Musafir

My first destination is a very small village called Mosale which is at a distance of 14 Kilometres from the town of Hassan. We had to take a detour from the main road, travel 3 kilometres on a very bad and muddy road passing through 2 other villages on the way to reach this village which has not more than 25 houses. There is very limited public transport available up till here, so watch out. There are nice paddy fields on either side of this road and it is a pleasant journey with nice breeze. The Chennakesava and Nageshwara Temples are right in the middle of this very small village.

This is a twin temple complex facing east and is without any pedestal. Both these temples are modelled on the Ekakuta, meaning one floor. The temples are of typical Hoysala architecture and in active worship. The priest lives quite nearby opens the temple for the customary rituals everyday. Otherwise the temples are opened only if there are tourists. We will first visit the Chennakesava Temple which in the right of the complex. The temple has been partially rebuilt outside and you get to see it by the sculptures made in cement on the top level. The entire outer part of the temple is carved with amazing sculptures. Each sculpture is carved in such a way that they reside in a shrine which is superseded by a turret. Most of the idols are disfigured with the wear and tear over the centuries.

As the main deity Chennakesava is one of the forms of Lord Vishnu, you will find the sculptures of his incarnations on the outer walls. There is a small mantapa  supported by round pillars at the door. There are dwarapalas at this entrance through which i walk inside to enter the Mukhamantapa. Both the dwarapalas are evidently monoliths, however the faces are disfigured.

The mukhamantapa has four round pillars made of black stone. The upper structure lies supported on these pillars. The pillars are delicately carved with amazing design on the round wheel. However, for some reason the design is incomplete on some part of the wheels. The temple is 950 years old and its clearly evident in the wear and tear inside. However, its being maintained on and off by the ASI. There are around 6 smaller shrines in this temple dedicated to the Devi form and incarnations of Lord Vishnu. One shrine is dedicated to Lord Ganesha, the god with an elephant head. The main deity, Chennakesava occupies the shrine in the middle. The ceiling is entirely carved with various designs and human forms.  I spent around 10 minutes inside this temple and came outside to have a tour of the outer structure of the two temples.

As i mentioned earlier, the entire outer side is carved with various forms of Vishnu and others. For example, in this picture you can see Garuda, Lord Vishnu and a Devi idol. There are other sculptures like Krishna lifting the Govardhana mountain, dancing on the Snake called Kaliya and other stories in his life. Most of the idols are disfigured as they were made out of terracotta unlike the main structure which was made of stone. I entered the other temple in this complex once i completed my tour of the outside.

The Nageshwara Temple is similar in structure to the Chennakesava Temple, however the deity is Lord Siva in the Linga form. The architecture inside looks the same like the other temple with the same five turrets over a shrine.We find a small antarala here unlike the other temple in the complex. We will of course find the Nandi Bull in the mukhamantapa right in front of the antarala. Even the pillars are of the same design. The ceiling has been recently renovated with the stone treated with chemicals by the ASI. There are again more than one shrine inside with Linga and Karthikeya as one of the deity. There are two inscriptions that you find in stone plates and the text wore off over the centuries. They are no doubt inscriptions mentioning about the King Veera Ballala and the commissioning of these two temples.

With the excitement of exploring a new place i moved on to visit the next place, Doddagadavalli. For the blog, we will talk a a little about Hoysala architecture and its nitty-gritty things in the next Post.

Any tourist that comes to Kanchipuram are referred to three temples and this is one of them. We had already seen the Kailasanathar Temple earlier. It is mentioned in olden records that this town had 1000 temples once upon a time and was and is still today a prominent centre of worship. And with the Kanchi Mutt established here, it is always famous.

On the way to the Ekambareshwara Temple, we come across an other temple of prominence. I do not remember the name of the temple and unfortunately, i lost my iternary of this trip. One thing is for sure that this is a Siva shrine considering the Nandi statue that we see in front of the temple. The temple is relatively smaller compared to the others. However, a lot of locals visited this place when i was there.

As you see in this picture, the temple is small but is built with amazing architecture entirely. The ceiling is a hemisphere and topped with three kalasas. Surprisingly, we find Vishnu idols carved on top of this temple. We may recognize them only on a closer look. We can also identify this on the sculptures that are carved on the gopura. Photography was not actually allowed inside this temple complex and i remembered switching off my camera after the priest shouted at me. I had a good darshan and moved on to the Ekambaranathar temple.

This is the principal Saiva sanctuary at Kanchipuram & also the largest religious edifice in the vicinity, easily recognized by the soaring gopuras that dominate the city's skyline. A lofty pavilion is built in the middle of the street that leads up to the south gateway of the complex. Images of Ravana lifting Kailasa, Karthikeya with six heads, and Bhairava are carved on the pillars of this pavilion. This temple spreads over an area of 12.14 hectares and is surrounded by a huge stonewall built in the early 16th century during the days of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Ekambareshwar temple is of hoary antiquity, beginning as a small fane, it has grown over the centuries into a large one with innumerable shrines, Mandapams, Gopurams and Tanks. It is considered to be one of the most ancient temples in India and has been in existence even prior to 600 AD. The gopura that provides the focus for this street rises no less than 58.5 m (192 feet) high. This impressive structure was erected in 1509 by the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadeva Raya. The pyramidal tower has eight diminishing storeys in plaster-covered brickwork. The vaulted roof has arched ends surmounted by monster masks with bulging eyes, pot finials adorn the ridge. The lower part of the gopura is of stone and carved with beautiful images of dwarapalas and other deities.

The entrance to the inner complex is magnificent and the ceiling is a typical example of Vijayanagara architecture. The wooden door stands tall and decorated with kalasa kind of spokes. The sides of the doors is carved beautifully with creepers from the top to bottom. As we enter through the door, we see a painting on the left which tells about the legend that is associated with this temple.

According to the legend, Parvati, once in Kailasa, playfully closed the eyes of Lord Shiva, plunging the entire world in darkness. An angry Shiva cursed the Devi to turn dark like Kali. The Goddess descended on this place and did penance under a mango tree, making a Lingam out of earth. Hence, much significance is attached to this shrine and the mango tree, situated within the temple.

There is a Mantapa on the right side just after we enter through the main entrance. The Mantapas inside were constructed over generations of kings and dynasties. A clear distinction can be noticed in the architecture of each of the dynasties. Temples in Kanchipuram are always a amalgamation of art. Once we move further we see the main temple. It seems a narrow long one with not much place to move inside. Also, the outer side is recently renovated with colourful paintings. We cannot appreciate its true beauty and magnificence unless we move inside the shrine.

The view that we see in the picture above is only a small part of the temple. However, we also see the sanctum here. The temple tank is surrounded by four corridors like the one we see in this picture. The temple is supposed to have 1000 pillars in all the four courtyards. Once we enter the temple from the side, what we see further which looks like a small courtyard and a first view of the art.

Turn your head to the right and you see pillars with Pallava style of architecture. A ferocious lion is carved at the top of each of the pillar. There is one amazing thing in this pillars that i have not noticed in any of the places that i had visited before. There is one more thin pillar supporting the main pillar. However, both pillars are not different. The thin one is carved out of the main pillar. The main pillar is carved with various forms of deities. And there is a small gaps between the supporting and the main pillar. One may not feel the greatness of this just be seeing one pillar. But if there are a series of these that one sees, they would definitely appreciate the greatness.

Even though this is primarily a Siva shrine, we see many forms of Lord Vishnu like Lord Rama, Narasimha and Krishna on the temples. From this, we can understand that even though there were huge differences and conflicts between Saivaites and Vaishnavaites in the early history, they gradually reduced leading to harmony among the people and within the religion.

There is one small shrine of Goddess Kali that you find here. It is a black statue with eight hands. Each of the hands hold a different weapon and one in the abhaya mudra. What a temple of Siva is without a Nandi? We can find a beautiful idol of Nandi outside the main temple in a smaller mantapa. The mantapa is old, however the ceiling seems to be a recent construction. Even the Nandi statue is painted. If this is just for the beautification of the statue, it is sad to having demolished the actual beauty of it.

The above is the view if we turn our head to the right after entering the main temple. What do you see when you turn you head left is better experienced than said. We see a long series of pillars leading to the main sanctum. In between these statues, we find the dhwajasthamba standing magnificently in front. The pillars on each side have figures of horses ridden by warriors. They either are saluting the supreme deity or we can say that they depict the glory of the kingdom and the king who is a patron of the temples. These pillars are in typical Pallava architecture. Each of the pillars are carved from top to bottom with many deities, the prominent of which is the Devi aspect of Parvati.

I will talk more about this temple in the coming post too…

In India, generally temples are named after the deity that is worshipped in the temple. Such a exceptional example of a temple this is, it is named after the master sculptor who carved the extraordinarily beautiful pieces of art.

Ramappa temple is simply a delight at any angle. Even the smallest of the designs is carved very beautifully. Some of the sculptures are so carefully carved, its still showers the same glow as it was 800 years ago.

This temple was built by Racherla Rudra, a general of Ganapati Deva. According to a contemporary record, this temple was built in 1213 A.D. The path to approach the temple is itself is extremely pleasant with tall trees on either side of the road which gives the much needed shade during the afternoons. There is a think sheet of grass on the open land on the other side of the tress on either side.

The path that the tourists take now, clearly is not the original entrance of the temple complex as it leads to the side of the temple and the front of the temple is filled with think thorny bushes and is not approachable. One need to bend a little  and pass under a stone boulder to enter the temple complex. On the first glimpse, we see that the wear and tear of 800 years have shown its marks on it. The top of the temple is worn out.

The temple stands on a raised platform with the Garbhagriha, Antarala and the Mahamantapa with lateral porched entrances on three sides. The main entrance faces east. On one side of the temple, we see an inscription in Kannada language which talks about the sculptor Ramappa and the time when this temple was commissioned. Once we see the outer portion of the temple closely, we will realise that this is no ordinary one. On the beam, are idols in black stone of horses and lions. The idols clearly are attached to the main temple, but the expression on the animals is also seen clearly.

The floor of the temple is not plain. It has moved up and down due to earthquakes in the past centuries and the result is clearly visible. The walls lean over to one side. The inside of the temple is wonderful with several one of their kind pieces. There is one pillar where the stone is bent as if a metal is bent after being hit by a heavy object and it has deformed.  There are other sculptures of three dancers  whose bodies are connected and have just four legs. Whichever dancer you see, will appear normal with that legs. There are carvings on stone so intricate, that a thin piece of straw passes through them.

The Garbhagriha contains a black basalt Linga installed on a high pedestal. Inside over the central ankana, one finds a magnificent display of sculptures depicting scenes from Ramayana, Siva Purana and other mythological narratives. On the  walls at the entrance of the Garbhagriha are sculptures of various dance forms. Some of the sculptures are broken over the years. Once unique piece of art is the round series of sculptures in the long wall panels. It depicts various musical instruments being played.

The striking peculiarity of the construction lies in the arrangement of bracket figures. Above the Kakshasana level, decorated are slender graceful Madanikas, Naginis etc. in different poses. They are carved on black stone with very minute  carvings and intricate designs. The entire thing will have been sculpted out of a single stone and it would have been extremely difficult making that very thin as this.

Also carved, are numerous elephants and designs all round the temple outer wall. There are also some sections where Jain sculptures are carved on the temple which is a proof that Jainism is prevalent during that age. Once simple example is the Jain temple in Kolanupaka (40 kms from Ramappa Temple) constructed during the same time.

The other units within the prakara are an imposing Nandi Mandapa, Kameswara and Kateswara shrines. The Kameswara Temple is in total ruins and there is no guarantee how long will the structure be intact. The outer part of the temple is of brick colour which shines in the evening sun. The area which encloses the inner sanctum is carved with extremely beautiful carvings from the outside. The Nandi in this temple is fairly big with extremely beautiful design carved on it.

We spent around 2 hours covering every corner of the temple and by the time we completed it, it was almost sunset. We still had time for our return train to Hyderabad. We went back to Warangal, had a nice dinner. We came back to Hyderabad with nice memories of the very beautiful Warangal  - A Glorious Kingdom that was…

From the Bhadrakali temple, we reached Hanumakonda the capital city of the Kakatiya rulers and 8kms from Warangal town.

The Thousand Pillar temple is located in a place where we need to pass a narrow lane and reach till the end. Then there is a spacious location where we can find the  temple. On the first look, this seems like a very ordinary Mantapa. There was renovation going on when i visited this place.

This temple according to an inscription on a pillar here, was commissioned by  Rudra - I of the Kakatiya dynasty in 1163 AD. It measures over 31M x 25M stands on a platform raised to a height of 1M from the ground. It consists of three shrines of Siva, Vishnu and Surya arranged around a central hall with a Ranga Mantapa. In the forefront there is a large pillared Mantapa in variety of patterns. Between the Mantapa and the temple, there is a massive Nandi in a plain pavilion.

Once we enter the enclosure, we see the rectangular stepped temple tank. Out side the tank are various pieces of art that are strewn that were probably part of some construction which is now totally destroyed. Some of them are extremely beautiful with nice artistry.

We see the side of the temple when we enter the enclosure. Once we get to see the front of the temple, we will be able to appreciate its beauty. The Ranga Mantapa is spacious and with carved ceiling. The pillars are square at base and round on the top, a trade mark of a Siva Temple. The pillars are large and carved in sections which gives a magnificent look.

The temple is not that big. However, with the three sanctums inside, this looks big from outside. Why is this called the Thousand Pillar Temples then? The outer side of the temple is carved as pillars from place to place and there are a thousand of them all together. These pillars support the roof from the outside as show in this picture.  

The elegant carving at the richly decorated pillars under the spacious roof spanning the embellished side slabs is an achievement of unparalleled excellence of the architect.

There is art everywhere in this temple. Right from the inner sanctum and the Ranga Mantapa inside the temple to the outer pillars are all sculpted. A special mention need to be made of the Nandi in front of the temple. This is on an elevated plain pavilion but the way its carved gives it a lively look.  The  statue is carved like as if its decorated with an embroidered silk cloth.

We spent about an hour looking at each of the small sculptures and then had lunch. It was almost 4 in the evening. We then visited the most beautiful piece of art in Warangal, the Ramappa Temple.

To be continued…