A sense of frustration has gripped the devotees of Sri Devarajaswamy temple (popularly known as Varadhar temple) here at Little Kancheepuram, after they noticed cracks on the western temple tower, which was consecrated on July 5 as part of the ‘maha samprokshanam’.
The crack was noticed on both sides of the second tire in the eastern-part of the tower through which the decorated idol of Sri Varadharajaswamy used to be taken out during festivals.
This tower was one of the around half-a-dozen gopurams and vimanams, that were consecrated on the fifth day of this month.
While enquiries reveal that renovation of this particular tower was carried out by a donor at an estimated cost of around Rs. 30 lakhs, the temple authorities claimed that only a few lakhs of rupees was spent since the structure was ‘given a face-lift’ just three decades ago.
However, they parried a question on the amount spent, by stating that since the work was carried out by a ‘donor’ (reportedly a ‘bhattacharyar’ by profession) the exact details were not available at present. Further, the officials added, that the ‘donor’ would be asked to rectify any ‘defect’ in the renovation work at the earliest.
Various repair and restoration works at a total cost of around Rs.10 crore were taken up in the temple precincts after the Hindu Religious and Charitable Board officially declared in 2004-05 that it had been decided to perform consecration of all ‘sannadhis’ and towers simultaneously on an auspicious day, an event which had not taken place for decades.
Already, residents were quite disheartened with the manner in which the recent ‘maha samprokshanam’ was conducted by the temple authorities. The development of cracks on the western tower within a few days of the consecration seems to have only increased their angst.
