Dindigul, September 5, 2013: For the first time, a 32-foot-high Vinayagar idol is being erected at Sri 108 Vinayagar temple, on the west bank of Gopalasamudram Tank Road, here on Wednesday.

More than 20 workers and six supervisors from the construction wing of a multinational company have been engaged in the erection work since morning. They were expected to complete the work either by night or Thursday morning.

Weighing about 130 tonnes, three giant cranes were brought from Chennai to erect the idol on the three-foot-high ‘Peetam’ on the western side of the temple. The idol would face the east. In the meanwhile, special pujas were performed and abishekam using paddy grains and coins. Swarna abishekam was also performed to the deity.

Valampuri Vinayagar idol, named as Maha Sangadahara Chathurthi Vinayagar, is in the sitting posture on a broad ‘simhasanam’ and his crown is decorated with Lord Shiva carrying goddess Ganga on his head.

Led by Shanmugavel Stathapathi, a 15-member group of sculptors designed and sculpted the idol at Thirumuguranpoondi village near Tirupur. It took one year and four months to complete the work. A single stone weighing 200 tonnes was procured from Coimbatore for this purpose.

The idol was brought in a heavy truck to Dindigul.

It was a tough task to bring the idol to Dindigul, said temple authorities. The driver avoided the Dharapuram-Oddanchatram road, the shortest route to Dindigul and drove the idol-laden truck on the highways through Erode, Namakkal and Karur to reach Dindigul for its safe journey.

He drove the truck at 40 km speed and took rest after every two-hour drive to cool the engine and the tyres. After 50 hours of journey, the idol reached Dindigul around 2 a.m. on Monday, the temple authorities added.

Source: The Hindu, September 5, 2013