Devotees and netizens have condemned the DMK government-led Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department and the Tamil Nadu archaeological department for their apathy and indifference in maintaining the Sri Naganathaswamy temple in Manambadi, Kumbakonam, which has also been designated as a monument by the same Tamil Nadu archaeology department.
About The Temple
Situated along the southern banks of Kollidam River, the Naganathaswamy temple was constructed during the time of Rajendra Chozha I. It is said to predate his architectural marvel Gangaikonda Chozhapuram Temple.
The Naganathaswamy Temple is also known as Sri Kalisam or Thirukailayam. Lord Naganathaswamy is in the form of a lingam and the Ambal (Lord Shiva’s consort) here is called Shenbagavalli. The temple has 6 inscriptions of the Rajendra Chozha I regime and 3 inscriptions of the Kulothunga Chola I period. One of the inscriptions refers to this place as Ilanjikudi Veera Narayanapuram.
As Rajendra Chozha 1 rule existed between 1012 AD and 1044 AD, the temple is said to be more than 1000 years old with immense heritage value. There is a sculpture of Rajendra Chozha I along with his queen worshipping lord Nataraja which is not found in many Chozha temples.
There is also a unique sculpture which shows River Goddess Kaveri performing pooja to the Siva Lingam. Other sculptures of Vinayagar, Lingothbavar, Durga, Dakshinamurthy are found along the walls of the sanctum sanctorum. The stone walls also have depictions of festivals and dance forms.
However, much of the temple lies in a dilapidated condition with broken walls and overgrown bushes. Platforms can be found broken and idols of deities lie scattered. The temple, which is under the control of the state Archaeology Department and ‘maintained’ by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, lies in a pathetic state making it look like it was razed down by Malik Kafur.
The Continued Neglect
Despite repeated plea by the locals and devotees, there has been no concrete efforts to restore the temple. M Selvaraj, a local temple activist and BJP worker has been fighting for decades to preserve the temple. A field report published by Swarajya notes that Selvaraj has sent several petitions to the complaining about the encroachments as well as other illegal activities in the temple premises but his efforts have borne no fruit.
Selvaraj’s RTI filing had forced the local administration to launch a probe which revealed that the Tamil Nadu Highways Department has appropriated the land that belongs to the temple to build an adjoining road. It had demolished a centuries-old compound wall to make way for the road.
According to The Hindu, in 2013, local residents and temple activists successfully thwarted the demolition of the temple for road expansion under the Thanjavur-Vikkiravandi four-lane project. The temple was later declared as a State monument. The temple is now one of the 89 protected monuments under the control of the Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu.
Rangarajan Narasimhan, who is known for filing petitions in High Courts for the protection of Hindu Temples and bringing to light any irregularities in the HR&CE department, said in a video shared on November 4th, “This is the pathetic state of Naganatha Swamy temple in Manambadi in Kumbakonam district. This is a 1000-year-old temple. In the name of renovation, the Tamil Nadu Department of archaeology demolished the temple in 2016. In April 2017, UNESCO came here for an inspection.”
He also showed an idol thought to be Rajendra Chozha, who built this temple, which had been broken into two.
Pathetic state of Sri Naganada Swamy Temple, Manambadi Kumbakonam. This is a TN Dept of Arch. protected MONUMENT!@tnhrcedept claims it is renovating 4000+ temples this year at a cost running to several thousand crores of unaudited funds. Moortheeswari takes bribe to approve this pic.twitter.com/8JH5tdHDVs
— Rangarajan Narasimhan (@OurTemples) November 4, 2022
Temple activist Rangarajan Narasimhan has made several requests to the HR&CE department and Tamil Nadu Archeological department to renovate the temple as soon as possible, but so far no action has been taken.
In a tweet on November 24, he said,”Even after bringing this to the knowledge of the HR&CE department, after 20 days Sri Naganada Swamy Temple Manambadi, which was demolished by the dept is in the same pathetic state. No security nothing. Are they waiting for the thieves to arrive??”
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.