Now let’s look at pages seven , eight , and nine a little more quickly. The last temple we saw had some crumbling temple pillars and sculptures scattered here and there. The Department of Archeology did not make any attempt to collect it. In some of the towers, only the triangular prism like brick structure was visible. The black stone surface or cemented surface ontop of the bricks and the sculptures had fallen down. I don’t know if they used it for anything else
In one corner of the temple, a single black stone idol existed. When looking at that sculpture, it was in the form of Brahman. But the statue was not clear and was badly damaged.
Only one shrine had an idol of Murugan with a six-faced consort. It was well known that the idol was worshiped with garlands of sandalwood. The people of the village seem to worship in this temple often.
When you come outside this temple, you will see a huge thick forest. If you take a look at it for a while, you will understand that it is very likely that it was once a large pond called Nandavana or a large pond. But now it is a place that has been encroached by seemakaruvela trees without maintenance.We have seen ponds in many temples. But it is unlikely to have seen such a large scale. It was huge in scale. There is no doubt that this pond, if either the government or the people of the village clears out the bushes and trees, repairs it, it will become a major source of collection of water in the area. The villagers will have no water shortage at all seasons if this water Tank was cleaned up.
If this pond had been converted into a water source, the water contained in it would have provided enough water for agriculture in the area. There is a good water catchment area in its vicinity. I think they would have set it up for this purpose at that time. Over time, it has become unusuable and neglected.
After exploring these Kodumbalur temples we headed towards Thanjavur. It was a pleasure to wander around these Kodumbalur temples for almost four hours and take many notes and photographs.
Before traveling to Thanjavur we had decided to do some research on this Kodumbalur first. But here we were very happy to find more information than what we were looking for. Having successfully accomplished the purpose of coming here, we bid farewell to Kodumbalur and left from there.
These seven, eight, nine pages also contain a return of the photos already uploaded . I apologize for that. Those photos are also important pictures.
After the first trip. I went with my daughter on the second trip. She was also interested in history so I took her. Thirdly I took my son-in-law Sudhakar. Because he is the creator of this website. Only then I took him so that he too would know what I was saying. He also got to know the places there with great surprise,the fourth trip was with my wife and the fifth in June 2023 will be with my two friends from Singapore, Syam Lal and Mr.Singh
Every time I go there, I look for books about Kodumbalur. There will be many books there. But none of the books will be about Kodumbalur, but i still buy whatever books of Historical interest, especially in inscriptions on stones.This site is not crowded as i belief many tourist are not even aware such a place exist and seems Tamils do not take pride on their history.However after Ponniyin Selvan came out, there has been an increase to these site as more awareness has been created.I hope this continues and does not stop with the movies.
Now our long journey is about to begin. After completing this trip to Kodumbalur, we took our vehicle from the same banyan tree and left for Thanjavur. See you in next post about Thanjavur trip.