Aloha from Kaua’i!

Today was a day of cleaning and housekeeping for all the monks. We improved our offices, our guhas and worked on making the monastery a very actinic place.

We had some floods recently (see the video below) and there was a lot to do.

Meanwhile, Iraivan Temple continues to go full steam. Today an article on Iraivan appeared in the prestigious “Architectural Record.” This is their website version, written by a visiting journalist who became enamored of the work. Hopefully, this is large enough for you to read. If not, click here to read it.

This phase the two teams continue, one on the floor and the larger team on the Rajagopuram. We climbed to the roof, 14 feet above the floor, to see how the work is progressing.

These are the first couple of courses for the entry tower that will one day dominate the South side.

Rajendran and Manikandan work on fitting.

Chidambaram Sthapati guides their hands.

From here, we looked down to see Chelliah pressure washing the next course, which will will lifted by crane.

Easier to clean when they are on the ground. One of the few modern tools they can use.

Stones on these layers are small. So the fitting is especially challenging, as there are many more places they connect.

The course has to be perfectly flat, so days are spent making sure there is not even the slightest off-level area.

A view of the ceiling stones from above.