I have been wanting to feature this delightful miniature from Utiramerur Sundara Varadha temple for almost 6 months now, but have been postponing in the hope that i could decipher the story behind the panel. With no luck till now, i guess its best to put it to you all to infer and comment.
First off Utiramerur as a temple town is a treasure trove – its abunds in many pallava beauties and this particular temple is called the ` sun among shrines ‘ – srivastuno bhaskaraah – the aptly named Sundara ( enchanting- beautiful) Varadha temple.
As you circum ambulate the main shrine – the three sculpture panels that adrone the sides of the shrine are masterpieces of stone work. I will try and feature each one by one, but we jump to the last sculptural panel – my favorite, for it is a puzzle that i have not been able to crack. The main sculpture is that of Brihu – a saint ( i had earlier mistaken it for Dhakshinamurthy)
You can see the sculpture from long shot
The main Sculpture now…
But what interested me was the minature panel just above the main sculpture. Lets zoom in a bit and see if you can decipher the amazing panel.
Ok, to make it easier for you – let me break up the key players in the panel.
Am lost to explain how the sculptor could go into such minute details – look at the seated asetic, the classic yoga pose – one feet resting over the other. and look at the detailing of the legs of the pedestal he is seated on – one one side is a lion and another side an elephant Yaazhi motiff.
I just fell in love with this cute lion motiff carved to such detail.
The other two – doing penance on one leg. with snakes for company.
Simply superb, pity the story behind this is not clear !!!
Excellent godly service and blog
Hi! Vijay, I am Amazed…dumb founded…Awesome!!! – regards
hi geetha
thanks, keep visiting
the one legged pose is same as Bhagiratha’s various places. Just a frieze about various Rsis?
Any Rsi esp. connected w Nags? Hand position mudra difficult to make out.
could be a Jaina Motiff kathie – especially with the snakes
Snakes are not symbolization here, they are more representing treacherous environment.
Impressive pictures VJ !
Thanks for showing us the loveliness that exists in the remote corners of our land….pity that time has taken it toll and blunted the features!!
I think this is a Jain image, the lions and the snakes representing some Jain thirthankara. One of the saints has his leg almost kicking the seated figure and thats disrespectful. is that a clue?
The ashtanga vimanam of sri sundara varadhar perumal temple definitely needs a special mention. The other one is koodal azhagar temple of madurai