Posts Tagged ‘Door Guardian’

Sep

Thirst for Art knows no boundaries - Narthamalai, a guest post

You would have read in the about me section, the yahoo group discussing Kalki’s amazing creation - ponniyin selvan introduced me to host of new friends. One post out of blue in the forum made me stand up and notice ( www.ponniyinselvan.in). A post which was not out of place in a forum that discusses one of the greatest work of historical fiction in the Tamil, but coming from an American woman, it sure raised my eyebrow. Maybe it was one of those pseudo blogger names, so i started a conversation - what unfolded left me dumbfounded. Kathie is an American, who possibly has visited more obscure sites ( including ancient sacred places, even ones without much left at the site) than the celebrated back packer, ardent temple enthusiast in India, not just with an eye to see them as a tourist, but to enjoy the beauty of sculpture, to drink in the true pleasure of stone art at its very best - She has been coming to India since ‘86 seeking out spiritual places filled with amazing works of art. So when i was thinking of calling someone to grace this site with a guest post, she agreed instantly. Her enthusiasm is contagious and her knowledge makes me wince!! over to Kathie

One site I’d been longing to see, on the strength of one photo in J.C.Harle’s “Art & Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent”, was NARTTAMALAI [Narthamalai].

Legend tells that its great granite pile fell off the mountain of healing herbs carried by Sri Hanuman, flying down to Lanka. It’s true that the area is known for medicinal wild plants.

Winter ‘95, I took a taxi down from Tiruchi into Pudukkottai district, wondering if I could find the place. There was the enormous granite hill with a pool at its south end, but where was the temple ?

Doubtful, I walked along the fairly steep rock-face, noting an Ayyannar shrine across the water; then, through the trees, appeared the beautifully balanced Vimana: Vijayalaya Cholisvara Koil

This temple of 866 CE, built by Muttaraiyars — fiduciaries of the Royal Chozhas — shows that their artisans excelled in both architecture & sculpture. The west-facing temple’s round amalaka still had some paint –a soft red–, with 4 side shrines, gentle Nandi, & two caves in the cliff behind.
Murthis on the temple itself was quite worn and hard to see without binoculars.
To my taste, this is the most perfectly proportioned temple in TN.

The several door guardians here were among the finest I’d ever seen, a platform against the rock had a mala of playful elephants & Yalis, , including one with a human face. There were more loose murthis on the platform.

One cave was being used as a storeroom. The other — Samanar Kudagu, once Jain — had interior walls lined with 18(?) carved Vishnus, each subtly distinct.

Beside the koil masterpiece, the view east from the temple courtyard– angled rocks and green paddy — was breathtaking.

in 2007 I visited again with a group of friends. By then the amalaka had lost it’s rosy tint.

This time we continued down the great granite slab slanting to the north, and at its foot, found another Ayyannar Shrine of over a hundred steeds for the village guardians.

A magical place.

There is a newer temple on Narttamalai which we didn’t find.More sculpture from this site can be seen at the Pudukkottai Govt. Museum.

Kathie Brobeck

p.s We will visit this amazing place in more detail in subsequent posts.

How Big is BIG - Part 2 on the Tanjore temple

Ok, we saw a big post with only one picture in the intro post - so those of you eager to see more of the big temple, apologize for that - but the call of my beloved hero Raja Raja aka ponniyin selvan was too much.

We saw the temple vimanam at a distance - so we approach closer, before the visual spectacle arrests you - lets for a second imagine that someone has blind folded you - and moved you closer to the entrance. We skip the first entrance tower ( which is a later addition) and move your nearer to the second - the Keralantagan ( he who destroyed kerela - one of the first victories of Raja Raja was against the Chera stronghold / martial academy in Kandalur Salai - so his meeikeerthi sings-Kandalur salai kalamarutharuli ) - we skip that one as well and move you to the Raja Rajan gopuram ( The illustrious Arulmozhi took the tile of Raja Raja on his crowning) and slowly remove your blind fold. You open your eyes slowly. what do you see?

a bottom upview of the right door guardian.jpg

You see a Dwarabaalaga - door guardian - we first move you to the right one - with bared fangs and bulging eyes - looking down on you .

You are forced to look down - for his lower right hand is held is a kind of warning pose - Be careful

and then you look at the lower left hand - its says - look down -

there we see a lion,ok and then there is a snake biting something - oh, its swallowing an elephant!!! there is also a crocodile that has been depicted but i don’t have an explanation for that now ( we come to this later)

So we look up again - the upper left hand is pointing inside ( the Lord)

and the upper right hand is raised in Vismaya ( Astonishment)

ok lets read whats implied, beware,see below an elephant is being swallowed by a snake, and i am so much bigger than them - and inside - the God is much much bigger than all of us.

so How big is the door guardian - Ok - lets zoom back - bring a human into frame,hmm lets do better and bring an elephant into the frame -

how is this for size n see the sculpture panels.jpg

Now do you get the perception of the scale of the doorguardian.

Now we zoom even more and bring the entire tower into the frame slowly moving backwards …wow -how massive.

rajarajan gopuram with door guardians.jpg

The story of the elephant being swallowed is a pointer to the question on the first post as to why the Vimaana in tanjore is taller than the gopuram. A delightful explanation comes from Saint Sambandar’s Devaram.

Where he describes the abode of Shiva - the Holy mountain of Kailash, where there are huge snakes that are capable of swallowing elephants ( actually the right translation of Anaconda - is Aaanai - elephant - Kolran - killer - as per some? but how did a tamil saint envision of amazonian snake and how did the amazonian snake get such a name ?) - in other verses we hear of the lions in kailash ( as did we see in the angkorian ravana shaking episode). So the depiction of these animals are a pointer that the Vimana - true to its name is Dakshina Meru - Southern Kailash - the holy abode of shiva.

Now see the pictures

The first Tower - built during late 14 C

the first gopuram ( not chola built).jpg

The second Tower Keralanthagan Gopuram

The third tower Rajarajan Gopuram

the two gopurams - pciture courtesy flickr ravages.jpg

and finally the Maha meru Vimanam - to truly describe the scale of this edifice requires more posts - so just leave you with some breathtaking visuals ( thanks to friends and Mr Rohan R. Rao
http://rohanrrao.wordpress.com/ for allowing me to post some of his pictures)