The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has embarked on an endeavour to renovate portions of the historic Sivaganga Little Fort dating back to the Nayak period.
Conservation work is under way to restore the Little Fort’s structures, specially the upper rampart of the Little Fort. Workers are undertaking jungle clearance, removal of wild growth and so on that had disturbed the structural alignment.
The bastions were in danger of falling apart because of vegetation factor. The aim is to restore the rampart to its original style formation using similar type of bricks and combination mortar, according to senior conservation assistant Vasudevan.
The rampart of the fort has brick structure interior while its exterior is laterite stone structure. Twenty six bastions of the rampart are to be covered up to 60 metres and the work is estimated to cost around Rs. 20 lakh.
The Sivaganga Little Fort was built by Sevappa Nayak in the 16th Century and its importance could be gauged by the fact that the world famous Sri Brihadeeswarar temple (Big Temple) is comprised in the fort arena. The ASI that was in possession of the monument had to part with the land that was leased out to the Thanjavur Municipality several years ago consequent to which maintenance was not taken up.
After quite a struggle, the ASI was able to wrest back the monument area from the local body last year after which plans were drafted to renovate the structure over a period of time.
The current work forms part of the schedule. Portions of the fort walls have collapsed and they need to be restored properly.
