hi all in 1800 british india was being surveyed and measured and mapped. a process called the Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) the process needed high towers and hills for surveying. wherever they had no raised structures skeletal framework of timber were built the survey equipment was called a theodolite and weighed half a tonne- 500 kgs in 1808 William Lambton the man who conceived the programme climbed up the bragadeshwarar temple. a pulley was fixed on the higher points of the gopuram and the half ton equipment was being raised. While trying to hoist the half-tonne theodolite atop the 217-ft gopuram of the Brihadeeshwarar temple for his angle measurements, the rope that was lifting the theodolite snapped and the instrument crashed down into a mangled mass of steel and iron.
all this is fact. so lets do some extrapolation. since the big temple is pyramidal the halftonne machine must have fallen on some sculpture and possibly dislodged it?and was later replaced.
I was wondering if the european statue on the north face is that????
the trignometric survey of india has captured my total interest and am following it.
could you please ask Mr. Kudavoil if there is any reference to the big temple in the year 1808. any change, damage or reconstruction during the time of serfoji 2
"Dear Venkat In the archives theres a name to the mane and it was actually said his statue was added during the maratha period and he was a Danish guy...
I have cleared a lot of files.Taken the liberty of deleting fullsize images aso you can add a lot of images and files now