Madakulam locals join hands to reconstruct stairs to hill temple

MADURAI: Several residents in Madakulam of Madurai have come together to reconstruct damaged steps for the Goddess Kabaleshwari Amman temple located on a hillock.

The attempt is to provide better facilities for the devotees who climb the hill to worship the deity.

M Vairamani, a resident, said, “Madakulam is predominantly known for its ‘kanmoi’, but the Kabaleshwari temple with its rich history, otherwise known as ‘Kabaleshwari hill temple’ is even more important than the waterbody for the residents here.”

Recalling events of 1990, the 66-year-old Vairamani said, “Pulavar Kamatchinathan, a Tamil scholar in 1990 had volunteered and built stone steps up the hill.”

After a gap of 33 years, the reconstruction to replace the worn-out steps began on the 26th day of the Tamil month of Margazhi last year with the aid of fundraising efforts and may take another four months to complete the task.

‘Batlagundu’ A Kannan, a descendant of Kamatchinathan, who lives near Nadaga Medai in Madakulam, told DT Next that out of 583 steps up the hill, 410 steps have so far been reconstructed with new concrete pavement.

Moreover, he said Madakulam has been closely associated with the cinema industry since ‘Madakulam’ Alagarsamy alias MK Alagarsamy served as bodyguard for yesteryear hero and former chief minister MG Ramachandran. He was the brother of Pulavar Kamatchinathan.

Despite having a six-day work week, T Sankar, a construction worker, dedicates his free time to reconstruct the steps.

“After waking up, I go to the worksite on the hill at 5 am in the morning and keep myself engaged till 8 am, before taking up daily chores,” he said.

“Carrying loads of cement, m-sand, gravel, and water from the ‘kanmoi’ is an uphill task,” he said, adding, “Owing to the intervention of rains over last ten days, the reconstruction works were delayed.”