SRI KURMAM TEMPLE at SRIKAKULAM,A.P.- II

 WALL FRESCOES IN NEED OF LOVE & CARE

Note  : Link for Part I : http://przmm.blogspot.in/2011/03/sri-kumaram-temple-at-srikakulamap.html

 Krsna taming snake 'Sudarsana'-a cursed 'Vidhyadhara'.

'Vastra - haran' - Krsna has  taken away the clothes of Gopis, bathing in the Yamuna, on tree-top.Gopis are requesting   Krsna                          not to torment them !

Not many have heard of the wall-frescoes of this  temple at  Srikakulam, though well-attended by devotees. At least not those who surf internet before visiting a place of tourist interest. But, a visit to this temple - which was rebuilt at least 700 years ago  -  without  good time spent on the frescoes in the long 'parikrama' around the temple will be improper. The temple authorities have devoted just one line to the frescoes of this temple in the plaque outside which ,in my opinion, is unfair !

8th figure in this procession is Krsna, probably accompanied by Nanda. Who are the aristocratic persons leading the procession ! 

(Note - I could not find a matching 'story' in 'SriMadbhagabat')

A good part of these   frescoes are devoted to KrsnaLeela. Also, several manifestations of Vishnu. Unsupervised white-washing , loosely hanging electrical wires and a general lack of appreciation caused deterioration of this heritage art. I have not been to Lepakshi temple , but, there - it appears from what I found in the internet - the frescoes occupy  much more a place of pride than at Sri Kurmam temple .

'Kaliya Daman' - Taming of 'Kaliya'

Above was taken after shifting hanging strands of electric wire from the frame of the photo. One will feel bad if I post  a photo of the total frame of this fresco. It was 16/02/2011 when we were at Sri Kurmam temple. We learnt that shortly a team from ASI  will come to Srikakulam to initiate a process of reviving  the frescoes. Hope the  task is in progress, if not completed.

 

 'Varah avatata' of Vishnu - an unusual depiction ! 

Blow-up reveals the Earth - not a female figure ! - resting on right elbow of 'Varah' while he tramples Hiranyaksha (?) into sea-water 

with his right foot !

 It is indeed unfortunate , as the viewer must  have noted by now, the blotches of lime-wash has caused serious problem to these frescoes.Very little of the painting above was visible to naked eye. Considerable enhancement has given a reasonable appearance to this one. While I have more photos in my HDD , I shall end with one of Siva riding Nandi. More on some other occasion.

Siva riding Nandi , Parvati accompanying him. He has raised his trident whereas two of his foot-soldiers - quite obscure though - 

are found to wield swords.

Note - Regd. the last fresco, pl read Amol N banker's comment & my reply too.

IN PURSUIT OF SIVA ICONOGRAPHY - IV

COMBAT BETWEEN HARI-HARA  AND THE LINEAGE FROM KASHYAP & DITI

During our February,2011 'pilgrimage' to the land of Saivites, as we went from temple to temple of SriMukhalingam, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal, we could see that the kings and their team of visualisers   wanted to present images of Siva,Vishnu and other gods, including MahishaMardini and SaptaMatrkas engaged in battles to the worshipers. While SivaLinga was placed in the inner sanctum, wall-reliefs and the scenes carved on the pillars depict the combat scenes.

I picked up two photos - one each  of Siva and Vishnu - relaxed and at peace.

 Siva leaning against Nandi.

Mallikarjuna temple,Pattadakal,Karnataka.

 Vishnu rests on Ananta the snake while Lakshmi and Saraswati give him company.He would soon be engaged in battles against Hiranakshya and Hiranyakashipu.

Famous fresco from SriKurmam temple,SriKakulam,A.P.  
NOTE : From any point on the corridor where this fresco is painted, it would seem that Vishnu's eyes are focused on you !

Mythology  has layers of tales,allegories and worshipers of various deities adding their beliefs as spices ! These stories are never linear in nature and are subject to the view points of the writer - OR the person who interprets ! Therefore,  stories of the conflicts the mightiest among the gods had with the lineage from Kashyap and Diti may be differently perceived by others - my apologies to them .

Diti was one of the wives of sage Kashyap. Kashyap - a much-married sage - fathered Adityas through Aditi, twin sister of Diti, Danavas through Danu and Nagas through Kadru. Diti's conception has a story with a twist - she was jealous of her sister's sons and invited Kashyap to bed at the time of twilight. Kashyap advised her to be patient, suggested not to invoke wrath of Rudra and his companions who roam around during the hour of sunset. Diti was restless. She tugged at his clothes  and Kashyap yielded.Later Diti understood her mistake and braced for tragedies of her sons' lives.

 Vishnu in his boar manifestation - Varaha Avatar.He has brought  Bhudevi - the Earth goddess from the bottom of the ocean - she rests on his lower left hand on a lotus.His own left leg rests on a lotus too.His other three hands carry 'Chakra' - the wheel, mace and conch. Nagaraj , gods and other celestial beings worship him and celebrates Bhudevi's appearance.

Cave of Vishnu, Badami, Karnataka.

Diti gave birth to Hiranakshya and Hiranyakashipu who grew to be great warriors. They defeated the gods and  their arrogance brought upon their death at the hand of Vishnu.

Hiranakshya adopted Andhaka ( vide my story on Andhakasura ,posted a few days ago ) - he also grew up to be a great warrior.He challenged Siva and was nearly killed by him.After  'a  thousand years' of punishment and equally long  penance , he  was let free and allowed to join  Siva's 'Ganas' as Bhringee.But, Gajasura - a close associate of Andhaka - was killed by Siva.

Siva slaying Gajasura. At least three Matrkas are present in this wall-relief.Siva is ithyphallic and Nandi looks upwards.If the skeletal figure next to Siva's right leg is of Bhringee  ( Andhakasura before his penance ) - then I would say : it is  tragic, it is an irony of Andhaka's destiny that he had to witness the demise of his erstwhile associate and friend ! 

SriMukhalingam, SriKakulam,A.P.

Hiranyakashipu's son Pralhad was a great devotee of Vishnu - there was no conflict in this generation.Later, gods and Daityas collaborated in churning of the sea - but gods took away all the goodies including the divine elixir . Thus, the temporary truce was broken.There was prolonged battle when Prahlad's grandson  Bali was chosen the army-chief of the Daityas  and was pitted against Indra.Bali was a great warrior, he could not disposed of in face-to-face battles,  - we shall come back to the tale of his manipulation a little later.

NaraSimha in action. Here, his gestures more terrifying than those @ Hampi and Aihole.

Virupaksha temple, Pattadakal,Karnataka.

If we look back to the episodes so far, we shall find the Devatas - the gods - were rescued by  either Vishnu or Siva again and again. Vishnu's third manifestation - Varaha Avatar - rescued Bhudevi, the goddess Earth from  the depth of ocean when Hiranakshya was slayed.His next manifestation - Nrisimha Avatar - killed Hiranyakashipu.From the gods' point of view, these slayings were big reliefs for them. The mythological stories have been written by devotees of Vishnu - who can tell if he were partisan or not ?

Partisan he was.During the collaborative phase of Devatas and Daityas, Visnu posed as a beautiful woman - Mohini - and 'her' charm deprived the Daityas of their rightful share  of the divine elixir.

Before I move to  Bali's end  as a mighty ruler, Siva's  big contribution to churning of the ocean must be mentioned . This exercise was mostly controlled by Vishnu. He helped the gods at every stage - yet, at a very critical juncture, Siva lent his big support to this event.  Vasuki ,the snake used as the 'rope' for churning, was greatly stressed and vomited poison. All those engaged in this operation were very badly affected. Siva  drank the poison to the world's relief and his throat turned blue forever - he is now called 'NeelKantha'- the blue throated god - by his devotees. I have not found any wall-relief  on this episode at Pattadakal or Aihole. But, Samudra Manthan

 Emergence of Lakshmi. The ocean is getting churned - on the right , Daityas holding the head of Vasuki .Gods,on the left ,hold his tail .We see 'Uchchaishraba' the horse and 'Airavat' the elephant among other treasures this churning yielded. 

Mallikarjune temple,Pattadakal,Karnataka.

Now back to Bali. Bali survived the battle with the gods. He stayed at the top  and kept on ruling the world. When he could not be dislodged by the gods. a manifestation of Vishnu - BamanAvatar - came to their rescue. Vishnu posed as a short Brahmin and  came to Bali's court  as a alms-seeker. He asked for land just enough for three steps of his. When Bali granted his wish , he did not know he was being tricked by Vishnu into a situation from where he would have no escape.Vishnu grew into a size  extra-ordinary.His first step filled up  the e-n-t-i-r-e kingdom of Bali, his body filled up the sky and his arms blocked the eight directions. His second step filled up the heaven  and his third step - well there was nowhere any place for it. I just now read the exchange between Vishnu and Bali as written in BhagavatPurana - and Bali emerges as a great soul..... though he understood that he was tricked by Visnu incognito,  he offered his head for the third step.

Trivikrama in his full glory.The world worships him. Bali is shown as uprooted in this famous sculpture. According to what I read,Vishnu's third feet was placed on his head and he was then removed from the heaven which was restored to the Devatas.

MahaVishnu caves,Badami,Karnataka.

History repeated itself.Bali's father Virochan was deprived of his life by the gods as they came to his palace posing as alms-seeker Brahmins ( 2nd paragraph, nineteenth chapter, eight canto). Well, from our mythology, we often find the gods were not always great ! And , often, quite unfair.But, Bali's treatment at the hand of Vishnu ( or his feet ! ) leaves me sad. The story-tellers have applied soothing ointment to his banishment from his throne and kingdom to the 'underground' (...'paataal...') by adding that he was offered a beautiful abode ('...sutal...' in Sanskrit) built by Vishwakarma and the position of 'Indra' in 'Sabarni Manwantar' , but,it reminds me of the many unfair deeds of the protagonists of Mahabharata and Ramayana.

I end with a photo of Hari- Hara, standing together with Siva - ensuring the support extra-ordinary to their clan of gods !

On the left, stands Siva with two arms , his trident with a coiled snake, a smiling skull on his piled matted hair.His left hand rests on his thigh in KatyaValambita posture.His right foot is in anchita and left in sama postures.Hari-Hara in Siva's left has four arms.Siva's half  is in the right, with his  third eye, crescent moon and snake.Vishnu has the conch in his upper left arm, his lower left hand gain in KatyaValambita posture. Both the feet are in sama posture.

RavanaPhadi, Aihole, Karnataka.

1.Reference : 7th and 8th Cantos,SrimadBhagataPurana - Bengali translation by Sri Taaraakaanta Kaabyatheertha.
2.Siva in dance,myth and Iconography - Ann Marie Gaston.

3. Mr  Palahali, my 'friend' in sulekha.com brought to my notice a 'story' on Prahlad/Bali - a blog of his.This was 3 years ago. in response to a blog I wrote on Mahisasura  - a story of this Asura's viewpoint.My submission - I did appreciate Mr Palahali's blog a lot , but what I wrote here is completely my view-point.

SCRAPBOOK : OUR JOURNEY THROUGH THE LAND OF SAIVITES - I

OUR SCRAPBOOK  of  TRAVEL TO  SRIKAKULAM , BADAMI & AIHOLE

Ruby, me and Aihole. 
The entrance of DurgaGudi with
Aihole Museum's outdoors's displays in the background.

During this February,'11 trip to the land of Saivites, I have  taken just a few photos of people and landscape.What I have in my HDD  to-day are mostly related to Iconography.Looking back, this is a lost opportunity for me.After a few years, I  shall not be having much of a scrapbook from this visit to refer back ! I should have been more conscious about this aspect while moving around.Fortunately, Ruby  has been more methodical and her album  fill in  some of the gaps.

 Sea-shore @ BandarwaniPeta near SriKakulam. Fishermen's boats near the horizon.The stone formation bang on the shore is nice for photography from a distance, specially when waves break into the same.Unfortunately, it is an open-air toilet for the villagers! 
Had to stay quite a distance away from the same.

Catch of fish, lying on sand at the sea-coast.

 These children were playing on the coast - requested me for clicking a photo 

as we were returning to our car.

SriKakulam has a  sea-shore at BandarwaniPeta - accessible by car and bus -  which is very different from the normal   tourist destination. It has a strong presence of fishermen - the seacoast is full of boats and fishing gears like nets. We could see several boats on the prowl in the sea. It is obvious that the main activities take place during the night. The neighbouring  LightHouse/Watchtower was out-of camera's range. The confluence of river Bansadhara and the sea may be a spot where one can sit down and relax - but, the coast where we stood for a while and took photos had an unpleasant stench of fish and open-air toilet around a big mound of stone which was getting splashed by waves at regular intervals !

 The untiring doorman -'DwarPal' - @ Badami caves. 
Looking after thr gods' abode since 534 AD !

Shadow & light - street photography @ Badami

Badami offers two magnificent views to those who care to move around with binocular and/or camera. Once on the top level of the caves  temple, we find the small town around, its sky-line with two near-by mosques from the AdilShahi era of Bijapur, Agastaya Teertha with  sprawling 'ghat' around, Bhoothanatha temple complex  cradled here, a hillock on the other side of Agastaya Teertha with Malegitti  Sivalaya on its top. From the other side of Agastaya Teertha, we can see the hillock with Badami caves and a fort on its top . To serious photographers, 'ghat' is an important subject.But, when I reached a reached Agastaya Teertha's 'ghat' , it was well-past noon, bathers have left for lunch and afternoon siesta.

 Skyline of Badami - photograph taken from platform in front of the caves.

View of  AgastyaTeertha from Badami caves.

A DEITY CALLED 'SHARHABHUJA MARICHI' !!

A BUDDHIST GODDESS WITH REMARKABLE ICONOGRAPHY

'Sharhabhuja Marichie'. We can see her benign left face and the beautiful lotus 

at the top left corner.Many of the features detailed below are clearly visible in this view.

We met her at the Museum of  Sailahundam Hill. This is a small museum, about 200' from the foot of the famous BouddhaStupa of Sailahundam, near SriKakulam,A.P., high on the western shore of Bansadhara river. The museum houses many sculptures  - mostly Bouddha - kept in a semicircle , in a rather dark ambiance. The most attractive sculpture is that of 'Sharhabhuja Marichi' - her imposing figure faces the visitor as s/he enters the gallery.

The caretaker of the museum told us that Marichi is the consort of Surya. Not exactly - with help of of e-friends, Satyasri Ukil and Gregory Fegel, I realised that I noted the name in my notebook incorrectly.She is not 'Harichee' - the correct spelling is 'Marichi' ! Well, nothing was written about her in the museum. A fresh internet search indicated she is the Buddhist Goddess of Dawn  .Her Iconography in Tibet and Japan are, however, different from what we found in this museum.


Marichi is 6' tall, made of sandstone ,stands on a base which has seven horses and two wheels .She has three faces - the front face is almost without any features - eyes,nose and lips gone through erosion.The other two faces have two very different expressions - like that of Siva's Trimurti - one is ferocious,fangs out, the other calm and smiling benignly.Only two of her hands are intact.The middle right hand holds a sword and the lower left hand holds a half-coiled whip.She is adorned with ornaments from head to her feet.Though she is standing on a base which is being drawn by galloping horses, her posture is not that of a woman standing still on a carriage - the right leg and angabastra near her hip depict movement.

According to Tibetan Iconography, Marichi is drawn by a cart of sow.Here, we find horses, just as in Hindu Iconography of Surya.

 Refernce - http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/90016.html

Lots of motifs around her.
Above her left shoulder, we see a blooming lotus. A wonderful flower is that - one has to look at a close-up on a large screen ! There are two sitting and mediating Bodhisattwa on her left and right sides.The chariot is being driven by she-charioteer ,sitting in the centre of the base  in a posture which can be called Lalita Asana.She carries a fully coiled whip in her left hand, raised to the level of her shoulder. The base has , as I have mentioned earlier, seven horses and one wheel each on two sides of the base.

 A blow-up of the lower part of the sculpture.Clear view of two meditating Bodhisattwas, she-charioteer and the two whips, one each in the hands of the goddess and her charioteer  

can be viewed clearly.

I end with a photo of a MahisasuraMardini like sculpture and the nameplate of  'Sharhabhuja Marichee'. The English letters cannot be read, Telugu letters are clearer. If someone can decipher and advise me if I got the name correct or not.

 

        MahisasuraMardini like statue.Six-handed goddess, sitting in Lalita Asana on a lotus.      Her top right hand has a sword raised above her head.She is crushing a demon-like figure under her right foot.

If someone can read the Telugu words, please write back to me.

IN PURSUIT OF SIVA ICONOGRAPHY - II

THE TEMPLES OF SRIMUKHALINGAM, A.P.
THE PRINCIPAL TEMPLE - PART I

 A view of  SriMukhalingam temple complex from outside.

The principal temple is @ the centre of the photograph.

It was 17/2/11. Ruby and I , accompanied by our friend Mr Netaji Rao, were standing in front of the main temple - a temple complex to be more precise - at SriMukhalingam. It is 7 months 24 days after I came face-to-face with the ithyphallic Nataraj of Ann Mary Gaston's book on Schwarzman Public Library in New York !  No doubt I felt great , somewhat overwhelmed - having made the pilgrimage planned in June/July,2010.

 Nataraj and Gajasura SanharaMurty on top of the west side (service) door

of the principal temple. These are the wall-reliefs in Mary Ann Gaston's book

which influenced my decision to visit SriMukhalingam.

The main temple was built according to a planned theme .The gates have men in huddles, couples , soldiers, gods , 'dwarpals'  and carvings on vertical walls - quite feminine. But the temple - its architecture, the wall-reliefs framed in bulbous shapes with phallus-like shapes pointing upwards, Siva in ithyphallic-Bhairava and ithyphallic-Nataraj manifestations, Shakti killing demons relentlessly, not one Uma-Maheswar among the wall-reliefs of the main temple - the theme is that of valour, victory over the 'Enemy'. I felt - the theme is 'macho', overtly masculine -  in spite of strong presence of  'MahishasuraMardini'.

Through the second door, one can  view the main door of

the principal temple. Both are ornate with reliefs and carvings - in contrast 

to the 'style' of the principal temple.

Abstract design on the wall of the principal temple.

Is it not an artistic interpretation of SivaLinga - the divine phallus?

I would like to emphasise here that Siva in SriMukhalingam's main temple was visualised neither as ascetic nor erotic ( recall the title of the book on Siva by Wendy O'Flaherty )., but as the destroyer of the 'Enemy'.He kills Gajasura, celebrates His victory over Andhakasura in the company of Chandika and Her warring companions , dances 'tandava' . The walls here are adorned with MahishasuraMardini,Virbhadra, Kartikeya, Bhairava and Indra.Later on, as  smaller temples have sprung up - among the additions, there is a Parvati temple  and at least two wall-reliefs depicting Uma-Maheswar ( photos in Part II of this blog ).

Siva, in His fiercest form, fangs out, ithyphallic. He has vanquished Andhakasura,

who lies trampled at His feet.  Chandika and Matrika who supported Him in this battle

 are standing by His sides.The pillars on the two sides are adorned with peacock and lotus motifs.

 Siva ( depicted again as Bhairava,with His fangs out), ithyphallic, guides the Ganges into

His matted hair. Bhagirath  kneels down on His right side and 

the Ganges flow out on His left on Her 'Makara'.

Postures of the two wall reliefs placed side-by-side, very much comparable.

Strange that the priests decided to have this Ganesha clothed !

Not much is there in the web-pages about this temple. According to Wikipedia, the temple was  built by Kamarnava II of Eastern Ganga dynasty of   Kalinga in 8th century AD. Quite a temple he  got built ! The big court-yard now has several medium and small-sized temples dedicated to Siva and one  as mentioned earlier,is exclusively devoted to Parvati.

This  gesticulating  priest  is standing beside the smallest temple in this court yard.

Kartikeya , the commander-in-chief of gods,slayer of Tarakasura,

 stares on from the northern wall of the principal temple.

I did miss out a lot during our visit since I could not communicate with the priests . My friend Mr  Netaji Rao, helped me a lot. But, I did not use his services as a interpretor - may be it  was not a good decision. Like, among the wall-reliefs of the Western wall, where one finds Nataraj,Virbhadra, GajasuraSanharaMurty, one can see a Ganesha clad in clothes. I was curious - if he was ithyphallic, if approached, the priests would allow  to take a photo of the Ganesha sans the cover put on by the priests - but, I restrained myself. Such attempts are sometimes  taken as  attempt of vilification and disliked by the priests.

 'Naga sannyasi' (naked hermits) of 8th/9th century AD.

This gate is clearly very different from the principal temple.It has none of the phallus-shaped

motifs of the principal temple or masculine figures of war-gods. A very 'feminine' gate.

Many 'Mithuna' couples decorate the facade.

I plan to cover the temples  at SriMukhalingam in four parts -

• The principal temple.
• The satellite temples around.
• Bheemeswara temple and
• Someswara temple.

 'Nandi'

This means a lot of photo-editing and uploading. This task will take some time, because I intend to write on our visits to Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.I request the readers of these blogs to leave their feed-backs in the 'Comments' section.

  Mr Netaji Rao , our friend in SriKakulam and Ruby. Mr Rao took a lot

of interest in showing us around.Our heartfelt thanks to him !