Monthly Archives: November 2008

Two Demons plot against a sleeping Vishnu – Mallai

Today we are going to see a very interesting legend in sculpture – most visitors would have seen this sculpture in mahabalipuram, but dont stop to notice the legend nor the sculptural beauty of this masterpiece. One of the earliest acts of valor of Vishnu. The Anantasayana Panel in the Mahishasuramardhini Mandabam. I am grateful for Mr. Swaminathan’s guidance to understand this panel.

Before we see the legend, for a change we see the main sculpture once and a superb piece of stone work that often goes unnoticed.

The depth of this panel carved into hard rock and the masterful depiction of these two key players in the legend is unique – it full of life, as though its a scene being enacted before our very eyes.

Now, lets see the legend. Vishnu has absorbed the Universe in Himself after the destruction of the Creation ( which he does once every cycle is complete), he is supposed to be sleeping (because he has no work to do!). He has delegated the work of creation ( for the next cycle) to Brahma and is into deep slumber in the Ocean of Milk. His bed was the coils of Ananta, the god of serpents. This Sleep is the state of deepest meditation of a person, when there is complete cut off from the external and also internal perceptions.

At this moment – The demons Madhu and Kaitabha are said to be generated from the ear-wax of Vishnu.The two demons slip out of the ears of the Lord and attempt to destroy Brahma, the clear perception about the Creation, and try to enforce a world view in terms of categorization by names and forms,disturbing thus the very act of creation. . These two demons are difficult to conquer.

(Madhu in Sanskrit means honey. It is the extra sweet feeling that things are more than right. Kai in Sanskrit means
‘noise’. Kaitabh represents the inner noise resulting from the feeling of inadequacy. The evils represented by Madhu and Kaitabha erode the inner essence compromising effective engagement.Madhu denotes form of anything. Kaitabha denotes name of everything – )

The threatened Brahma requests the Supreme Goddess to help. Vishnu, aroused by the Goddess, destroys the demons. ( its a long story and inorder to justice to the panel i have shrunk it)

Now lets return to the sculpture:

Vishnu reclining in a trance -watch how the sculptor has brought the serene /dream like peaceful emotion into his face.

He is sculpted with two arms – His right arm is out-stretched and seems to be cluthing something? his left arm is bent at the elbow ( sadly broken) He has his head and chest slightly raised. His left knee is slightly bent though other parts are stretched flat. Is he about to get up? He is adorned with a beautiful crown ,necklaces and ear rings.

His bed or couch – Anantha – what a majestic portrayal of his five headed hoods forming a protective canopy over the sleeping Vishnu. Such depth into the carving and such fluid lines.

Below the feet of Vishnu is the goddess, a depiction of great beauty. ( some version say its Bhu Devi, but is she the Goddess requesting Vishnu to wake up?)

Above the reclining God are two flying figures and below him are two more. These are the weapons of Vishnu shown in human form, ayudh-purusha-s. Of the two flying figures, the dwarfish figure, Panch-janya, on the left is conch and the other charming Kaumodaki represents the mace (gada). The two below are two handsome youthful figures represent discus (chakra) and sword (nandaka). Some identify these two as Markandeya and Bhrigu.

The threatening asura-s, Madhu and Kaitabha, are having a stealthy, but animated, discussion. The one on the right is ready to strike at the Lord. The way they talk over the demons shoulder and how it has been sculpted into stone is magnificent.

Kama aims at Shiva – this time in Cambodia

Sometimes the sheer extent of geographical spread of our legends baffles me. The reliefs of Banteay Srei in Cambodia and Parambanan in Indonesia are such – veritable treasure troves. But once in a while, something very unique comes up, that makes you sit up and take notice. What we are seeing today is one such sculpture. This is from Banteay Srei complex – this follows the previous post of Kama vs Shiva which we saw deep in the hearts of Chola land – tanjore big temple – the illustrious capital of Raja Raja. It gives me great pleasure in presenting to you today the same legend depicted in Cambodia.

Lets analyse the panel in depth – shiva is seated on a high pedestal – a very regal presentation of Shiva, seated in an almost yogic stance – the spine straight, left arm on his thigh …he is looking down to his left – at Kama – who is taking his stance with his bow to discharge the arrow. Shiva’s right hand is holding a rosary but he seems to be giving it to the beautiful lady seated to the right. Below are three rows of various gods and demi gods, incl some animals.

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How do we interpret this panel. This is most probably a composite panel – meaning unlike the chola version which comprised of individual scenes moving like a story board – this is just a single panel depicting the legend. Going from left to right ( of the panel) – Kama aims and discharges the arrow, shiva is woken up and looks at Kama in anger – but the impact of the arrow is strong, that he is giving up his life of austerity symbolised by the rosary to Parvathi and falling into wedlock !!!

Shiva burns the Lord of Love – Tanjore

Today we are going to see another interesting panel from the Tanjore temple ( thanks again to Satheesh). The burning of the Lord of Love – Kama by Siva.

To the uninitiated a short brief on Kamadeva – the god of love – fair complexioned, handsome and the best looking among the gods. He carries a bow made of sugarcane and strung with a line of humming bees. He shoots with his bow the five flower-tipped shafts of desire * . RATI (passion) his wife and his friend VASANTA (spring), who selects for him the shaft to be used on the current victim accompanies him. Kamadeva’s vehicle is the parrot.

{ *couple of months ago in agathiar forum Mr. K. Srikanth posted an interesting article on the flowers that make up Kama’s arrow and his targets / effects. am giving that below – His arrows are of five varieties of flowers. Aravindam which is Lotus, Asokam – Hellebore, Chootham – Mango flower, Navamallika – new Jasmine, and Nilotpala – blue lotus are the five arrows of manmadha. With these arrows he hits five places in the body and creates five different effects.
Unmaadana – ‘unmattam’ or craziness/sillyness happens when manmatha hits with Lotus flower on the chest, rodana – the asoka flower hits the lips makes the person lament/cry with excitement, sosna – the jasmine flower hits the eyes and reddens it (loss of sleep), sammohana – the tender mango flower when hit at the head; makes the person loose their mind and finally the deadly Nilotapal flower stupifies the person to standstillness (Stambhanam).
http://manoranjitam.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/legend-of-kaama/ }

Ok, enough of introductions, we plunge into the story / legend.

The story immediately follows our earlier panel – that of Dhaksha’s beheading. Not able to put up with the insults heaped on her husband by her father, Dhakshayini has immolated herself in the sacrificial fire of Dhaksha. Heartbroken at this, Shiva is deeply immersed in penance. He is hardly aware of what is happening around and in deep meditation.

So when the destroyer is in such state, the forces of evil raise their heads. A demon named Taraka performs a great number of austerities for a great number of years, as usual Brahma is forced to grant an audition – usual dialogue – demon seeks boon of immortality – Brahma refuses – offers something short – This time the demon is wise ( or so he thinks), he knows that Shiva is in deep trance and there is no sign of his consort – he is leading a life of absolute austerity. So he seeks absolute invulnerability from every creation in the universe except a son of Shiva.

Ok, back to familiar script – armed with the boon, Taraka has none to stop him from conquering the worlds and inflicting tremendous hardships on humans and the gods. He defeated the gods one by one and forced them to pay him tribute. Indra was forced to part with his wonderful white horse, Uchchaisravas, which was one of the fourteen precious things that had turned up at the Churning of the Ocean at the beginning of creation. Jamadagni, the great sage, had to give up his celestial cow Kamdhenu, a creature which could fulfill all desires. Kubera, the god of wealth, had to pay tribute to Taraka in the form of a thousand precious sea-horses and Vayu had to obey all of the wicked asura’s commands. Even the sun and the moon were in terror of Taraka and while the sun could not give out any heat the moon was forced to shine all the time. The gods were forced out of their respective heavens and wander about in forests.

The disposed gods regrouped in the forest and tried to come up with the way to vanquish the demon – they blamed Brhama squarely for their debacle and at that point Brahma reminded them of the loophole in the boon. Immediately the Gods set about working on the acilles heel of Tarakasura. But the problem was that Shiva was still mourning Dhakshayini and was living a life of complete celibacy.

Fortunately the divine mother was already reborn as Parvathi ( parvatham – mountain – daugter off) daughter of the Himavan ( Himaalaya mountain) and his wife Manorama.
Parvati was born, exceedingly beautiful and worthy of a potent god like Shiva. When she came of age she realised her mission in life and she herself began to perform many austerities in the hope of attracting Shiva’s attention but that god was still in grief and impervious to all her best efforts.

Indra then turns to Kama, the god of love and desire, to go to Mount Kailash and somehow make Shiva break his self-imposed celibacy. That flighty god fearfully went to Kailash and found Shiva deep in meditation, impervious to all around him. Even the birds and animals in that holy place made no noise. Even the leaves on the trees stayed still and made no sound. Kama dared not proceed with what he had been sent to do and hung about the place wondering what he could do.

So Kama dithered about the place quite uncertain as to how to rouse Shiva’s desire to wed with Parvati. This uncertain situation went on for many days till, one day, suddenly, Kama saw Parvati approach gently and quietly and start picking flowers to offer to her desired lord, Shiva. Kama immediately saw his opportunity and, setting aside his fear of the hot-tempered god, fitted an arrow to his famed bow and aimed at Shiva and let fly. The arrow flew true to its mark, Shiva’s breast. Shiva was rudely shaken out of his meditative trance and his eyes flew open. The first person he saw was the lovely Parvati charmingly picking the colorful flowers. He immediately felt a warm surge of love for her course through his body. Then he saw Kama and he instantly understood the reason for his unforeseen desire. He flew into a rage at what he thought of as Kama’s imprudence and, turning his terrible third eye on that hapless god, reduced him to ashes.

Taking pity at the woes and responding to the pleas of his widow, Rati, Lord Shiva restored her husband but only as a mental image, representing true love and affection and not just physical lust. Hence the other name of Kama Deva is ANANGA (the bodiless).

The rest – is the birth of skanda/muruga and how he becomes the warrior chieftain of the Gods and leads them to a successful campaign to destroy Tarakasura. ( the entire legend is beautifully described in kalidaasa’s immortal work – Kumarasambhava )

A long post but an interesting legend. Lets look at the sculpture now.

The entire panel coming up first for you. The top most row is a groups of ascetics and the bottom most row -Shiva’s faithful assistants. The main story described in three scenes in between.

The first scene – shiva is in deep meditation – watch the beauty of the sculpture, even in this miniature scale the sculptor has managed to sculpt shiva’s closed – meditating eyes ! The handsome Kama ofcourse is aiming his arrow on shiva. (you can vaguely see the smile on his lips)

The second scene, immdly below – we see a falling Kama and a wailing Rathi. Again a slightly damaged sculpture, but the falling kama is shown beautifully. You can also see Rathi wailing beating her hands on her heads ( a very south Indian emotional act)

The last one, to the right of the second scene – we see a resurrected Kama in all devotion and a visibly happy Rathi – taking the blessings of shiva ( who has a large assitant – bootha gana beside him)

This reminds me of a similar scene in cambodia – Banteay Srei complex, which we will see in the next post.

There are many references in Thevaram on this episode, ( thanks to Mr.V. Subramaniam ) quoting a couple below;

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=4&Song_idField=41030&padhi=103&startLimit=3&limitPerPage=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=DESC


fixing the pure and soft flowers as arrows in the bow of the sugar-cane.
putting into use the fire the Lord in nākaikkārōṇam who destroyed with the frontal eye kāmaṉ to become ash!
praising your names.
grant your grace to utter the five letters of namaccivāya on the day when I die.
our Lord who does good to devotees!
Translation: V.M.Subramanya Aiyar–Courtesy: French Institute of Pondichery / EFEO (2006)

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=12&Song_idField=1228&padhi=72&startLimit=476&limitPerPage=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=DESC


“O Nectar that devoured the venom of the ocean
To save the Deva-throng of devotees,
O pure and purifying Lord unknowable
To the tall Vishnu and the Four-faced Brahma,
O One whose jewel is the snake of blue-hued poison!
O Holy Lord who, when Rati prayed to You,
Resurrected Kaaman who was reduced to cinders!
O beauteous Lord of Marukal girt with fragrant
And flowery gardens! Pray, save me!
Translation: T.N. Ramachandran

Salvation while being Lynched – Part 2 – Ellora

We had earlier seen the Andhaka Legend in detail. Today, we are seeing another depiction of the same legend in one of the inner wall sculptures of Ellora.

Sadly the sculpture is much worn out and we cannot make much out of the facial features. Yet this seems to be a slightly more sedate depiction or maybe the last act of surrender of Andhaka – so brilliantly depicted by the sculpture, has calmed shiva’s anger.

For even without the intricate facial expressions, there seem to be some gentleness in the way Shiva is holding up the speared Andhaka – almost in a tender manner. But the depiction of the speared Andhaka – is spectacular – the trident has passed clean through his torso and he is impaled on it – but you can see him raising his hands and submitting to the divine grace of shiva.

Down below, we see a visibly unmoved, rather firm posture of Parvathi – unfortunately very much damaged, we cant clearly see what is depicted – but you can vaguely make out the shape of a demon holding a club/mace in his hand ( under the left feet of shiva) – shiva seems to be stamping on him – maybe this is act 1 of the legend, with Andhaka trying to go for Parvathi!!!

Amazing sculpture, beautiful depiction of Andhaka.

Murugan and Valli – the Chola version

Mr. Sreenivasan had raised a nice question for the previous post on the marriage of Valli with Muruga. Thanks to Satheesh again, we are going to see the original Chola version of the legend in sculpture.

This is a slightly unclear sculpture, and hence we need to infer quite a bit. Its again a beautiful panel, but much withered. It is split into three scenes top to bottom. There is also a smaller panel running right next to it – with a still undeciphered story of Muruga, which we will see at the end.

The full panel can be viewed below, since we have already seen the legend in much detail, we go to the sculpture straight away.

We see Muruga as the old man ( he is carrying an umbrella now) talking to Valli ( who is seated on a much lower Paran)

The next scene – we see a much smaller elephant -more like an elephant calf than a scary raging bull – with muruga who has taken his original form and valli kind of offering a salute!!

The last scene is more unclear – Valli is shown with hands raised upwards – praying?? and the elepant (now it resembles an elephant) with Murugan seated on top going away.

The last two we see the hunters of Valli’s tribe.


The adjacent panel – again top to bottom we see a devotee of muruga praying by a tree, then below we see Muruga ( identified by his cylindrical crown and other regal ornaments) standing next to a seated goddess under an umbrella ( Devasena ??). the last shows him with his two consorts – valli and devasena ( a beautiful depiction) with his peacock sculpted under.

Muruga masquerades as an old man to marry valli

Thanks to Satheesh, today we return to Tanjore Big temple – for another visual feast. The marriage of Valli with Muruga. ( the Tamil portion of this post has been composed – couldnt call it written, by Sri Dhivakar sir). First to give you an idea of the location of the main sculpture of Muruga on his peacock mount and the story panel sculptures around it.


I am basing the explanation of the legend, using the text of Mr. Zvelebil from below site with some slight modifications to suit `our’ audience:: http://murugan.org/research/zvelebil.htm

There is a mountain called Valli Malai or Valli Verpu, not far from the village of Merpati, in the Tontainatu country. In a village beneath the hill lived a hunter called Nampi; all his children being boys, he longed for a little girl. On the mountain slope, an ascetic by name of Śivamuni was engaged in austerities. One day a gazelle went by, and the ascetic was aroused by its lovely shape; his lascivious thoughts made the gazelle pregnant.

In due time, the gazelle gave birth to a girl in a pit dug out by the women of the hunter-tribe when they searched for the tubers of edible yam (valli kodi – yam creeper in tamil). The female deer, having found out that she had given birth to a strange being, abandoned the child which was discovered by the hunter-chief Nampi and his wife. Overwhelmed with joy, they took the little girl to their hut and named her Valli.

When Valli reached the age of twelve, she was sent to the millet field – in agreement with the custom of the hillmen – to guard the crop against parrots and other birds, sitting in an elevated platform called itanam (paran), and chasing the birds and other beasts away.

Watch the lovely depiction of valli on the platfrom down to even detailing of the sling.

The sage Narada, who visited Valli-malai and saw the girl, went to Tanikai to informed god Murugan about Valve’s exceptional beauty and her devotion to the god of the hunters.

Murugan assumed the form of a hunter and, as soon as he arrived at Valli’s field, he addressed the lovely girl enquiring after her home and family. However, at that moment Nampi and his hunters brought some food for Valli (honey, millet flour, valli roots, mangoes, milk of the wild cow) and Murugan assumed the form of a tree (venkai, Pterocarpus bilobus).

Watch the sculpture of the tree, at first it puzzled me as to why a tree must be sculpted in a millet field – but after reading more, found the sculpture has gone to the minutest detail …

When Nampi and his company disappeared, the god reappeared in human form, approached Valli and proposed to her. Valli was shocked, lowered her head, and said she would only wed the Lord Muruga. At that moment they heard the sound of approaching drumming and music. Valli warned Murugan that the hunters are wild and angry men, and the god transformed into an old Saiva devotee. Nampi and his hunter’s took his blessings and returned home.

The old man asked Valli for food, and she gave him some millet flour mixed with honey. Then she took him to a small forest pond, where she quenched his thirst from the palms of her hands. Then he told her, “Now that you have satisfied my hunger and my thirst, do satisfy my love for you.” Valli reproached him, and wanted to return to her field.

At that moment, Murugan invoked the help of his brother Vināyaka who appeared behind Valli in the shape of a frightening elephant. The terror-stricken girl rushed into the arms of the Saiva ascetic for protection. The Ascetic asked her to promise that she would marry him, terror stricked ( another version is that the Elephant actually lifted valli in his trunk was about to fling her – and when she accepted, dropped her into the hands of muruga) – she agreed.

See the lovely depiction incl the expression of great fear in valli and the calming ( watch the protective hand over her – a la MGR).

The last panel shows the Old ascetic in the act of throwing is disguise – as you move from right to left, you see him still in his aged form but going into his classic benevolent stance – and above removing his full disguise.


He then embraced valli revealing his real form, with six heads, twelve arms, and seated on his peacock.

Tilotthama – beauty that made shiva sprout 4 faces and Indra a 1000 eyes

Today we are going to see a very interesting legend, supported by a unique sculpture from Banteay Srei in Cambodia ( but presently housed in the Guimet Museum, France)

Am sure we have come across the names of the heavenly Apsaras – Rambha, Urvasi often, and then there is Tilottama. Her name is used often to denote perfection of form, of pristine beauty and perfection. Inorder to know more about this celestial beauty, we go deep into the Hindu scriptures – the Mahabharta. The legend of Tilotthama comes as an interesting conversation between the first of the Pandavas, the Just Yudhistir and the divine sage Narada.

The context is such – that the Pandavas are serving their exile, King Drupada of Panchala, holds a swayamvara ( competition of skill and the victor would get the hand of the maiden) for Draupadi The princes vying for Draupadi’s hand had to shoot five arrows at a revolving target, while looking only at its reflection in a bowl. While all ( ok, except Karna who could lift the bow but was barred from proceeding more by Draupadi – for being not fit for her – being brought up as a charioteer’s son) failed, Arjuna successfully won the competition and the hand of the beautiful Draupadi.

The trouble started now, While in exile, Kunti, mother of the Pandavas often advised her sons that they share everything they have (or obtain through Bhiksha i.e. alms) equally amongst themselves. Upon returning home with Draupadi, Yudhisthira addresses his mother first “Look mother, I have brought Bhiksha (alms)!”. Kunti, unmindful of what Yudhisthira was referring to, unassumingly asked her son to share whatever it is with his brothers!!! Being dutiful sons they had to accept their mother’s command, however, this created problems. At this time, Narada passes that way and Yudhistir seeks his counsel. Narada wanting to highlight the troubles a beautiful lady can cause even among brothers, narrates the story of Tillotama ..

“The glorious daughter of Panchala is the common lawful wife of all of you. You must lay down a rule, lest there be strife over her. Inorder for you to understand why i say this, listen to the story of Sunda and Upasunda. ”

They were two inseparable demon brothers, sons of Nikumbha , a descendant of Hiranyakasipu. They perform severe austerities, till their abode the Vindhya mountains begins to smoke – the Devas try all their pranks to distract them to no avail. Finally, Brahma has to appear before them – and as usual they seek the boon of immortality. Brahma refuses – since immortality is out of his powers, so the brothers place the trust in their brotherly love and modify their – for they share everything, their kingdom, their food, their palace – that they seek death only at the hands of each other. They are so sure of their affections – that they seek this boon, which Brahma obliges.

The Evil brothers, armed with this boon, pillage the earth and then set sights on the heavens. No one has the power to stop them and this puts Brahma in a fix. He thinks hard and sees the chink in the armour of the two demons – the loop hole in the boon – the Achilles heel – and plans to use it to bring about their downfall. He calls on Visvakarma – the divine architect, and instructs him to make the most beautiful, perfect, desirable women. Being an architect, Visvakarma chooses the best particles in the world,the animate and the inanimate, down to the smallest of gems ( tilo – as small as a grain of seasame seed – sanksrit and uttama – better) – and created the perfect women, how do we call this – the first clone or nano robot !! Tilotthama .

She was instructed by Brahma to go and seduce the two brothers. Before she left, she sought the blessings of Siva and Indra by circumambulating them. So great was her beauty that even Shiva couldn’t take his eyes of her – as she went round him, he sprouted faces on all sides – 4 in all, so that he could keep seeing her. Indra, on his part, sprouted 1000 eyes ( there are many version and more erotic legends on his 1000 eyes!!!).

But finally she did go to do her bidding, she seduced the two brothers and drunk in her beauty, they both fought over her and finally ended up killing each other.

Thus, Narada advised Yudistir to come up with a plan that will enable each of the brothers exclusive habitation with Draupadi for a year and …..ok the story goes on. We should close shop for today.

The sculpture now – the beauty of this story is in the depiction of this fight among the two brother over Tilotthama is carved in cambodia. The beautiful Tilotthama being held by both the brothers, each with a raised mace ( or sword) ready to strike each other. The smile of a women can indeed break a man, and if she were designed out of the best materials specifically for that very purpose – she was a potent weapon.

The pediment is from the east gopura of the third enclosure of Banteay Srei. Sculpted in pink sandstone and dated 967, the pediment could not be reconstructed at the site by Henri Marchal in 1936 and was given to France and the EFEO as a gift for their work in restoring Cambodia’s monuments.

Shiva kicks Yama – the God of death

Today, once again thanks to some delightful camera work by Satheesh, we are going to see one of my favorite sculptures. But this time not as much for the sculptural beauty but more for its story content. The story of Markandeya, was a popular bedtime song for us and my dad used to put us to sleep often with the rendition – have heard it so many times and today my son goes to sleep hearing the same, that i was overjoyed at seeing this sculpture.

Ok, story first.

Mrikandu was a devote saint ( rishi). He lived offering daily prayers to Lord Shiva with his wife Marudvati. Though they lived a peaceful existence, the couple had one unfullfilled wish – they did not have any children and they longed for a son. The rishi prayed to Shiva and pleased with his devotion, Shiva appeared and granted him the boon, but as usual he put a twist in it. He offerred them a choice, either they have a hundred sons who will be dumb and foolish but live a long life or have one very intelligent son, but will live for only sixteen years.

The rishi contemplated and decided to have the one intelligent son. Shiva blessed the couple and in due course they had a baby boy – they named him Markandeya. The boy grew to be very intelligent and handsome. Markandeya was a born genius and learnt the Vedas and Sastras easily. He was the darling of everyone, but as he got older, he noticed that his father seemed to nurse some bad news – for he was getting more and more sadder. Markandeya was smart enough to notice this and he asked his dad to tell him the truth. His dad wept and told him that as per the deal of the boon, by the end of that year, he would be sixteen and hence they had to give him up. He could not bear to even think of giving up such a splendid son.

Hearing this, Markandeya immediately took stock – his parents gave birth to him, his teachers his knowledge but only shiva coud give him prolonged life – so he set his heart into utmost devotion to Shiva and promised his Dad that he would do enough to please shiva that he will not let him die. Thus he made a shiva linga and was eternally offering prayers to it.

On the appointed day, Yama, the Lord of death, came on his black buffalo vehicle, swinging his lasso ( he uses it to pull the souls whose time on the earth is over, out of the physical body) – seeing him Markandeya ran to the shiva lingam, with yama close on heels chasing him, swirling his rope. Markandeya ran and hugged the shiva linga so close, that the only way Yama could fasten the rope around him was with the shiva linga. Yama in his haste did exactly that, he threw his noose round the boy’s neck, and pulled him along with the Shiva- Linga.

At that instant, The shiva Linga burst open and Shiva came out of it, Shiva was in great rage, he kicked Yama so violently that the Lord of death almost died!! Shiva thus saved his devotee and since the boon/curse was that Markandeya would have only 16years to live on this earth, he blessed Markandeya to be forever 16 ( endrum Pathinaaru ) – how many of us would love to have such a boon today !!

Now, have a look at the delightful panel from Tanjore Big temple – split into three frames, top to bottom. the top frame, we have a fiery Yama chasing Markandeya and the hapless boy clinging on to the Siva lingam for dear life.

The second frame, you have an angry Shiva kicking Yama who is sprawled on the floor ( one of the images is from another friend Srivatsan taken a year back – you can see the damage that these 1000 year old miniatures are undergoing – the Trident in the hands of shiva has been worn off this year !!!)

The last frame – the detailing is lost on the left, but you get to see a visibly relieved Markandeya offering thanks to Shiva with folded hands.

This legend has been sung by Appar in many verses and you can look them up here.

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=4&Song_idField=4107&padhi=113+&button=%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95

to save Mārkkāṇṭēyaṉ, the bachelor, who worshipped him with flowers to be free from the sufferings of birth born of ignorance.
kicking the cruel god of death who had a twisted tongue, hairs as red as fire, curved white teeth and a dark body, [causing him] to tremble with fear.
the superior god who dwells in Kaṭavūr has the lotus red feet with which he caused the god of death to roll on the ground in this manner.
The central idea of the first nine verses is Civaṉ killing the god of death to protect Mārkkaṇṭēyaṉ who worshipped Civaṉ in this shrine.
Translation: V.M.Subramanya Aiyar–Courtesy: French Institute of Pondichery / EFEO (2006)

Shiva cuts off the head of his Father in Law – Tanjore Big temple

My friend Mr.Satheesh Kumar is an ardent sculpture lover like me and he offered to get me some nice photos of the tanjore big temple. Little did i realise that he will get me such a rich collection. We are going to see one interesting panel from his collection today.

As usual, we go for the story first:

Shiva’s consort Parvathi is born to Dhaksha – the king of mountains ( she is fondly called malai magal – in tamil – malai – mountain, magal – daughter). When she comes of age, she expresses desire to marry Shiva ( as is destined), but being a vain king, Dhaksha ( he himself being the son of Brahma) refuses to give his youngest daughter, whom he so lovingly brought up, in marriage to shiva – for he considers him uncouth, wearing animal hides and living in the cemetery, accompanied by ghouls/demons/ etc.But Shiva marries Parvathi and Dhaksha is not able to stand this insult.

He plots his revenge,and tries to insult Shiva, by organising a massive penance/sacrifice, but doesn’t invite Shiva, the foremost of Gods. However,hearing of this big event in her home, Parvathi’s heart and love for her family, makes her plead with shiva to let her go and attend the function. Shiva cautions her, that she will not be welcome and doesnt give her permission to go. However, love blinds the eyes of paravathi and despite the advise of Shiva, she lands us as an uninvited guest in Dhaksha’s palace. There she is not given any respect and is witness to all insults thrown at Shiva. Not being able to bear these and having acted against the advise of her husband, in anguish she kills herself in the sacrificial fire ( meaning, she gets rid of her material body which had affection to family there itself and takes her divine form). However, this enrages Shiva and he cuts the head of dhaksha and throws it into the sacrificial fire.

A bit later, Brahma and other rishis come and plead with Shiva, to forgive Dhaksha. Shiva obliges, but since the original head has already been consigned to flames,he cuts off the head of a sacrificial lamp and fits it on Dhaksha’s head ( inter species head transplant – how is it?)

Now lets look at the sculpture – Satheesh has masterfully taken the pictures to give you an idea size ( with ball pens for scale)

The story board is broke into two sides of the staircase – on one side is the beheading episode and on the other is the head transplant. wonderful depictions.

See the first part, the assembled guests are shown – towards the back of the composition against the wall. Then you see Shiva seated in a lovely pose, with Parvathi leaning non nonchalantly with one arm on nandhi. she is flanked by her assistant to her right.


The crucial scene kind of flow through the entire panel – Dhaksha’s severed torso is shown, fallen to the ground, with his wife lamenting with her hands towards the sky, and shiva is shown clutching the severed head by the hair and dropping into the sacrificial fire ( he has an evil looking sword in his hand – kind of reminds of the blade – neck cutting video’s we saw from iraq)…the priest who is next to the fire is turning away in disgust.


To the right of the composition, we see three ladies and three men – faces turned in aghast at the beheading and almost freezing to flee – their highly strung bodies about to run away – towards the end we see much mutilated but clearly – two beings running away from the scene ( note the size of the composition with the ball pen scale)

The other side – is a prettier picture – a beautiful standing depiction of Shiva, complete with his axe and deer, with a snake adorning his waist – being pleaded to by Brahma, looked on by three rishis. The final scene, we see a revived Dhaksha with a Ram’s head, in all humility,bowed along with the others – showing deep respect for shiva.


A delightful panel. Trust you enjoyed it as much as i did. i loved the depiction of shiva with the snake hanging by the waist.

A unique depiction of Vishnu Fish incarnation

Today we are to see a very unique depiction of Vishnu in his fish incarnation. Matsya (Fish in Sanskrit) was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology. Matsya Avatar or the Fish Incarnation is the first of the ten Divine Incarnations or Dasavatars of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is the Preserver of the Universe in the Holy Trinity or Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva in Hinduism.

A Kalpa, meaning one cycle of existence, with a span of 4320 million years, in Hindu Mythology, is equal to one day of Brahma, the Creator of the Universe. On the verge of completion of each Kalpa, and one day of Brahma, Brahma falls asleep. When he does so all of Creation, dissolves into his sleep, signifying the end of Creation. Except, the Vedas are immutable and beyond destruction. Their habitat is inside Brahma. They contain the instructions for Creation, and are hence indispensable to resume the Divine Creational Process. Bhagvat Purana, reports, that once Brahma yawned and the precious Vedas, flowed out of his lips.

Matsya Avatar Meanwhile, Hayagriva, the Asura or demon, scheming to gain the desired immortality, a prerogative of the Devas or gods, was wandering nearby. He instantly stole the Vedas and devoured them. Such insidious intent of the Asura, precipitated a crisis. Vishnu, who feigned Nidra or Sleep, witnessed the entire offence. He was speculating on how to retrieve the treasured Vedas, when he located the pious King Satyavrata, offering prayers to Vishnu, with his waist deep down in water. Satyavrata is also called King Manu.

Vishnu immediately assumed the shape of a tiny fish and swam into Satyavrata`s hands. Vishnu, in the disguise of a fish, entreated Manu, who is virtue personified, to save him from being engulfed by the big fish. The kind Manu put the small creature inside a vessel, full of water. Overnight, the fish outgrew on a surprising scale. Manu had to shift him from the vessel into a bigger tank. But the fish continued growing abnormally. It requested Manu for larger space to live, and Manu accordingly kept it in a pond. Manu, exhorted by the enlarging fish, then dropped it in the greater expanse of a large lake. However, the growth rate did not stop escalating. Finally, the bewildered Manu, impelled by the fervent appeal of the mammoth fish for enormous space, placed him in the ocean. But the fish urged Manu, not to leave him in the ocean. Otherwise, the gigantic ocean-beings would swallow him. It was then that the devout Satyavrata, already amazed by the extraordinary growth-speed of the magical fish, pledged it to disclose its actual identity.

Lord Vishnu made his Celestial Revelation before the awed Manu. Satyavrata, instantly bowed down before him and wished to know the reason behind the Lord`s appearance in the frame of a fish. The omniscient Lord, informed him about the forthcoming Pralaya or Destructive Forces that would vanquishing the Earth, with Great Deluge- “I have manifested for the protection of this universe and for the destruction of the wicked. Just a week from now, the ocean will rise and inundate the entire Universe. At that time you will see a spacious boat approaching you. Do collect all the seeds , plants and animals required for the next spell of creation and get into the boat and wait for me. Take Vasuki, the King of Snakes. The Sapta Rishi or the Seven Sages will also be with you.”

Matsya Avatar left to accomplish its mission. He tore apart the Asura Hayagriva, and collected the lost Vedas.

As had been predicted by the Divine Fish, an all-annihilating flood occurred. Meanwhile, a boat appeared where Satyavrata was waiting with the seeds, plants and animals, and the Sapta Rishi, to take refuge in the boat amidst death`s clutches. When everybody had boarded the huge boat, the boat was fastened to the Fish`s horn, with Vasuki serving as the rope ( as i remember reading in Amar Chitra Katha). They sailed in the turbulent water, all through the night of Brahma`s single day. Vishnu thus, rescued life from ceasing. He also by giving shelter to all the creatures, maintained the flow of life that will perpetuate in the next Created Cosmos.

The Matsya Avatar of Vishnu focuses the perpetual love and concern of the benevolent Vishnu,

Ok, but generally vishnu is depicted with a human form waist up and a fish form – ( as is evident from this pillar from srirangam)

But today we see a unique depiction with the forms reversed. Fish upper body and a human lower body – this is from Belur. A very unique and cute sculpture.

chandra and others had doubts if this was depiction of Varaha ( boar avatar). appending the relevant sculptures from the same location