Tag Archives: mahishasuramardhini

A Hiddern cavern with a Pallava beauty

It actually happened during one of our extended tour / journeys – we had hired a tourist cab and an experienced driver. He was with us for 5 days at the end of which he literally gave up on us. He had been handling clients for 12 years in that area and was pretty confident that he knew every known attraction / street/ gully etc – till he met us. In those 5 days possibly he had to ask directions so many times that he would have been taken as a novice driver – not taking anything away from him, our interests were such. Most baffling to him was the fact that we would spend hours together on a ‘ small cave’ while exiting a large temple complex under 30 min. We tried our best to explain our iterated preference for offbeat locations to no avail – the last time i bid him goodbye in a train station he was still shaking his head, dismissing us as a group of nut cases !!

In our continuing quest to showcase the hidden gems of sculptural art, we are going to see one such best kept secret. 23 kilometers from Senji, in Panamalai is Rajasimha Pallava’s magnificent creation,the 8th C CE structural temple of Talagirishwarar.

Built on top of a small hill, the walls of one of its outer subshrines hold remnants of a rare dancing form called Alindhara Siva and a graceful Parvathi looking on. Sadly we have completely lost the Shiva except for a faint outline, however the Parvathi has survived. The sureness of the hand evidenced by the graceful lines combine fantastically with the brilliant ornamentation and use of color shading, especially the green show the mastery of not only the art , of human anatomy, expressions as well as handling of colors. View her here.

The temple gets very few visitors but even those few, miss the other attraction, for it is not found inside the confines of the structural temple, but at the base of the hill. We would have missed it too, had not the arduous yet exciting, exhausting but enlightening climb, virtually left us drained or rather wanting to drain…well, we had to relieve ourselves and boys being boys – and we being good boys did not want to do it on the holy mountain but chose the first opportunity that showed itself at the base. A few well worn goat trails led us around the hill and a short walk to the left of the stairs leads us to a naturally formed rock cavern. Deep inside this cavern, in such a confined space, in the fading light – we chanced on the beauty – that required the true genius of our expert Photographer – Mr Ashok – to bring to light – that the e Pallava sculptor has managed to carve a beautiful relief of Durga as Mahishasuramardhini.


The Natural cavern with the relief

The great king Rajasimha Pallava had a particular fascination for the Lion, as can be seen from the profusion of them in all his creations, and hereto the strength of the mount of Durga is shown prominently with its muscled fore limbs dominating the composition.


Mahishasuramardini relief

The eight armed goddess is a personification of feminine grace, as she strikes a casual pose, but the warrior attributes and strength are seen in the way her right leg is held up high and steady on her mount – Urdhava Janu and the sinuous curves of her hip break the straight lines of her right feet. The volumes of her wait cloth pass under her hand, held in Kati hasta, and fall gracefully alongside. She wears multiple bangles on all her wrists while the long bow is slung casually in front and the superb prayoga Chakra and a heavy straight sword are prominent amongst her various attributes. The interesting feature seen here is the presence of a three headed snake to the extreme right, though the snake is listed as one of the attributes of Durga we do not see this featured prominently as is done here. The Pallavas also seem to prefer having their sword scabbards on their backs instead of at the waist ? Here we see the goddess having a quiver and a scabbard on her back or is it two quivers? check out similar accessory in the Kanchi Kailasanathar kirata arjuna panel.

It should be mentioned that Rajasimha Pallava was not a King who would leave his creations anonymous, for he does make the task easier for historians to identify his creations, after all he embellished the entire base of his Kailasantha temple in Kanchipuram with his 244 Birudas ( Titles) not once – but 4 times, one below the other. He has forever stamped this cavve as his creation with his inscription, with his name and favorite birudas – Sribhara and Ranajeyah.


Rajasimha Pallava Granta inscription.

Have we missed describing something more in the relief? double up and examine the panel closely and let me see if you can spot…..

Photo credits: Mr Ashok krishnaswamy, Mr Shaswath

Mallai Trimurthi cave – a puzzle

An interesting sculpture chat !! ( Thanks to N for allowing me to post bulk of the conversation with some minor enhancements)

N: Hi vj, visited Mallai yesterday

Me: just seeing ur album, thanks for the credits.

N: Please do put in your comments to the photos

me: will do. a trick question for u, since you have posted the trimurthi mandabam photos, can you identify the deities in each of the 3 shrines

N: Brahma vishnu shiva

me: hahaha, pl look carefully and confirm sir,if it were so easy would i ask you

N: hmmm

me: how do identify a deity inside a shrine. In pallava times, you use two methods, if the deity is present – look for its attributes, if not present try and see the attributes of the door guardians. since both are present, check each shrine for this

N: i want to use Friend Help :-/ Can u tell me

Me: no sir, u try first, its important – for you to spend some time viewing

N: the middle one is shiva, where the linga is

me: s, you can see the Axe of shiva in his right hand. The left hand seems to be holding a rosary. The Linga seems to be a later implant !!

N: the lady outside is Mahishasuramardhini

me: s, Durga. The ornate work on top of her is spectacular

N: the god with tall crown is vishnu
The other is one is Brahma

me: hmm, Vishnu is simple – you can see the conch and discus. how do you say the other is brahma

N: Trinity is completed by Brahma .. That is y thrimurthi isnt it VJ

me: haha, mallai is full of puzzles. What is the most characteristic feature of brahma images?

N: 3 heads

me: can you see 3 there

N: no

me: what is the right door guardian holding in his hand ( left hand)

N: Not Clear

me: do you notice anything unique in the dress of the inner deity

N: X shaped belts

me: have u seen this anywhere for brahma??

N: and kind of lion cloth, No … i didnt

me: do you notice anything different about the crown

N: it has kind of horn

me: i think i can make this chat conversation into a post by itself

N: what is the peculiarity, tell me Vj

me: can i make this as a post, this chat conversation?

N: Yes
But dont disclose my name B-) 😉

me: N, doesnt disclose right!!

N: Yes, i dont want extra fame 😉 it is pointed in form

me: haha, the right door guardian is holding a Shruk(a long handled laddle)used for pouring ghee in a sacrificial fire, connected to vedic sacrifice /ritual. The left holds a flower /bud. So the assumption of yours – that is denotes brahma is partly correct.The door guardians are rishis, elderly men with beards, all go well with the brahma concept, but inside the deity is not bearded, but a young one

N: yes, Tell me

me: further the conical head dress, the x belts – are features of a warrior god who is said to have taught the vedas to brahma

N: Skanda

me: Can you look closely at the photos and see what the two flying ganas are holding?

me: its skanda – in his brahma sasta form

N: brahma sasta form means

Me: I am no expert, but this wonderful article and photos will clarify the head dress and the X pattern.

Murugan research article – all credits to the site

“The deity is shown wearing a short conical basket-like head-gear (karanda-makuta) with a thick giralet of flowers (kannl) around the base. According to ancient Tamil tradition, kannl was the attribute of the warrior.8 The deity also wears the double shoulder-string (channavīra), another attribute of the warrior. Both the attributes, found mostly in the earlier sculpture of the Pallava period, emphasise the fact that Murukan was essentially a warrior-god. “

The site listed above is a fantastic resource of Skanda/Muruga and would recommend a serious read for everyone.

Gift from Yama – the God of Death

Hi friends, today we are returning to a favorite location of mine. Mahabalipuram..Mallai, for a truly amazing panel. we have seen this panel in the past but from a different perspective. ( six pack Abs!!)

Yes, I am referring to the spectacular Mahishasuramardhini panel. To truly appreciate this panel we got to spend atleast 3 or 4 posts. So take this as the first of the series, focusing on main character – Durga.

The Panel is truly mind blowing, but lets first give the story a reading for the uninitiated.

Once upon a time there lived a demon named Mahisha. As usual he wanted to make himself invincible and pleased the easiest of Gods to please – Brahma. Mahisha performed severe penances,fasting for months, standing on one foot. In due course Brahma appeared and asked him what he wanted. The request as usual was for a boon of immortality, which could not be given as every creature that is born had to die as well. So he had to modify his, so in his vain ego, seeing that no man was capable of hurting him, he grew over confident and asked that he may be sent to the netherworld only at the hands of a women. He bet his life on the fact that no women would have the power and courage to defeat him!!

Armed with the boon, he conqueres the whole of the earth and then heads off to the heavens ( hmm, how predictable!!). The Gods are caught in a fix and organise for a urgent meeting. They decide to pass the motion that calls for creation of a lady from the concentration of all their powers. Thus was born Durga. She is said to have a thousand or in other versions eight arms. ( we stick to eight for now as it matches with the sculpture). Thanks to Geetha madam, we have this brilliant verse from Devi Mahamathyam ( sanskrit work) which describes what all she was given by the Gods.

The wielder of the pinaka bow ( shiva) drew out a trident from inside his trident and gave her
The dark complexioned Vishnu drew out a Discus from his discuss and presented to her
Varuna ( Lord of Rain) gave her a Conch, Agni ( Lord of Fire) gave a weapon called shakthi
Vaayu ( Lord of Wind) presented a bow and quiver filled with arrows.
Indira ( Lord of the Lords) drew out the Vajra from his thunder ( Kulisam ?) and also a bell from his Airvatha ( white elephant)
Yama ( Lord of Death) drew out a baton from his baton and presented to her
Brahma presented a garland of rosary beads and his Kamandalu ( vessel for carrying sacred water)
Kaalan ( yama again ) presented a sword and shield.

Now, we come to the sculpture. Such a beautiful scupture, Durga is depicted with Eight hands, striking a very beautiful pose on her majestic lion.

Lets see if we can spot the above weapons in the arsenal.

The most striking ofcourse is her bow and arrow. so two hands of hers are busy with that. See the perfection in the way, her hands are sculpted – the one holding the bow, with the thumb running perpendicular to the floor along the bamboo. the other hand drawing the string back with force, the open shoulders.

Next obvious weapon is the Danda – the baton – presented by Lord of Death – Yama. Some doubts if it were a sword.

Lets see the sculpture in closeup. Its no ordinary stick, for it definitely has some sort of a handle, but its a rounded weapon. You can clearly see the baseball bat style construction and the rounded edge. if it were a broken off sword, it would have defn chipped or atleast the lion’s mane would have be obstructed by it. Since we can clearly see the designer curls of the lion’s mane and the rounded edge, we can safely confirm that this indeed is the gift of Yama.

Displaying the other hands and what they hold below. Try and see if you can match it to the list above

One obvious missing item is the Trident or trishul of Shiva. Maybe since the Goddess used up two of her hands on the bow and bow string, that was left out !!

But a truly amazing composition – just watch this beauty. The right leg of hers, since this is a relief panel, and to give that dimensional imaging, the master sculpture has sculpted the leg almost completely projecting from the panel.

Please do remember that this is not just panel, but is infact a rock cut cave, carved into live rock, a mountain side – and this panel froms one side of the internal wall ( the other side is the famous Anantha Sayana Panel).

Now you can truly enjoy the Pallava carftsmen’s divine art.

2008 Fashion is 6 packs Abs – check this girl from 7th C

The ‘IN’ thing among todays macho men of the film industry ( thank God for that – else we will have Hero’s who look like beached whales running around trees romancing girls young enough to be their daugthers …we still do!! – but atleast the healthy trend is catching on ) is getting fit and flashing their 6 packs abs ( a yet to be released bollywood blockbuster claims 8 packs!!)

But check out this damsel flashing her abs – sculpted 1300 years ago. Mallai ( mamallapuram) near chennai – the Mahishasuramardhini Panel. Can you spot her, no I am not referring to the Devi. Giving you multiple angles.
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Can you spot her assistant now…crouched on one knee, brandishing a heavy sword on her right hand, beautifully attired in a breast band , she is poised to strike the leg of the demon Mahisha.

Now, can you see the justification for the tag line, 6 packs abs, take a look at hers. Women were warriors ( and some still are ) and from the shape she is in, must have been a heavily trained one at that.

Time to get up and hit the threadmill i guess.