Lakshmi Narashimar temples

Having taken holiday from office since a week back, few travel plans are on the cards which is quite pending for some time. Me and my colleague Mohan Babu had the plan to visit the three Narashimar temples situated in Abhisekapakkam, Poovarasankuppam and Parikkal.
We two started off on his bike early in the morning of 24/Dec'08. The climate is so cold with the breeze giving us chilling tunes for the few early hours. We had gone ready for it with the helmet and apron to safeguard ourselves from the fog. Though the worst roads amidst the villages gave the extra heart burns and thrills, this is a way we have got used to live eventhough ours is a nation making forays in every field be it software or space science.



First is the Laskhmi Narashimar temple in Abhisekapakkam situated near Thavalakuppam in the Pondicherry region. This is quite near for us at some 11 kms from my place and we reached there at about 8 a.m. The above pic is the West facing Raja Gopuram of the temple.

The temple tank is full of water and gave a nice treat casting the reflection of the early morning moments.


Bakthimaan Shri Mohan Babu avargal, giving the good pose for my camera. !!


This is the path leading to the temple. Photography is not allowed inside the temple. So could not photograph inside the temple. After this temple we got to Poovarasankuppam, which is about 30 Kms from this temple. In the middle we had a stop at a place called Kariamanikkam and had a tasty breakfast of Idli and Puri.


This is the Lakshmi Narashimar temple situated in Poovarasankuppam. Though this temple is one of the great ones, little aspect is given in terms of the tidiness for it. Quite at the front entrance is the banners of the political parties which is spoiling the aesthetics which is needed for a temple of this magnificence.
The next temple is situated at Pariakkal. We travelled upto Panruti then to Madapet junction catch the Nationan Highways passing through Villupuram-Vridhachalam while turning to left side then travel about 4 Kms then take a right turn and travel on the narrow roads to reach this temple.


This is the Parikkal Lakshmi Narashimar temple.


Its Mohan Babu and me.
Renovation activities were taking place at this temple. The old wall made of granite stone dates back to 800 years. During those times, painting of the wall with white lime paint is done which has actually spoiled the originality synonymous with that of a granite wall. Now work has been taken up to remove those painting off the wall to maintain originality and also prevent corrosion due to the paints. We happened to have a talk with the people involved in this work. The removal of the painting involves sandblasting which is done by blowing of the common river sand with compressed air. This blows out the paint particles off from the granite wall and the wall behind us in the picture is what you see is the original finishing achieved once the sandblasting is done. Once the renovation work is over we should get the gift of aesthetic looks of the granite stones.
We then reached Cuddalore at about 12.30 p.m. The total journey clocked to 130 kms and we had a satisfied darshan at all the three temples. Since it is not a festival day the crowd is not there so we were able to complete our trip within 7 hours.
The next travel is to the famous hill shrine Tirupathi. I shall be coming out in the next article shortly...
Bye
Wishing you all a happy new year 2009.