Esalam Ancient Shiva Temple, Villupuram
Esalam Ancient Shiva Temple is in Vikravandi Villupuram District, Tamilnadu located in State in India. Esalam Ancient Shiva Temple
Pincode is 605203 (Kanjanur). Nearby railway Stations are Perani Vikravandi. It is in 20 Km distance to Villupuram City.
Esalam Ancient Shiva Temple is geographically located at
latitude 12 ° 6’0'' and longitude 12 ° 6’0''. It was built
by Rajendra Cholan I (1012) for Lord Sri Ramanatha
Eswarar.
This temple has the uniqueness of having been rebuilt
recently and in daily puja. It was built as a tribute to Rajaraja Cholas
teacher and has exquisite stone carvings.
This temple is maintained by Archeological Survey of
India.
Esalam Bronzes & Copper Plates
On the 11th of August 1987, the inhabitants of Esalam a
village near Villupuram, in South Arcot district, Tamilnadu, stuck upon a group
of bronzes, temple utensils and a copper plate charter, within the temple
premises of Tiru Ramanathesvara temple of the village, while carrying out
renovation work to the temple.
When Esalam villagers in the course of their renovation,
were trying to clear a granite stone slab, in the North Eastern corner of the
prakara, they found a metal rod like object protruding. When they pulled it
out, they found it to be a tripod made of bronze. Growing curious, they probed
further and found two more tripods. It was also noticed that the area contained
river sand totally different from the surrounding earth. Then the villagers
found three bells, placed side by side and in between were placed tiny bronze
images.
When they were removed, a number of bronze images were
found, securely placed in the river sand upside down, arranged radially. The
smaller images were at a higher level and the bigger ones were found at the
lower level. Beneath all these images was found the copper plate charter, it
turned out to be a copper plate charter issued by the Chola emperor Rajendra I,
in 1036 A.D. The villagers probed not only further deep but also in the
surrounding area, and abandoned the search only when they were thoroughly
satisfied that no more object has been left out.
From the clear narration of the finders, it is evident
that a pit has been dug specially and that, making use of river sand, all the
bronzes, utensils and the copper plates had been very carefully buried several
hundred years ago, obviously for safety.
The villagers reported the find to the Revenue official
and kept all the items in the temple arranged for their worship.
Altogether 23 bronze images, three tripods, four bells,
one dhupakkal, two utensils and a pair of metal padukas were found. While most
of them were found in good condition, a few bronzes were found broken, mainly a
number of prabhas. All the items were encrusted with sand particles. After
cleaning three objects, a bell, a tripod, and a small vessel were found to
carry inscriptions.
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