Stone cutters and stone masons then came and turned these huge shapeless masses into the square building stones that were used to build the cowshed, the Veda Patasala, the dining room and kitchen, and the old ashram office. Huge granite boulders were dumped on the lower slopes of Arunachala, behind the ashram. This gives an interesting insight into construction methods of the 1930s. When Bhagavan found it difficult to climb the stairs in the 1940s (no one was allowed to help him) a new entrance was made on the Arunachala side of the hall, the same one that is still used today. To get into the hall Bhagavan and the devotees had to climb a few stairs. In the 1930s the entrance to the old hall was on the south side of the building (the one furthest away from the mountain). The photographer in this picture is probably standing on the spot where Bhagavan was eventually buried. The old dining room was then demolished and a shady awning was constructed on the south side of the old hall. A corner of the dining room can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the photo. The new dining room and kitchen have been completed. A portion of the wall that runs round the ashram well can be seen on the right. This was connected to the old hall by an awning that protected transiting devotees from the sun and the rain. In the early 1930s the ashram had a tiled dining room that was located more or less on the spot where Bhagavan's samadhi is today. The end of the old hall can be seen behind the lamp post. In the foreground it looks as if work is about to start on the 'tank room' (next to the ashram well in front of the dining room) and possibly the old ashram office and bookstore block as well. This is an interesting view that I hadn't seen before. Just to give a sense of scale, the tree on the left would have been more or less on the spot where the door to the new hall is today. Bhagavan lived and slept there for several years until the old hall was completed in 1928. On the day they were taken this small hut was the only construction that Ramanasramam had. Both photos were probably taken in either 1922 or 1923. The caption 'hermit and hermitage' on the other photo is in the same handwriting as the caption ( Samadhi Tiruvannamalai) on the bottom of this one. It has Bhagavan standing near this hut, reading. This photo is one of a pair that were taken at the same time.
The thatched hut on the right of the photo was the original 'temple' over the samadhi of Bhagavan's mother. This tiny old print comes from the earliest days of Sri Ramanasramam. The new pictures mostly show the state of the ashram and the surrounding area in various periods of their development from the 1920s to the 1940s, a time when Annamalai Swami was actively involved in building projects.Īs a 'preview of forthcoming attractions' I have decided to share a few of them here. I ended up taking copies of several new photos that were not in any of the previous editions of the book. During my search I discovered many pictures that I didn't even know existed. The ashram archives is doing a great job in locating new photos and preserving the existing ones. Yesterday I went back to have a longer look at what was available. I picked up one batch of photos a few months ago.