An exciting discovery and a 1931 scoop for The Hindu

Sadly, even after 80 years - there are not many published works on these beautiful paintings and some rare attempts have been met with copyright and other issues. Normal visitors to the site are also not allowed permission to view these !! As i write this, i am forced to use already published photos on the net, but then the question lingers that when the artist himself didn’t sign the work,preferring to remain forever immortal yet anonymous, who are we to put copyrights on mere photos, thereby diminishing the great tradition of this land and depriving many of the sheer joy of viewing these.

To truly understand and appreciate the greatness of this artist, i wish to showcase one small panel in a fresco - the ascent of Saint Sundarar ( on Indra’s white elephant) along with Cheraman Perumal ( on a white horse) to the heavens. Much has been already written upon the theme of this panel and i am given to understand a few Phd thesis have been presented on it, sadly as is the case with many of our draconian policies, these are never accessible to anyone !!! Anyway, coming back to the post, we are going to see only a small portion of this panel - to be specific just Cheraman Perumal and the horse.

Photo: Courtesy
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/india-ancient-art/behl-photography

Before we dwell further, just a short note on why i wanted to showcase this particular work. Somehow, horses have a certain raw energy in them, the ripple of the muscle, the grace of the arching limbs, the sway of the tail and mane - they are an artist’s delight ( next only to beautiful women)!. No wonder Da Vinci did considerable studies on them. Recently there was a program on Discovery or National Geographic about one of his unfinished works - a collosal 24 foot bronze horse. As i was following up on the sheer effort the great artist had put on the study of horses, there was something familar about it. See his sketches and read on..

Photos: Various sources on the net

We now come to the Chola fresco. Sri C. Sivaramamurthy, one of the greatest connoisseurs of art and chola art in particular, writes about this specific piece thus ( he has sketched the outline as well for us to enjoy)

http://www.yabaluri.org/TRIVENI/CDWEB/SomeFrescoesoftheCholasnov33.htm

The picture of the rider on the horse in fig. 2 is equally attractive in every detail. There is a grace in the way in which he holds the reins in one hand and the long wand in the other. The horse though reminding one of the animals the of that species, especially the white one in the centre in the Battle of St. Egidio by Paolo Uccello in the National Gallery, and though appearing to be defective in drawing to some extent in the so-called modern academic sense–one has to bear in mind that many pictures of great masters cannot stand this test so well, which is, to confess the truth, never a test of true greatness and worth–is yet a unique example of the skill in animal drawing in those far-off days, and testimony to this is borne by the magnificent elephant that is painted very close to it.

We will see the mentioned elephant in a subsequent post. Since the sketch is of low resolution, have retouched it for our better enjoyment. ( i wish i could get one of our more talented artists to paint it as per the original color scheme !!)

Sri C. Sivaramamurthy, does mention the resemblance to Battle of St. Egidio by Paolo Uccello in the National Gallery.

The color combinations do bear an uncanny resemblance. But to me, as i look back at Da Vinci’s sketches and this fresco, it slowly dawns on me - every detail - the roundness of the horses back, the detailing of the rear legs, the fullness of the chest, the majestic head, the neatly cropped and braided mane, the prancing of the front legs,the exactness of proportion, the inch perfect joints, the subtly hinted muscularity - though not as pronounced as Da vinci’s studies, the clarity of the hoofs…..leaves me speech less.

Take a bow, O anonymous chola painter, we salute you.

p.s Maybe, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the Big temple, the authorities can bring out atleast a book on these paintings if not putting these up on their sites for the world to relish.

Many cultures pride themselves on their antiquity and there is a conscious effort to push back the time frames to gain that extra yardage in terms of publicity. This is prevalent across all cultures and across continents. There is something that makes `yours’ special that you want to feed on it - that you are special and above the rest and want to prove that yours is the most ancient, technologically advanced etc etc. But then, there are certain events, that kind of make you sit up and realise reality - reasoning between the logical thinking of your brain and the vanity that still resides in your heart. Today’s post is one such.

On one side you have the reasoning like above, but on the other side you have things that completely baffle you, logically impossible coincidences. What we are going to see is one such. Stone Circles.

STONE CIRCLES

We were driving down a mud road enroute to Malaiyadipatti, inside pudukkottai district, when we chanced on a familiar blue board, albiet in a very shockingly sad condition.

Yes, an ASI warning signboard - but we were a bit perplexed that there were no temples or ruins around. So, i stepped down to investigate.

On closer scrutiny, we realised that this was where it all began…this was a stone circle. Dated to between 1000 to 300 BCE, these marked grave sites. Large urns, containing collected bones were buried in a small pit, and these stones mark the periphery.

The beauty of this is that, this was no random stones bunched together, but these were stones made of laterite - material which is not available in the near vicinity, but in some cases as far away as 10 - 20 kms away. So this was part of some definitive ancestral worship ritual.

The beauty to me lay in their perfect geometry and how they have lasted so many years.

But on the same side, i did realise that they were pretty rudimentary, no markings, no stone workings, no sculptures etc. True the contents of the cists were interesting and even recently the potsherds had a very scripts, Yet…

This comes to where we started with a few questions. True, there are definite accounts of atleast two major sea incursions in South India, destroying and permanently submerging vast tracts of land, swallowing advanced cultures - but even after providing for all those, would you return back to a iron age lifestyle - for this is not an isolated find, scroll through the ASI site and search for megalithic !!

ASI - Megalithic

The puzzle gets more interesting if you google for stone circles and find them all over the world.

But what i wanted to say in the post, would maybe not go down well with even a few of my friends - the Great Pyramids of Egypt had been standing already for 2000 years when our great great forefathers made these stone circles in Pudukkottai.

At a period when southeast asian art was just about finding its place in the art world, for an European master to shower such praise this sculpture, i have read that the true test for a diamond is for it to be scratched against another diamond - for glass would be scratched, while two diamonds would come out intact, is indeed a perfect test - for both. But today i see both competing to add luster to each. It takes a great craftsmen and above it a pure heart and love for art, to appreciate a thing of beauty - though not your own, for often you reserve the best for your work, and tend to put yours or maybe your countrymen’s work or your period’s work in higher esteem, while attempting such a comparison. But the highlight of this study, is maybe the comparison to Venus De Meidici!! read on and enjoy.

Rodin studied two bronzes - the one that is featured below and another from Velankanni area - which i will try and showcase in the coming days. Since these are exhibited under museum lighting inside glass cases and we didn’t have the privilege of photographing with tripods ( images by me and arvind) - we were handicapped on occasions in not getting the right shots and also constantly experimenting with flash on and off!!

Written in 1913 and first published in 1921, Rodin’s The Dance of Shiva considers
a bronze statue of the Hindu god, through a carefully-crafted set of written impressions. This short work showcases the unique passion and melodrama of Rodin’s written voice.

The Dance of Shiva
by Auguste Rodin

Looking upon the whole of Shiva

In the full flower of life, the flow of living, the air, the sun, the
sense of being is a rushing torrent. Thus appears the art of the
Far East to us!

The human body attained divinity in that age, not because
we were closer to our origins—for our forms have remained
the same—but because we believed in freeing ourselves completely
from the constraints of now, and we spun away into the
heavens. It is a pleasure sorely missed…

From a certain angle, Shiva is but a slender crescent.
What endowment; what pride of body!
Today it is perpetual beauty in bronze. The imperceptible
movement of the light. One can sense the immobile muscles,
bathed in luminescence, ready to erupt into action if the light
should shift…

The shadows move nearer and nearer, cloaking the masterpiece,
lending it the enchantment of the deep melancholy of
darkness, of that place where it has lingered so long…
These hints of perfection! The mist of the body! As in some
divine creation, there is no trace of rebellion in this body; one
senses that everything is just as it should be. In it, we can understand
the rotation of the arm, even in repose, by examining
the shoulder blade, its protuberance, the rib cage, the admirable
attachment of the ribs, closely contoured to hold the shoulder
blade in place, the arm ready for action. The side, the line of
the torso continuing; narrow here, strong there, widening to
articulate two thighs, two rods, two levers; the angles perfect,
the legs delicate as they dance lightly upon the earth…

Looking upon a profile of Shiva

They are admirable, these two hands that separate the breast
from the stomach in a gesture that could rival that of the
Venus de’ Medici, shielding her beauty with her arms, in its
gracefulness. So, with the same clever movement, does Shiva
protect himself.

This straight shadow that divides the torso into two parts, gilding
the length of the thighs, one half in darkness and the other
entirely in chiaroscuro, within full reach of the shadow. The
pubis cannot be seen, cloaked as it is in this darkness…
In sum, it is the virtues of depth, of opposition, of lightness, of
power, that matter here—but none of them are worth anything
alone; they are useless embellishments except in relation to
movement…

These legs with their elongated muscles contain only speed.
The close-drawn thighs, a double caress, jealously guarding
the mysterious shadows; the beautiful field of darkness rendered
more marked by the light gleaming on the thighs.

Facing Shiva directly

It is a pose often used by artists, but there is nothing common
about it—for there is nature in every pose, and such distance!
There is, above all, what many people cannot see—the unknown
depths, the core of life. There is grace in elegance;
beyond grace there is perfection; but this goes farther still.

We may call it gentle, but it is powerfully gentle! Words do
not suffice…
There are garlands of shadows stretching brokenly from shoulder
to hip, and from hipbone to thigh at right angles…

On another profile of Shiva

These two legs with their differing illumination; this thigh that
casts a long shadow upon the other leg.
If there were no interior perfection, the contour could not be so
full and supple; it would be sharp, with that straight shadow.

On the supposedly barbarous art of Shiva

The ignorant man simplifies and sees crudely; he draws back
from superior art in order to love the inferior; he realizes
nothing. One must study more deeply to be interested, and
to see…

Upon lengthy contemplation of the head of Shiva

This swollen mouth, bulging, abundant in its sensual expressiveness…
The tenderness of the mouth and eye are in harmonious accord.
These lips, like a pleasure lake bordered by noble, thrilling nostrils.
The mouth undulates in moist pleasure, sinuous as a snake; the
eyes are closed, swollen, closed amidst a drapery of lashes.
The wings of the nose, delicately drawn against the fullness of
the face.

The lips that form words, that move when they escape. Such a
succulent serpent in action!
The eyes that have only a corner in which to hide have the
purity of line, the tranquility, of twin stars.

The sunlit tranquility of these eyes, the tranquil lines, the tranquil
joy of this calm.
The curves converge and end at the chin.
The expression continues with one ending that turns back into
another. The movements of the mouth are lost in the cheeks.

The curve that runs from the ear, echoing a small curve that
tugs at the mouth and a bit at the wings of the nose; it is a circle
that passes under the nose and the chin, and reaches all the way
to the cheekbones.
The curving, upturned cheeks.
Still before the eloquent head of Shiva

This lovely lost profile has a profile of its own, but one in which
its expressiveness ends—is frozen—leaving the alluring cheeks
curving downward to join with the muscles of the neck.

Translation courtesy: Tina Kover
Venus image - from web sources.

The master artist used to look for some very unusual and complicated angles, postures - which he could bring out. He was not someone who would even miss out the smallest detail. To illustrate this point, i am taking a very very important sketch of his, of a very very important but forgotten temple - Tiruvalanchuli. There is so much of mystery associated with this temple, that i am fortune to have the blessings of one of my mentors Sri Sundar Bharadwaj, a man of big deeds but in true spirit, not someone who will trumpet his contributions to heritage and conservation. Am indebted to him for many things and this post is a small payback, to bring his favorite temple to the limelight.

This is his famous sketch - its apparent that the temple was in ruins and all the sculptures were dumped outside. This was sketched on site 50 years ago

The sculptures have been removed from the temple and kept in the museums in tanjore ( except for the Ganesha sculpture)

The temple has since been renovated and is read to receive its treasures. Now, thanks to Satheesh and Mr Bharadwaj, we try to fit in missing pieces - inorder to seek the support of readers to voice out for their return. Its also a lasting testament to the great skill of the master artist.

I hope you had as much fun as me, to match every curve, every ornament and sadly every broken stone to identify them. We will continue shortly with a detailed post from appreciating sculpture perspective, for each of these are fantastic sculptures in their own right and require a separate post to highlight their beauties - as of now just rewind and see the master artist at work.

Meantime, a quiz to test your identification skills - lets see if you can identify the various sculptures in this order?

For the ones we could find the sculptures

Better still - to try for the entire sketch.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Visiting Kancheepuram was a long pending item on my to do list. Though I made few visits in my school and college days, I had not visited this treasure trove for long.

The interest to visit was rekindled during my conversations with a good friend. Finally last week, made an impulsive decision to visit the place. I also gave myself the whole weekend to visit as many places as I could.
My good friend Gopinatha Srinivas readily accepted to join me for the trip.

As we were temple hopping, drunk in the beauty of the sculptures, battling the heat, we could cover Kailasandhar Kovil, Katchepawarar Kovil, Kamatchi Amman kovil and Ulagalantha Perumal Kovil on Saturday. We called it day then.

Next morning we wanted to cover as many as possible by the time the temples closed in the afternoon. We started with Ekkamabareswarar Kovil and moved on to Vaikunda Perumal Kovil. Ekkambareswarar Kovil, though huge did not have as many interesting sculptures proportionate to its size. While Vaikunda Perumal koil, was a riot. Every panel there is exquisite and was forcing us stay put.

Interestingly there are panels with Huang-San, replica of Mahabalipuram shore temple (in the Nandivarma Pallavamalla’s ascend to the throne). The panels on the praharas were filled with various coronations of the Pallava Kings. The priest there was kind enough to tell us the other temples we need to visit in the vicinity.

Mathengesawar Temple is just 200 meters away from Vaikundaperumal Koil. This should be the most well hidden temple I had come across.

The directions given to us was to take the 2nd right from where we had parked at Vaikunda perumal koil, the second right was a small lane, as we entered it, we could see a gopuram and our eagerness soared, but there was no approach from the lane we had taken. We reversed and went the next right, which happens to be a main road. As we moved along the road looking for the temple, it never came to our sight. We parked our car and started to walk back to check again, if we had missed the temple.

As we retraced our route, we caught the little ASI board and an adjacent narrow lane, which was the entrance to the temple. This lane is about 30 feet, leading to open clear space. The whole temple complex should be less than 4000 sq.ft. There is single shrine which is well elevated from the ground level. There is a nandhi opposite to the shrine and a banyan tree adjacent to it. From the looks of it the Banyan tree attracts more visitors than the temple.

10 steps lead to the corridor of the shrine, which are quiet steep.

Central shrine houses the linga with a backdrop of Somaskanda panel, which is exquisite. Which styling is this?

The three walls of the the shrine on the outer has some brilliant sculptures, the sandstone had lent itself for some intricate carvings.

Small and very beautiful temple, the sculptures here stays in my eyes now, and hope it would for ever. If not, I can go back to these photographs or back to Kancheepuram to see the beauty again.

Wait for part 2 - for more beauties from here and more history about it….

Vishnudharmottara , Ch 43 V 28

I heard this for the first time in a fantastic evening lecture by Sri Sivaramakrishnan, who teaches art students in the Government Fine Arts College, Chennai. Thanks to a lucky invite from Sri Swaminathan. It was a wonderful evening, seeing sculpture from an artist’s perspective. But the real treat was towards the end when he went into explaining a few masterpieces of art from Ajanta.

I have heard many friends who visit Ajanta, lured by the timeless masterpieces on display, yet do they really appreciate what is on display ?

This is where experts come into play. To illustrate this, ( thanks to Sri Sivaramakrishnan for allowing me to post this ) - i take one of the murals and try to showcase it to portray its true beauty. I didnt take any notes, so all the positives are attributable to him but if there are any mistakes, please pardon my poor memory.

This is what majority of the thousands of visitors streaming through Ajanta see. Sadly this is what is left of these wonderful creations, yet there is still something left in it for us to take it as a subject of our study and justify the title of this post. Can’t believe, ok, take a look again at the mural, focusing to the right of the screen. You can vaguely make out a dark colored lady.

This is taken at the entrance to Cave 17, and the lady shown is the famous Black Apasara, a member of the troup that is descending to earth to worship the Buddha.

Lets zoom in and see her

Impressive - yes, but hang on to your comments!! Let me take on the task of communicating the greatness of this artwork from an art expert’s view.

Before that, let me take the help of artist friend Prasad to do a quick sketch to fully understand what is there in the painting ( this was a rough sketch by him )

There are certain key elements of this painting that we need to focus on

We take the first one. Chitrasutra section of Vishnudharmottara ( an ancient treatise on Painting) observes

Rekham prashansantyacharya
Varnadhyamitare janah

or simply ” the masters judge through the line”

For those of us who have read about Murals and frescos - or rather even tried our hand at simple brush painting, the simple yet splendid beauty of the above creation, executed with just a single smooth stroke of the brush held in the hands of the master artist , is mesmerizing.

Its not just the simple lines nor or they curved or straight lines - for there is subtle suggestion of a bulge of the eyeball and the roundness of the black circle.

Another verse..

Api laghu likhiteyam
drisyate purnamurith

meaning ” with the minimum of drawing almost the full form of the figure is represented”

Ok, i am not going to keep quoting these ancient texts, how does our master painter fare when we talk in contemporary terms ?

Most art classes would start with explaining perspectives - Linear perspective for example is projecting the three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface.

Now, lets look at the earrings of our subject

You can see that the left ear ring is actually just two parallel lines - with a hint of curve on the bottom. Now view it in conjunction with the right ear ring - where you see the expert rendition - the oval lines gives you the perspective of the circular ornament.

I come back to the initial quote with which i started the post. Movement. Well consider this, the Apsara is descending when suddenly her attention is caught by the person next to her. You can see her eyes looking to her left. Her face is depicted just turning, but the piece de resistance are these.

Do you notice how the artist has masterly captured the life in the painting, movement of the sway of the hanging jewelery. When she is suddenly stopped, the lag in the jewelery is expertly observed and highlighted.

Even in that you can notice contemporary techniques - take foreshortening for instance - a technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding into the background. See how the beads of the necklace nearer to the center of the chest are larger than those that are going over the shoulder.

Thus, you know that this was rendered by a great painter albeit the unknown painter of Ajanta.

They all had a commonality - all within a couple of hours drive, cheap ( aka no entry fees) and relatively deserted on weekdays - so kids wont get lost. Tirukalukundram scored a vital point as it had ( till recently) the added attraction of the avian visitors - two vultures who turned up at the appointed hour to partake in the brunch. ( its thiru Kazhugu - vulture - kundru - hill lock and Pakshi theertham - bird sacred water - literally translated !!!).

Off we went - neatly packed like sardines in the rickety old school bus and then paired with your best pal or if you are too mischievous or talkative with a girl ( ultimate punishment till we realised that it was not, but which time we were too old to sit in the same bench as them - so much for co education !!) and make the torturous climb up the steep and unforgiving stairs - they don’t seem too steep when you are young and a ` few kilos’ lighter.

So its no surprise that this most sacred of sacred places - maybe one of the very few temples which have been sung by Appar, Sambandhar and Sundarar, is not top of the list for many. Though its just a short detour 14 kms from Mahabalipuram, not many make the trip once they start wearing colored clothing of their choice ( out of school i mean - no more navy blue i swore till i realised that it was part of corporate dressing)

When Arvind suggested a quick drive down ECR to visit this site, i quickly wound up and parked near tiruvanmiyur temple tank ( free parking !!) and hit ECR. As we passed Mahabs, seeking directions - the road turned pleasantly good and green on either side. Just as we took the last diversion ( mean the last curve to avoid) we could spot the majestic hill come into view.

As our luck could have it or otherwise, we hadn’t done our background reading well and skipped the all important Pallava Rock cut cave - Orukal Mandabam ( one rock cave) and attempted to climb to ” the temple on top of the hill“. There is considerable debate on these two shrines and hence i used the italics. We will jump to that debate in a later post when we cover the rock cut cave.

Enough of the ramble ( must be the after effects of staying up all night and reading Chetan Bagat in one go ) I am going to depend very much on Sri K. R. Srinivasan’s Cave Temples of the Pallavas henceforth, and attempt to post on the topic of the post.

After a steady ( meaning stopping every five steps and almost coming close to having a heart attack twice) - we reach the summit blaming it on the heavy lunch…we were disappointed by a a very small stone structure. All this trekking for this !!! It was some auspicious day and looked like the whole village had turned up in all their finery to have darshan of the lord - vedagirirswarar. We tried our best acrobatic moves, attempted to outdo the leaning tower and managed to fit our heads inbetween the nandhi’s ears while our torso was a full 4 feet away - to just get a peak of the moolavar. Just as we came around,we noticed that the surrounding corridor had deep clefts - where we could see the base rock and in it - pay dirt. Atlast some Pallava sculpture - relief panels at that and SOMASKANDA !!

We were all eager to check what was its styling. Classic Pallava relaxed styling despite all the wearing of the stone - you can always spot a Pallava art work. Its got a certain laid back styling and freedom in it - and a poetry that runs through it. Next question - Pre Rajasimha or post Rajasimha

Just then, we heard some commotion, a road side hero - self professed custodian of the hindu temple arrived, showering the choicest of abuses on us and accusing us of not knowing Hindu culture ( maybe it was our bermudas and camera bags) - despite our best attempts to educate the romeo that we were not taking the Garba Graha nor were these panels under worship - he was more inclined to show of his new found role to his fellow tribesmen. Pretty soon we had a whole village assembly around us with all sorts of mustached elders passing judgments. not withstanding that we had paid a hefty camera fee and there was no photography board !! It was plain ridiculous, stupid, atrocious….and if not for the fact that we were inside a temple precincts, would have asked them to just … off. All my focus was on the reminder of the two panels - one was a very wonderful Shiva seated stylistically on rishaba - now you know what i mean by classic pallava styling.

I did shoot it but then it was close to delirium and we had to give up the last one.

Anyway, surprisingly the somaskanda capture, despite the poor light and emergency shot, is good enough to attempt a detailed study

Brahma and Vishnu are inside the panel

Shiva is in his usual pose, Parvathi /Umai - well will let you decide

A snug baby skanda with his characteristic head dress.

Surely a post Rajasimha panel. The throne is pretty standard, but the vessel here is quite different from what we have seen in other such panels - its not the standard vase but more like a high bowl. Another interesting variation!!

So,now is the tricky problem. Obviously, since the temple was sung by the trio - they are dated to Mahendra’s period - 630 AD around. But Rajasimha was three generations later, so how do we explain the presence of a stylistically later dated panel in an older temple - quite simple - the temple on the hill was existing prior to this panel being sculpted. The confusion arises since the lower cave ( which we will see subsequently) has not been sung - none of the caves of Mahendra have been sung upon, while this temple on the hill has been specifically sung. So the conclusion ( book ref given earlier) is that there must have been some sort of temple structure that existed earlier - then later pallava - Rajasimha or post him did some renovation and created the current structure by standing 3 stone slab -megalithic style shrine - on which these ( hopefully i can get you the third panel via friends shortly).

More on this interesting theory with inscriptional support which lends a new angle - when we see the Pallava cave in the base of the hill shortly.

The interesting part of this sculpture is the line of praying pigs to the left of the panel ( your right as you view it). We will see this as the post progresses.

Ok, the puranam aka story first.

There was once a farmer named Sugalan in a small village called Athimanimaadamuthoor near Madurai. He and his good natured wife were pious and led a astute life. In sharp contrast were their 12 sons. They did all sorts of irresponsible and bad stuff including neglecting their farming duties, teaming up with the hunters in the forest and hunting for sport. During the pursuit of one such hunting expedition, they came across a shrub in which a ascetic was doing penance. They disturbed him for fun, pelting him with stones and hitting him with their arrows. Enraged the ascetic cursed them to born as piglets and to loose their parents at a young age and lead a miserable life. Realising their folly, the misguided youth fell at the ascetic’s feet and begged for his forgiveness and a way out of their curse. Seeing them repenting, the ascetic relented and told them that Lord Shiva himself will redeem them from their curse.

In due course, they were born as piglets and the Pandyan king who had ventured into the forest felled their parents. The piglets were left at the mercy of the elements and devoid of even nursing at their mother’s breasts. Taking pity on them, the loving shiva in his infinite mercy, himself took the form of a pig, sprouted breasts and nursed them and redeemed them from their curse. .

So, armed with the knowledge, we set on our search to find this pillar. It was not inside the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple precincts ( remember this was after our sojourn with the Bronze gallery) - when we were directed to the Pudhu Mandabam. We were sufficiently warned that it was taken over by commercial establishments and spotting anything lest alone searching for a sculpture would be impossible, better to return early in the morning and request the watchman to open up !! But we stood our ground and went for a quick run, scouting for anything that resembled the legend. As luck could have it, we spotted it at exactly the opposite end of the Pudhu (new) mandabam. A few requests for the friendly shop keeper to resettle his wares and we could take our shots. ( we did return the next day for some more of the bottom panels )

Is it Shiva or Varahi?

Well its definitely shiva for you can clearly see the Axe blade being held in his right hand, the left hand has unfortunately broken off.

But some interesting panels in the foot of the pillar tell the full story

The hunter felling the mother pig.

There were piglets allover, clamoring to be fed. Its the same episode for sure

The clincher - our line of grown ups ( pardon the angle - the steel chairs didn’t make life easier for us!)

Armed with this knowledge, we headed to tiruparankundram and were pleasantly surprised to see an exact replica ( ok, some important differences at the base) - but the basic composition was the same, but sadly named as Vaarahi and anointed with turmeric allover !!!

Another angle showing the same styling of the sculpture as the one from Madurai

Including the line of impatient piglets

Again , is he Shiva? Can you spot his attributes.

I did mention a difference, didn’t I, the hunter is shown here shooting down the mother pig from the side of the panel and the carcass is shown inside the main sculpture.

By the way, did you notice the line of grown ups just coming into frame in the bottom of the last picture….a common factor in all three !!

Whats more interesting is a paired pillar to this - which contains an even more interesting aka rare depiction of Shiva from the Thiruvilaiyaadal Puranam. We shall see that is a subsequent post. But with all this clinching evidence, hopefully someone will restore the rightful name for this sculpture in Thiruparankundram.

It is just a mistake but a mistake which finds in place in a site which is meters away from the greatest edifice to the regions art, literature and culture - Madurai. As one of the oldest sites and a seat of learning, Madurai is synonymous with Sangams and the lore of Shiva’s work itself being evaluated in its famed assembly. Thus this error, which is being witnessed by so many visitors is bound to be looked at as an himalayan blunder.

To set things in perspective, its was a long day for us, when we landed in Madurai ( me ,Arvind, my wife Priya and son Prithvi ) - we left early noon to be in time for the temple opening post lunch break and clicked away at the magnificent gopurams of Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. Then we ventured inside, thanks to a helpful local guide and 4 hours flew inbetween. With our backs and arms aching, sore from trying to jostle with the hundreds of enthusiasts to capture the right view in the fading light ( somehow, people do know how to jump into frame just as you waited for 5 min for the crowd to move on …and just as you press the button, someone jumps into frame and you get their bald frame !!)

It was close to 7 pm, and we had almost packed up our bags, promising to return the next day morning for another encounter with the gopurams ( east side….for better sunlight) - when i remembered that we had not got the pillar sculptures from the mandabam. The guide brushed us off saying there are only 4 or 5 there and can be skipped. But the presence of the ticket counter and a cop at the gate, got our curiosity growing and we went in. The pillars were ok, not great, but my gaze fell on a dimly or rather unlit dusty area of the hall. There were curious pedestals with smoky glass boxes. Was in for a shock when i went to investigate. Amazing bronzes, lined on both sides - over 50 of them. We were just then warned that we had less than 20 min before they shut down the place ( by 8 pm)….What a pity. The lighting was so poor and the glass was dusty - no way to get even decent quality snaps. Yet, the very first row of exhibits was disappointing.

Take a look yourself.

The first image ( identified as # 70 - Nirthana Sambandan)

I hope you have read the post on identification of Sambandar bronze.

Lets zoom in to see the clear mark

Such a clear mark, left behind by the sculptor - the Srivatsam, to show its Narthana Krishna - yet the bronze has been identified as Sambandar and that too in a museum housed inside the Meenakshi Temple !! What a pity.

Even trained guides arent aware of such a treasure inside this beautiful temple. Hopefully, someone can help reach this to authorities and correct this mistake.

Most of you would have followed the post below, its was in June 2008 that REACH foundation took on the challenge of this renovation effort.

A thousand year struggle to survive

So, we made it our first stop to look at the progress - with great apprehension, since most renovation efforts ( ofcourse attempted by novices) end up making the structures look like pay and use toilets with their ceramic tiling, blue paint on sculptures etc etc. But this was a personal challege, a team led by experts, wanting to prove that restoration can still be done retaining the original flair. So, did we succeed. I let you be the judge.

Hang on, there are more to come.

The lime and mortar sculptures have been painstakingly renovated as well.

Including minor details

Really wonderful and the color scheme ( following UNESCO’s world heritage monument schemes of Tanjore, Darasuram, Gkc etc) is pleasing.

Even the Bootha rekai has been meticulously restored.

What i loved about this effort, was its attention to detail and aesthetic grace.

This ought to be how it should be done and must serve as an example for future conservations efforts.

As we started to leave, the skies darkened - and then it poured, but not before giving us a nice window to finish filming. They say its an auspicious sign - rain - for the Kailasantha temple in Utiramerur to stand erect in its resurrected beauty - to see another thousand years in all its splendor.

There is definitely a followup post to this to discuss an important sculptural find during the restoration work, but before that we thank all our kind hearted patrons who donated generously to this effort. We hope the success of this effort will spur you and inturn us to take on greater challenges.

Photos courtesy: Mr Arvind and Myself with equipment from Mr Dinesh.S

( A personal loss for me happened on 23rd Dec - i lost a dear friend - He had supported the trip by loaning all his photographic equipment including expensive lenses - I dedicate this series to Mr. Dinesh Sundaresan, who with this last chat session - a testament to his greatness, left us in a tragic road accident on 23rd Dec 2009, just 36 years of age, half of which he had spent in my friendship.

me: maams oru favor da
6:31 PM dynesh: tell me
me: i am doing a south trip from 13th to 24th
dynesh: big trip
me: can i borrow ur camera, if you can spare. going basically for some serious sculpture places
dynesh: no machan i will only if you take all lenses and tripod too !!!

Rest in peace my dearest friend. )