Over 300-year-old wooden temple car on display | The Hindu

The more than 300-year-old worn out wooden temple car of the Arulmigu Sugavaneswarar Temple, which is out of use, has been displayed by the temple authorities as an exhibit on the temple campus.

The over 500-year-old Sugavaneswarar Temple in the heart of Salem city is dedicated to Lord Shiva in the Lingam form. The presiding deity of Sri Somaskandar was taken out during the annual car festival falling in the month of Vaikasi of Tamil Almanac.

This car accounted for a large number of wooden plaques with intricately carved images of the God and Goddesses in tune with Agama Sasthra. The plaques also reflected the anecdotes connected to the temple.

The temple car was used during the Vaikasi Visakam festival every year for decades together without any break. Due to passage of time, the wooden car worn out and was in an unusable condition, due to which car festival was not held for the last two years.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR and CE) authorities constructed a new wooden car recently. The old wooden car was such a major attraction that the authorities decided to make the new car as a replica of the existing one in grandeur and in all other aspects.

With the trial run of the new car having conducted in the recent past, the HR and CE authorities decided to display the old car on the temple premises for the benefit of devotees to have a glimpse of the hoary past of the temple.

The initiative of the temple authorities has evoked overwhelming response from the devotees.

They have demanded the temple authorities to display details on the historical background of the car.