Madras HC stalls reconstruction of century-old stone mandapam in Kancheepuram temple

Chennai: Madras high court stalled the reconstruction of a 100-year-old stone mandapam (hall) located inside the Chinthamani Vinayagar Vagaiyara Arulmighu Subramania Swamy temple in Kancheepuram, which was demolished on the ground that it was not in accordance with the ‘vastu' principle."On perusal of the photographs produced by the temple authorities, the demolition simply seems to be unconscionable and, to the naked eye, the mandapam seems perfect," Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy said on Monday.
The issue pertains to a plea moved by S Vasantha and V Shanmugavel seeking to restrain the temple authorities from reconstruction on the eastern side, affecting the entrance and exit to their property adjoining the temple.When the plea came up for hearing, the temple authorities submitted before Madras high court that the petitioners had encroached on a public road and, therefore, they cannot complain.During the hearing, the authorities filed the original photographs of the temple and the mandapam. The judge said, "On perusal of the original photograph of the temple, it can be seen that it is an ancient stone-built mandapam which was there on the front side of the temple. It will be extremely difficult to find even workmanship to recreate the mandapam in the same manner."However, by simply filing a report before the heritage committee that the mandapam was irregular and was not in accordance with ‘vastu', permission was obtained from the committee to demolish the entire construction and reconstruct it by using the same structural stone, the court pointed out.The court then directed the authorities to file a report explaining its stand that the mandapam was not constructed as per ‘vastu' principles and adjourned the case hearing to Feb 13.