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Posts Tagged ‘pullamangai ’


We have already seen this cute little darling of a fellow in Mahabalipuram and in Srinivasanallur. Today we are traveling to another Chola treasure trove - Pullamangai, Brahmapureerswara temple .

A quick test for your observation powers. Can you spot our friend.

tiger belly see carefully.jpg

Can’t, try this one

tiger belly - see top right.jpg

Still Can’t, come on !!

tiger belly closer.jpg

Now, do you see him. such a darling fellow.

pullamangai tiger belly.jpg

Nowadays, we do see Shiva’s Gana’s ( assistants) adorning modern temple walls, but they lack the character and spirit of the originals. They are sadly repetitive and monotonous. Take a look at this impressive array of delightful ganas - each of them have such cute expressions that its difficult not to fall in love with them. One thing you have to notice is the fact that these are true dwarfs - as you can see by the body proportions and the depiction of the hands and legs - this is not to show the physical deformity but to show how observant were the sculptors who could sculpt them so beautifully.

look at the suttle change in smile.jpg
normal funny Ghanas.jpg
normal funny ones.jpg
normal well - for ganas.jpg
pullamangai normal ghana.jpg

Not all have the tiger belly face and it seems to be one particular individual who has this - what could be his name. Need to do some more research to find out. Meantime, please keep an eye out for this tiger belly face when you visit Chola temples. And for the normal fellows, please do spare them a glance.

picture courtesy : Ms. Kathie and Varlaaru.com

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Today we are going to see a fantastic miniature sculpture from Pullamangai ( Thanks chandra for the photo - more to come of yours shortly) - There is an equally majestic sculpture in tanjore museum - which is my favorite as well, which i fondly refer to as stone monalisa, but we will see that in a subsequent post. Am actually redoing this post, with further photos from Satheesh. We are in a real treat.

In order to truly appreciate this miniature, you got to understand the size of this creation and its location. We see the size at the end, just leaving it with ` miniature’ for now.

pullamangai+location

Well, need to use some software to brighten it up a bit and closeup for you.

brighten+toshow

Ok, recap the legend first.

Once upon a time there lived a demon called Gajamuhasura. As all demons are, he was cruel and ill treated all the good incl the devotees of shiva. Lord Shiva enraged at this decided to put an end to this and with his trident had a furious battle with the elephant bodied demon. The battle was so fierce and intense that Shiva was filled with rage and he caught the head of the elephant, crushed it with his foot and skinned him right there and wore it as his garment.

Now for the beauty - can you spot the characters - ofcourse Shiva - in his majestic, dynamic grace, almost dancing into the elephant hide - you can spot the elephant’s head way down to the left of the sculpture ( as you see it), under shiva’s trident - next to the shiva gana - who is up to his useful pranks - showing faces at the fallen asura. Amazing little characters these Ganas.

shiva+gajasamhaaram
shiva+twisting+as+he+skins+the+elephant
the+elephant+3+legs

You can see shiva’s torso twisted in his effort to wrest the skin and is holding it like a blanket around him.

headofelephant+gesturing+gana
headofelephant+gesturing+gana+detail

way down to the right, you can see his consort Parvati wanting nothing of this and rushing away, for she is scared and more scared is the young skanda - the portrayal of the baby is the master stroke of this sculpture - he wants to jump into the waiting hands of the lady helper, away from all this fearsome action …

even+closeup
muruga+jumping+away+to+attendants+hand
muruga+jumping+away+to+attendants+hand+detail

Thats all the canvas that this master sculpture needed to sculpt this amazing microcosm of myriad emotions …Hats off for this splendid miniature. Well, did i say miniature?

whats+that+in+front


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