Unlike yesterday,I found lot of time to visit the temples around as the celebrations were over by 9 followed by stuff that didnt require me. Pathu took me out to a couple of temples. “KailasaNathar Temple” was the first, a quiet place compared to other temples @ kanchipuram and Unlike others,kailasanathar temple has become more of an architectural wonder.I learnt that this was built by the pallava king -Rajasimha and is believed to be hide away for kings during times of war.
The YaaLee
Since the temple was built using limestone some 1200 years back, the sculptures are no more in complete shape.This temple too is under the protection of ASI – the archeological survey of India.
This is the inside of the temple.The walls have been sculpted with a mythical creature called “YaaLee” – a fusion of Lion and elephant.It has the head of a Lion and the lower portion of an elephant with just two legs.
The outer walls also have carvings in the Pali Language.From What I observed,this seems to be the only temple to have inscriptions in Pali language.
The temple is the oldest structure in Kanchipuram and tamil was the primary language in use at that time.Pali had been replaced by sanskrit at the time and tamil widely dominated Kanchipuram. But the reason for Pali inscriptions could be due to Budhism. Though people are known to classify Kanchipuram into Siva-kanchi ,Vishnu Kanchi and Pilayarpalayam, a few other locals replace Pilayarpalayam with “budha-kanchi”,where temples for Lord Budha have been built with hindu temple architecture and Budha in the mulasthaanam.As known to everyone,Pali was used widely in the time of Gautama Buddha.The overlap of artists,sculptors and scholars between hinduism and Budhusism could also be the reason for Pali inscriptions.The north side of the temple,however has tamil inscriptions on the pillars.
To the left side of the prakaram, the temple has small chambers.The scarce remains of fresco paintings on the walls of the chambers suggest that the temple would have been rich in color during its time.All the sculptures inside the chambers are have a theme directed to lord Shiva.
I found the Above painting on the eastern chambers and the following in the southern Chambers.
In the southern side of the temple, a sculpture depicts Lord Shiva performing the dance of destruction called the simhara-thandavam.The foot rests on a dying demon-like creature which I couldnt capture in my 1.3 Megapixel camera!
This is one of the many Headless Nandhis I found in the circumambulatory path.
The outer walls of the temple are adorned with this piece of art,a warrior riding on the yaalee – a hint which I think re-affirms the interpretation that this could have been used for Kings during times of war. May be the artists thought this could be symbolic of his presence.
I missed out seeing the deity in the mulasthaanam, but the temple had a huge coutyard with a nandi on the north corner. Archealogists discovered a underground passage below this nandi which led to the Nandi temple,historians claim this could have been used as an escape route for the Kings who resided there. But the locals have a different version.Pathu said the nandi had a love story to it.
The Nandhi in the northern side
Long back one of the ruling Kings discovered that the prince was in love with a common lady. The lady was a dancer by profession.The prince and his lady love had a secret meeting place,co-incidently the secret place too had a nandi- implying they met at a temple. Once the King knew of the love,he ousted the dancer from the state.Unable to bear this ejection – the lady went to the secret meeting place and cried to Nandi stating that he was the only witness for their love. The lady died there right near the Nandi after making her last requests to the Bull .The prince knowing of her death re-visited the secret point to recollect the cheerful days he had spent with his love. The prince had an illusion,in which the very Nandi spoke to him,cried and narrated the last minutes of the lady.The dejected prince was further moved by this. He built a temple for his lady which had sculptures of a dancing lady in different poses all around it . The temple seems to have been destroyed long back and nothing related to this story has been excavated or interpreted so far.
The Prakaram on the West
From here, Pathu took me to the next temple.
Continue Reading..
Day 2 at Kanchipuram – Jvarahareshwarar Temple
Previously
Day 1 at Kanchipuram – Vaigunda Perumal koil
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Tags: fresco, Kanchipuram, nandhi, Pali, pallava, shiva, siva, yaalee, yaali
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