Posts Tagged ‘Rock cut cave’

May

A Very Special Bull - from the Shiva Cave in Malaiyadipatti

Deep inside Pudukkotai, a meandering dusty red track that faintly remembers being called a road once upon a time ends abruptly. Vegetation is sparse.. A few houses lines its periphery giving it the respect of being called a road. A few village boys are playing cricket ( yeah IPL reaches there as well!!) under the tamarind trees and an old man sits on rock outcrop, his eyes and mind lost deep in thought. On seeing us approach, his face brightens up, as he tries to get up, balancing his withering body on his third leg - for one of the ones he was born with has lost itself to disease. The background offers us a familiar feeling of expectation - a low cliff or rather a large boulder, and a serene surrounding, a water body nestled within the rocks…perfect environs for a cave. And this site holds not one but two caves. One for Shiva and one for Vishnu. The old man was the watchman and opened both the caves for us. We wanted to pay him so that he go and have a well deserved and long awaited meal - for it didn’t look like the site attracted more than a handful of visitors in a month. He did ask us for something - an old shirt !! ( so please remember if anyone is planning a trip after reading this post - please take an shirt for the old man).

We will see the older Shiva - Nandhi ?Danti varma Pallava period by Mutharaiyar cave first ( it could be that way since they were the chieftains ruling under the Pallavas then), before we proceed to the later Vishnu cave in the coming posts.

Am reversing the order of the visit, inorder to let you relish the beauty of the master sculptor. Take time and drink in the splendor of this fantastic Nandhi - Shiva’s bull mount.

What’s so special about this Nandhi, its is a nice sculpture , but we do find pieces like him all over - he is special not because he has stayed in this place for 1200 years, but because of the fact that the sculptor sculpted him so that he may remain in this place for ever. Not clear??? Read on…

We go back to the outside, will try and give you an idea of the cave face, by digitally removing the later day constructions infront of it.

visualisation+of+the+cave+facade+before+thefront+construction

Now, that you have an idea of the how the cave is sculpted into the rock face, by carving out the mother rock to create this cave - let’s go in a bit more close. We are greeted by a not too impressive construction.

But as we enter and turn right, as our eyes adjust to the dim light, we squeal in delight, at what lies in front of us.

There are many things to see in this cave dedicated to Shiva, to our left from the previous picture, is the central shrine for Shiva, flanked by two superlative door guardians ( we will study them in more detail in the coming posts). There are more interesting sculptures like the saptha maatrika panel with Ganesha at one end and Veera badra on the other - ie to the left of the nandhi and larger relief panels to his back. We shall see all in the coming posts.

Can you see something just to the right of the image - yes its our Nandhi again. But what is so special about him.

Let me try to do some erasing digitally to show you.

digitally+removed+pillar+add+mock+nandhi+front

The entire Nandhi, with its pedestal is carved out of the mother rock - its a monolith as well - makes you wonder at the margin of error the sculptor had, his masterly use of available technology then to reduce the rock while sculpting the cave - leaving enough mass to sculpt the nandhi - with zero margin for error.

Now you know why i said that this Nandhi was so so special.

Trichy Lower Cave - ” its not worth seeing!!’

It was late afternoon when we reached the Rockfort and hurried up the first tier of stairs. Being Aiyappan season, there were a swarm of hands and legs - draped in various shades of black. Being forced to buy tickets for our cameras by the devasthanam guard even though we explained to him that we were here to just visit the two ASI sites ( which by the way do not levy any fee or need any prior written permission for shooting with a still camera - you cant use a tripod though !!!). As we reached the first level and the tar road, we turned left - the auto guy gave us that typical ` look’ ( must have thought we were looking for a spot to relieve ourselves) and pointed to his ‘ correct ‘ direction - uphill. We tried to explain to him saying we were going to the cave and the look turned even more weird -” There is nothing there, don’t waste your time” for good measure. By the time, we spotted the high camouflaged ASI direction sign - so typical of them to have it painted on the side from which you are walking up ( meaning as you emerge from the gate, the sign is already at your back - someone needs to tell these geniuses that our eyes are in front and hence they should have the sign in the wall side facing the entering visitor). Anyway, the sign screamed that it was a Pallava cave !! adding to the confusion and our disgust. Experts have long been at loggerheads to the authorship of this rock cut cave as well.

Finally, after a 100 meter walk, we managed to find a small walking path inbetween the rows of small houses that led towards the parent rock. And there she stood in all her majesty - cut deep into mother rock, the bare rock face accentuating her asymmetry right at the bottom.

But, then lets frame the cave facade to see the symmetry.

When I said carved deep, take into account that even the row of pillars are cut inside the face.

Compared to the mad rush at the entrance, there was not a single tourist or visitor around. A few kids were playing cricket - the stumps being the sculpture’s leg and a couple of ASI staff.
A cursory glance at the pillar itself got us going. This is not a standard Pallava pillar, doesn’t even come close. And here we have the mandatory ASI board proclaiming it to be Mamalla style and period 640 to 670 AD.

asi+board+claiming+build+by+mamalla+pallava

The rectangular cave has two sanctums, cut into separate ardha mandabams ( mini halls) at its two extremities - one for Shiva and one for Vishnu. What’s unique about this cave,is that its got two sets of door guardians for the mandabam and two sets for the Sanctum as well - first time we see 8 door guardians in a cave ( we will examine these door guardians and other sculptures in part 2 of this post)

The facing wall too has lent its length to the sculptor - in fashioning a Ganesha ( well well, yes - Mamalla and Ganesha ), Brahma, Muruga, Surya and Durga.