Murthy Nayanar – he who ground his own Elbow

Today, we are seeing another Periapuranam panel from Darasuram. Thanks to Arvind, we see Murthy Nayanar.

Born in a merchant family in the historic city of Madurai, Murthiyar was an ardent devotee of Shiva. He took great pleasure in grinding sandalwood paste to anoint the Lord every day.

Once, a king from the north attacked Madurai with a large army, killed the Pandya King in battle and took over the ancient city. Since he was from a hostile faith, he caused many disturbances to continued service of the Shiva temple. Despite the many hardships, Murthiyar still found ways to find sandal wood for the Lord and kept up his daily service. This infuriated the King and he stopped all means of Sandal wood reached Murthiyar. That day, despite searching everywhere, he couldn’t find any sandal wood and returned to the temple dejected. He was disappointed that he couldn’t anoint the Lord with sandal wood and seeing the empty grinding stone – he placed his own elbow on the stone and ground it – skin, blood, veins and all right unto the bones.

Lets take a look at the sculpture panel now

You can see Murthiyar grinding both his elbows on the round stone, but his face doesn’t show any pain, but a sublime surreal smile on serving his Lord.

The Lord is moved and that time a heavenly voice is heard. You did this out of love for me, all your troubles will pass, the tyrant who took this land will loose all of his to you, weed this land of all the evil that has come in, take care of all and continue your good work, and then come to me !!

Did this come true !! Yes of course it did. But how??, that’s an interesting story as well. Lets see who of our viewers can finish the rest of the story…

Horses turn to Jackals

Refer the earlier post on the horse sculpture of Aavudayaar koil – we had mentioned about the legend connected with the origins of this temple. Today we are to see a lovely panel depicting this and the interesting happenings in the life of saint Manikkavasagar, the author of “The Thiruvaachakam”. Thanks to Arvind for spotting this panel in Paapanasam Paalaivananadhar temple and Geetha Madam for helping in getting the finer details.

The whole Panel to start with.

Lets see the story from the start. Manikkavaasar was born in Vadhavoora, a village near Madurai, on the banks of river Vaigai. He was named Vadhavoorar. Even a child he exhibited extraordinary intelligence and by the time he was sixteen, his prowess reached the Pandya King – Arimarthana Pandya. Seeing his divine intelligence he was appointed as minister in the famous Pandyan Kings court and given the title Thennavan Brahmaraayan. Though he was adept minister, he was always feeling slightly aloof and didnt want to take part in the normal pleasures of such a post. He seemed to searching for inner peace.

Once, the King’s Generals complained that their cavalry horses were all aged and sick and need to be replenished and that a consignment of pure bred horses had just landed down south in Chola Kingdom. The King requested his minister to take as much funds from his treasury and proceed in haste to secure the horses. ( apparently he loaded the funds for the purchase on a camel – but couldn’t spot it in the panel – is this a camel ? Dont think so)

Just as Brahmarayan was proceeding towards the port, he passed through the temple town of Tirupperunthurai, he felt a strange peace and heard the chanting of Shiva’s name. He was so drawn to it, that he followed it to see where it was originating. Thereupon he came across a heavenly site, of a seated Shiva – as Guru, teaching his learned people, the essence of all his teachings. Immediately, he felt that this was the end of his journey. He prostrated to the teacher and asked him to make him one with him. Shiva too accepted him and on that, he uttered verses that were so beautiful to hear that he was anointed maanikka vaasar ( maanikkam – ruby, vaasar – speech or speaker) by Shiva himself. Having become one with Shiva, Manikkavaasar gave up all his belongings including the King’s wealth to Shiva. Shiva accepted and asked him to use the funds for Godly purposes. Having noticed that the temple at Tiruperundurai was in need of repairs and renovation, he spent all the money on building a beautiful temple.

Days passed, and the King was growing impatient that his minister hadn’t returned with his horses. Meanwhile, his spies began bringing him news that the horses were never bought and all the funds had been misappropriated. The King sent his trusted men with his ring, to implore on his minister to make haste and bring the horses, but having seen the Lord’s brilliant face, the minister didn’t even want to look at the message. Shiva himself read the message, along with a precious jewel, sent back the messenger saying on an auspicious day, the horses will come to Madurai.

As the days went by, the King’s ministers constantly fed information to the King, that there were no horses bought and all the funds were used by Manikkavaasar to rennovate the temple. Hearing this, the King flew into a rage and put Manikkavasar behind bars and started torturing him.

Shiva decided to teach the King a lesson and when auspicious day came, he converted all the howling jackals / foxes in the forest into high breed horses, his bootha ganas ( assistants ) into horsement and himself mounted the lead horse dressed as a commoner and led them into Madurai. The King was overjoyed and gave him a present of a very expensive robe – the rider non nonchalantly extended his whip and took the robe, put it on his horse and went away. The king was very happy and he released Manikkavasar immdly and took him back with full respects.

Lets look at the panel now. Notice the lovely depiction of the majestic horses.

We also see the detailing of the present being taken on his whip

All is well, the King is very happy. He takes his minster back, but my nightfall, Shiva’s play starts. The horses are transformed back to jackals and they bite all the remaining horses in the King’s stables.

The message reached the king through his soldiers, whereupon, he threw Manikkavasagar into prison again.

Seeing this, Shiva again decided to teach the King a lesson. He caused the Vaigai river to rise in devasting flood. The distressed Pandiyan king ordered every family in Madurai to send one man for each family to help to throw embankments to contain the waters of Vaigai.

An old lady Vanthi, who used to sell “Pittu” could not send anyone from her family to throw embankments to contain the waters of Vaigai.The lady was a disciple of Lord Shiva. As much as she reasoned with the King’s soldiers they would not accept to consider her plight.


So, Lord Shiva planned to help the old lady and he appeared as a labourer infront of her.She, being a poor lady said that she didnt have any money to afford a labourer. For which Shiva replied that his only wage would be what Pittu feel loose ( Pittu is steamed rice and normally would stay in the shape of its mould with some loose shavings fall away – Shiva wanted to be paid only the shavings). However, try she may, all her Pittu would not stay firm and hence Shiva in the guise of the labourer had his fill of it. After such a heavy meal, he felt sleepy and went of to sleep. Notice the detailing in the sculpture, Shiva’s hand seem to be placed on his tummy to show how full he is and how casually he has used the wicker basket ( used to carry sand) as a pillow.

The Pandiyan King was inspecting the bund works, and was shocked to see one portion with no work done on it. He rushed there to see Vanthi’s servant sleeping and woke him up and asked him to start work. As Shiva started towards the bank with his headload, the King landed a good lash of his cane on his back – the impact was felt through every living being.

The Lad, threw his headload on the embankment and it filled up everything miraculously. The flood abated and the Lad vanished. A divine voice of shiva was heard, saying Manikkavasar is his devotee and he had played with both him and the King….This event is celebrated every year during Avani.

What is art

Today, is a first for this site. We have been showcasing heritage treasures for over a year, we carried a series on Art inspired by sculpture, which we will continue to do, but today we are entering a new sphere of art, aka breaking new ground. Inorder for any art to survive it should be capable of evolving, not to be restricted by set rules ( Agamas!!) but before that lets indulge in some notions on art…

What is art? We have seen umpteen sculptures, paintings, statues, panels, monoliths, bas reliefs, murals, frescoes, bronze figurines, wooden carvings – mostly works of men transcending time – one thing common among them is their universal appeal. Be it 400 – 500 -1000 years, yet these creations continue to capture our eye, create a sense of sheer joy when we see them. What is it that is there in art that is so universal in its appeal, that the Bas reliefs of a bygone era – a 1300 year legacy, can cast its spell on an uninitiated person, someone who traverses thousands of miles, from a culture that is alien to the craftsmen, someone who does not share the common heritage, the legends and myths sculpted in these forms,though alien, don’t shy away from inspiring him. Art appeals to something that is primeval in you.

Art is an expression, a medium through which an artist communicates his feelings, his emotions to his viewer. It is this freedom of expression, a willingness to be one with his audience, to make the viewer see what he sees, feels what he feels, that is art. There is an artist inside everyone, locked inside, waiting for a release. Training and exposure unchain this angel inside you, for your mind to fly – to seek release in an explosion of color, form – its sheer poetry on a canvas. The mind is a veritable treasure house of emotions, it captures everything it sees, how it does it is a puzzle, but the images with the strong emotions attached are stored with more priority. ( Just sit back and try to bring back a visible memory – am sure you would vision a scene thats got some powerful visual imagery associated with it). The artist seeks to release this visual imagery through a medium – which is his art. This release is universal in man and not restrained only to the creator, as a viewer, you are drawn into the canvas, sharing the anguish, joy, sorry, exuberance of the artist, a thing of beauty in front of you, brings out a feeling of sheer bliss in you – this ability to transmit your emotions, expressing them in a medium that appeals to others is true Art. Its a bonding that you feel with the creator, an invisible umblical chord, which despite being cut, somehow transmits the emotions felt by one to another. There are no set rules for this expressions, you can google for types of art today and comeup with a list of over 1000 different sounding names, some may appeal to you , some may not, but it is this lack of definition that gives art its magic sheen. An aura of sublime beauty that makes you think sometimes – is this a work of man? So this strong expression of visual imagery combined with a emotional outcry transcendenting barriers of race, creed, language is Art. So by its very nature art is subjective and with evolving times, art evolves as well. It is this constant evolution that gives rise to new styles -how long can you stick to the same staple diet. Art should be appealing to the new generation as well. So thanks to Artist Jeeva’s introduction, to Mr Bala, on whose introduction, we are going to showcase a masterful art by Sri Chalukyan.

A sadly ill maintained mural from the Tanjore temple, with its colors worn off is the inspiration for this work. The panel – Kaalasamhaaramurthy ( kaala – death, samhara – overcome) shows Shiva kicking Yama, the God of death to protect his devotee – Markandeya. We have already seen this story from the chola panel from inside the temple before, so we go straight to the stucco panel.

Proving that true art transcends time, Chalukyan has taken the panel that depicts Shiva stopping time for his devotee ( Markandeya was given a boon to remain 16 forever – how many of us would like to have that boon !!), a story of unconditional surrender to the supreme force and chosen to depict it in a medium that has been in use from prehistoric times – charcoal. A medium that mocks mortal existence, for its our ultimate end point – Ash, which is sported by Shiva.

Human existence is mortal, art is immortal.

Further works of Sri Chalukyan

http://www.chalukyan.com/

Art inspired by Sculpture Series – 4, Horse Avudayar Temple, Tiruperundurai

We have seen an entire series on the horsemen of the Sesharaya Mandabam in Srirangam, so time now to start with another one.

Horses have always held the imagination of men, warriors, artists, sculptures. The horse rider is an embodiment of valor and its not surprising that the Pancing horse inspires many creations of art ( and cars!!). The energy of the horse, flowing through its every muscle, bone, sinew, waiting for the rider’s clue to gallop away at top speed, the feel the wind against your face is a sure rush of blood ( today’s youth who haven’t experienced it can compare to riding a 500 cc Bullet) – the sheer power between your legs ( no pun intended) is exhilarating. The charging cavalry with their outstretched lances would have sent many an enemy scampering. Many a kid would have gone to sleep hearing the heroics of valiant horses of benevolent heroes – be it Bucephalus of Alexander, Chetak of Prithiv Raj Chauhan or steeds of tamil folklore – Ori of Valvil Ori, Panchakalyani of Raja Desingu – the tok tok tok tok would have been the lullaby to many being heard long into their sleep in their dreams.

Today, we are going to see one such amazing horse rider, in a town and temple that is famous for a greater miracle involving horses ( we will see that in a seperate post) – thanks to artist Mr Jeeva, we are going to Aavudayar temple ( Tiruperundurai).

An amazing artist, Mr Jeeva ( www.jeevartistjeeva.blogspot.com) is sharing an exclusive digital art of the horse for us. So before we see the sculpture lets see his amazing work.

Temples built around this period ( late 14th C onwards – Nayak / Vijayanagar style) abound with such depictions. Sadly, visitors don’t even stop a minute to drink in the beauty of these marvels in stone.

Lets look at the beauty of this creation in more detail. The saddle, the stirrup, the reins, the designs of the riding pants … how did they manage to sculpt this in stone.

The weapons of the rider, the beauty of the lance. Its hard to believe that they are all of the same stone.

Not just the same stone as the sculpture, but part of a large stone that is the pillar.

Truly, mind blowing.

Photos: courtesy Mr . Kandaswamy