Rebuilding ancient temple at Vaniyannur Malappuram Kerala which was destroyed during insurgencies and invasions 
Rebuild 1000 year old temple Vaniyanur, Malappuram
Charity Preservation of Culture
About the campaigner
UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust
27/874,Kuthiravattom PO, Calicut, Kozhikode, IN
UgraNarasimha Charitable Trust is registered in Kerala as 145/IV/2017 and has been working for the revival, renovation and reconstruction of Heritage monuments in Bharat.
The trust has been driving a popular movement to participate in the conservation of monuments now lying neglected across Bharat.
We will achieve this goal with active participation of the society and volunteers.
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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: 6300101000705
IFSC: CNRB0006300
Latest Updates
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Here's a quick update
Rebuilding of temple started with construction of Garbhagriha
by
#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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Here's a quick update
Visit by Tantrashastra experts to determine Presiding Deity and mode of worship
by
#4
We had updated earlier that during the visit of Chief Priest on 24 July 2018 for customary approval for building Garbagriha, he had expressed certain doubts about the temple construction plan and also the presiding Deity to be worshipped.
The temple site had a Shiva linga in upturned manner and it was widely believed that it was a Siva temple. Later a broken idol was found from the temple well during excavation and in the opinion of the astrologers consulted, it was idol of Goddess Parvati. The Stapathi who was entrusted for the construction of temple also said that the idol was of Goddess and drew a plan accordingly for the temple.
The construction of Garbagriha was however delayed due to unfortunate death of the President of the temple committee. The Chief Priest after visiting temple demanded the consultation of Vezhapparambu Brahmadattan Namboothirippadu who is an expert in temple construction, Tantrashastra.
Sri Brahmadattan Namboodirippad visited the temple on 14 Aug 2018, along with his entourage. He examined in detail the idol recovered from the temple well as well as further asked the devotees to dig up certain places around the demolished sanctum.
After careful examination and calculation of the measurements it was finalised that the idol is that Subrahmanya, and that the presiding deity of the temple is Lord Subrahmanya. This was found mainly by examining the Murthy. The Murthy even though broken had a sacred thread/janeu etched which shows that it is not a Goddess. Also many features of the idol which was mistaken to be a Goddess was explained as that of the Subrahmanya, and he also explained the details to all devotees.
Also when devotees dug up places around sanctum as pointed out by Sri Brahmadattan Namboodiri, the remnants of earlier temple was found. The pillars found was not used for temple of Goddess and was used for Subrahmanya temples.
The other doubt was that of Sivalinga found at the temple site. The measurement of the Sivlinga was taken and it was found that it belongs to some other temple and not to the temple site where it was found. The plausible explanation was that someone shifted the Shivlinga to the present site due to some reason.
This would mean that a new plan has to be drawn since the Presiding Deity has been found to be different from what was supposed by other astrologers and the Stapathi. We have entrusted Sri Brahmadattan Namboodirippad to draw the construction plan for the Subrahmanya temple. Also a new Stapathi will now take over the construction of the temple as soon as the temple plan is finalised.
In the words of Sri Brahmadattan, all the land belonging to the temple will in due time return back to the temple and the Presiding Deity and temple will attains its pre eminence.
Our efforts now is to start construction of Garbagriha at earliest and finish it as soon as possible. We will be updating very soon.
Please do write to us at contact@ugranarasimha.in should you like to know more.
Thanking you
Muraleedharan T
Managing Trustee
UgraNarasimha Charitable TrustDid you know that every FB share gets 1 more donation.
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