Hi now that you speak off i think even in kalvanin kathali the lovers meet near a dilapitated temple of this sort
kalki grew up in a rural surrounding of buthamangalam and manalmedu. almost all the people he met there have been charecterised. ayyasami aiyyar his first guru in vishamanthiram, his widowed mother in many stories etc. also his near drowning in a pond is repeated in most novels. except bedridden sundara sozha( avar kuuda flash backla is ship wrecked)almost everybody falls into the water of varying depths and suffer from some discomfort. this ayyanar i will check up and let you know. of course there was a non vedic temple in buthamangfalam. on the other end of the village was their own abirami temple. abirami is the name he adopted for muthaiyans sister in kalavanin kathali which itself was a take off from a real robber inthose areas.
Venkat, very good article and observations, thank you.
I noticed that no indian artisans were listed under the 'featured artists' on the website. As an avid collector of terracota for many years I was saddened, our country produces some of the greatest artisans and beautiful pottery yet nobody gets the recognition they deserve even nationally.
It was interesting to hear of the links to Kalki's early days. In PS the kudhirai serves as secret entrance to Ravidasan gang to Kali temple when Sr Pazhuvettariar escapes the flood and hears them in temple. I was also reminded of the Malgudi days episode, funny one, where a foreigner purchases a 'horse' and it turns out to be an ayyanar kovil kudhirai.