Siva linga under tree

To sport a new look: A new mandapam is being erected to house the siva linga found under a tree in Eiyyalur.

The Ramayana has a link to this village on the banks of the Cauvery in Cuddalore district. Going in search of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana wandering through the forests of the Vindyas, reached Uthara Cauvery which was in spate.

Unable to cross the river, the brothers halted and happened to notice a tree of a rare kind. Beneath the tree was a Siva linga golden in hue. Rama worshipped Swarnapureeswara and emerged with renewed vigour. He shot an arrow that created a path and the duo proceeded.

The village was named Eidha Oor or Eyaiyalur, which in due course became Eiyyalur. The linga remains under the tree, neglected. The Mahalakshmi Charitable Trust has taken up construction of a temple. Joining hands are local residents and philanthropists. Work is in progress and kumbabishekam has been fixed for June 19. For details contact 28152533, 9840053289, 9940053289.

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Three brothers, three temples

At Koravangala in Hassan district, we discover Hoysala temples with inscriptions, sculptures and a sibling saga

There is something about a railway track that makes you want to stop midway through your journey. We were driving through a few nondescript villages outside Hassan, when we were distracted by a never-ending track that cut through the fields and seemed to head nowhere.

Our destination, however, was Koravangala, and we were looking for the three ancient Hoysala temples built by three brothers.

As we resumed our journey, we looked across the yellow-green fields, and saw the outline of a temple at a distance. A dry lake had a few sculptures strewn around. And there stood a Dvikuta monument, with two shrines facing each other. Soon, we were mobbed by kids who were playing marbles inside the premises. The 12th Century temple, dedicated to Shiva (Buceswara), is said to have been built by a wealthy officer Bucci during the reign of king Veera Ballalla II. The kids brought the local guide who told us that the temple was built after Bucci won a war against the Cholas, even though he had lost his sons in the battle.

However, the inscriptions in the temple says that Bucci and his two brothers vied with each other to build the most beautiful Shiva temple in Koravangala, within a span of 15 years. And, while Bucci's Buceswara Temple survived the test of time, those built by his older brothers Govinda and Naka are today in ruins. Walking around Buceswara Temple, with a huge caravan of kids behind us, we saw some of the most interesting sculptures ever in a Hoysala temple — a food chain, for instance, which showed animals feeding on the other. The Hoysala crest, depicting the Sala, stood on top, and we were told that the kalasa was original.

As we entered the shrine, the kids brought a torchlight, and in the dim light, we saw the cells containing a Shiva Linga and a cult figure of Surya placed opposite each other. A lone Bhairava stood among other sculptures, while a revolving Nandi was placed in front of the Linga. While we marvelled at the workmanship, the guide told us about a belief — that one could make a wish, and if the stone slab holding the Nandi moved smoothly, one's wish would come true.

We left the temple and headed towards the ruins of the other two monuments. The pillars and sculptures looked exquisite, even though they were covered by the dense growth of shrubs, with cows and pigs feeding on them. We returned to Bucci's temple and sat quietly, lost in thought — till the sound of a distant train interrupted our reverie…

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Temple series-Thanjavur Big Temple

Kerala Tourism to Webcast ancient temple fest

 

Thiruvananthapuram, March 17:  

A 1,500-year-old grand temple festival in Kerala is all set to go live in the virtual world, ensuring a rare visual experience online.

The Arattupuzha Pooram in Thrissur district is a mass celebration of festivals in 23 temples, which will be held on Friday and Saturday.

WEBCAST

Kerala Tourism will Webcast the pooram live from 6 p.m. on Friday to 2 p.m. on Saturday for a global audience, an official spokesman said here.

The live Webcast will be available at www.keralatourism.org and the brand channel of Kerala Tourism on YouTube (www.youtube.com/keralatourism).

It is for the first time that an entire pooram is Webcast live in the State.

The Arattupuzha temple, dedicated to Lord Sree Dharma Sastha, has been conducting its famous pooram for over 1,428 years.

“Cultural tourism is a focus area of the Department of Tourism.

The culture, festivals and traditions, if promoted in a big way, would bring more travellers to the State.

“The live Webcast of Arattupuzha Pooram is a firm step in this regard,” said Dr V. Venu, Secretary, Kerala Tourism.

According to Mr M. Sivasankar, Director, Kerala Tourism, the department has made big strides using online promotional tools.

“The official Web site of Kerala Tourism, one of the most popular travel Web sites in the country, has always made pioneering and innovative efforts. “The live Webcast of Arattupuzha Pooram is sure to take the glory of Kerala's colourful festivals to the world,” he said.

Kerala Tourism will bring to the viewers the most exciting moments on the last two days of the seven-day festival.

The devamela, or divine gathering, during the grand finale of the festivities is marked by colour, pomp and pageantry.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

The last two days of the festival offer several memorable moments to the thousands of spectators who flock to the temple premises.

On the evening of the penultimate day of the festival, deities of the participating temples arrive at the temple on caparisoned elephants in a colourful procession.

elephant pageantry

A grand elephant pageantry, traditional percussion ensembles and special rituals mark the celebrations, which last until dawn.

The deities are then taken out in a majestic procession to the nearby river to perform the arattu ritual.

The koottiyezhunnallippu and arattu ceremonies, performed in the presence of 71 caparisoned elephants, present a visual extravaganza in the backdrop of traditional percussion orchestras, the spokesman said. 

To be relayed live: A scene from the Pooram festival held last year . 

 

 

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On facts less known about Big Temple

Dr. Michell and Indira Peterson have authored a book on the Thanjavur icon.

Patience and perseverance could well sum up the personality of George Michell, who talks about the book he has recently co-authored with Indira V Peterson illustrated with photographs by Bharath Ramamrutham.

Now, how did an Australian find his way to India and to Thanjavur?

India was Michell’s first visit abroad and after his 1965 visit to Madras and a degree in School of Oriental and African Studies, the U.K., this architect decided it would be his area of research as well. His Ph.D got him closer to Badami and from there Hampi. For more than two decades, he and John Fritz mapped out the entire 25 sq. km. of the imperial capital and as his interest deepened he began to look at other parts of the Vijayanagar empire.

Struck by the lack of research and documentation in the 14-16^th century India, Michell chose to delve deep. In stead of taking up the oldest, Michell decided to work backwards and discovered interesting movements of architectural styles from Tamil Nadu back to Hampi during the Vijayanagar times and then those styles coming back south after the Vijayanagar kingdom collapsed in 1565 and the local Nayaks in Tamil Nadu asserted their powers.

With a whole slew of books and presentations on Thanjavur’s Brihadeeswara temple, is there need for another? There are not many in English and much less of those that deal with the post-Chola phase is Michell’s answer. It was Indira Peterson’s idea and the authors seek to bring about a balance through the book.

The first part deals with the conceptual underpinnings, a quick history of the dynasties associated with the temple and the artistic, architectural and symbolic interpretations. The second deals with the different parts of the temple and the final part has information on chronology, conservation, inscriptions and an interesting one on literary references, including those from the Maratha times.

In a lecture organised by the Madras Book club and Prakriti Foundation, the co-author shared some interesting lesser known facts of a temple that has many unanswered questions to its credit. Dr. Michell shared his reasoned opinion on some questions that have engaged scholars in lively debate. Most have ignored the true royal portrait of Raja Raja paying obeisance to Nataraja at Chidambaram, focussing on that of a painting of two sages. Clearly the former is the earliest known royal portrait painting. The latter being two sages, one younger and the other older.

An interesting observation was the obvious disproportion between the images within the koshtas or alcoves in the outside wall of the temple and the images, many being larger than the alcove. It appears that the sculptor was not always in synchronisation with the architect of the alcoves and made the sculptures much too big for the alcoves.

The Subramania temple can be dated to the time of Sevappa Nayaka and the mystery of the horse’s missing wheel traced back to the wheels in the Thanjavur Art gallery. If the wheels were placed behind the horses in the plinth of the shrine, the temple will once more resemble a chariot drawn by horses.

The current Kalasa or finial is from the 18^th century and the stone finial is itself not a single block but many stones covered with an expert layer of plaster. Other hypotheses, though logically presented, deserve more investigation. For instance, theories of the upper storey used as a shrine/gallery for the bronze images that had a wooden floor, or another that the temple may have in some way been a Saivaite equivalent of the Vaishnavite Ashtanga vimana (a temple with three shrines one over another in different storeys). Others were incongruous, such as the identification of an image that looked live Veenadhara Dakshinamurthy as Tripuranthaka.

The lecture and the question-and-answer session that followed reiterated the need for many more such volumes that looked at old themes in a new light with beautiful illustrations.

“The Great Temple at Thanjavur – One Thousand Years, 1010-2010” George Michell & Indira Viswanathan Peterson, Photos – Bharath Ramamrutham. Publisher – The Marg Foundation. Price – Rs. 2,500. 

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