Thursday, April 14, 2011

IN PURSUIT OF SIVA ICONOGRAPHY - V

THE TEMPLES OF SRIMUKHALINGAM - II
BHEEMESWARA & SOMESWARA TEMPLES


Front face of Someswara temple.Pl notice Nandi at the start of the staircase and 
Nataraja at a height above the entrance.

We found Someswara temple, which is a dwarf in comparison to the main temple of SriMukhalingam, quite interesting. ASI  has built a small  and neat compound around the   temple. The temple is a typical Orissa-style temple built on 5' platform, no Gopuram, no mandapa , a SivaLinga inside and very interesting  Iconography on the outside walls .But, the most important characteristics of this temple are in the portrayal of sages and hermits in different groups.If the main temple has its gods as warriors with a theme of masculinity, this one has congregations of sages and hermits, crowding around the deities.

The temple's entrance faces the north, just the opposite of the main temple .Nandy placed in the front of the temple stares at the SivaLinga, with glans-like etchings on it . The entrance has Dwarpals - the gatekeepers - nothing like the famous one at Badami cave though ( pl. view  http://przmm.blogspot.com/2011/03/scrapbook-our-journey-through-land-of.html ) - Ganga,Yanuna, GajaLakshmi and above all, an eight-handed Nataraja, ithyphallic and touching the chin of Devi , beams benignly at the devotees.


Moving anti-clockwise, we find Ganesha and Lakulisha on the Western wall, Siva,Kartikeya, ArdhaNareeshwar - Androgynous Siva  and HariHara on the Northern wall , Veerbhadra, MahishasuraMardini and Ekapada Siva on the Eastern wall.

HariHara at the centre of the alcove.Siva is ithyphallic.Shakti in Lalitasana on the top of this alcove. Nandi  and Garura at  the side of their respective Lords.
Watch the hermits and sages engaged in animated conversation.

The alcoves have been built according to a pattern. There is a  main deity for each of the alcoves, a smaller on the top, two sides have columns with ornate designs framing the alcove - very noticeable are the sages and disciples  in animated postures of activities.

MahishaMardini and Ekapada Siva on the eastern wall of Someswara temple . Both the alcoves have Shakti in two different manifestations on top of these deities.Watch the ornate work on the vertical columns and the hermits and devotees all around.The priest beams at my camera.


A pair of white bulls at the entrance of  Bheemeswara temple. 
A deviation from the conventional black Nandi !

Bheemeswara temple is closer to the main temple  than Someswara temple. Built a few metres away from the main road, this temple deserves a thorough look. A Siva temple, it has remarkable depictions of Agni and MahishaMardini.  It has several erotic panels  too.

SivaLinga at Bheemeswara temple.
Noticeable features are the cuts on the top of the Linga and the flat base. 

Agni.Slightly fat from over-eating of 'offerings @ rituals,
hair spread on both the sides. Two hands broken.

Bheemeswara temple has several  wall-reliefs which are erotic - the postures different from normal frontal coitus.Ditto for Someswara temple , though fewer.It will be proper to to post photos of those wall-reliefs under http://orange-leaves.blogspot.com , where I post blogs which should not be viewed by younger persons. I end with a wonderful wall-relief of Lakulisha from Someswara temple.

An exquisite wall-relief of Lakulisha with Siva placed at the top of the framing of lotus petals.
Both Siva and Lakulisha ithyphallic.

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