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Dear Mani and Members,

Actually i am surprised that this question did not surface earlier.

Its difficult to comprehend on how one can come up with colors such as these.

The only reasoning behind this may be as follows.

 

White/Beige etc., are difficult to be perceived from a distance, especially with

the sun shining and the blinding effect thereof. However, colors such as blue,

red, green have wavelengths that are more easily seen from a distance, and its a

way of indicating the presence of the temple (like our traffic lights).

 

Maybe people prefer dark or loud colors, and the presence of these colors is

considered aesthetic. If i am not mistaken , Kapaleeshwarar koil in Mylapore was

one of the first big temples to adopt this concept ( i will refrain from saying

who the chief minister was at that time). Irrespective of which temple adorns

these colors, they make the temple look too materialistic.

Isn't the Rajagopuram also colored in a similar way? I am sure Thirumalai is

not.

 

So, Mani, i guess all of us have to accept the Temple Colors, unless one wants

to undertake the mammoth task of re-painting the temples. As long as they leave

the idols intact, i can live with any unsightly color.

 

adiyen, ramanuja dasan

(srinivasan)

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Namaskaram:

 

I read with interest the recent posting from Sri Mani Varadarajan about the

trend in garish colors adorning our temples. This is true and a most

unfortunate occurrence. Sri Vaishnava temples were known for the soft sand

and grey colors by which the delicate artistry and 'saatvik' features of our

deities were clearly seen.The many carvings and sculptures portraying scenes

from our epics and puranas would emerge delicately from the heights of the

temple towers. While the fondness for bright colors is well known with

Tamils, the clothing and sarees bearing the bright contrasts of yellow

(manjal), earth red (arakku), green and orange being the favorite shades,

Sri Vaishnava taste was always pointed towards the understated.Our temples

were always known for the quietitude of the worship and the intense

saturation of bhakti which was never loud and overtly proclaimed.

 

During the renovation and remodeling of many temple gopurams, the popular

tastes of the local people seem to have spilled over from folk and film

culture onto the sacred spaces of worship. Significantly( certainly

thankfully), the senior members of my family while supervising the

restoration of the massive Nambi shrine at Tirukurungudi,insisted on the

colors remaining like the original bleached sand.

 

I have nothing against color,since I wear a lot of it in my personal life.

But I would rather not have my senses assaulted with a plethora of gaudy

hues when I enter the portals of a Perumal temple. Just look at how

beautiful the Vishnu temples in Kerala are!! An oasis of calm and serenity!

 

respectfully,

 

Anita Ratnam

 

>Mani Varadarajan <mani

>bhakti

>painted gopurams

>Mon, 9 Aug 1999 17:10:22 -0700 (PDT)

>

>

>Dear Friends,

>

>Many of our divya desams' ancient, beautifully sculpted gopurams

>are now being painted, presumably with the idea of making them

>more lifelike and attractive. In my opinion, this is a bad

>trend, as the colors tend to make the sculptures gaudy and

>cartoonish, with garish greens and reds, without any subtlety

>whatsoever. I would much prefer they be left as is, so we can

>enjoy the ancient shilpis' artistry by itself.

>

>One good example is the Tiruvallikkeni gopuram. What in ancient

>days was a beautiful white/gray gopuram is now blue, green, and

>red, looking more like a gopuram of a small Amman or Murugan

>kOvil than our traditional Vaishnava ones. I understand that

>after the recent samprokshaNam Sri Sarnga Pani Swami's gopurams

>have also been painted in this fashion.

>

>What do others think of these colors? Does anyone really like

>them?

>

>Mani

>

 

 

____

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Srimathe Narayanaya Namaha

 

Dear Sri Mani,

 

AdiyEn was also of the same opinion about the ThiruvallikkENi

Gopurams being painted in different colours but couldn't do much or

rather anything to stop it. Well it was for good really.

 

I cannot agree with your view that the gopuram in ThiruvallikkENi

looks like a small Amman Gopuram with gaudy colours. On the contrary,

enough pains have been taken to provide life like colours and I would

say that the gopurams only resemble a typical Navarathiri Golu that

is so vibrant, yet in decent colours.

 

Also I would like to add that, even I was not knowing what type of

sculptures or idols where there on the gopuram before it was painted

in multi colour. Now after it has been painted with multi-colours,

all the idols (or Bommais) are so beautiful and a treat for your

eyes.

 

To list a few are the Paramapadhanathan (viewed from AndAL sannidhi),

Ramar Pattabhishekam, and our dearest Kutti Kannan (the childish face

of this bommai cannot be so beautiful in the single colour paint),

what an attraction and a live one.

 

Sorry Mani, I do not know about other gOpurams, but our

ThiruvallikkENi gOpuram is so beautiful after the painting, that you

will change your views when you come there leisurely and do a

pradhakshinam around the temple slowly quenching the thirst of your

eyes by seeing those beautiful bommais.

 

Well one point to remember is the colours that are being selected.

There should be a creative and artistic touch in the person who does

this, otherwise the gOpurams will look like what you have said.

 

Sri RukmiNi samEtha PArthasArathy swAmi thiruvadigaLE saraNam

AzhwAr EmberumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan

 

Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh

 

Regards

 

T.V.Venkatesh

E-mail : TVV

Phone: 91-44-4960455 extn. 5218

Fax : 91-44-4960913

Visit : http://www.sanmargroup.com

***** Message Was Scanned For Viruses *****

 

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--- Mani Varadarajan <mani wrote:

>

> Dear Friends,

>

> One good example is the Tiruvallikkeni gopuram.

> What in ancient days was a beautiful white/gray

> gopuram is now blue, green, and red, looking more >

like a gopuram of a small Amman or Murugan

> kOvil than our traditional Vaishnava ones.

 

I may be wrong but it appears to me that your idea of

"traditional Vaishnava" temple towers seem to be

based on those which are badly in need of a coat of

paint aka jIrNoddhAraNam ;-)))

 

Dear Mani, use of primary colors appears to have been

sanctioned by tradition. You may want to read K.

Zvelebil ("The Smile of Murugan"), Michael Wood (same

title) or even EM Forster (Passage to India). They

relate it to the heat and dust of the subcontinent!!

>I understand that

> after the recent samprokshaNam Sri Sarnga Pani

> Swami's gopurams

> have also been painted in this fashion.

 

I was there two weeks ago. From my childhood, I'm used

to seeing the temple tower in a dull unwashed brown.

The coat of paint looks nice for a change. To

understand what I mean, you should take a look at the

Nageswaran Sannidhi next door or the Chakrapaniswamy

Sannidhi down by the river.

 

What made some elders of my family sad was however

something else: we stayed back for the sevakalam on an

ordinary day and found that all the gentlemen who did

the Prabandham chanting (save one), did it out of a

handy text. They were not chanting anything rare, it

was just vADinEn vADi varuntinEn (Periya Tirumoli

1.1), ArAvamudE etc among other things.

 

I'm sure the explanation is to be found in people

having left for Madras or elsewhere. Retired people

out of their community spirit were participating in

the sevakalam etc etc.

 

Wonder what the Astikas of this group think?

 

Thanks and Warm Regards,

 

LS

 

 

 

___________

 

Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.

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Yes Mani I agree with you.The gopurams should be left as it is in the

orginal grey color with that light shade.In the name of renovation

lot of things are being changed.But i also feel that temple administrators

and kainkaryaparals must be having a say in all this renovation.Then

why don't they intervene.Even in Srivi at the Andal temple I recently

saw a couple of paintings on the wall that were erased off in the

renovation work.Now i do not know whether they will repaint that

area or not .But still the original art is gone and it's beauty

and feel cannot be replaced.Then gopuram is also being renovated

and they have strengthned the base with a concrete matrix.The grey shade

has also been darkened slightly (i feel so) and i do not know what

more they will do

 

Venkat

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Lakshmi Srinivas wrote:

> What made some elders of my family sad was however

> something else: we stayed back for the sevakalam on an

> ordinary day and found that all the gentlemen who did

> the Prabandham chanting (save one), did it out of a

> handy text. They were not chanting anything rare, it

> was just vADinEn vADi varuntinEn (Periya Tirumoli

> 1.1), ArAvamudE etc among other things.

 

This indeed is a very disturbing trend. I would say

that we only have a handful of places left where the

sevA-kAlam is done without the aid of a textbook.

Srirangam, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallikkeni, Tirupati,

Melkote, perhaps a few others such as Alvar Tirunagari,

Srivilliputtur, and Tiruvali Tirunagari. And only

in Srirangam, Kanchipuram, and Tiruvallikkeni can

we find a daily goshti made up of more than a handful of

people.

 

I suspect most of the problem is that parents do not

have their children learn Prabandham or Vedas any more.

It is a great joy to see boys as young as five participating

in the utsavams in Tiruvallikkeni, chanting Prabandham

as if they were seasoned professionals. Since few people

value such learning these days, it is no wonder that as

great a divya desam as Amudhan Kovil has few people who

know even the nityAnusandhAnam by heart. Like it or

not, it is hard for retired people to learn things with

the same speed and accuracy as a young child.

 

rAmAnuja dAsan

Mani

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As a quick followup, I should add that we should be

extremely grateful that Sri Sarnga Pani Kovil at least has

dedicated bhAgavatas who devotedly come everyday

to the sevA-kAlam. Most divya desams barely have

an arcakar these days, and sevArthis and adhyApakas

can hardly be seen for miles around.

 

Mani

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I did not know this was a recent trend, but I have from the days I

can recall always seen most of our Divya Desams' gopurams painted in

multicolors including Shri UppiliAppan Kovil, etc. Can someone

clarify this issue. In fact some of our other temples that might

require renovation still show residues of such painting.

 

Could some the more learned folks in this group ellaborate on this

issue

 

Unless there is a significance to this issue, I really would say

"what is in an appearance ?". Isn't what is inside the temple that

matters and the spirit of the philosophy of the religion.

 

Regards,

 

Raja Krishnasamy

 

 

 

 

 

Mani Varadarajan wrote:

> Dear Friends,

>

> Many of our divya desams' ancient, beautifully sculpted gopurams

> are now being painted, presumably with the idea of making them

> more lifelike and attractive. In my opinion, this is a bad

> trend, as the colors tend to make the sculptures gaudy and

> cartoonish, with garish greens and reds, without any subtlety

> whatsoever. I would much prefer they be left as is, so we can

> enjoy the ancient shilpis' artistry by itself.

>

> One good example is the Tiruvallikkeni gopuram. What in ancient

> days was a beautiful white/gray gopuram is now blue, green, and

> red, looking more like a gopuram of a small Amman or Murugan

> kOvil than our traditional Vaishnava ones. I understand that

> after the recent samprokshaNam Sri Sarnga Pani Swami's gopurams

> have also been painted in this fashion.

>

> What do others think of these colors? Does anyone really like

> them?

>

> Mani

 

--

Regards,

 

Raja Krishnasamy

Senior Solutions Specialist

New England Solutionsupport Center

 

781 895 5168 - Office

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Dear Bhagavatas

 

Sri Mani has raised an important issue regarding painting of temple gopurams.

I entirely agree with his views.

 

The people who decide on the paintings do not seem to consult specialists but

go on with whatever color schemes they think would be right.

 

I know of one specialist, Sri G. Ramachandran, Senior, Archeological Chemist,

who recently retired from the Archeological Survey of India. He was telling

that the ASI had developed a chemical treatment which restores the pristine

glory of the original Colors and protects the same from the vandalism of

painting with garish colors indulged in by votaries of 'modern art' .

 

I understand that several other countries all over the world are interested

in this new technique and approach him, while our local bosses in charge of

temple renovations do not even seem to know of this.

 

This specialist was in charge of Puri Jagannath Temple and other religious

monuments besides Ellora etc. because of his expertise in preservation

techniques.

 

His address is:

7 / 11 Kalakshetra Road, Thieuvanmiyur, Chennai 600 041.

His Phone # is 491 5902.

 

Anyone interested may contact him and get his advice. He will be freely

available to help at anytime. You may mention my name, if you like.

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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Mani,

Thank you for raising this topic. Ive always

complained about it and have felt very bad about the

new fashion that has caught up with all the temples in

Tamil Nadu. But even when the Raja Gopuram was

re-constructed (or expanded), it had this new

coloring.

What is very obsene about his is the use of OIL

PAINTS....and it wouldnt have looked that bad if it

was atleast the Chunam.

 

Is there a way to stop this...nothing to beat the old

traditional architecture and their original forms. Why

dont people just stick to renovating it by cleaning it

and removing the extra layer of dirt...

Please someone help..!!

 

_______

 

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