TAMIL NADU, INDIA, January 17, 2011: A 1250-year-old temple has been saved from collapse using ‘granite stitching’ in the southern part of India. The Kailasanathar Temple in the town of Uthiramerur is more than 1,250 years old according to studies of its inscriptions.
‘The centuries-old monument is made up of a brick super-structure and a granite substructure,’ explains Dr. Sathyamurthy of the REACH Foundation. Cracks of more than three feet in width had developed in the intricately constructed temple dome made of brick and lime plaster, which is around 80ft high. ‘It was about to collapse completely and there were so many conservation problems because of the growth of thick vegetation on the Vimana or dome of the temple,’ Dr. Sathyamurthy said. While the upper part of the temple was in bad shape, the basement and plinth had other serious issues with cracks at more than 20 places in the granite stones according to the archaeologist.
In the stone stitching technique, the cracks in the plinth are strengthened with stainless steel rods and an epoxy-based chemical anchor without disturbing the original structure. The inserted rod starts at one side of the crack and ends at the other side of the crack, holding both sides together. This is actually like stitching seen in cloth. ‘High-grade stainless steel rods with a high percentage of chromium were used so that they didn’t corrode for at least another five hundred years,’ says Dr. Mathews.
Uthiramerur town, which is one of the oldest settlements in the state of Tamil Nadu, was highly developed according to inscriptions found in the town, which describes a society which held elections and had a government. The temple dedicated to the god Shiva was built during the Pallava King Dantivarman with additions made by later rulers.