as you may be aware there are 275 thevara padal petra sthalangal and 108 vainava sthalams sung by the alwars also known as thirupathis/divyadesams
the breakup is as under
for thevara sthalams Chola Naadu - North of Kaveri (63) Chola Naadu - South of Kaveri (128) Eezha Naadu (2) Paandya Naadu (14) Malai Naadu (1) Kongu Naadu (7) Nadu Naadu (22) Tondai Naadu (32) Tuluva Naadu (1) Vada Naadu (5)
for divyadesams In Thondai Naadu 22 Divyadesams In Chozha Naadu 40 Divyadesams In Nadu Naadu 2 Divyadesams In Pandiya Naadu 18 Divyadesams In Malayala Naadu 13 Divyadesams In Vada Naadu 11 Divyadesams In Vinnulagam (not in Earth) 2 Divyadesams
i have made it a point to cover these sthalams over the past 2/3 years and i have covered all the temples north of Sirkazhi and south of Thanjavur - i have about 130 temples ( both thevara stalam and divyadesams) yet to be covered between Sirkazhi and Thanjavur (longitudinally - you will understand that this area is crowded with temples as it formed the heart of the chola empire).
i feel that these temles have provided the bulk of our information on our rich heritage and need to be preserved. some of these temples are in a dilapitated condition and it is my desire tha we should do something to revive their past glory primarily by educating those residing in their vicinity about the neglected treasure in their midst.
any way the response is getting too lengthy and i will stop here for the moment
Dear Mangal Thank you for those wonderful links Its going to take a good few weeks to go thru all of them....
i feel that these temles have provided the bulk of our information on our rich heritage and need to be preserved.
some of these temples are in a dilapitated condition and it is my desire tha we should do something to revive their past glory....
I am not sure how many of you are aware of a group performing Koil Uzhavara Pani...which is cleaning..reinstating...the delipilated conditions of the temple...Infact Pavithra is the best person to tell you about this as she has participated in a few....
happy to note that you are delighted with those sites as i expected you to be!!! really hats off to those who have put in an enormous amt of work to build these sites. i hope our other members also get to visit these sites.
i would certainly like to join in the uzhavaarappani
but i feel that we need to do something beyond that - we need to get the local population to go to the temple as without the patronage of the local population such temples cannot survive - that needs some sort of interaction with the local population - some more thinking needs to be done in this regard
I am not saying make them tourist points but archeological centres atleast the big ones....
Next the patronage of local population for restorartion of temples will not happen untill we resolve the differences made on caste and social strata...and become a unfied mass