Final Steps of Iraivan Temple's Kodimaram

Aum Namah Sivaya

This week the monks of the Siddhidatta Kulam and the siplis worked on the final installation of the kavacham (metal cladding) on Iraivan Temple's kodimaram—the temple's flagpole. Each piece of the kavacham must go over the tall piece of teak wood in the correct order. They then have to be set in place with wooden spacers to properly attach around the pole. The top of the pole is etched with three progressively smaller edges over which sits the three pieces of the metal "flag." The flag is a complex and ancient design, which once put together with its bracing pieces, is almost completely without any sagging. Mind you, these are 8-foot long, horizontal pieces attached to a top of a pole. They are also very heavy. A rather astounding example of Indian temple engineering. With all the kodimaram pieces installed, our gold leafing team can soon work their magic. Aum.

Yoginathaswami and the silpis work to correctly align the bottom section of the three \"flag\" pieces on the temple\

s kodimaram'

Thankfully, the kodimaram is surrounded by scaffolding, making this work much easier (but still not easy)

The view from the top

A good vantage point to see the surrounding landscape

The kavacham pieces are each fit over the teak tree pole, spaced with wooden spacers, and attached with copper nails

The top of the flagpole

As you can see, the flag is a complicated structure

The piece before the flag is properly spaced and attached

The flag pieces need to point down the center of the temple. Even slightly off and you\

d notice'

A look at the other scaffolding around the temple dome. This is allowing our gold gilders easy access

With silpis on the center of the rajagopuram, and a taut string attached to the flagpole, our team aligns the bottom flag piece

The little Nandi which will sit atop the front of the flag

A view after the remaining flag sections are installed

The base piece at the front of the flag

Surprisingly level.

And Nandi is set in place too. After the final few pieces, the gilders will gold-leaf the entire Kodimaram. Aum Namah Sivaya.

}

];