Srivilliputhur trip- Chapter three
written on 28th Dec.1917.
Day two-
We all went
to Thiruthankal- which is an old
cave temple in Srivilliputhur. Cave temples came before the granite ones in
history of temple architecture. 1500 years ago…!
Part of the
early scooped out temples of the Pandya times- pre Raja Raja! Of course more
sections would have been added during following centuries. The hillock has one
side Shiva temple, with some fantastic nayak carvings, and a Vishnu temple on
the other side of the same hill, interconnected! The Vishnu had an imposing and
beautifully decorated Chengamala thayar. Early shaivites and vaishnavites were
apparently not at loggerheads!
Vaidyanathaswamy temple with tank- view from road.
Our next
stop was the Nayak period (500 years ago) Vaidyanathaswamy temple in
Srivilliputhur called Madavar Vilakam.
This very huge and imposing Shiva temple, with its full tank, has
Vaidyanathaswamy as main deity, as one of the ministers of the Nayak king was
cured here.
The Sivakami amman shrine had a separate entrance
.The gateway had the most adorable mud sculptures- kolu type- of Lakshmi,
Parvathy and Saraswathy on the top. The Nayak mandapam inside had astounding
stone carvings of the Nayak king, his brother in law and their queens. Very
dark and ill lit, so photos were difficult to take. Sharing some here.
The main
temple was huge, had a very unique stone Nataraja carved in granite. Another
special sight! Photos shared from our group collection, some by myself, some by
Parvathi.
The trip
included a special visit to one of the most renowned paal khova making family
owned enterprise- where huge vats of boiling milk was being stirred by
automated machines. Only sugar is added and these get packed fresh and sold in
the outlet just outside the main Andal temple. We tasted samples and bought
plenty of packets to distribute to family and friends. Therutti paal is also
made, equally yummy and famous. The difference is adding jaggery instead of
sugar I think, as its brown in colour.
Enroute in
the bus, Prof Madhusudhanan shared a lot of details about Andal, early temple
architecture, evolution of the same etc. He is an architect by profession and
teaches in one of the leading architectural schools in Chennai. We could ask
him anything we want and he was most generous and eager to share his knowledge.
I wanted to know more about what are the highlights in major Shaivaite and
Vashnavaite temples- how are they similar and what are the differences. Also
something more about particular deities like Dakshinamurthy, Durgai etc. We had
a terrific time, listening to him. Have made copious notes.
Will not
burden people here- as I think this is enough to whet your appetites so you
sign up for the next trips! See them in mysticalpalmyra.com
Detail of beautiful figures atop Sivakami shrine.
Very old granite Nataraja- unlike usual Bronze in most temples.
The Nayak pillars with great detail, Prof.Madhu expplaining some intricate aspects.
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