Rebuild 1000 year old temple Vaniyanur, Malappuram

Charity Preservation of Culture

Rebuilding ancient temple at Vaniyannur Malappuram Kerala which was destroyed during insurgencies and invasions

About the Fundraiser

The temple ruins are located at Vaniyannur in Cheriyamundam Panchayat in Tirur, Malappuram district of Kerala.

As per the villagers the temple is believed to be atleast 1000 years old and was ransacked during the Mysorean invasion of Kerala. It was destroyed completely during the riots of 1921 and has been lying in disuse, ruins and abandoned since then.

The temple revival started on 11 Jan 2018 with Swamy Bharati Maharaj of Bhuvaneswari Ashram lighting the lamp and restarting the Poojas.

The temple was vandalised the same night by unknown persons, but devotees of the locality made sure that worship was not affected at temple site.

The reconstruction of the temple started with site clearance work. The foundation stones, the sanctum sanctoriums of the temple were found during the excavation.

First a temporary office cum store room was constructed in the temple site. This enables the safe keep of Pooja items as well as construction tools.

The ritual marking the reconstruction, the DevaPrashnam and Ganapati Homam was conducted on 5 Feb 2018.

Keshavan Acharyan, a renowned temple architect has been entrusted the task of designing the new temple imbibing the old. The Sthapathi, temple architect predicted that idols could be recovered from well. Also it was advised to start the clearing works of the well as water was needed for construction work and for further use during temple rituals.

The excavation of the well was a hard task as the person had to make sure that they don't damage any idols which was to be recovered from the well. Also huge stones and temple pillars were being found in the well. Some of them weighing few tons were difficult to be taken out using manual labour. And at many such instances the excavation process slowed as devotees found difficult to remove the stones from well. Ultimately crane had to be brought to take out the huge stones.

And as the temple architect had predicted, an idol of Goddess was recovered from the well. The idol from its characters belonged to the Chola era and the character was that of a benevolent Goddess. The recovery of the Goddess idol has necessitated a change in the temple architecture, as now the architect has to design a sanctum for the Goddess as well in addition to Lord Shiva, as per Tantrashastra.

It was also decided to complete excavation till bedrock of the well, in hope that more such idols will be discovered. The excavation of the well is almost complete and next stage is the construction of the temporary abodes (called Balalayams) for Lord Shiva and the Goddess.

The estimated cost of reconstruction of the temple is Rs. 20 lakhs, of which we have already spent Rs. 1.7 lakhs towards the site clearance works, excavation, rituals, excavation of temple well and reinforcing the same as well as volunteer expenses.

The people of the locality have been employed in the temple jobs and the reconstruction of their heritage site is bringing tremendous positivism in their life.

This temple is part of the #ReclaimTemples project in Malappuram Kerala to rebuild 300 ancient Hindu Heritage temples that are lying in ruins for decades and centuries. We believe the project will strengthen the society and along with their social, economic and cultural prosperity.

For direct donation:

Name: UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust

Bank: Canara Bank

Branch: Thondayad Branch, Kozhikode City Kerala

Acct: 6300101001374

IFSC: CNRB0006300

UPI/BHIM: donate@hsbc

Feel free to ask UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust for a new update on this Fundraiser.

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Latest Updates

Here's a quick update

Construction of temporary Garbagriha over, daily worship is happening for Deities

by UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust on December, 02 2018

#6

Namasthe,
We are very happy to inform that the construction of temporary Garbagriha is over and the Deities were shifted on 10 Sep 2018. The ritual was attended by all devotees from the village.

We have also undertook further excavation of the temple site to find out the earlier foundation of the temple. The foundation of Garbagriha was found to be weak and needs to be reworked completely.

The revised plan of the temple is finalised as advised by Sri Brahmadattan Namboothiri.

We are bound by the advice of the Chief Priest of the temple on the construction of temple. Chief Priest has demanded rituals to be conducted for the soul of Shri Rajesh A, who was President of the temple committee and who had an unexpected demise during the initial phase of temple revival. Devotees also want to avoid any further unfortunate events and wants to do all the rituals and prayers so that the revival happens without any difficulties.
We have entrusted the Sthapathi and the construction materials has also been procured at temple site. Daily worship of Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Siva is now happening at the temple.

We would like to thank you for the support extended to the reconstruction of the temple. Our volunteers encounter many difficulties on ground for which solutions are found through dialogues and discussions. We are not sharing or going public on every issue as that affects the resolution of same. Difficulties are normal as we are doing something which nobody had attempted for close a century when the temple was lying in ruins.
We have full faith in your support and well wishes and that is our strength in revival of Dharma.
Should you like to know more or need any additional details please do get in touch with us on contact@ugranarasimha.in or for continuous updates please follow us on twitter.com/UgraNarsimha or on Telegram via t.me/UgraNarasimha
You may also contribute to our Temple Renovation Fund via imojo.in/renovation or via BHIM/UPI donate@hsbc . You can also make a recurring donation to us via reclaimtemples.ketto.org . Our bank account for direct transfer is
Name: UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust
Bank A/c: 6300101001374
IFSC: CNRB0006300

regards
Muraleedharan T
Managing Trustee
UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust

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Here's a quick update

Rebuilding of temple started with construction of Garbhagriha

by UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust on September, 07 2018

#5

Earlier we had mentioned of how the Tantrashastra experts, astrologists and Chief Priest of Vaniyanur temple had reached a consensus that the Presiding Deity of the temple is Lord Subrahmanya.
The work of rebuilding Garbhagriha started on 2 Sep 2018 with lighting lamp and the Sthapathi removing a stone from the destroyed temple foundation.

Constructing a temporary building to house Deities Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Siva the first step in the process. Accordingly a temporary building called Balalayam was built near to Garbhagriha with separate spaces for Lord Subrahmanya and Lord Siva.

The next step is the shifting of Deities to the Balalayam. This will be done by Chief Priest of the temple on 10 Sep 2018. After that present Garbhagriha will be dismantled and all foundation stones removed for reconstruction.
The temple has been lying in ruins for close to a century and the revival has caused a great awakening amongst the people of the locality. We are much indebted to all those who supported this project in whatever way they could. We will keep you updated about the progress of construction.
Thanks again.

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