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.

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.

IN PURSUIT OF SIVA ICONOGRAPHY -III

THE WONDERFUL TEMPLES AT VILLAGE LAKUNDI

Damaged sculpture of 'Vishnu reclining on Ananta'. Lots of details attract our notice. Vishnu is exquisitely built, ornaments on his limbs, torso neck and head are beautiful.His consort is bare-breasted, with a locket and a sacred thread running through her torso intact, Her left leg is bent while only thefingerss of right leg have survived. Look at the Makara and conch ,wheel ("Chakra'), mace of Vishnu depicted on the base - lotus lost to ravages of time.

Sculpture at Museum of Lakundi.

Lakundi is a village near Karnataka's big town Gadag - approximately 20 km from it.Mr Deshmukh, the soft-spoken and knowledgeable Manager of Hotel Mayur Bhubaneswari, Hampi guided us into visiting Lakundi - he suggested that we avoid the direct Hospet - Badami bus route as a stretch of that was not in good shape.He suggested a slight detour - he advised us to proceed to Badami via Gadag
and have a stop-over at Lakundi. Lakundi has a bus-stop , a small shed for local passengers , but, not a big place for tourists.We landed there with our small baggage during the village's lunch-break hours  of a bright day in February,2011. The only auto-rickshaw driver's greed for a kill was tamed by a middle-aged man and we savoured a wonderful  treat of Chalukya architecture of 10th Century AD for next few hours.

A few hundred meters on the right hand side of the highway to Gadag stands Manikeshwara temple and an attached  Pushkarini with 3 very well laid-out staircases leading down to it.On the left hand side of this highway, we visited the local Museum, adjacent Jain temples - Brahma Jinalaya and Naganatha temples which share the same compound, Naneswara temple and lastly the Kashi Vishwanatha and Surya temples complex which share the same compound and are connected by a common platform too.

Blackstone Brahma in Jain temples complex.

Brahma,Siva-Parvati and Vishnu on the lintel of Naneswara temple.

Intricate work on black stone is a speciality of the temples of Lakundi.

Some of these temples have numbers of  green- and black-stone pillars, with delicately polished surfaces . A couple of them, when wet, act as concave mirrors ! Lots of delicate work - carvings and and forms - hold the viewers spellbound ! On the outside walls of the two temples mentioned last , one can see Hindu deities and scenes from mythology, a few of which are not very common. The divine and human figures showcase dance postures which made my task of photo-editing and uploading a pleasure.

 Musicians in classical dance postures. Work on black stone.

Naneswara temple, Lakundi.

KashiViswanatha temple (near)  and Surya temple (far) share the same compound and have a common platform connecting the two.

The most unusual wall relief shows Siva dancing on skeletal Andhakasura, his top two hands hold  torn skin of Gajasura and in  notable similarity with RavanPhadi cave of Aihole, accompanied by Ganesha and Devi on his left and Yogeswari (?) on his right . There are several celestial figures in the frame , all in various dance postures, now broken beyond recognition.The posture of Siva is unique - we can see his rear side as he is dancing away from us - then in an extra-ordinary dance posture, he has turned hsis face towards us. Comparable is Nataraja of Muvar temple, Koddumbalur(TN) and a MahisuraMardimi Murty created by late Jiten Pal in 22nd Palli DurgaPuja in early 1960s.

Awesome combination of AndhakasuraMardan and GajasuraSanhara Murty Siva has eight hands, his face lost all the features, but typically, he has two different earrings ! 

KashiViswanatha Temple, Lakundi

A conventional depiction of Siva's Andhakasura Mardana.He is pierced by Siva's trident and held up .

The frame is balanced by a figure on Siva's left - either Parvati or Yogeswari.

KashiViswanatha Temple, Lakundi

NB - All the photos above have been taken   either by my wife or me.

Reference documents :
1. Siva in Dance,Myth and Iconography by Anne-Marie Gaston.
2.http://karnatakatravel.blogspot.com/2009/11/temples-of-lakkundi.html

WONDERFUL HAMPI - 1

 PHOTOS FROM OUR VISIT DIARY TO HAMPI

 A view of the road-side wall-paintings along the route to Hampi from Hospet. A bullock cart crawls into my camera's frame as I try to capture Krishna Debaraya II offering prayer to Narayana in his temple.

Gopuram of Virupaksha temple - any visit to the wonders of Hampi starts from this temple !

'I enjoyed our trip to Hampi very much' will be such an understatement , it will not express the level of satisfaction I had during this trip to Hampi in February,2011.Nor the excitement I feel during recapitulation.

Immediately after spending two days at Hampi, Ruby and I proceeded to Badami from the near-by town Hospet, stopping at Lakundi in between to visit the not-so-well-known temples and museum there and then landed in the epicentre of Hindu Iconography ! Overwhelmed we were and now, when I go through the photographs we took during our trip, I wonder - shall I ever be able to write blogs to represent the 'joy' of visiting Hampi and Badami !

 Three headed Nandi  and a calf attracting salutation of devotees at Virupaksha temple.

Hampi's attractions have many dimensions. Westerners visit this place , drawn by its beauty and its status as a World heritage site . It has wonderful topography, excellent sunrise and sunset points, rich historical background. It has temples and palaces built in grand style, offering an oeuvre of Hindu Iconography.One can walk miles among ruins and hillocks made of strange-shaped stones or float in the cool blue water of the Tungabhadra river in boats made by bamboo.

A few photos with brief descriptions  are here to share our joy of  Hampi visit - more will follow.

Gates of  Hampi's monuments are often a photographer's delight - and that of 'students' of Iconography too. The gates of Krsna, Vitthala and Malyavanta Raghunatha temples offer  large choices. Southern face of Krsna temple, the outside face of  the main entrance of Vitthala temples are in good shape - rest are in various degrees of ruin. Picking up 'Icons' from bad/worse portions of these gates is a difficult job. Among the gates of good portions, King's march to battlefield is famous - I have found excellent 'Putana and Krsna',Durga and Nataraja among these gates !

 

Southern gate  of the Vitthala temple complex. Most of the details , even the heads are gone. 

Afternoon sun brightens the gloom while two parrots  rest on two headless statues !

Click for bigger view .

Lots of Westerners come here and enjoy the ambiance and Indian sculpture. I wish they had more knowledgeable guides - in Rama's temple - where walls are adorned with tales from Ramayana, I felt these visitors are somewhat lost.I asked a visitor if she could enjoy these wall-reliefs. She replied - 'Partly. My driver explained a few scenes'.We face the same situation in Europe and USA's museums. One can enjoy Vitthala temple even without understanding the tales on the wall reliefs - upto a point.Here are two photos from this temple complex  connected with Krsna.

Each of the pillars adorning this prayer hall in Vitthala temple stand out for its beauty. 

Watvh how superbly depicted the scene of Krsna  stealing away the clothes of Gopis 

who were enjoying a bath in the river Yamuna !

Krsna merged with imagery of Vishnu. Krsna has Vishnu's headgear, not his usual knotted hair - known as 'Mohanchura'. Ananta Nag spreads his hood over the god' head.He holds a flute with his lower hands , a conch and wheel ('chakra') with his upper ones. Krsna's tribhanga, cows from Vrindavana and two consorts are the other highlights of this imagery.

I found that ASI is clamping down on vandals and photographers with dishonest intentions while the interested visitors are suffering. Tripods are not allowed - poor light affects quality of shots taken by hand-held cameras. One cannot access the Musical Hall of Vitthala temple complex ! So one of the most beautiful section of this complex stay unseen. Nor a visitor can enjoy the musical pillars !

Visitors are not allowed to 'enjoy' his drumbeats !

Capturing this Drummer's photo is not an easy task anymore !

Catching a woman drying her saree after a dip in a river has become  a very a common theme these days, thanks to a few celebrity photographers. Two photographers  capture this woman in this act,

while the river Tungabhadra flows in the background.

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.

TALE OF SIVA & ANDHAKASURA - A JOURNEY FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT !

A  STORY OF POWER,LUST AND ……REDEMPTION

  Andhakasura pierced by Siva's trident and held up in the air.

Siva defeated Andhakasura after a prolonged battle,with help of SaptaMatrika.

ANDHAKAUSURA’s lineage  is not clear to me. It is said :

Siva and Parvati were enjoying a very pleasant day at Mandara  parvat.  Parvati  closed the eyes of Siva playfully and darkness descended on the universe. Parvati was perplexed and her palms were  wet with perspiration. As she removed  her hands from the eyes of Siva, the universe emerged out of darkness. Yet, from the droplets of sweat of Parvati that fell on ground, a child was born and he was blind. He was noticed by the divine couple when he roared . 

Siva gave away this blind child to Hiranyaksha, the Daitya king who was childless and was  doing tapas for a son. This child, very much unwanted among the gods, would one day rule the world as Andhakasura.

What do we learn from  the beginning of this story  ? Andhakasura was  perhaps from an unknown lineage whom Parvati did not find  worthy of her compassion and blessing. Did this child have an easy and normal childhood ? The story-tellers have not told us anything about that. We know that Andhakasura  grew to  be a competent warrior, faced jealousy in the palace and did rigorous tapas to earn  attention of Lord Brahma. He asked for a life of victories . And  a life without death. The second part was not granted. Andhakasura was to die when he would try to grab the unattainable.

Andhakasura  conquered the universe. Nothing  wrong in that. Devas were inconvenienced. So what ! The universe belongs to the hero – Devas lost their ’kingdom’  to Daityas and Asuras  on umpteen occasions.

Vishnu , who  vanquished  Andhaka’s foster father  Hiranyaksha and his brother Hiranyakashipu, was not  successful in his battle  against Andhaka. The pendulum  of success in  battle with Devas - the gods – swung in favour of this hero.

At this point, Andhaka committed the error that would ruin his life and throw him into the jaws of death. He went to Mandar with his friends and possibly a pose’ of  soldiers. He heard from his friends about a Yogi and his beautiful wife. His fate , which took Andhaka from a give-away blind child’s position to pinnacle of success, did a volute-face .Andhakasura wanted to possess the beautiful woman of Mandara  – did he know the woman he coveted was Parvati ? Who could have been his mother !

Now, Siva was drawn into a fierce battle against Andhakasura. He , according to one account, had to go for a long tapas to augment his vigour to the level required while  Brahma, Vishnu,Varahamurty, Indra, Kartikeya and Yama  held fort. Siva, on his return from his tapas, joined the battle. But he found killing Andhakasura was not possible as each drop of blood  from his body that fell on the ground gave birth to another  Andhakasura. In this battle, Andhakasura was helped by Shukracharya , the guru of the Daityas.

  Siva stands in the centre of this wall-relief,surrounded by Yogeswari and SaptaMatrikas.He holds  his trident on his right shoulder.A Matrika  bends  herself to drink blood from a 'Kapala' in his left hand. Siva is ithyphallic.Gajasura is seen on  the upper right-side of this relief.Many figures crowd the relief too.

Temple at SriMukhalingam,A.P.*

* NOTE :- This wall-relief, which sets the theme of this great temple, is nearly invisible from the view of the devotees and pilgrims.It is at the centre of the principal temple, just at the merging point of the Mandapa and the Garbhagriha. One needs a binocular to view the details.I shall analyse a blow-up this wall-relief later if I can add more interesting and important details.

Siva then created a Devi by his divine power – Devi Yogeswari – who was joined by Matrikas created by the  warring seven gods. Each of these Matrikas  was identically endowed as the  god she was representing. Yogeswari and the Matrikas would drink each droplet of blood of    Andhakasura, thus stopping him from multiplying.At the same time, Siva subdued Shukracharya too.

 Sapta Matrika. Collection at Museum , Aihole, Karnataka.

Gradually, Andhakasura was cornered. He  could not multiply further and his retinue's strength started getting depleted.Siva , then, struck his final blow. He pierced Andhakasura's chest with his trident and held him up. After ‘a thousand years’ in the suspended position, Andhakasura  realised his mistake and prayed for forgiveness.  Siva blessed him to lead a  reformed life  among the Pramathas and Ganas who accompany Siva. Andhakasura  was rechristened  ‘Bhringee’ and has been depicted as a human with a skeletal form.

Siva dances with Devi on his left and Bhringee - transformed Andhakasura - on his right.Nataraja touches Devi's cheek.Skeletal Bhringee imitates dance pose of Nataraja - watch his 'Gajahasta' posture.Siva is ithyphallic, with Nandi looking upwards.

SriMukhalingam temple,A.P.

Andhakasura’s story is  the story of a tragic hero, of a very successful person of obscure lineage, of lust for unattainable , of persistence against  divine onslaught  and finally, of realisation of his misdeeds and redemption. Perhaps, in another level, the mythological tale is  reminder of darkness  within us, that multiplies to engulf our  wisdom - only a divine intervention , a big conflict brings light back to our mind and life .  Much has not been written about Andhakasura in our mythology , much less from  his view point. If I were Amish Tripathy, I would have written  about Andhaka’s rise , fall and redemption. And his life  as Bhringee – in servitude of his parents-like Siva-Parvati – one of whom he challenged and the other whom he coveted.

 A view of the gallery showing 'Dance of Nataraja' at RavanPhadi,Aihole Karnataka.Here we find three Matrkas placed at right angle of the main wall-relief. Here, we have a limited view of Ganesha,Yogeswari and right knee of Nataraja. Skeletal Bhringee in the corner strikes a pose too with his right hand in 'Gajahasta' posture.

 A lot of what I have narrated  here has come from various sources in the internet. A few questions arose in my mind :

• Did Andhakasura, in the darkest hour of his lust, know  that Parvati was like her mother ?
• Was his attraction for Parvati  laced with Oedipus complex ?
• Did Andhaka have a resentment against her ?
• If Karna and Andhaka would come face-to-face, how would  they relate to each other’s destiny, actions, beliefs and regrets ?