Mr. Andal P. Chockalingam BE., MBA., M.Phil., is a renowned personality in Tamil Nadu and pursuing his doctorate degree in extensive research about the temples. He is extremely devoted and has a keen inclination to Goddess Andal. Kothai Andal’s temple(Government temple) is located at Srivilliputhur in the district of Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu. The “Moolastana vimana” (Moolastana gopuram) of this temple is about 13 feet of height. A divinely initiative is underway to shield this Moolastana Vimana with gold sheet coating (thanga vimaana). This activity has been initiated and directly monitored by Sri Natchiyar charity Trust. The estimated gold for this task is 100 kgs.
There are offerings seamlessly flowing from devotees from all over the world.
In the meanwhile, Mr. Andal P. Chockalingam started involving in this holy activity vigorously. As an initial milestone he facilitated contributions from 200 devotees in his network counting to 2 kgs of gold as on 6.11.2012. This was handed over to the trustee Chairman Mr.K. Ravichandran at the temple’s office and also he informed during this event to enable further collection of 3 kgs gold in the coming months.
Following this, on 14.12.2012 he facilitated a pool of contributions from various devotees counting to 3 kgs of gold & a sum of Rs.10 lakhs by cash, for this divine initiative. It has been observed that around 5000 people have visited the temple on this day from all over the world along with Mr. Andal P. Chockalingam. He has pledged at feet of Goddess Andal to mobilize 25 kg of further gold in the next few months. It is noteworthy that coating the temple gopuram with gold, that has undergone a “Pranaprathishta” earlier, will add strength to the structure thereby making it sturdy for several countless years.
On completion of this effort, the Gold shielded gopuram of this temple will be the largest of its kind,amongst all the Vishnu temples in the world. Let us pray to Goddess Andal to enable him accomplish his next milestone of 25kg of Gold & for a successful completion of this distinguished initiative.