RiseAndFall

Temple: Boom2Doom
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
June 6, 2016
There was a temple town by name Koyilr built about 500 years ago in
Tamil Country by a Hindu Maharaja with the permission of the invading
Muslim army chieftain. In exchange, king Koylan gave 100 pounds of gold
to the chieftain for protection. That was only a down payment, followed by
yearly payment of 10 pounds of gold for continued sponsorship and
protection.
The temple was multidenominational, housing Siva, Vishnu, their families
and a hips-high raised platform featuring the Navagrahas or the planetary
gods.
The temple thrived well under the protection of the Muslim chieftain and
the sponsorship from the king. Thirty years from the initial agreement, the
chieftain died and there was no one to claim the yearly protection
disbursal. Locally deep in the south of Tamil Country, the Muslim influence
waned quickly with the death of the chieftain.
For centuries, it became a pilgrimage site for the diseased, the
incapacitated, the maimed There was a river by the temple. The belief
was that an immersion in the river and worship of the deities brought
health, wealth, progeny and happiness. The money kept pouring in; the
temple and the town prospered.
Then came the shock. The king died with no regent. The temple town and
the temple came under the jurisdiction of the British. The British exercised
a hands-off policy, leaving the temple to the administration by the priests
and prominent citizens. There was an epidemic of a paralyzing disease,
which affected the natives and the British. Many died and many survived
with paralytic limbs. Some recovered fully from the paralysis. The
reputation of the temple spread even among the British, when the British
high official, a devotee of Vishnu, recovered from the paralytic disease with
no residual weakness or paralysis. His faith in Vishnu increased and many
British became the supporters of the temple.
Over the years, the British came and went and the numbers dwindled with
no remaining British devotee. The river became shallow and the
government dredged the river and a mound of mud piled high on the side
away from the temple. The riverine mound of mud became a mountain,

blocking the view of the temple tower (Gopuram).

The temples fame and name diminished when the mound became hill and
later a mountain. This went on for a hundred years. Rich people built
houses over the compacted mountain of mud and kept the area for
themselves. The mud mountain with the palatial houses exceeded the
height of the temple tower.
Soon the temples fame and name went down. Because of lack of
maintenance and want of devotees, the temple deteriorated. Plants grew
on the walls. The priestcraft disappeared because the sacerdotal progeny
became doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, politicians
The idols were stolen by the unscrupulous and sold on the international
market for unseemly profits.
That was the reason, the Tamil proverb came into vogue.
86. , .
The dunghill is raised, the tower is sunk.
Said from envy to hurt a person who is
getting on well in this world.
To-day a king, to-morrow nothing.
Translation and quote by Rev. Herman
Jensen
The trash heap rose up higher; the temple
tower sank lower.
The trash rose higher than the temple
tower.
The trash represents matter, while the
temple tower represents Spirit.
Todays prince is tomorrows pauper.
Prakti rose and Purua sank.
Faustian rise and the fall of the Spirit.
Krishnaraj