MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court issued notice to Central and state governments in a public interest litigation seeking direction for replacement of mutilated Ashta Dik Balaka idols at the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur.
The litigant, K Kaliyamoorthy of Thanjavur, submitted that King Raja Raja Chola had built eight separate shrines for the Ashta Dik Balakas in eight directions within the temple, with a small vimana for each shrine. However, of the eight Ashta Dik Balaka idols, four idols-Agni, Varuna, Vayu and Isanar-are damaged while the remaining four shrines not even have the idols.
Kaliyamoorthy stated that on August 24, 2019, he gave a representation to the Superintending Archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Chennai to replace the damaged idols and install new ones in the vacant shrines.
But the same was rejected by ASI saying that removal, replacement or installation of new idols is not permitted under Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites Remains Act, 1958, he added and approached the court seeking relief.
A bench comprising Justices TS Sivagnanam and R Tharani, who heard the plea, issued notice to the Union Ministry of Culture, Director General of ASI, State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department and Thanjavur Palace Devasthanam among others, returnable before January 7, 2020.