Renovation of a 300 year old heritage temple near Pune
Tattva Team – January 2023
There is a small town located about 35 km away from Pune City Centre, called Talegaon Dhamdhere. Given the number of Maratha period Shiva temple in the town, locals often call it Ardh-Kashi, half-Kashi. There are about 10 Shiva temples in town that were constructed in the early 18th century under the patronage of Maratha sardar. While the town came into prominence during the Maratha period, its history probably dates back to the Yadava period as a gadhegal (ass-curse stones) was found in town dating back to the reign of Ramachandra Yadava (c. 1271-1311 CE).
The Maratha period temples preserved in the town are some of the most exquisite specimens of the temple build during that period, and shows the economic affluence of the Maratha sardars of that era who could fund such lavish temple construction. Many of these temples have been recently ‘renovated’ by the towns people, however such kind of renovation involves putting a thick coat of colourful oil paint over the surface wall and shikhara of the temple. In some cases, crudely made colourful sculptures are put in place of old (yet exquisite) broken sculptures. Thus, a heritage temple takes on a look of a gaudy ‘new temple’. Fortunately, there are at least 4-5 temples, though dilapidated, are still in salvageable condition and their aesthetics have not yet been tampered with.
One of such temples is the Siddheshwar temple, built in 1706 CE. It is the largest temple among the group of Shiva temple at Talegaon Dhamdhere. Its structure along with the sculpture on the shikhara of the temple is still intact. However, it is overgrown with weed, plants and in some cases the roots have penetrated into the structure of the temple. Moreover, the water is seeping from the roof into the garbhagriha which will eventually compromise the structural integrity of the temple. Moreover, the shikhara of the temple needs urgent renovation based on sound conservation principles.
Tattva Heritage Foundation wants to restore this temple to its original glory and use it as a template for the restoration for other such temples in the region (and across India). As the first phase of the restoration process, we have worked on removing the very dense outgrowth of plant, shrubs and weed across the temple structure including the temple shikharas. Multiple labourers were hired for an extended period of time to clean the entire temple premises. We have also made few minor but much required structural repairs to the temple. Dr. Vijay Sarde has also made the ground plans of the temples and have written a detailed note on the history of the temple. We have arranged for the visit of historians, archaeologists and conservationist at this site to give them a first-hand overview of the temple and our vision for this temple.
After this first phase of renovation, we have made plans for structural repair of the temple and the restoration of old Maratha style sculpture and paintings visible on the shikharas. We are in the process of fund raising and talking to multiple stakeholders including the government and taking into confidence the townspeople to take this process forward.
Please use this link for further details on the renovation work.
