Posts Tagged Thanjavur
Photo exhibition in humanism week celebrations
Posted by ganesh in Communication, Culture, Entertainment, Information, Thanjavur, exicipition, programme on January 25th, 2010
A photo exhibition in connection with humanism week celebrations was inaugurated on Sunday at Sangeetha Mahal here by Collector M.S.Shanmugham. The exhibition was organised by the Department of Adi Dravida Welfare.
The Collector said that one should show his or her humanism by helping others, particularly when they were in distress.
3 Temples in Thanjavur and Ariyalur districts world heritage monuments by the UNESCO
Posted by ganesh in Ariyalur, Communication, Culture, Departments, Information, Others, Temples, Thanjavur, government, programme on January 21st, 2010
Three temples in Thanjavur and Ariyalur districts, namely the Brihadisvara temple, Iravateswarawamy temple and the Big temple at Gangaikondacholapuram built by the great Chola kings have been declared as world heritage monuments by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur built by Raja Raja Cholan is celebrating its millenium this year; the Iravateswarawamy temple at Darasuram near Kumbkonam was built by Raja Raja II and the Big temple at Gangaikondacholapuram was built by Rajendran Cholan, son of Raja Raja Cholan in Ariyalur district.
The three temples are in stone and have almost same architecture and design except for the size. While the Big Temple at Thanjavur remains colossal in all its aspects — a towering Vimana with a height of 212 ft, a big Linga in the sanctum sanctorum, a huge Nandi in the front and Goddess Periyanayaki also standing tall, Darasuram and Gangaikondacholapuram account for smaller forms of the Big temple. Despite the general concept of a chariot being pulled, the sculptures differ in the three temples.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) maintains the three temples well and has almost reconstructed the whole temple at Darasuram.
The construction of the Big Temple — also known as Rajarajeswaran Udaiyar after the great king — began in 1003A.D. and was consecrated for worship on 275th day of the 25th year of the King’s reign (1010 A.D.). The temple is 1000 years old this year (2010). This edifice is one of the finest and most exquisite specimens of the Chola architecture. Dedicated to Lord Siva, it is located within a spacious inner courtyard measuring 240 X120 m. The temple is replete with inscriptions relating to its origin and endowments and also sports a profusion of friezes from the epics.
People watch rare celestial phenomenon- “Kankana Suryagrahanam”, or ring solar eclipse
Nandhi idol being decorated with fruits, vegetables and sweets to mark the Shankranthi festival at Big Temple in Thanjavur on Friday
People of Thanjavur district, particularly youth and students, witnessed the rarest of the rare celestial phenomenon- “Kankana Suryagrahanam”, or ring solar eclipse, on Friday.
They used special goggles and welder glass number four supplied by Birla Planetarium and Anna University to see the eclipse.
As the eclipse peaked at 1.30 p.m., there was a lot of enthusiasm.
“The sun looked like a crescent moon with the shadow of the moon covering most part of it,” said a student who witnessed the eclipse.
As a ring of fire was formed during the eclipse, it was called “Kankana Suryagrahanam”.
As it was happening after 103 years, it created a lot of curiosity among students. Trained teachers guided the students in viewing the eclipse.
Celebration of Mattu Pongal (Pongal and worship offered to cattle) has to be scheduled either between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. or after 3 p.m.. Temples remained closed from 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. The sanctum sanctorum of the Big temple here remained closed and the biggest Nandhi at the entrance was covered with screen till the eclipse was over. Pujas started after 4 p.m.
All Saivite and Vaishnavite temples and Navagraha Kshetras in the district remained closed during the eclipse.
IUML will extend its support to DMK candidate in the byelection in Pennagaram
Posted by ganesh in Departments, Politics, Thiruvarur, election, programme on December 28th, 2009
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) will extend its support to DMK candidate in the byelection to the Pennagaram Assembly constituency to be held on January 20 next year.
In a statement today, party state president and former MP K M Khader Mohideen said a resolution to this effect was adopted at the party’s state executive held at Ayyampettai near here yesterday.
He claimed that the people of Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies have shown faith in democracy and exercised their franchise in favour of the ruling DMK in the recent by-elections.
The IUML would work for the victory of DMK candidate in the Pennagaram Assembly segment, he added.
The meeting also thanked AICC president and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for presenting the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report in Parliament and appealed to them to implement the recommendations.
The meeting called up on the Muslim scholars to participate in the World Classical Tamil Conference to be held at Coimbatore and establish a link between Tamil and Arabic languages,
3 personalities conferred with doctorate degrees
Posted by ganesh in Award, Departments, Education, Thanjavur, function, government on December 22nd, 2009
Epigraphs play an important role in doing research on our cultural history said R. Chanbakalakshmi, Retired Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, here on Monday.
Delivering the convocation address at the Tamil University, Prof. Chanbakalakshmi said that epighraps available in our temples should be looked beyond religion. Temples should be considered as part of the cosmos and subjected to research. In fact, information available in the epigraphs of temples vary in subjects. They contain information about social, economic and technological changes. They also throw light on agriculture, urbanisation etc. From epigraphs one can understand how towns like Thanjavur, Kumbakonam and Kanchipuram emerged as cultural centres.
Epigraphs show the temples as not only religion oriented but also as social and political institutions.
Chanbakalakshmi paid rich tributes to Iravatham Mahadevan, epigraphist who established that epigraphs available in Tamil Nadu are in Tamil language only. He also established that literacy was high in those days.
Iravatham Mahadevan also established that Tamil-Brami epigraphs available in caves belonged to dravidian language. Only a few words were taken from Brahmi script.
Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamil Nadu, who is the Chancellor of the University, presided over the convocation. He conferred D.Litt (Honoris Causa) degrees on Tamil writer Jayakanthan, Epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan and Musicologist P. Ramathilagam at the convocation.
K. Ponmudi, State Minister for Higher Education, appealed to those who got Ph.Ds in the convocation to continue their research. While getting employment is important, it is also important that they should continue their research. Tamil University has grown from strength to strength and has carried forward its research activity. It is heartening to note that there are 1,39,781 books and 334 Journals in Tamil University library.
He said that the University should try to create the Tamil feeling in the minds of people. “Reading Tamil and reading in Tamil is one thing but having a Tamil feeling is different. Even Tamil teachers and scholars want their children to read in English and call them Mummy and daddy. This should be changed by Tamil University”, the Minister said.
He reiterated that Tamil will be the medium of instruction and English the link language in Tamil Nadu.
M. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil University said that Tamil University has released 410 research books in the past 28 years. A centre for performing arts is being created in the University. Kanimozhi MP has given Rs. 1 crore for the centre from her Local Area Development fund. The University along with South Zone Cultural Centre is involved in producing 25 Thamizhisai CDs. Out of them thirteen have already been released.
A total of 176 candidates got Ph.Ds, 914 candidates received M.Phil degrees, 528 post-graduate degrees and 101 received degrees at the convocation.
Guru Peyarchi festival moves from Mahara rasi to Kumba rasi.
Special Alangaram made for Guru Bhagwan in Sri Vasishteswaraswamy Temple at Thittai near Thanjavur for “Guru Peyarchi”
Hundreds of people thronged Sri Apathsahayeswaraswamy temple, Navagraha Kshetra for Gurubhagawan, at Alangudi in Tiruvarur district on Tuesday, in view of Guru Peyarchi festival. The transit takes place at 11.59 p.m. (i.e. at mid night) and Guru Bhagawan moves from Mahara rasi to Kumba rasi. Special abishekams and archanas will be performed to Guru Bhagawan at the transit time. People queued up to have darshan of Guru Bhagawan and the crowd is expected to be more by night and when transition takes place.
Special buses were operated by Government Transport Corporation to Alangudi from various places. Protected drinking water supply was ensured by the local body. A medical camp was also put up for helping devotees in case of emergencies.
Thittai
Special abishekam and archanas were also performed at Sri Vasishteswaraswamy temple at Thittai in Thanjavur district where a Gur Bhagawan sannidhi existed inside the temple. Hundreds of people visited the temple and offered worship to Guru Bhagawan. Special arrangements were made by the temple authorities for the benefit of devotees at Thittai. Even here the crowd is expected more during transition time.
Centre to immediately release its share of crop insurance of Rupees 320 crore.
Posted by ganesh in Agriculture, Departments, Public, Thanjavur, function, government, meeting, programme on December 9th, 2009
The Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, affiliated to CPI(M), today appealed to the Centre to immediately release its share of crop insurance of Rupees 320 crore.
In a press release here today, Sangam General Secretary K Balakrishnan said a resolution to this effect was adopted at its state council meeting here yesterday.
Stating that the three-day 27th State level conference would be held at Dindigul from December 19, he said the conference would discuss about increasing investment in agriculture and implementation of Dr M S Swaminathan committee recommendations.
Expressing concern over land grabbing which was increasing day by day, he said the conference would also discuss issues, including the support price of Rs 2,000 per tonne for sugarcane, Rs 1,400 per quintal for paddy, milk procurement price of Rs five per litre and Cauvery and Mullaperiyar issues.
A public rally would be held on December 21, he said, adding, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar would participate in the programme.
Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway (NH-67), which is currently being widened into a four-lanes will be without service
A stretch of the four-lane Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway laid without service lanes near Tiruchi
The Tiruchi-Thanjavur National Highway (NH-67), which is currently being widened into a four-lane highway by the National Highways Authority of India, will be without service lanes along the urban stretch of the highway in Tiruchi district, giving a rude shock to local residents.
Though the NHAI usually provides service lanes on either side of the highways (especially in the urban stretches) that have four lanes, the Tiruchi-Thanjavur highway seems to be an exception. The 56-km stretch of the highway has four lanes at a cost of about Rs. 280 crore on Build-Operate-Transfer basis. The project originally scheduled to be completed by June 2009 has suffered a time overrun and is now expected to be completed by March 2010. So far about 70 per cent of the project works have been completed, with about 34 km of the highway being four-laned so far.
According to sources, service lanes could not be laid owing to the non-availability of lands in the highway stretch in Tiruchi district. An initial proposal for land acquisition on the urban stretch of the highway in the district, between Ariyamangalam and Thuvakudi, was dropped owing to stiff opposition from local traders. The road stretch runs along the most industrialised segment of the district and is highly urbanised with a large number of shops and industrial units all along. Local traders successfully lobbied with the political class to drop the land acquisition to save their business interests.
An NHAI official said that though there would be no service lanes continuously along the urban stretches of the highway, they were now working on laying service lanes wherever land was available. A list of such places where the service lanes could be laid was being finalised, he said.
But local residents and service organisations of the City apprehend that the absence of service lanes would make it dangerous for motorists to join the busy highway with a very high volume of traffic round-the-clock.
The Federation of Consumer and Service Organisations has already sent a representation to the NHAI chairman seeking his intervention to ensure that the four-lane highway was laid down in the Manual of Standards and Specifications for Four-laning of National Highways through public-private partnership.
The president of the federation, M. Sekaran, said as per the manual, local traffic in built up areas should be separated with provision of service roads. Built-up area refers to all sections of the Project Highway, which are situated within the limits of municipal town(s) and include sections of 200 metres or more in non-municipal areas where dwellings/shops have been built on one or both sides of the Project Highway. The service roads should be connected to the main highway through properly designed entry/exit ramps. At the ends, the service roads shall be provided with end treatment so that the local traffic is able to merge the highway in a safe and efficient manner. Any compromise on these norms would lead to safety hazards, cautioned M. Sekaran.
Idli mela organised by IICPT gets good response:Thanjavur
Students of IICPT at the “Idli mela” organised by the Indian Institute for Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) in Thanjavur
Incubation Centre at the Indian Institute for Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) here was a hub of activity on Wednesday. Hundreds of women in and around Thanjavur were busy preparing “idlis” at the centre. It was a mela organised by the Institute to create awareness among women about food processing and also to take samples for their research to standardise idli preparation for export market.
P. Senthamarai is a housewife from Madukur who participated in idli preparation. “I came to know about the mela through the newspaper advertisement. I registered myself for participating in the competition. I was given half an hour to prepare idlis. Such competitions will motivate us to exhibit our cooking talents,” she said. V. Meenakshi, from Kumbakonam, originally from Tirunvelveli, also took part in the competition. “We have a lot of food items that differ from area to area in Tamil Nadu. In Tiruvelveli, we prepare a lot of food items using rice. ‘Kootanchoru’ is one such using vegetables. Given an opportunity, Indian women will prove that they are the best in culinary art,” she said. Nearly 200 women participated in the mela.
Ajit Kumar, Joint Secretary, Union ministry of food processing who visited the institute on Wednesday said that such melas are organised to know the right kind of preparation and raw material to be used for standardised idli preparation. Although idli is the most sought-after food by all, there is no standardised preparation. Similar to pizza from Italy and other European food items which have a standardised preparation, idli preparation also should be standardised. IICPT has taken up a project for this at a cost of Rs. 2.6 crore. It will take two and a half years to complete the project after which it will provide export market for women in houses.
There are 1,100 indigenous food items which need to be standardised. The food processing ministry which came into being 21 years ago is working towards utilising food processing as a means towards economic development. Infrastructure facilities are provided by the ministry. Ten mega food parks are now coming up in the country now. Twenty more will come up in the next phase. Tamil Nadu will get one mega food park in the next phase. The aim of the mega food park is to link the farmer and food processing industry. Farmers should add value to their produce and the food processing industry should utilise it
Farmers demonstrating at the collectorate after a walkout from the monthly grievances day meeting
Farmers of Thanjavur district staged a walkout from the monthly agriculture grievances day meeting held at the Collectorate here on Friday urging the State Government to get the 50 per cent share of crop insurance from Central Government and pay the compensation for farmers whose crops were damaged in the Nisha cyclone last year.
They said that the State Government’s share of 50 per cent alone is now given to farmers. Centre’s share is pending.
They also demanded payment of Rs. 2,500 per tonne for sugarcane.
Presiding over the meeting, Collector M. S. Shanmugham said that samba transplantation had been completed on 1.08 lakh hectares in the district so far and Thaladi transplantation on 18,000 hectares. Thaladi transplantation may be completed before December 15.
The last date for payment of premium for enrolling farmers in crop insurance for the current samba and thaladi season is December 15. Loanee farmers can pay premium up to December 31.
There is a stock of 5,949 tonnes of Urea, 4,697 tonnes of Di Ammonium Phosphate, 3,582 tonnes of Potash and 1944 tonnes of complex fertilisers in the Primary Agriculture Co-operative Credit Societies in the district and with private companies, the Collector said.
Under National Horticulture Mission, it has been planned to raise cocoa crop on 1000 hectares, mango on 50 hectares, banana on 400 hectares and chillies on 100 hectares this year.
Under National Bamboo Mission, it has been planned to raise bamboo on 75 hectares this year.
The plan is to raise medicinal herbs on 75 hectares this year under National Medicinal Herbs Mission.
Thanjavur and Kumbakonam Central Co-operative Banks have so far disbursed Rs 70 crore as crop loan this year to 24,579 farmers.
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