03rd February 2020.
This Mahaliamman Temple / Mahakaliamman Kovil was not a part of Heritage Visit to temples, Hero stones and Heritage sites around Anthiyur and Athani, scheduled on 03rd February 2020. It was planned to pick me up from Chithode. Since I reached little earlier, had been to this temple, which is on the main road from Chithode to Bhavani.

 
Presiding Deity : Sri Mahaliamman

Some of salient features of this temple are..
The temple is facing North with an entrance arch. Mahaliamman’s stucco image is on the top of the north side entrance arch. Like any other village deities in Erode District, this temple also has the Oonjal, balipedam and simha Vahana. The sanctum sanctorum is about 3 feet higher than the ground level.  Mahaliamman is in sitting posture. The stucco images of  Munis / Annanmar ( Periyannan and Chinnanan ? ) with ferocious look on their faces, holding Sword and shield in their hands. They are on the right side of the temple facing east. The sanctum sanctorum consists of sanctum, a small artha mandapam and a mukha mandapam. Vinayagar sannidhi is on the south west corner of the main temple.

HISTORY & INSCRIPTIONS
The original temple may be more than 100 years old. The temple was renovated in the recent years. The sanctum was built with stone and there is no koshta images. The front mandapa was built with concrete. From the inscriptions, in 1940 a Chariot was donated by Chinnappa Mudaliar, which was made by Arumuga Mudaliar. In the same year Kuppanaya Chettiar donated a well for the temple. In 1968, a mandapam was also built.

 Inscription for the excavation of well
Inscription for the Chariot / ரதம் 

TEMPLE TIMINGS:
The temple will be kept open between 07.00 hrs to 11.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs to 19.00 hrs.

HOW TO REACH:
This temple is on the Bhavani Road and about 300 Meters from Erode to Sathyamangalam  and Perundurai to Bhavani Road Junction.
Chithode is about 7 KM from Bhavani, 10.5 KM from Erode, 100 KM from Coimbatore and 420 KM from Chennai.
Nearest Railway station is Erode. 

LOCATION: CLICK HERE




 Vinayagar sannidhi
 South Side entrance
---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---

Tuesday 18 February 2020

Udayagiri Fort, உதயகிரி கோட்டை, Puliyurkurichi / Padmanabhapuram, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu.

 26th January 2020.
The visit to this Udayagiri fort at Padmanabhapuram in Kanyakumari District was a part of Nanjil Nadu Heritage Walk organized by Yaaooyaakay and Celebrate Kanchi in association with Tamil Nadu Tourism and Development Department, Kanyakumari, scheduled on 24th to 26th January 2020.
 

Udayagiri Fort was constructed with mud during the reign of Venadu King Sri Vira Ravi Varma ( 1595 – 1607 CE ) and latter it was reconstructed with stone in the reign of Marthanda Varma ( 1729 – 1758 CE ). The matters of Nanjil Nadu made donations for the construction of this Fort. This fort served as a cantonment under De Lannoy The Dutch Captain who was captured as a war prisoner by Marthanda Varma and latter appointed as commander in-Chief Military equipment including cannons. The cannons were manufactured and stored here. It also served as a Jail, where the soldiers of Tipu Sultan’s forces were kept towards the end of 18th Century CE.

De Lannoy, who served as a captain of the army under the rulers of Travancore Marthanda Varma and Karthigai Thirunal Ramavarma, died in 1777 CE,  a memorial tomb was erected for him in the Udayagiri Fort Campus and it bears the inscriptions in Tamil and Latin languages. The emblem of the Dutch  Government is also found in this tomb. Near his tomb are also seen the tombs of his wife Margarette De Lannoy and his son John De Lannoy and Peter Flory, a second rank army General.

A Church was built  and roof was not erected. In side the Church there are tombs of De Lannoy’s family and other people. In addition to this it was told that there is a tomb for the Horses of De Lannoy.

1.  Lannoy Tomb Inscription- டி லெனாய் சமாதியின் கல்வெட்டு வாசகங்கள்.
இந்த லொகத்திலே இருக்கிறவனெ கெள்
வெகுமானமுள்ள இசமானாகிய யளவுஸ்தாக்கியு  தெலலுவ திருவாங்கொட்டு
வலிய தம்பிரானுடைய செனைப்படைகளுக்கெல்லாம் பிறதானமுமாகிய சீவவிய
கப்பித்தாருமாயிருந்து ( 37 ), வருசமாக மிஞ்சின விசுவாசத்தொடெ
தம்பிரானைச் செவித்து கிளக்கெயிருந்து வந்த படைகளிலெ நடத்தின
காட்டிகங்களல்லாமல் காயங்குள முதல் கொச்சி வரைக்குந் திருமனதிலெ
காருண்ணியங் கொண்டும் ஆயுதங்களுடைய பலத்தைக் கொண்டும் தம்முடைய பெர்
கீற்த்தியைக் கொண்டும் மாற்றானாக வந்தவர்களை நடுநடுங்க விரட்டி அவர்களை
தம்முடைய இராசாவுக்கு கீள்ப்படுத்திக் கொடுத்து இந்த வெகுமானமுள்ள சேவுகத்திலெ
சாகுமட்டு மிளைப்பாறாமல் கஸ்த்திப்பட்டு சகல நன்மையு மடைகிறதுக்கு
பாத்திரவானுமாய் இருந்து கிடாட்சத்திலெ நிறைந்து (62) வயசும் (5) மீ
சுகமெயிருந்து (1777) வரு சூன் மீ (1) உ
மரணத்தை அடைந்து இந்த இடத்திலே  அடக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்.
தமிள்க்கணக்கில் (952) வரு வைகாசி மீ 22 ஞாயிற்றுக்கிளமை
ரா என்றறியவும். இவருக்காக சறுவெசுரனைப் பார்த்து மன்றாடி பிராத்திச்சு இந்த
ஆற்றுமற்றுக்காக ஒரு பரமண்டல மந்திரம் ஓதிக்கொள்ளவும்.



2. Lannoy’s Wife Tomb Inscription
பூலோகத்திலே பரதேசியா யிருக்கிறவர்களே’
பாருங்கோ இந்தக் கல்லறையிலே
மிகவுங் கிற்திப்பட்ட பெரிய கற்பித்தா(ர்) யெவ தாக்கியு
வெந்து நெ லானொயிஸ் பெண்சாதீயாகிய
மரிகாத் தெ லானையில் அம்மாளுடைய
யெப்போதும் தாரமாயத் தற்மங்கள்
செய்ததினாலே யெல்லாருடைய வாய்னாலே
யெழியவர்களுடைய தாயா ரென்று பேர்பட்டவள்
(958) வரு ஆவணி மீ (29)
புதன் கிளமை மரித்து போனாள் யிந்த புன்ணியவதியுடைய
ஆற்றுக்காக வேண்டிக்கொள்ளவும்.

3. De Lannoy’s Son's Tomb Inscription
பூலோக்த்திலே பரதேசிக் கிறிஸ்தவனெ
நில்லு நினையுங்கோ
இவிடத்திலே யிருக்கிற
வலிய கப்பித்தாருட மகன் செறிய கப்பித்தான்
(யு)வான் இஸ்தாக்கியோ வெந்தொ தெல்னுவ (921)
வரு ஆவணி மாதம் (12) செவாயிக் கிழமைக்கு பிறந்து
(940) வரு சித்திர மாதம் ( 920 ) உ திங்கள்
கிழமைக்கு களக்காட்டுச் சண்டையிலே காயப்பட்டு
( 941 ) வரு புரட்டாசி மாதம் (9) உ சரீரம்
விழுந்து போகவும் செய்து அவருடய
ஆற்பனாவுக்கு உதவியாக
சறுவேசுவரனோடே வேண்டிக்
கொள்ளவும் ஆமென்.

4. பெதுரு புலோரி Tomb 
வயசு (33 ) பரமண்டலம்
வேண்டிக்கொள்ளவும்
இந்தவிடத்திலே வெகுமானப்பட்ட
பெதுரு புலோரி (39) வருடம்
விசுவாசத்துடனே மகராசா அவர்களே
சேவித்து இந்த கோட்டைக்கு
ரணடாம் பேர் உத்தியோத்திலே
இருந்து ( 955 ) பங்குனி மீ (16) உ
பொதன் கிளமை மரணம் அடையிந்து
போனார் வயசு ( 55 )
5.  W Rouse Cond Tomb
SACRED
To the memory of
The Rouse
Wife of W Rouse Cond
Who departed this life
22nd Dec 1811
Aged 60 Years
This Tomb has been erect (ed )
By the desire of her Dought (er )
Mrs Jane Leonard

6. Captn. A r. Hughes infant sons.
Here lie the
Remains of the
Infant son of Captn. A.r. Hughes
5 Reign : N:1
Born March 16: and
Died July 31. 1812
Also of a second on
Alex Radford
Born March 12: and
Died Octob: 7 : 1813

7. Major. tomb 
இந்த யிடத்தில்
அடக்கப்பட்ட சரீரம்  திருவதங்கோட்டு
ராச்சியத்தில் சங்கை
பொறந்த முடிதரிக்கப்பட்ட
மகாராசர் அவர்கள் படை
றாணுகளில் மேசர் பிக்கசர்சாற்றிகள்
வுரெட்டு அவர்கள் வெகு
நாளாய் சேவகத்தில் சேவித்து
யிருந்து (978) வரு
புரட்டாசி மீ (11) மரணமடைந்தார்.



In addition to this there are two tombs. They belongs to Shree Mudiyil M K Kesava Pillai, who died in 1968 and his wife Mrs M K Kesava Pillai alias L Gourikutty Amma, died on 19-07-1971. M K Kesava Pillai and his wife, who was the custodian of this property until the Tamil Nadu government acquired this for social forestry. This Fort was a gift from the then Maharaja to Divan Peshkar of Travancore Sree MK Kesava Pillai, now a case is still pending at Chennai against the acquisition. 

 Tomb of Shree Mudiyil M K Kesava Pillai and his wife Mrs M K Kesava Pillai alias L Gourikutty Amma.
 
The Fort is under the Control of Forest department and a Bio diversity Park is functioning inside the Fort. There is a Temple also at the entrance of the Fort.

HOW TO REACH:
Udayagiri fort is about 500 meters from Padmanabhapuram.
Padmanabhapuram is  18 KM from Nagercoil, 40 KM from Kanyakumari, 102 KM from Tirunelveli, 275 KM from Madurai and 800 KM from Chennai.

LOCATION OF THE FORT : CLICK HERE



 The Horse Tomb
 The way to De Lannoy Church
 Fort wall
  Fort wall
A Temple at the entrance of the fort
--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---