Feature Image: Representational
The Anavarathandeswarar Temple in the Aradapattu village in Thiruvannamalai district is one of the most popular Saivite temples in the district and comes under the control of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department. A large number of devotees frequent this temple during major festivals including Maha Shivaratri and Karthigai Deepam.
The kumbhabhishekam ceremony was held for this temple eight years ago. However, due to lack of maintenance of the temple, plants have sprouted in the rajagopuram. These plants have now covered the entire gopuram thus putting its stability at risk. The people of the area have demanded that the entire temple be given a facelift, including the rajagopuram.
The temple, which is under the control of the HR&CE department, is a classic example of negligence of the HR&CE department in maintaining temples. Demands have arisen that the temples should be recovered from the HR&CE department and handed over to the Hindu community. Recently, actor Santhanam posted on his Twitter page that he supports the #FreeTNTemples campaign started by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.
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