Velu Anandachari

Velu Anandachari is a stapathi, a master builder of temples in the traditional Indian style. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of art, from Telangana ^[1].

Training

He was born on 1 June 1952 in Vennampally, a village in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh ^[2]. He trained in sculpture at the SV Training Centre for Sculpture run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams from 1972 to 1975, and later studied by distance education for a BA from Andhra University and an MA in ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology from Osmania University ^[2].

Temple builder

He began as a teacher at a government sculpture school in 1975 and then worked on moving temples threatened by the Srisailam reservoir ^[2]. Over the next three decades he rose through the endowments department of undivided Andhra Pradesh, working on projects such as the Buddha statue in Hussain Sagar and the fort wall of the Srisailam temple ^[2]. He became the state’s Chief Stapathi in 2009, which his citation describes as a first for the Telugu region ^[2].

His largest project was the rebuilding of the Yadadri temple in Telangana, where he served as an advisor until the work was completed in 2022 ^[2].

Scholarship and honours

Between 2011 and 2013 he helped edit Telugu editions of the classical texts on temple architecture known as Kasyapam and Mayamata ^[2]. He has received the Telugu University’s Pratibha Puraskar (2018), the Andhra Pradesh state Hamsa award (2013) and Ugadi awards in several years ^[2].