Five years ago, trucks from Thiruvananthapuram carried magnificent carved doors, 10 X 10 square feet stone walls and adorned stone steps all the way to Aurangabad. This unique consignment was used to renovate the only Sree Ayyappa Temple in the north Indian city.
The person who sent these items from Thiruvananthapuram was S Narayana Moorthy, one of the most sought-after temple architects in Kerala. He has constructed over 200 temples, including the Venpalavattom Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kandamangalam Temple in Cherthala and Parakkodu Temple in Kollam. He was the ‘shilpi’ (architect) chosen by many a ‘thantri’ (chief priest). When the Aurangabad Malayali Association decided to lend an ancient look to the Sree Ayyappa Temple in their city, they knew whom to trust.
However, ‘Krishnasila’, the elegant black granite stone which forms the body of ancient South Indian temples, is not found in north India. So Moorthy, with the help of his friend Mayiladi Chandran, had to get all the stone parts made in Thiruvananthapuram and transport it to Aurangabad. Then, he flew to that city and supervised the setting up of the temple.
His family no longer allows him to take up faraway projects. But when his wife says he is old, the 68-year-old brushes it off. For four decades, he has been working seven days a week. This year, he has started working on the renovation of Panayil Ganapathy Temple.
For several generations Moorthy’s family has been temple craftsmen. His grandfather was part of a retinue of temple artistes brought from Tamil Nadu to work in the Travancore Palace. His father, Sasthav Achari, was an eminent sculptor at the palace. But he passed away before his son’s coming of age. So, with a first rank in ITI (Moulding), Moorthy had to train outside the family under masters like K Vasudevan Achari and Madurai Rajaram.
Of his three children, son Jayakrishnan has learnt some of the nitty-gritty of the art. A software engineer by profession, Jayakrishnan wants his father to document all the projects taken up by the latter. “If a temple’s soul is owned by the ‘thantri’, its body belongs to the ‘shilpi’. Since the ‘shilpi’ is so important, my father receives more than 100 invitations to festivals of the temples he has built,” says the son with pride.
Moorthy firmly believes that his sincerity and accuracy won him such renown. It is believed that the slightest error can cause a ‘dosham’, a misfortune. “The deity wouldn’t like to be seated in a temple when the measurements are wrong,” says the temple architect.
When the less adept err in measurements, the temple is demolished and Moorthy is specially invited to make a new one in its place. He has also resurrected around 20 temples working with the Archaeological Survey of India. Surely, his name had to reach as far as Aurangabad.