Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA(c.969-976). These forms would appear tobe stone copies of the form first realisedin bronzes and it is the early Chola copperor bronze icons of Nataraja, that more thanthe stone sculptures mark the acme ofperfection and have drawn the appreciationof aesthetes the world over. The firstmention of ananda-tandava as ananda-kkoottuis by saint Manikkavachagar in hisTiruvachakam (588, Tiruvarttai 42 V.3) allin the same work (3: Keertti-t-tiru akaval).He states that Shiva danced the anandakoottufor the sake of the sage, Patanjali.In the early temples of 10th-11th centuriesthe Nataraja icon, in relief, comes tooccupy a niche on the exterior of thesouth-west of the ardhamandapa next toGanapathi. In the later Chola temples, theyare found in one of the many devakoshthason the wall of the vimana itself as inThanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram andDarasuram. Adavallan, the presiding deityof the Chidambaram temple, was thefavourite of the Cholas, for it was inChidambaram that they performed theirritual coronation. Rajaraja I made anexquisite metal icon of Nataraja-Adavallanof which a precise technical description isgiven in his inscription on the temple atThanjavur. There is no Shiva temple of anyimportance in Tamilnadu without a metalicon of Nataraja. He came to be installedin separate mandapa temple called theSabha-mandapa or Sabha-nayakar kovilbuilt facing south, always in the precinctsof a temple complex. Such a mandapa witha sabha-nayaka shrine with a bronze iconof the god became the sine quenon of anyTamilian temple complex. The Arudra(Tiruvadirai) festival which falls in Decemberevery year is sacred to Nataraja and theTEMPLE INDIAArudradarshana is the most noted festivalin Chidambaram.Another unique feature of the Tamiliantemple is the inclusion of Chandesha in theparivara as an essential deity, with a shrineor vimana of his own. He is one of the 63canonised Shaiva saints or Nayanmars andis considered to be the moolabritya (chiefservant or devotee) of Shiva, to whom heendeared himself by his readiness tochastise even his own father, whointerrupted his devoted worship to Shiva.The boy devotee was specially blessed byShiva who bestowed the (Chandeshapadam himself, investing the devotee withthe parivattam (the garland or upper clothworn by Him) round the boy’s head. This isa way of specially honouring a greatservant or devotee in Tamilian temples andpersists even today to honour greatbenefactors, devotees and importantpersonages who visit a temple. Chandeshathus came to be the chief guardian andseneschal of the Shiva temple. Itsproperties and affairs, gift deeds and thelike are made in the name of Chandesha.The magnificent Chola sculpture group ofChandeshanugrahamoorti of theBrihadeeshvara in Gangaikondacholapuramis the classical example of this theme,though many other Shiva temples havesculptures, or bronzes of the same. Theearliest extant sculptural example of thistheme is found in the intermediate tala ofthe Dharmaraja ratha in Mahabalipuram anda beautiful miniature in the hara line of theTiruvaleesvaram temple. An icon ofChandesha thus became an obligatefeature of the Tamilian Shiva temple andone can see his large sculptuory in thenorth-east corner of the cloister of66