ஆலயம் தொழுவது சாலவும் நன்று
Dear Members,
Shri Sankarananda Swamigal of Murgasramam and myself visited the Satyavagisvara temple at Kalakad. Mr.S.S. Manian and Shri Chandrasekharan made all arragements for our tour, stay etc.
The kalakad temple of early medieval period has many unique Art and Architectural wonders and among them, the Gopuram is the gem of a south Indian Master achievement. It is about 145 Feet high with full of stucco embellishments at the outer facades and full of wooden decorative inside. The nine talas are supported by timber infrastructure well interlinked inside and each and every tala has got a wooden floor covered with bricks and mortar. The talas are accessible through a flight of steps abetting the southern inside wall.
The inner facade of the brick walls have mural paintings of late Vijayanagara period and form an art gallery of Visual feast. The Paintings are dated to the end of 18th century and stylistically assignable to the NAYAKA Period. There are totally 11 inscriptions in the temple and most of them are yet to be studied.
All the talas have Paintings depicting 63 Nayanmars Charitram, Ramayana Visuals and some local historical narrations. The Paintings are contemporary to Thirupudaimarudur temple, but in better state of preservation. If the Paintings and wooden ceilings are preserved well it will be the center of attraction for all art lovers.
Justice Ratnavelu Pandiyan is taking care of the former and let us hope under the leadership of Mr. Chandrasekharan and S.S. Manian these paintings and the Gopuram will be preserved.
Let us all give co-operation to them in this regard. An action plan is being sent separately.
with wishes
T. Satyamurthy