The Archaeological Survey of India will restore the Kedarnath temple, which was damaged in floods and landslides last month, union culture minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch has announced.
She said a seven-member team of experts, led by ASI additional director general Dr BR Mani, travelled to Dehradun last week, but due to bad weather it was unable to go up to Kedarnath to make a first-hand assessment of the damage.
It is not yet clear how much and how long it would take to restore the temple.
However, she said, the ministry would seek funds from the Centre and the state government for the project, and possibly also invite “public participation”.
The rebuilding of Kedarnath temple has taken a political turn after Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi offered to rebuild the temple, an offer that his Uttarakhand counterpart Vijay Bahuguna turned down on Tuesday.
Speaking to dna, ASI additional director general Dr BR Mani said that right now it is impossible to gauge the exact extent of damage to the temple, but photographs showed that “the main temple at least had not suffered much damage. Some stones have been dislodged in the eastern part of the porch or mandapa which dates back to the 12th century, and also in the door, which was a later, probably 18th century addition”.
The temple was probably built in the seventh or eighth century, although there are inscriptions dating to 11th century which reveal that it was built by the Parmar rulers of Malwa.
“The western door has also been damaged and there is no trace of the small temple in the northeastern corner, known as the Ishaan temple. The platform on which the temple has been built has suffered some loss and the boundaries have been damaged. The debris now comes up to the level of the nandi sculpture in the courtyard,” he explained.
For the ASI, which has worked restoring the Mahabalipuram temples after the tsunami, Kedarnath will pose a different kind of challenge because the site, said Mani, is located at a height of 11,000 ft and the time available for carrying out the work is limited.
Kedarnath, despite its antiquity, is not protected by the ASI. There was a proposal in 2004 to bring it under the ASI, revealed P Srivastava, ASI director general, but it came to naught because it was a living temple and its owners, the Shri Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee, did not give consent.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}