HYDERABAD: Yadadri has a sweet spot in every Hyderabadi’s heart and that is something that Velu Anandachary, the Sthapathi Advisor of the Yadadri Temple Development Board, Yadadri, 69 km from Hyderabad, loves.
The top temple architect who is among the many doyens who have given a divine touch to the temple which is set to open in 2021 recently received the Global Teachers Excellence Awards 2020 for his contribution towards the marvel of Yadadri.
“The awards highlight the achievement and the contributions of the educators and the educational organisations. It is an effort made by the team of Kiteskraft Productions LLP. “I have not taught anyone directly in the last few decades but I have got it because they believe my work stands as a benchmark for those in this industry,” he adds. “I received it on Friday from Yadadri Tehalsildar and the award contains a trophy, a gold-coated memento and certificate. This is a recognition for the last 45 years towards temple architecture in both the Telugu states,” he says. Velu believes that being in a unique role like this – only one post as the advisor, he says – has helped him conceive the temple the way devotees want to see it.
“Yadadri will be a benchmark in temple architecture. Perhaps nowhere else in the world is a structure that has been build in black granite. From the basement to gopuram, it is fully black granite, a feat that even other states such as Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh could not achieve. The new generation of temple architects will be inspired by such phenomenal work,” adds the architect who was a teacher of architecture at the beginning of his career. His sweet moment was to receive a state award from none other than Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for his contribution to temple architecture.
Velu also made news for drawing 101 pictures in a record time of 25 hours and it has been recognised as the largest painting by the Guinness Records and in architecture books. The author of books such as Mayamatham and Kashyapam, this Saidabad resident says that he has exciting plans for 2021. Temple Run, perhaps!
— Manju Latha Kalanidhi
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com
@mkalanidhi