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Showing posts from May 26, 2008


Kalakkad Shiva Temple Murals to Get Fresh Life

Rural Education and Conservation of Heritage, popularly known as REACH Foundation , is planning to conserve more than 200 mural paintings, which are 400 years old, in the Kalakkad Shiva Temple . The 13th century Kalakkad Temple is located in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. The murals on the inner walls of each of the nine tiers of the temple’s gopuram (tower) resemble those of the Vijayanagara and Nayaka School of the 16th and 7th century A.D. The paintings here are in a dilapidated condition due to neglect. The 185-foot tall gopuram will also be renovated and the 1500 odd stucco figures on the outside will also be mended. T.S. Subramanian writes in The Hindu T. Satyamurthy, the former Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and one of the founders of the REACH Foundation, called the murals at the Kalakkad temple ‘an amazing art gallery in each floor for the common man to see and relish the puranic themes in animation.’ They depi

Shravan Kumar in Ramayana Met His Tragic End in This Uttar Pradesh Village

Shravan Kumar the dutiful son of blind parents in Ramayana symbolizes parental devotion. But the young boy was accidentally killed by King Dashrata. Sarvan Village in Unnao District of Uttar Pradesh still retains the spot were the tragic incident took place and has memorials dedicated to Shravan Kumar. The memorial is mentioned in British Gazettes and the age of it is yet to be ascertained. In Ramayana, King Dashrata during one of his hunting expeditions heard a noise near a lake and shot an arrow thinking that it was some animal drinking water. Immediately, the King heard a cry but it was not of an animal but of a human being. A worried king reached the spot and found a bleeding young man struck by his arrow. A dying Shravan Kumar told Dashratha that he had come to the lake to collect water for his blind parents. And as his last wish, he would like to quench the thirst of his parents whom he had carried around on his shoulders. So he requested the King to take water