Heritage walk to stress need for protecting monuments

Members interacting during heritage walk at Kailasanathar temple at Tharamangalamin Salem district.

To create awareness among people on the need to protect monuments and historical significant places, members of Tamil Nadu Heritage Volunteers of the district and Salem Historical Society took out a heritage walk in Tharamangalam here recently.

Their walk covered Kailasanathar Temple, octagonal-shaped tank of Badrakali Amman temple and Elameeshwarar temple, all in Tharamangalam town where the members discussed the historical significance of each place. They visited the Kailasanathar temple that was renovated by King Veera Ramanathan of Hoysala in the 13{+t}{+h}century and later by Ketti Mudali King Mummudi and Vanangamudi. Also, the gigantic monolithic pink granite pillars that are found scattered outside the temple since 1667 A.D. were also visited by the members. Over 500 such pillars are said to be buried in the ground and efforts by the district administration to construct a mandapam in 1975 also failed.

The members visited the tank which is over 400-years-old and also the Badrakali Amman temple that has refined workmanship. P. Rajasekar, coordinator, Tamil Nadu Heritage Volunteers, Salem district, and J. Barnabas, general secretary of Salem Historical Society, participated. S. Selvaraj, assistant director (Retired), Zonal Archaeological Department, and M.M. Mani, historian, also participated. Organisers said that the main objective was to create awareness among people on the need to protect and preserve the monuments so that the significance is passed over to the younger generations.