An Ancient Hindu Temple Renovation in Andhra Pradesh By a Common Man

A story of a most beautiful transformation you are going to go through. Ever been to an ancient temple that was almost destroyed? The abandon temple area where no one goes due to the old age of the temple which has become isolated from the society?! If you go to an ancient ruined temple, you will hear its own words.

The temple is not a lifeless mound of bricks and stones, but an exhibition of a living past, which binds this modern sophisticated present to our forgotten past in a single thread. So to protect every ancient temple is to preserve the pride history and the past of our golden heritage among us.

We come across so many ruined ancient temples, which may be erased from the lap of the earth in a few days, and with it some untold history and arts that will be lost forever. But our little initiative and love for our own culture may save those ancient temples from being lost in the tide of time. Maybe K V N MURTHY & K REVATHI, of Visakhapatnam, came forward in empty-handed and started a temple renovation movement, thinking like this.

Discovering The Ruined Temple

A small piece of land, in AGANAMPUDI town of Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, came under a government agency. And K V N MURTHY used to work under that govt organization.

And there was a neglected ancient temple architecture in ruined condition, in that vast abandoned land, which, even with its dilapidated body, was a beautiful example of ancient architecture.The temple was neglected for a long time due to its thickets of bushes and shrubs. No one used to come or worship in the temple. 

But this temple could not escape the eyes of K V N MURTHY. When he found out about the temple, he immediately started temple reconstruction work restoring the ruined architecture. At first he was alone, but gradually many people in the society came forward to rebuild this temple and they started working together. 

Although we could not talk to Mr. K V N MURTHY and his better half K REVATHI, but we had conversation with his son Mr. K S VEDAVYAS through Facebook page, Mr. K S VEDAVYAS told us all the facts from beginning.

Taking care of Temple Art

According to K.S. Vedavyas, the process of restoration of this temple has been carried out with great caution. Much care has been taken to ensure that no damage is done to the ancient artwork engraved on temple wall.

Here is the real story

Let us hear the story from K S VEDAVYAS, how his parents came forward in empty-handed with the dream of restoring a ruined temple.

“Myself  K.S. Vedavyas  s/o K.V.N. Murthy & K.Revathi hails from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This temple which is around more than 500 years old is dedicated to Lord Sri Ram. The present site of temple falls under the central govt undertaking RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd). 

Due to land acquisition by RINL the temple has been abandoned and no puja used to be done until 2010 when my parents took the initiative themselves and started offering regular puja daily without fail. Upon seeing my parents enthusiasm and determination to renovate the abandoned temple some of our colony members came forward in 2015 to help monetarily and ideologically as well. 

So by 2017 we managed to renovate the entire temple from roots to present scenario by collective action by all our Hindus who vocally supported for this noble cause.

The process of restoration of this temple has been carried out with great caution. Much care has been taken to ensure that no damage is done to the ancient artwork engraved on temple wall.

Temple Address: AGANAMPUDI, Colony: JABILLI HILLS, District: VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH”

K.S. Vedavyas Further Added

“Even today our family's daily morning routine is to clean the temple premises, mopping floor and doing puja regularly without fail. We would like to invite everyone to visit this temple, this is a small effort of ours for this ancient temple, so we sincerely wish your blessings and loves.

Though we are not Brahmins but it's we alone who does the regular customs since my father has a great knowledge of all those and subsequently I mastered it as well.

By the way I did my MBA in International transportation and Logistics management from Indian maritime University, Chennai in 2019 and for the past 1 yr I had a privilege to do service daily at the temple since I am still in search of a suitable job for me here in Visakhapatnam. 

My father too is a foreman in RINL and is going to retire by 2024 and willing to dedicate his post retirement life to the temple alone”

K.S. Vedavyas added that they have many more dreams and plans for the temple, but they are not taking any steps now to implement them due to lack of adequate funds.