it was indeed an emotional evening for me on 2/9. my first face to face meet of the grp members Oeceprt SPS, Gokul and Chandra).
my knoweledge and experience abour every thing is miniscule when compared to the thoughts shared by the members of this gruop. i decided to read more than write.
as Kamal pointed out, i am awaiting dr.kkn's next article on this perhaps needless doubt about the avudaiyar. it is like the shadow of the shikhara/stupi or the entire superstructure of the vimana - never falls on the ground. i hope dr.kkn will come out all he saw within the garbhagriha of BT.
hope everybody applies their commom sense. but thye best common sense is to put an idea as a doubt and wait for the reaction.
sps sir, fine and thanks for the coment by balakumaran.
acciodentally today i came across a photograph published by Shri AK Seshadri on the temple,. He was one of our dedicated conservation man who not only conserved the monument but also wrote about them like any other scholar.
the photgraph shows the linga without the usual vastra. i could see many joints in the mouldings from the bottom. but the uppermost course seems to one piece.
so i take back my observation. let me do so with due apologies to all members.
considering that the uppermoat member is of one piece, i still feel the linga was erected first. let me think over from this hypothesis. permit me to come with conclusions at a later date, so that they can be discussed.
still i feel, considering the gigantic nature and logistics involved in constructing the temple, the institution behind it, and the great personality of RRC, this question is very insignificant as much as the shadow and waht agama he has followed.
back to gokul. his digital recreation of one of the panel is a painstaking work. he must spent his precious time on it as we all know he is a multifaceted person.
but, dear gokul, i still feel this work must be carried on by another person who has commensurate experience in photography, painting and photoshop softwares. busy mken like you and me must give them necessary inputs and be a good critiques.
when we met gokul at asi office after his demostration at BT (which i missed with fact being few hours before that i vacated the room where he gave the demostration), he was he apprised me about the technique of photographing the murals. by that time we had already completed the documentation of all the panesl, with sundarar giving lots of problems as we had work on it four time !!!.
in afct, sri Koviloor Nachiappan Swamikal of Kalakshetra Publication did a very similar work way back in 1950 under the orders of asi. his recently publsihed book, the reproduction quality was not good. but he deserves the maximum as he did the job at time when photography was at a nascent satge and that too colour photography. i may dwell upon it later in an article in varalaru,com, as requested by gokul.
perhaps we felt so happy when reproduced them to a 9feet by 6 feet panel and kept for public view. i felt very sad when gokul and his friends missed visiting our interpretation center when he visited BT lat month. i was expecting eagerly his views on our work.
i was told that VC balakumaran was so pleased at our work. hope he will again communicate his feelings.
be that as it may be. i may visit bt on this weekend. any takers? call 9444280408 and get confirmation.
today i saw a photo of the linga in abook publsihed by ak seshadri of asi. the linga was without the usual vastra. i could notice several masonry joints. perhaps i am wrong.
with due apologies to all members, i correct myself. still many questions remain. my observation is that the topmost member is of single stone. i am to some simple calculation AS TO WHETHER THE TEMPLE WAS WITHOUT THE LINGA and the linga was erected etc.,. please permit me some time.
as to gokuls efforts, i am really happy that he took a step further from where we had left, where the time had left the murals. it is painstaking job. indeed a great person as he could find time, and so much of it, in spite of his busy schedule as an software architect and as an architect behing the a wonderful e-zine called varalaaru.com.
but still i personally feel that this effort of digital recreation shoul best be left a person who is fully qualified and skilled and who can best devout fully himself to that task. he must be a painter, photographer, system skilled person. best we finance the effort and provide inputs as a critic. yhis is not the job for gokuls and sriramans.
fine, when gokul described his method in the asi office a day or two after his demo, we informed him that we had translated his theory into a reality.
THE FORMOST PERSON TO MAKE IT HAPPEN WAS ONE KOVILOOR NACHIAPPAN, AS HE DID IT A TIME WHEN THE COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY WAS A NASCENT ONE.
i was bit sad when gokul informed that he and his fellow visitors missed to visit the Porulvilakkaham at BT. hope he will do so soon.
we heard that EC balakumaran was happy to see our work. hope he will come out gain in public to say the same direectly to us. it will enthuse us to go a step further.
* Reg Aavudaiyar: According to Dr.Kudavoil, the aavudaiyar itself consists of 2 parts - upper and lower portions. The bottom portion is made of 9 stones (atha padhmam area) while the top portion - which consists of the waterway(Oorthuva padhmam) - is a single block. The bottom 9 stones are not of even size. One big one small next big next one small and so on. All big stones are of equal size and all small stones are of equal size.
We all will wait till you confirm the your observations.
* Interpretation centre: I really apologise for missing this. When you showed me what is in there by powerpoint I realised I have missed your team's excellent work. I'll certainly visit this first next time.
* Reconstruction: It was an extremely demanding job for me to spend time on this and though I would have spent atleast 100 hours - I repeat, atleast 100 hours - it certainly demands more. You are right that this hands on work is best left with craftsman like Thiyagarajan. I spent this time to prove that it is possible to reconstruct - ressurect - atleast to some extent. But we have a long mile to go.
Enjoying your participation in the group. Really missed your beach talk