People’s indifference amidst global recognition

Thrissur, the town where I was born and brought up has been in the news recently. The most prominent temple in the town, the Vadakkunathan temple around which the town itself has been built has received an award from UNESCO for best conservation of an archaeological site. (http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Vadakkumnathan-Temple-Conservation-Gets-UNESCO-Award/2015/09/03/article3007495.ece) The irony which was lost upon most people is that it took an international award to bring the temple to national prominence.

First of all, I am not sure if it was built as a temple at all. Built on top of a hillock with mighty entrances on all four sides, it has all the typical characteristics of a fortress. But there are more intriguing things about the temple. There is not a single historical record to show when the temple was built. Some say the temple is more than a 1000 years old and that is mostly based on the fact that Sankaracharya, a revered Hindu saint had visited the temple in the 9th century AD. This would mean that the temple is much older than that. The irony is, the entire area was covered in teak wood forest for a very long time so how could a construction of such a large scale within the forest go unnoticed and be not mentioned anywhere? Was the temple built much before the land around it became forested? We may never know.

About the temple complex itself, the legend goes that it was not build by human hands. It is said that the demon servants of Lord Shiva built the temple in a single night. Whatever the legend may say, a few visible facts do seem to confirm the association of a non human entity with the temple. First, the entire construction of the temple and especially the wall that runs around the temple. Huge wall, mighty stones, worthy of a pyramid like debate about how it’s creation. Second, the architecture and wall paintings inside the temple. In 1973, when part of the temple got damaged during a festival, it couldn’t be restored to it’s original form because relevant knowledge do not exist with present day artisans. Third, a mountain of hardened butter stands on top of a normal sized Shivalinga (Phallus), the result of pouring butter as offering to the linga for numerous years. How it maintains itself on top of the linga is a complete mystery. In the late 18th century, Tipu Sultan, the King of Mysore went to war against most of the Kings in South India. He gained the notoriety as an idol breaker during his conquest. He would take his army into Hindu temples wherever he could find them, ransack them and break the idols there. He entered Vadakkunathan temple as well and set up camp there, but for some mysterious reason, he neither entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple nor destroyed any part of the temple. The temple closes at around 8:30 pm every evening and it is forbidden to enter the temple after that as Lord Shiva, his family and his demon servants supposedly visit the temple. It is also said that there is a passage inside the temple that leads directly to the temple at Kashi, the most prominent Shiva temple in India. Stories and legends do not get created out of thin air, so there is definitely something about the temple that is beyond our understanding.

Because it lies in the southernmost state of India, it hasn’t received any of the recognition it truly deserves. The temple was declared as a world heritage site that is why it’s age old grandeur is still being maintained. It is an accepted fact that no artisan can recreate any part of the temple if it gets destroyed. What is vexing is the respect it gets from the local people. The large area of land around the outside of the temple complex is largely neglected. All kinds of shady people hang around there and people urinating on the walls is a common sight. A festival every year in the temple’s premises makes it completely dirty and it takes days to clean. The fireworks after the festival shakes out a lot of tiles in it’s roof. The tragedy in 1973 happened due to the fireworks of this festival which burned down part of one of the entrances and was never repaired to it’s original form. Another tragedy cannot be ruled out and what it can do to the temple is unimaginable.

The questions to be asked are, how relevant is this award when people show scant respect to it’s magnificence? When the risk of another tragedy due to incessant fireworks during the yearly festival is always looming, how can UNESCO be assured of it’s conservation and the steps being taken for it’s conservation are enough? The governing body of the temple shows no interest in cleaning up the land around the temple. This award eventually means nothing other than something natives can boast about when they talk about the place where they come from.