Reviving an Ancient Shrine

The Hindu
January 27, 2008

VENUS VINOD UPADHYAYA
The restoration of the Sree Vadakkunathan temple in Thrissur is also contributing to keeping alive many other traditional vocational skills.

Ancient and rare architectural techniques and methods, almost forgotten by the building fraternity, are undergoing a revival with the conservation of the centuries-old Sree Vadakkunathan temple in Thrissur.

The conservation effort, based on age-old traditional systems, is of prime importance today as the ancient science of temple architecture is closely related to many rituals and allied sciences like geometry, iconography, astrology, vastu sastra, tantra sastra and mural painting with organic pigments.

The temple, owned by the Cochin Devaswom Board, is protected under the Archaeological Monuments and Archaeological Sites Remains Act – 1958 and it is mandatory to conserve it following the techniques used to build it originally.

According to the Superintending Archaeologist, Archeological Survey of India (ASI), Thrissur circle, Dr. N. Nambirajan, the temple was built between the ninth and the 14th century A.D. and shows a highly evolved tradition of architecture, wooden sculpture and mural painting.

Artistic marvel
Explaining the archaeological significance of the monument, he said, “Most of the other temples in Kerala show one or two of these evolved features but in Vadakkunathan all of them are near to perfect and this makes it unique.”

The outer walls of the main temple enclosure, called vilakkumadom like in other Kerala temples, are lined with lamps. In the centre of this main enclosure is a multi-shrine complex having three principal shrines dedicated to Shiva, Sankaranarayana and Rama. The Sankaranarayana shrine has beautiful 17th century murals delineating graphically the story of the Mahabharata. Two other murals in the surrounding cloisters — Phanivarasayana (Mahavishnu) and Nrithanatha (Nataraja) — are even worshipped regularly.

There are namaskara mandapams (spaces for special rituals and Vedic chanting) with beautifully carved wooden pillars in front of all the three central shrines. The temple theatre, known as koothambalam, has no parallel anywhere else in the world. The shrines and the koothambalam display exquisite vignettes carved in wood. A 41-day special programme of mythological story telling, Koothu and an ancient form of dramatic dance, Koodiyattom, is conducted in this theatre annually.

The temple establishes rich vastu precincts and according to the vastu expert, Kanippayoor Krishnan Namboodiripad, it has all the ingredients of a perfect structure.

The sprawling 64-acre Thekkinkadu maidan encircling the temple, along with the temple itself, plays venue to the famous Thrissur Pooram festival.

According to Nambirajan, the temple has not undergone any major conservation effort for the past many centuries, except for periodic maintenance. The first major conservation work in the temple was started by the ASI in 1997. In 2005, Venugopalaswamy Kainkaryam Trust (VGKT), Chennai, got a standing permission from the Director General ASI, Delhi to take up the overall conservation of the beautiful temple.

Unique process
However, if it was the matter of conserving a mere building, it would have been easy but conserving a centuries-old temple which is also a protected monument was a challenge, explains ASI conservation assistant K.P. Rajan, “The huge size of the monument and the difficulty of obtaining traditional building material make it a very tedious and time consuming work. The climate poses another challenge as six to seven months of rain makes the work difficult,” he further adds.

Prior to conservation the gopurams were in a bad condition, the sculptured pillars and the roof rafters had been eaten up by termites and the roof copper plates were corroded. The roof of the temple complex was leaking at many points during the monsoons.

The wall plaster had peeled off and applying the new plaster was not easy. According to tradition, the original plaster material was made out of powdered shells, nine different herbs and jaggery. The whole preparation, which took 40 days, required skilled traditional craftsmen which are very few. Keeping in mind the hugeness of the temple, a separate workshop had to be established and labour had to be trained to make the special plaster.

The wooden rafters required for supporting the roof are, on an average, 20 feet long and special care had to be taken to procure appropriate sized wood for it. Finding carpenters capable of such mammoth work was difficult as the skill of wooden joinery involved in the ancient temple construction has almost become extinct.

“The rafters on the main Sree kovil (temple) are 30 feet long and those on the gopurams are 20 feet. Often, before laying the rafters on the temple top, we join them on the ground to check if things are perfect,” said the head carpenter, P.K. Thankamani.

The traditional way of applying anti-microbial wood treatment is also unique and laborious. The wood preservative is prepared by boiling seven herbs in sesame oil and bee wax. The entire process of conservation goes in tandem with the rituals mentioned in tantra shastra, astrology and vastu shastra.

The ASI has undertaken the conservation of tidapalli (temple kitchen), murals, wood carvings and the south and west gopurams. The VGKT, which is involved in conserving many ancient temples in the country, has helped in conserving five shrines outside the main temple complex and the south end cloister inside. The trust, currently helping in conserving the remaining parts of the complex, works with a vision to preserve traditional architectural values for the future.

Needless to say, the conservation of Sree Vadakkunathan temple, also known as Thenkailasa (Kailasa of the South) not only helps conserve our rich, traditional architecture for future but also contributes to reviving many extinct traditions and preserving our rich cultural and social heritage.

Classic architecture
One of the largest temple complexes in South India and a classical example of the rich Kerala architecture, the temple is said to have been built by Parashuraman. Legend also has it that Adi Sankaracharya was born after his parents, who were childless for many years, prayed at the temple.

The idol of the principal deity Vadakkunathan (Shiva) is not visible, as it is covered under a 12-foot high mount of ghee, formed by the daily abhisheka (ablution) with ghee over the centuries. It is a wonder that the ghee, in spite of high temperature, doesn’t melt.

The main temple complex is spread over nine acres on a small hillock in the centre of the Thrissur town. The four magnificent gateways, called gopurams, and the lofty laterite wall around the temple quadrangle are an imposing piece of craftsmanship and skill. Each gopuram has beautifully carved out wooden pillars and wooden bracket figures.