Alathoor Jain Temple, Tirupur
A nearly
1,100-year-old Jain temple found abandoned on a 20 cents land at Alathoor
village, near here, is on the verge of a collapse due to lack of conservation. Though
the inscriptions point to a rich historical importance for the temple, it looks
that the eyes of the authorities are yet to fall on the structure. A portion of
the side walls of the temple has already fallen down after the construction was
shaken by the roots of the trees that had grown wildly around as well as inside
the shrine.
The ceilings
as well as the wall that makes the rare elevation are in a dilapidated state
looking to give in at any time owing to absence of maintenance. This holy place
was originally named as Veerasangathapperumpalli Aniyathazhaki temple (lady
deity), attained the name of Amaneasar temple over the years. The word ‘palli’
in its original name indicates that the shrine has also been used as a ‘padashala’
(school) for teaching Jain principles and general ancient philosophies.
The
temple is located in the ancient trade corridor that passed through the North
Kongu divisions. Study of inscriptions indicate that Jains, who selected this
merchant guilds to settle here, have built the shrine with the contributions
from the traders and renovations been carried out periodically with help coming
from even rulers of Kongu divisions. The last of the Jain families left the
area many years back and since then the structure was lying in an abandoned
state. Unless some restoration works were carried out immediately, the temple
structure would fall.
