Brahmadesam, was located in a quaint little village. The day being a holiday, just outside the magnificent gopuram were young lads playing gully cricket, in front of a mandapam and temple pond which were on either sides of the street!
The mandapam was a very simple one, but one factor in it just intrigued me! The sculptures over the roof - sparrows, cats, monkeys, snakes, tortoises, jackals etc!!!! That too they were not posing, they were so so dynamic that they looked like they might just pounce on you any moment now!!!!
Just as I entered the temple, came the next awesome thing - the door!!!! The mighty wooden door, very intricately sculpted!!! Each door has 30 scenes sculpted onto it.
Apart from regular scenes depicted from puranas, it also included some erotic scenes as well. As the first instance I thought it was a man trying to kill another by breaking the neck. Only on closer inspection did I find its actually a man kissing his lady!!!
Inside, on the Maha Mandapam was a very handsome, dark nandi! The entrance to the Ardha Mandapa again has an exquisite wooden carved entrance and a wooden lady welcoming all!!!
The influence of Cheras is very much blatant is most of the temples in this region with the impeccable wooden carvings! This was probably built in 10th C by the Cholas, and later on enhanced by Cheras, Pandyas and Vijaya Nagara Kings! The Lord Shiva here is Kailasanathar and his consort is Periyanayaki.
Sculptural-ly the important feature here is the mandapam on the side. Right from the steps everything here is detailed! The railing on the sides have elephant, yaali and few more sculptures, the entire mandapa is filled with yaali pillars!
An important shrine here is of Kankalanathar. The 7 ft tall, stand alone sculpture, of Lord Shiva as an ascetic with the corpse of Vishvaksena over his shoulder. Around him are 6 boothaganas. Around them on the wall, are the relief sculptures of Surya, Chandra, Vinayaka, Subrahmanya, Indira, Kimpurusha, Kinnnaras, Kubera, Brahma, Vishnu etc. A few other stand alone sculptures of dancing women & apsaras, made of plaster in various other periods, are placed around, to make the scene more complete!
Btw, talking about my animal luck - spotted a cute little poor puppy that was eating coconut! Sadly I had absolutely nothing to feed it and there was no shops around where I could buy a biscuit pack. If you're heading there, pls take one and feed those poor souls too!!!
TO GET THERE:
Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan & Co.
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Lovely intricate works.
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DeleteHoping to visit this weekend. Thanks for your informative blog.
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