This Mandapamis at Kaladi, the birth place of Sri Adi Shankara. It is eight storeyed and is about 45 meters in height. The shape is octagonal. As you climb the steps, you see the life story of Adi Shankara on paintings. There are two elephant statues at the entrance.
My memory says that this kirti mandapam was pink colored. We really enjoyed visiting this structure.
In the Paduka Mandapam, there were big statues of Sri Adi Shankara and Lord Ganesha.
Kaladi: This is a small town situated on the banks of river Periyar also known as Poorna river. Most important is the fact that it is the birth place of the great saint and philosopher Adi Shankara. The two shrines here, one of Shankaracharya and Dakshinamoorthy and the other is of Sharada Devi, maintained by the Sringeri Math.
We were told that a Srichakram was installed underground in that temple.
We went inside the Shrine and did pradakshinams. Besides us, there was another elderly man. He started the conversation with us beginning with his life story. He was born in 1923 and visited that place first time in 1931. Now he lives around that area. The next thing we knew, he was suggesting that we donate generously. We sponsored poojas for Rs. 2001 and Nirmala sponsored one for Rs.500. We were asked to give the addresses and they said that they would mail the prasadam. This was in Dec 2007 and as of today, neither Nirmala nor our family in Hyderabad received any prasadam. It is really not important. But I just had to mention it.
We then went close to the river, sprinkled the holy water on our heads. The other temple was closed at that time. We just had a peek of the idol inside.
We lingered for an extra half hour walking around, because it was very peaceful there. By the way, visitors are allowed in this temple irrespective of color, creed, religion and nationality.
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