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 !

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

A FINE TEMPLE   FOR  KURMAVATAR - VISHNU's 2nd MANIFESTATION

 One of the two 'Gajastambhas' and the Sri Kurmabatar temple.

A section has been whitewashed . Was it avoidable ? Will the visiting ASI team undo the same ?

Kurmavatar is the 2nd Avatar of Lord Vishnu. He did not fight any demon or Asura in this avatar. Mandar the hill was placed Kurmavatar's back, Vasuski the snake was used a rope while 'Daitya's i.e. demons and gods joined hands in churning the ocean to retrieve loads of  treasure from its depth - that is why ocean  is often called 'Ratnaakar'  - container of gems - in Sanskrit.This churning brought the nectar of immortality too, which gods took away, as well as poison - 'halahala' - which Siva swallowed to save the world.

Sri Kurmam temple is  13/14 km from SriKakulam, well connected by road. The temple has excellent work of art in form of wall reliefs and frescoes . The frescoes have been damaged  - what I saw in the internet earlier and what I found - are not the same.During my stay at SriKakulam, we found  a team from ASI landed in this town heading for the temple - one of the missions being restoration of the frescoes.

 One section of the best-preserved part of the frescoes. Careless white-washing

and ugly lay-out of electrical wire mar the beauty the procession in view.

A good part of the work of art centres round Vaisnavite themes including SriMadbhagavat . There are 108 pillars in this temple - 70 in the courtyard and 30 inside the temple - almost each having carving on its faces. The temple has two masts for flags - known as 'Gajastambha' -  unlike the conventional single mast in most of the temples. The temple's outer structure has been reconstructed many times since inception - the present one is 700 years old.

 A walk-around the court-yard of the Sri Kurmam temple - total nos of pillars here is seventy.

Face - human, body - lion, tail - peacock.Art of grotesque on one of the pillars.

 I met  Mr Srinivas Tulugu in this temple, where Ruby and I were clicking photos of the artwork around.Mr Tulugu is a Management Consultant - he loves this temple and work in close tandem with the Management Committee of this temple. More on that aspect later. Seeing my interest, he showed me a few special points which I would have otherwise missed. Beyond an old blue-coloured door, lie a now-closed 14 km long tunnel to a hill-top.Reportedly when Mamud of Ghajani  was approaching this temple, it was covered under earth, a small temple was constructed outside with a replica of 'Kurma' which was being worshiped. A broken 'Kurma' preserved within the 'Mandapa' bears witness to the vanadalism of 11th century. Mr Tulugu also pointed out a rectangular stone bath-tub  meant holy dip of 'Kurma' on special days.

  A relief work on the temple's wall .Four hands of Lord Vishnu hold conch shell,wheel,               mace and lotus - His face lit with smiles.

 He wears a large crown, ornaments and sacred thread.

Later he  introduced us to  the Executive Officer of the temple's Management Committee. We learnt that the collection of this temple is inadequate  for meeting the expenses . The MC is, therefore, heavily dependent on Government aid. When delayed , even wage payment becomes irregular. For maintenance, MC is totally dependent on external help.One Company has helped to repair the leaky roof. Another is helping  air-conditioning the interior... so on and so forth.

 Beyond this door lies the 14km underground tunnel to a hill top

- an escape route, now closed for safety.

 The bath tub created out of a single stone.

A dip in  adjacent 'Pushkarini believed to be as effective as that  in the Ganges  in Varanasi.

Both Mr Tulugu and the EO suggested that I mention in my blog that the readers may please feel free to contribute to the temple fund  through Andhra Bank savings a/c no 0542 1011 000131 and get in touch with :  The Executive Officer, SriKakulam Debasthanam ,SriKakulam - 532 404. Dt - A.P.
An Organisation is helping the MC to create its website -  soon one will be able to reach the EO directly. One can reach Mr Tulugu @ fax no 040 6636 1256 for further details.

The Executive Officer appeals for your encouragement and support to the temple's fund.

FROM OUR DIARY @ HAMPI

 WALKING THROUGH THE RICH HERITAGE OF A RICH EMPIRE's CAPITAL !

My daughter-in-law wanted me to share a few 'general' photos of Hampi with her. I thought of picking up a few photos from Ruby's and my respective albums and  write out a blog sans Siva iconography.


We  reached Hospet - nearest railway station of Hampi - from SriKakulam by Amaravati Express. The train proceeds to Goa. Therefore, seats are in demand and a very early reservation is prudent. Autorickshaws work in cartel @ Hampi and Hospet - therefore charges are unreasonable. We found an auto-rickshaw driver quite reasonable and we utilised his services during our stay at Hampi and later when we returned from Badami. His mobile no is 090 350 96672.

 Rudresh poses before a Kannada Film's poster 

I clicked on our way to Hampi from Hospet.

We were put up @ Hotel Bhuvaneswari , located at Kamalpura, a rather thinly populated area 4 km away from  Virupaksha temple. This hotel has an excellent semi-open dining room. We loved the dining room. A cat will give company, specially when you devour an omlette .

This hotel is very popular among tourists from abroad. Get your reservation done @ 08394 241574/241474 or Mr Deshmukh, hotel's Manager  @ 089 706 50025. Take advices of Mr Deshmukh regarding the architecture around Hospet and he has many suggestions to offer. It is he who suggested the temples of Lakundi to us  - we loved the 6 temples of this village  which lie on the route to Badami from Hospet vis Gadak.

 A view of the Dining Room of Hotel Bhubaneswari.It opens on a nice lawn in its east side.

Mosquito control during evening is commendable.

One may move around in hired cars,autorickshaws or 2-wheelers.We took a conducted tour on the 1st day and hired Rudresh on the 2nd day. Seeing Pampa Sarovar was not in our agenda. We instead spent time in a relatively unknown Vishnu temple, now getting reconstructed, on Hospet-Hampi Road.On this road, lies an old chariot in excellent condition, painted in black, with interesting statuettes  carved on it. More on these two subjects later.

Hampi  caters to various types of travelers. If one loves history, one can move around the this once-very-rich  city's reconstructed temples and shopping areas and palaces , marveling at the grandeur of Vijayanagar empire's capital . For lovers of  nature, Hampi offers a wonderful topography, with its huge boulders strewn around , wonderful sunrise and sunset points, L-shaped river-bend to boat around. For the religious, Hampi has Virupaksha temple, Hazara Rama temple, bhajan at Malyabanta Raghunatha temple  and other spots connected with Ramayana's KishkindaKando.The best way to savour Hampi is to go prepared with a bit of homework and then enjoy the oeuvre. The regret we have is : the famous 'Sangeet Hall of Vitthala temple has been closed to public to stop vandalism causing deterioration of the 'musical' pillars !

I end with a few photographs  from our HDD :

 First Gopuram of Virupaksha temple. Closer view  shows numerous

deities on the alcoves at various levels.

 Second Gopuram was constructed by KishnaDebaraya II.

 At the distance, we see the 'sikhara' of the main temple.

Uma-Maheswara  relief on the 'Garbha griha' of the temple.

Lovely fresco on the ceiling of the 'Mandapa'. Here we see Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswara.

On the second day of our stay, we went to the riverside.One can enjoy boat ride paying an exorbitant price.One hour's boating for two comes at Rs 1000/- !! One can compare this with the auto-rickshaw fare we were paying for the day's ride - Rs 500/-. We decided to skip the same . The scenery is beautiful though the sun was scorching.

 

We loved the rock formations !

I liked the the work on the entrance of Krsna temple very much - our friend Mr DJ Ray brought my attention to these details.The photo here does not offer the view of RH part of the Gopuram - the view of the roof of the large 'Mandapa' blocks the way. Now, wait for the future postings.

KrishnaDebaraya II leading his army .

Those who are interested in details of the panel may please write to me.

Before we come to the sunset point, let us have a look at the Vitthala temple complex - better description of the wonders of this complex would need at least 50 photographs. One regret we have is that the 'Sangeet Mandapa' remained out-of-bounds ! The few photographs I could take were by standing on my toes!

Not very easy to get an opportunity to find the Chariod free from onlookers!

Ruby clicks  to capture photos of the load-berers of this chariot !

The load-bearing stones of this chariot have been given very interesting shapes !

The sun-set point beyond the  Malyavanta Rama temple  deserve a full blog ! The three pictures  do not do justice to the splendour of this spot !

 No captions needed !

GEMS FROM AN UNKNOWN ARCHITECTURAL RUINS IN GUJARAT

Camels  we met on en-route Vadnagar

One of the two 40' 'Toranas'

I love to visit historical sites - but, I did not utilise my stay and visits to Gujarat for travelling for pleasure,except for the last one in 2009.This was when Ruby and I visited Ahmadabad in late August of that year.I was there in connection with our PANIIT's project - 'IITians for ITIs'. I was visiting several  ITIs in Guajarat - together with the Dy. Director of ITI,Tollygunge - to study their association with Industries and introduction of ISO in ITIs.

Details of the intricate work on a 'Torana'

On the 2nd day of our stay, we visited, among other places, an ITI at Vadnagar. I learnt much later that Vadnagar's history very likely, dates back to Harappan civilisation.Our hosts did not touch upon  this aspect , but after lunch,  took us to a  12th century ( Solanki period) archaeological site showcasing the 'Toranas' on the bank of Lake Sharmishtha. Some people believe - I learnt later from internet sites - that the 'Toranas' were part of a big palace or temple complex , built elsewhere and now transplanted in the present location.There is very little of the  complex  in the vicinity of the 'Toranas' , except for some stone slabs, with reliefs,statues and motifs. Those were   found strewn around. I  have read that a lot of them have disappeared - the ones which survived  - are neatly arranged.I took photographs of some of those few  preserved in the location.

One of the several Saiva imageries that survived ravages of time. Here, Siva has four arms. View http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India////photo1268068.htm for a ten-armed Kala Bhairava

The 'Toranas' are about 40' tall. They have several 'Makara' motifs on them, much like the 'Yalis' of South India. There are deities and social scenes carved in stone.The statues and motifs have suffered a lot of erosion - a lot of the details were left to my imagination.Some of the interpretation is my imagination !

View of the top of the magnificent 'Torana' top. At the centre, Kartikeya sits in in yogic posture - we can see his three faces only . His peacock is  at his feet. Is his consort Devasena on his left ? 'Makara' motif appears repeatedly.

On the left, Uma  rests on the left thigh of Siva . On the right, we see a naked woman stooping to touch the feet of a man coming towards her.Two on lookers, one standing and one in a sitting posture placed in the background. What the man in the right flank trying to do ?

This one is ,very likely, an erotic wall relief .A very interesting  wall relief of this site is my last entry for this   blog of mine .

Wife 1 pulls at the hair of wife 2 while the husband tries to bring the temperature down !!

Note - Please refer to http://vadnagar.blogspot.com/   for more details.

IN PURSUIT OF SIVA ICONOGRAPHY - I

PILGRIMAGE  EXTRAORDINARY !

This is my season of thanksgiving! Before Ruby and I embark on our journey through AP and North Karnataka in pursuit of Siva/Shakti/Vishnu iconography.

My interest in Siva iconography was kindled by the books I could lay my hands on @ NY Libraries - at Schwarzman Building  and Lincon Center. Three  from the books I went through were presented to me on the eve of our departure by my elder son  Sujash and his friend Miriam .Two rounds of thanks go to them.

Bhiksatana Siva from temple @ Kanchipuram (not in my current itinerary)
(Photo used from Internet)

Special thanks go to my e-friends who have spent valuable time in advising me about the logistics and other innumerable details of the trip I have planned for February,11.

Siva and Vishnu are two major deities of  Hindu religion, worshiped across the country.Vishnu has ten 'manifestations -Dashavatar - whereas Siva has none.Most of Siva temples have SivaLinga and a few have an idol like the following :

Siva-Shankara-Bhairava @ a temple in Chittorgarh,Rajasthan

But through the ages, Siva's imagery has gone through lots of changes. He has been visualised , through centuries,as  the following, perhaps many more :

• Pasupati of pre-Vedic ages.
• Rudra, the Archer of Vedic hymns.
• Bhikshtana Siva, Androgyneous Siva
• Kalyana Murti,Gajasura-sanhara Murti,Gangadharana Murti etc
• Bhairava, Kal-Bhairava
• Nataraj and
• Linga

Who knows if some of the later ones were based on heads of sects practising Saivism ? A great disciple was transformed , in the followers' mind as an 'avatar', an incarnation of Siva. Foremost example - Lakulisha .I believe, imageries of Bhairava and KalBhairava  were connected to real lives.

Those who are very much interested may please read the excellent and handy compilation of Margaret Stuteley :

 

Ruby and I  hope to capture many of Siva's imageries during this 'pilgrimage'.  And those of Shakti and Vishnu too.We shall not be able to savour the beauty of miss the Ganges and majestic Himalayas like  the pilgrims to Kedarnath and   Badrinath  . Instead, here, my bonus will come from another 'H' - history. And the Tungabhadra, the river which inspired novelist   Saradindu Bandopadhyay.

A NEWYEAR'S GIFT FROM A TRAVEL-PHOTOGRAPHY-FREAK

The 'SURPRISE' Gift




When DJ Ray insisted on getting my address as he wanted to send a 'New Year's Greetings' by post, little did I expect the surprise he was readying for despatch!!

I came to know DJ Ray through flickr.com. When I was studying about Iconography of Siva during my stay in New York  June-August, 2010, Those days, I spent a good amount of time on Internet resources looking for materials on this subject.This is when I came across photos of DJ Ray and Mukul Banerjee , covering wall reliefs from Badami/Aihole/Pattadakal.

I left an elaborate  comment on his photo of  'Nataraja Pattadakal', highlighting the details from the viewpoint of Siva's Iconography ( view : http://www.flickr.com/photos/djray1943/4718038964/) , thus earning his acquaintance. The reward came yesterday noon. It is a 12-pages table calendar, printed on glossy paper. Each page....26.5 cmX 22 cm in size....contains 22.5cmX13cm photos of architecture/reliefs from Hampi/Badami/Aihole/Pattadakal clicked by DJR.

What a wonderful gift! Thanks a lot DJ Ray!


Readers of this page - please take your time to appreciate this person's pages of wanderlust in http://www.flickr.com/photos/djray1943/with/4718038964/.

DURGA PUJA IN CALCUTTA - 2010

A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE EVENING OF  NABAMI


The earliest  images of Durga Puja I recall is  of  a village in Murshidabad district , known as  Shimulia , wherefrom the family of my mother originates. My grandfather, who was a doctor in Calcutta, had his establishment in Shimulia village. I recall the Candimandap, the Goddess in Her full glory, the priest's puja offering in chaste Sanskrit and sacrifice of goats on Sandhipuja and Nabami. My grandfather's elder brother would match the crescendo of  the dhakis' percussion with loud calling out  of prayers  during the moments of sacrifices. Later, I  realised, he ... and the priest , Bhondul masai.... used to be under the influence of alcohol at those moments.

After my grandfather expired,  fund flow  for this Durga Puja dried up. Later, as my uncles did nor take any interest in their ancestors property, their relatives sold off the buildings and landed property piece by piece.

The Candimandap is now nearly flattened, but for a small portion where idol of Maa Carcikaa.... worshiped by the family for generations.....has been kept. With a son of my mother's cousin's family getting financially established and being in a position to revive the tradition. I did not have an opportunity to be present at Shimulia this Puja (2010), but, offer my prayer to the deity as I found Her last February when Ruby and I visited Shimulia village .

Decades after, in my sixties, I have collected a good number of  Duga Puja's photos. Since I purchased my 1st digital camera while @ Durgapur , I have taken scores of photos of  Puja for many years. I am no longer young, I  visit   a few pandals in Calcutta in the vicinity which have earned good name for splendour and artistic merit. A good representation  of  current days style of decoration and display  I have collected through years !


One of the best  idols I have seen is here :

 I do not like the doll-like idols which have become quite popular these days in Calcutta. Initially, this style  appealed a lot , but now , repetition  has rubbed off the novelty. Here is a photo of one such idol which is a few years old. I was quite fond of this style .... but too many copies have now been made. The advantage of  having such an idol has probably a relationship with cost. This type of  idol is relatively small in size and therefore organisers do not have to shell out a fortune for the kind Ballygunge Cultural or Ekdalia Evergreen needs. So,  other attractions like pandal decoration gets a good share of  the collection .

But,  the hype in media  before and during the Puja days have brought a question in my mind. There is a lot of emphasis on the crowd a Puja pandal attracts. We find a spirit of carnival among the revelers ! The more is the publicity, the more crowd the pandal pulls.... thus attracting larger Corporate contribution. I often wonder, so much time goes into planning  a pandal's shape and decoration and hundreds of man-hours go into creating it ,  do not   fare appreciation from the swelling crowd. Thousands of people streaming through the In- and Out-  gates get just a glimpse of the splendour created as the volunteers herd the people at every stage. If one has to savour the 'creations', only time to visit is early mornings .... when lighting cannot be enjoyed.... and the evenings of Dashami/Ekadashi , when crowd pressure is minimal.I remember once Badamtala Puja committee had displayed a style based Kalighat's pata. I went in the evening of Ekadashi and could take as many photos as I wanted to , because there was a handful people around. but, then , the maximum number pandals one can cover will be between 10 and 15, hardly more !