THANJAVUR: The 12-feet high kalasam atop the 216-foot high vimanam in the Big Temple, which was brought down for cleaning as part of the consecration, was reinstalled on Thursday.The kalasam was cleaned and scratch marks removed by a team of 25 workers who also cleaned other kalasams in the temple. It has been coated with gold under supervisiond. The work was supervised by a team of experts from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR).
The kalasam was filled with 225 kg of Kodo Millet (Varagu). Other kalasams would be fixed on Friday.
Selvaraj, Sthapathy who led a team in renovating the Kalasam said, “ For the main 12 feet Kalasam alone 190 grams of gold was used for coating. For other six Kalasams, a total of 144 grams of gold was used.”
Later in the day, Collector M Govinda Rao informed media persons that around 10 lakhs devotees were expected to visit Thanjavur Big Temple for the consecration.