Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Heritage under threat

A temple thirteen centuries old; Inscriptions on stone portraying a history of centuries; deities that have been sung about in the ancient - and still living - literature of the language and being worshiped even today and a temple situated in the capital of the state. What is the image that strikes your mind of a renovation of such a temple by an organization purportedly in charge of maintaining temples? Experts handling the process with a delicate care to ensure that the temple retains its original look of antiquity or construction workers uprooting sculptures and destroying inscriptions in a bid to tile the interiors?

If you thought that it would be the former - then you are sorely mistaken in your India. At least, Tamil Nadu where the Tiruvottiyur temple situated in Chennai is being renovated - with all the insouciance of renovating a slum. This album of photos here, shared by a friend, will show the extreme care and attention lavished on these priceless relics of our history.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department, which is in charge of temples, does not, purportedly, even have the authority to disturb the sanctum sanctorum but has given scant regard to the limits of its authority as per News reports. As for the expertise they bring to the table, scores of temples across Tamil Nadu bear sufficient witness as per this report in The Hindu.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/targets-of-destruction/article2109633.ece

The specific instance of this temple in Chennai has also been covered by a Tamil newspaper here. Whether any of this will have even a minimal impact on the activities remains to be seen but remaining silent was no longer an option for me.

Yes, this country has a variety of current problems and, to many, they may seem more important than this. For me, however, no person can be grounded in his self unless he has a respect for where he comes from. If the foundations of that respect will be destroyed and we start disrespecting ourselves as a people - as we show by disrespecting our history, there can be no salvation for us as a Nation.

28 comments:

  1. What happened to us? From a nation who created masterpieces which required painstaking attention to detail and a fanatical level of perfectionism, how did we turn into a nation of such sloppy workmanship and poor sense of aesthetics?

    Horrible. They've destroyed the integrity of the temple! A tap on the ancient pillar was the ultimate insult!

    Dagny

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    1. And this is in Chennai. God knows how many such wonderful art pieces have been destroyed and are being destroyed across Tamil Nadu.

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  2. If we do not tend the roots how long can the tree stand?
    After all this department must be having educated persons at the top so much negligence? It is unpardonable.

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    1. The rumors about the use and misuse of temple property is even more horrifying - hope at least they are not true.

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  3. The naked dance of Home Indians Indians. No wonder we are all upset.

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    1. We leave ourselves nothing to respect ourselves and have started respecting our wealth to the exclusion of everything else - including history, morals and humanity.

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  4. You have said it in the above comment. Apart from wealth and power we care little for values, morals, traditions, history and culture.

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    1. And that is one of the things that leave Khap Panchayats and the like free to define culture and turn it into a cuss-word

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  5. Isn't it ironic that as a country so rich in heritage, we treat our relics with such scant respect!

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    1. It is depressing, Purba, and seems symptomatic of a sort of contempt we seem to have for our own ancestors and their achievements.

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  6. Oh dear! Why is the ASI not involved? Is this outside their ambit?
    I am afraid none of the links opened for me. Maybe because I am reading this on my mobile? Will read the report in The Hindu tomorrow.

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    1. A lot of such temples around in TN where ASI is not involved. I think mostly cos these are temples in active worship but not sure about that - could be as simple a thing as lack of budget.

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  7. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments have been very charitable indeed in destroying priceless heritage. And it will be these very people who will soon be saying that the youth have no value for heritage.

    While I can understand why Muslim invaders and European colonisers would want to destroy something like this, it escapes me why would "our own" do it? Why?

    And it is with a heavy heart that I have to agree with you that there is no salvation for our nation.

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    1. What can one say Sudha when something temporary, though important, like the price of onions takes center-stage and something like this which is irreversible hardly seems worth noticing?

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  8. We are probably the worst people in the world when it comes to preserving our national heritage sites. There are so many lying in deplorable conditions, we have turned a blind eye to them.

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  9. This is so very sad. Is it all a result of the great Indian apathy?

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    1. Perhaps the great Indian cupidity on one hand and the great Indian apathy on the other

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  10. Shameful indeed and it adds insult to the injury when you learn that all this happens in connivance of a greedy few in authority!

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    1. Do not also excuse the silent majority who can be more vocal about onions than about heritage.

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  11. What a shame! We have reached a stage where we cannot 'think' beyond our myopic interests! At the same time when confronted with the western progress, we'll shamelessly harp back on our "ages old civilization, heritage and value system". All I can see around me is rotting of all that we ever had.

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    1. The day we stop paying mere lip service and start actively feeling proud of India is the day we will start really respecting ourselves.

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  12. I do not believe that a country that does not respect the living will respect its heritage and culture. We have already destroyed so many relics and ancient temples that we should have preserved.

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    1. That's a chicken and egg argument, Amit. We do not respect ourselves as a people - so we seek some sense of importance for ourselves by an exercise of what we think is 'power' or by accumulating wealth at any cost. So, we do not respect the living - That is also one possible argument.

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  13. I completely agree with you Suresh. Without an inherent feeling of respect, people will not learn how to appreciate culture and heritage. We Indians as a race have a long way to go.

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    1. I think we have regressed a long way - the first thing we need to do is to reverse directions

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  14. Am happy to have discovered this post of yours. I respect and agree with your sentiments/thoughts here completely. Such apathy, such indifference and lack of respect toward our heritage and history - it is something I can never understand. I keep asking myself -what is wrong with us?

    Beauty Interprets, Expresses, Manifests the Eternal

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    1. I think we are too busy running around looking at the beauties of other countries that we fail to safeguard our own.

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