Temple with a turbulent past!

An exquisite temple for Lord Shiva was built in the 13th Ctry inside the Vellore Fort. This temple is called Jalakandeswarar temple.The construction of the temple began in 1274 CE and continued into the period of Sambuvarayars who built the inner Fort and the inner prakaram of the temple. New structures were added at  different stages till 16th Ctry. The outer prakaram, the most decorated Kalyana Mandapam and the Vasantha Mandapam were built during the reign of Vijayanagara King Sadasivadeva Maharaya when Chinna Bommi Nayaka was the chieftain of Vellore.

Then trouble started for this temple. Around 1650 CE the Vellore fort was taken over by Bijapur Sultanate and consequently the temple too came under Muslim occupation. 

In 1678 the Marathas seized the fort from the Bijapur sultans. In 1707, the year that Aurangazeb died, the Delhi Army under Daud Khan captured Vellore Fort after defeating the Marathas. In 1760 the British took possession of the fort after the battle of Plassey!

Since the temple was within the fort complex it changed hands from different rulers and finally came under the control of the British. This temple was very badly mutilated when it was under Muslim occupation. Worship stopped in this temple from the day Muslims took control . It was used as an arsenal for nearly 300 years! On fear of destruction, the citizens of Vellore moved away the main deity to a nearby temple in Sathuvacheri for safe keeping.  

In 1921, the Vellore Fort was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for maintenance. Even after coming under the control of ASI, worship was not restored in this temple. This continued well after  independence of India  as ASI was keen to maintain  status quo!  ASI continuously denied permission for  reinstallation of the main Lingam in the temple and for the restarting of  worship! 

On 16th March 1981, a large group of ardent Hindu devotees brought the Lingam in a closed lorry during the early hours and re-installed it in its original shrine inside Sri Jalakandeswarar temple despite stiff opposition by ASI! Thus the worship was started once again in this historic temple after nearly 300 years.

The trouble was not fully over for this wonderful  temple! The Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department took over the administration of the Sri Jalakandeswarar Temple on June 19th  2013 following a court order! HRCE first did what they are known for best - they sealed the temple Hundi and took control of the temple's revenues!

Since the temple is still under ASI, they have in the recent past done a great work of restoring it to its original glory. The Jalakandeswarar Temple is a fine example of Vijayanagaram Architecture. The temple has exquisite carvings on its gopuram (tower), richly carved stone pillars, large wooden gates and stunning monoliths and sculptures. The Gopuram of the tower is over 100 ft. in height. The temple also has a Mandapam, with the hall supported by carved stone pillars of dragons, horses and yalis (lion like creature) and hundreds of other sculptures.

Photography is allowed in this temple and to cover the most important place in this temple - the Kalyana Mandapam one needs to go early in the morning to get reasonably good lighting. The mandapam faces  east and it is quiet deep inside and there is no artificial lighting inside!