Parantharami Mani

                  The subject we will be discussing today is the development of Kapaliswarar temple in the 19th and 20th centuries.  The picture old shown down is the picture of the temple in the year 1851 taken by Frederick Fiebig a Calotype  Salt print hand coloured photograph.  The Mylapore of the 19th century with its lustrous  growth of coconut trees on all the streets surrounding the temple tank and the four mada veethis.  The Eastern temple tower ie. the Rajagopuram is not there.  The twin shrines on the sides of the Western gopuram is not there as well as the Navarathri  Mandapam.The nirazhi mandapam on the tank is not having its tower.  Our new photo of the same was taken around 1925 when the Easter Rajagopuram constructed in the year 1906 and the temple steps and side mandapams constructed during the period 1910 to 1925 are clearly visible  The Navarathrimandapam is in position as well as two small shrines on the sides of western tower. What a drastic change i n 75 years.

          After leaving Thailand we took our Air Asia flight to Siem reap a North west city of Cambodia. The flight took hardly 40 minutes and we landed in Siem reap whose airport had an Kerala type architechture with tiled roofs.  The immigration was quite easy and quick and we saw a statue of Indra on his Iravath on the airport lounge which spoke about the link of Cambodia with Indian culture.  Our Cambodian guide Mr.Narun was quite at ease with us and he had a sound knowledge of spoken English. After putting  our luggage in our hotel Saem Siem Reap. Our first stop was at Angkor Thom which was the capital of ancient Angkorian empire with a million people living in it.  The Bayon temple in Angkor Thom is a famous Buddhist temple built by King Jayavarman VII in 1181 AD.  The figures in the temple ie, the mammoth faces are that of king Jayavarman VII they say.  There are many bass reliefs on the walls of the temple showing the life and times of the people in 12th century.  The south Gat