New Peedams for Kadavul

When Nandi the Bull was installed at Kadavul Temple in 1985 there was a major story on Honolulu's KRON TV channel. They sent a film crew to Kauai and the famed Joe Moore opened the evening news (remember those days?) with the headline "16 Tons of Bull." You have to grab your audience, right? And he does weigh 32,000 pounds.

It was a marvelous accomplishment for the monastery, a monolithic bull kneeling before Siva day and night, the symbol of strength humbling itself before God. We managed to bend a giant crane while lifting it onto its peedam.

But when the dust settled, Gurudeva confided to the monks that he loved the Nandi but was disappointed in the base. It was without ornamentation, just plain raw stones. Gurudeva called it "A pile of rocks." And he softly indicated that one day, perhaps, we could make it right.

So last year we had Selvanathan Sthapati draw a proper Chola base design. Yesterday we received the first series of photos from Jiva and his sons in Bengaluru showing the progress, which is significant as the photos show.

In the not too distant future, Gurudeva's wish will come true, and Nandi will be seated atop an intricate base worthy of His devotion.

Aum Namasivaya!

A beautiful Nandi sits on a pile of rocks.

Thuraisingham in India supervises as a silpi takes the design and transfers it to a stone.

These are Selvanathan\

s drawings (not the final ones) which show the basic style.'

The balipeedam and kodimaram will also get an upgrade.

Patience is all important.

These large slabs will be attached to the existing base on all sides, completely covering up the existing base stone.

So many hours of work required for stone sculpting.

Fortunately, unlike Iraivan Temple, this work can take advantage of electrical tools. This speeds the work some four or five times.

But for the details chisel and hammer are still the tools of choice.

Note the specially curved chisel, to get around corners and into tight spots.

Those are grinding wheels stacked up. The team goes through many of them.

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