“Restart renovation work on temple mandapam” – The Hindu

Officials of the State Archaeology Department recently visited the rock-cut temple of Sri Parvathagiriswarar at Kundrandarkovil near Pudukottai and ascertained the condition of the 100-pillar mandapam, a work on renovation that was taken up by the department but suspended about a decade ago.

The department has dismantled the stones and numbered them.

Hundreds of cut stones can be seen found strewn all around the 100-pillar mandapam.

A group of local residents, including women, urged the officials to immediately restart the work on renovation of the mandapam, well ahead of the forthcoming monsoon.

The villagers said that the lopsided weight of the mandapam, after the dismantling of the stones on the ceiling, had resulted in the weakening of the structure.

To vouchsafe this point, they showed that the axle of the wheel at the entrance to the mandapam which could be rotated manually, had now got stuck to the ground, indicating that the weight above had increased in an uneven manner.

The mandapam had been built on the lines of the architecture of the Vijayanagara dynasty, they said.

The officials asssured the villagers that prompt action would be taken after they submitted a report to the government.