Pushpeshu Jati, Purusheshu Vishnu, Nareshu Rambha, Nagareshu Kanchi is what the great Kalidasa wrote several hundred years back meaning if its flower its Jasmine, if its a man its Vishnu, if its a lady its Rambha and if its a city its Kanchi.
Kanchipuram as the city is known today is considered as one of the holiest cities in India and was a flourishing location of not only Hinduism but also Buddhism and Jainism. The place is home to some 150 Shiva and Vishnu temples with majority of them being the former. Kanchipuram is actually demarcated into Shiva Kanchi, Vishnu Kanchi and Jain Kanchi. Kanchipuram acted as the capital city during the early Chola period but the city actually rose into prominence when the Pallavas made it into their capital city.
The place is just 75 kms ffrom Chennai and the roads are extremely good to drive on. We were actually on a 3 day road trip and arrived at Kanchipuram from Tiruvannamalai. We decided we were leaving Kanchi by noon which gave us time to visit 3 temples. Of the 3 Kailasanathar was the one we visited last but it comes up first in the blog because such is the beauty of the place. The temple is the oldest one in Kanchipuram and said to be built around 700 AD by Narasimhavarman II of the Pallavas. The temple is built of sandstone and has an unique 16 sided Shiva Lingam.
The temple has the main deity at the centre and the inner walls of the temple has 58 small shrines or sculptures depicting Shiva 's various forms / actions. The outer walls of the main pragara has sculptures of other lords as well. Across the temple you find several sculptures of the lions which were the symbol of the Pallava dynasty. The city was later taken over by the Cholas and hence is said to have some influence of the Chola style of architecture as well in the later additions made. I am no history expert. So cant comment on that. It is also said that the Cholas got their inspiration for construction of the Brihadeeswarar temple after seeing the Kailasanathar temple only. There are striking similarities especially in the main gopuram pattern between the 2 temples.
The place is an ASI protected monument and maintained pretty well. However you can see in places the damage that the restoration works have caused to the beautiful sculptures with shoddy plastering and some paintings defaced. Its not considered a very 'powerful' deity and hence the crowds are thankfully lower which helps in you allowing the location to sink in into you without a constant interruption. A guide would have been really helpful but we couldnt find any.
Some photos from the visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment