Sri Kalahasthi Temple Raja Gopuram Collapses
Srikalahasti, 27th May, 2010: The entire ‘Rajagopuram’ of the 500-year-old Srikalahasti temple — popularly known as ‘Dakshina Kaasi’ — in Chittoor collapsed on Wednesday night. There were no human casualties, but at least 100 monkeys living on the temple premises perished . Locals and experts attributed the collapse to unbridled drilling for borewells in the area.
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Cracks on the 136-ft gopuram were noticed a week back and timely intervention could have saved the historic monument. But it was only on Tuesday that an expert team of three from Chennai inspected the temple and declared the area around the gopuram extending up to 150 metres as a “danger zone” . Thirtysix families living in the vicinity were evacuated on Tuesday night.
By Wednesday a portion of it crumbled at around 8.10pm. Twenty minutes later the entire structure built by Srikrishnadevaraya collapsed . But, miraculously, as the debris fell, Krishnadevaraya’s statue right in front of the gopuram was left unscathed. The architectural marvel was built by Vijayanagara ruler Srikrishnadevaraya in 1516 AD to celebrate his victory over Gajapathi kingdom.
“It was sheer providence that no one died,” a temple official said. The incident created panic among pilgrims , who blamed the negligence of officials and temple board members for the mishap. While the cracks became prominent in the past four days, it is learnt that narrow crevices had started appearing almost a month ago.
According to sources, vibrations from borewell digging in the temple vicinity directly contributed to the collapse. “The digging goes on up to a depth of 500-600 ft,” a geologist reasoned.
Though some temple officials said the cracks were due to heavy rains and constant soaking, experts largely attributed it to the rampant borewell digging. “The temple had developed cracks in the late 80s too. In 1996, TTD had helped in renovation to fill the breaches ,” a temple official said. The temple rakes in an annual revenue of nearly Rs 100 crore.
ABOUT TEMPLE
Sri Kalahasthi (Telugu: శ్రీ కాళహస్తి, Tamil: திரு காளஹஸ்தி) is a temple town in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Located here is one of the famous Shiva temples in South India, and is said to be the site where Kannappa, one of the 63 Saivite Nayanars, was ready to offer both his eyes to cover blood flowing from the Siva linga before the Lord Siva stopped him and granted him mukti.
Sri Kalahasti temple, situated 36 km away from Tirupati is famous for its Vayu deva temple, which is the only shrine for the God of Wind in India. Constructed in the 12th century by the Chola king, Rajendra Chola, Vayu is incarnated as Lord Shiva and worshipped as Kalahasteeswara.
The temple is also associated with Rahu and Kethu (of the nine grahams or celestial bodies in the Indian astrological scheme). The river Suvarnamukhi takes the northerly course at Sri Kalahasthi almost washing the west wall of the famous Sri Kalahasthi temple in the Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh. Inside this very large temple, situated between two steep hills Sripuram and Mummidi-cholapuram, is the Sivalinga set to represent the element of Vayu.
This temple is considered as the Kailash of the South or Dakshin Kailash. Saivaite saints of the first century sang about this temple.
This temple is one of the most impressive Siva temples in India. Vishwakarma brahmin Sthapthis who sculpted this temple need to be eulogized for their excellent architectural cognizance. This temple features an enormous, ancient gopuram (entrance tower) over the main gate. The tower is 36.5m (120 ft) high. The entire temple is carved out of the side of a huge stone hill.
The initial structure of this temple was constructed by the Pallava dynasty. The Chola kings and the Vijayanagara kings also gave great help for the temple development. Like other great temples, the construction period of Sri Kalahasthi temple lasted centuries. Around the tenth century, the Chola kings renovated the temple and constructed the main structure.
The outer walls and the four gopurams were constructed in the period of Sri Veera Narasimharayar in twelfth century. The 120 feet (37 m) high main gopuram and the 100 pillar mandapam were constructed by Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara king in 1516. Nattukkotta Chettiyar of Devakkotta, developed the structure as it is today by spending one million dollars in 1912. Tamil saints Nayanars like Appar , Sundarar and Sambanthar praised the deity in their hymns—the tevaram.
This ancient temple dedicated to Lord Siva is one of the five Panchabhootha stalams (temples celebrating Lord Siva as the embodiment of the five primary elements), air (wind) being the element in this case; the other elements being water at (Thiruvanaikaval), fire at (Annamalaiyar Temple), earth at (Ekambareswarar Temple) and space at (Chidambaram Temple) that Siva embodies.
There is a lamp inside the inner sanctum that is constantly flickering despite the lack of air movement inside . The air-linga can be observed to move even when the priests close off the entrance to the main deity room, which does not have any windows. One can see the flames on several ghee lamps flicker as if blown by moving air. The linga is white and is considered Swayambhu, or self-manifested.
Kalahasti is surrounded by two sacred hills. The Durgamba temple is on the northern hill. On the south hill there is the shrine of Kannabeswara, in memory of the Sage Kannappa, who offered his eyes to the Lord. There is also a temple dedicated to Lord Subramanya on one of the surrounding hills.
The main linga is untouched by human hands, even by the priest. Abhisheka (bathing) is done by pouring a mixture of water, milk, camphor, and panchamrita. Sandal paste, flowers and the sacred thread are offered to the utsava-murti, not the main linga.
The Rahu Ketu Sarpa dosha nivarana puja is a popular puja undertaken by devotees at this temple. This is offered in three variations, all of which serve the same purpose but offer varying degrees of comfort and special treatment for the devotee. There are 3 rates for pooja; Rs. 250/, Rs. 1000/- and Rs. 1500/-. While Rs. 250/- pooja is performed outside prakaram (a wall surrounding main temple premises), Rs. 1000/- pooja is performed within in prakaram (at Subramanya swamy temple), and Rs. 1500/- is performed within temple premises. While you can perform pooja at any time, performing pooja during rahu kalam is considered to be auspicious. They are touts outside of ticket counters, if you purchase through these touts, they will facilitate easy darshan.
ABOUT SRIKALAHASTI
Srikalahasti (Telugu: శ్రీకాళహస్తి), is a holy town and a municipality near Tirupati in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi, a tributary of the river Pennar. It is also informally and wrongly referred to as Kalahasti. Recently,it has been included in the TUDA (Tirupati Urban Development Authority) region.
It is one of the important ancient Shiva Kshetras (Shiva Temples) of South India. The temple occupies the area between the river bank and the foot of the hills and is popularly known as Dakshina Kailasam. The three lofty Gopurams of the temple are remarkable for their architecture. This temple was built during the period of King Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar. A huge hundred pillared mantapam is another important feature of this shrine.
It is one of the ancient temples included in the Hindu pilgrimages and the site of a famous Shiva temple with magnificent gopurams and is fairly close to the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati, one of the richest and famous temple cities in the world. It is also the origin of the popular textile painting art called kalamkari.
