There are new designs arriving on the market all the time. Two new innovations hold a lot of promise. One is the Flapperless toilet which as the name says, does not require a flapper valve. This is news because worn out flapper valves are the number one source of toilet leaks. Dual flush toilets feature a 3L flush for liquid waste and a 6L flush for solid waste. They save about 25% more water than a conventional 6L. There are also a number of good performing 4L pressure assist fixtures that perform well.
AN INDIAN INNOVATION
This is a blog for every youngsters and innovators
Monday 13 October 2014
Innovative Toilet
There are new designs arriving on the market all the time. Two new innovations hold a lot of promise. One is the Flapperless toilet which as the name says, does not require a flapper valve. This is news because worn out flapper valves are the number one source of toilet leaks. Dual flush toilets feature a 3L flush for liquid waste and a 6L flush for solid waste. They save about 25% more water than a conventional 6L. There are also a number of good performing 4L pressure assist fixtures that perform well.
Friday 21 February 2014
Power of Tamil
Power of Tamil
Ancient India was more Technologically advanced than the West– oldest dam in the world.
The Grand Anicut, also known as the [கல்லணை] Kallanai, is an ancient dam built on the Kaveri River in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
It was built by the Chola king Karikalan around the 1st Century AD and is considered one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world, which is still in use.
The Kaveri River forms the boundary between the Erode and Salem districts. The Bhavani River joins the Kaveri at the town of Bhavani, where the Sangameswarar Temple, an important pilgrimage spot in Tamil Nadu, was built at the confluence of the two rivers. Sweeping past the historic rock of Tiruchirapalli, it breaks into two channels at the island of Srirangam, which enclose between them the delta of Thanjavur (Tanjore), the garden of Tamil Nadu. The northern channel is called the Kollidam (Kolidam); the other preserves the name of Kaveri, and empties into the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar, a few hundred miles south of Chennai(Madras). On the seaward face of its delta are the seaports of Nagapattinam and Karaikal. Irrigation works have been constructed in the delta for over 2,000 years.
The Kallanai is a massive dam of unhewn stone, 329 metres (1,080 ft) long and 20 metres (60 ft) wide, across the main stream of the Kaveri. The purpose of the dam was to divert the waters of the Kaveri across the fertile Delta region for irrigation via canals. The dam is still in excellent repair, and supplied a model to later engineers, including the Sir Arthur Cotton’s 19th-century dam across the Kollidam, the major tributary of the Kaveri. The area irrigated by the ancient irrigation network is about 1,000,000 acres (4,000 square kilometres). Recently the Delta farmers of Tamil Nadu demanded the Tamil Nadu government honour the great Chola king Karikalan, who built the Kallanai. his dam is a buttress dam
Behind China’s Hindu temples, a forgotten history
In and
around Quanzhou, a bustling industrial city, there are shrines that historians
believe may have been part of a network of more than a dozen Hindu temples and
shrines
For the
residents of Chedian, a few thousand-year-old village of muddy by-lanes and old
stone courtyard houses, she is just another form of Guanyin, the female
Bodhisattva who is venerated in many parts of China.
A panel of inscriptions of the God Narasimha adorns the
entrance to the main shrine of the temple, believed to have been installed by
Tamil traders who lived in Quanzhou in the 13th century.
Li San Long, a resident of Chedian village, offers prayers at the village shrine, which houses a deity that is believed to be one of the goddesses that the Tamil community in Quanzhou worshipped in the 13th century. (Right) A stone elephant inscription on display at the Quanzhou Maritime Museum.
Local
scholars are still unsure about her identity, but what they do know is that
this shrine’s unique roots lie not in China, but in far away south India. The
deity, they say, was either brought to Quanzhou — a thriving port city that was
at the centre of the region’s maritime commerce a few centuries ago — by Tamil
traders who worked here some 800 years ago, or perhaps more likely, crafted by
local sculptors at their behest.
“This is
possibly the only temple in China where we are still praying to a Hindu God,”
says Li San Long, a Chedian resident, with a smile.
“Even
though most of the villagers still think she is Guanyin!” Mr. Li said the village
temple collapsed some 500 years ago, but villagers dug through the rubble,
saved the deity and rebuilt the temple, believing that the goddess brought them
good fortune — a belief that some, at least, still adhere to.
The
Chedian shrine is just one of what historians believe may have been a network
of more than a dozen Hindu temples or shrines, including two grand big temples,
built in Quanzhou and surrounding villages by a community of Tamil traders who
lived here during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties.
At the
time, this port city was among the busiest in the world and was a thriving
centre of regional maritime commerce.
The
history of Quanzhou’s temples and Tamil links was largely forgotten until the
1930s, when dozens of stones showing perfectly rendered images of the god
Narasimha — the man-lion avatar of Vishnu — were unearthed by a Quanzhou
archaeologist called Wu Wenliang. Elephant statues and images narrating
mythological stories related to Vishnu and Shiva were also found, bearing a
style and pattern that was almost identical to what was evident in the temples
of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh from a similar period.
Wu’s
discoveries received little attention at the time as his country was slowly
emerging from the turmoil of the Japanese occupation, the Second World War and
the civil war. It took more than a decade after the Communists came to power in
1949 for the stones and statues to even be placed in a museum, known today as
the Quanzhou Maritime Museum.
“It is
difficult to say how many temples there were, and how many were destroyed or
fell to ruin,” the museum’s vice curator Wang Liming told The Hindu. “But we
have found them spread across so many different sites that we are very possibly
talking about many temples that were built across Quanzhou.”
Today,
most of the sculptures and statues are on display in the museum, which also
showcases a map that leaves little doubt about the remarkable spread of the
discoveries. The sites stretch across more than a dozen locations located all
over the city and in the surrounding county. The most recent discoveries were
made in the 1980s, and it is possible, says Ms. Wang, that there are old sites
yet to be discovered.
The
Maritime Museum has now opened a special exhibit showcasing Quanzhou’s south
Indian links. Ms. Wang says there is a renewed interest — and financial backing
— from the local government to do more to showcase what she describes as the
city’s “1000-year-old history with south India,” which has been largely
forgotten, not only in China but also in India.
“There is
still a lot we don’t know about this period,” she says, “so if we can get any
help from Indian scholars, we would really welcome it as this is something we
need to study together. Most of the stones come from the 13th century Yuan
Dynasty, which developed close trade links with the kingdoms of southern India.
We believe that the designs were brought by the traders, but the work was
probably done by Chinese workers.”
Ms. Wang
says the earliest record of an Indian residing in Quanzhou dates back to the
6th century. An inscription found on the Yanfu temple from the Song Dynasty
describes how the monk Gunaratna, known in China as Liang Putong, translated
sutras from Sanskrit. Trade particularly flourished in the 13th century Yuan
Dynasty. In 1271, a visiting Italian merchant recorded that the Indian traders
“were recognised easily.”
“These
rich Indian men and women mainly live on vegetables, milk and rice,” he wrote,
unlike the Chinese “who eat meat and fish.” The most striking legacy of this
period of history is still on public display in a hidden corner of the 7th
century Kaiyuan Buddhist Temple, which is today Quanzhou’s biggest temple and
is located in the centre of the old town. A popular attraction for Chinese
Buddhists, the temple receives a few thousand visitors every day. In a corner
behind the temple, there are at least half a dozen pillars displaying an
extraordinary variety of inscriptions from Hindu mythology. A panel of
inscriptions depicting the god Narasimha also adorns the steps leading up to
the main shrine, which houses a Buddha statue. Huang Yishan, a temple caretaker
whose family has, for generations, owned the land on which the temple was
built, says the inscriptions are perhaps the most unique part of the temple,
although he laments that most of his compatriots are unaware of this chapter of
history. On a recent afternoon, as a stream of visitors walked up the steps to
offer incense sticks as they prayed to Buddha, none spared a glance at the
panel of inscriptions. Other indicators from Quanzhou’s rich but forgotten past
lie scattered through what is now a modern and bustling industrial city, albeit
a town that today lies in the shadow of the provincial capital Xiamen and the
more prosperous port city of Guangzhou to the far south.
A few
kilometres from the Kaiyuan temple stands a striking several metre-high Shiva
lingam in the centre of the popular Bamboo Stone Park. To the city’s residents,
however, the lingam is merely known as a rather unusually shaped “bamboo
stone,” another symbol of history that still stays hidden in plain sight.
Dravidian architecture
A typical Dravidian gate pyramid
called Gopuram-Thiruvannamalai temple-Tamil Nadu
Dravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands
of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid
shaped temples called Koils which are dependent on intricate carved
stone in order to create a step design consisting of many statues of deities,
warriors, kings, and dancers. The majority of the existing buildings are
located in theSouthern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh,Kerala, and Karnataka. Various kingdoms and empires such as
the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyan, Chera,Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara
Empire amongst the many others have made a substantial contribution to the
evolution of Dravidian architecture through the ages. Dravidian styled
architecture can also be found in parts of NortheasternSri
Lanka, Maldives, and various parts of Southeast Asia.
The Annamalaiyar
Temple in Thiruvannaamalai, India
Dravidian
style temples consist almost invariably of the four following parts, arranged
in various manners, as afterwards to be explained, but differing in themselves
only according to the age in which they were executed:
1. The principal part, the actual temple itself, is called
the Vimanam. It is
always square in plan, and surmounted by a pyramidal roof of one or more
stories; and it contains the cell in which the image of the god or his emblem
is placed.
2. The porches or Mantapams,
which always cover and precede the door leading to the cell.
3. Gate-pyramids, Gopurams,
which are the principal features in the quadrangular enclosures that surround
the more notable temples.
4. Pillard halls or Chaultris—properly Chawadis – used for various purposes, and which are the
invariable accompaniments of these temples.
Besides
these, a temple always contains tanks or wells for water—to be used either for
sacred purposes or the convenience of the priests—dwellings for all the various
grades of the priest-hood are attached to it, and numerous other buildings for
state or convenience.
Influence
from different periods
In Southern
India seven kingdoms and empires stamped their influence on architecture
during different times.:
Sangam period
The Subrahmanya Murugan temple of Saluvankuppam, in Saluvankuppam nearMahabalipuram in Tamil
Nadu. The brick shrine dates to the Sangam period and is one of the
oldest Hindu temples to be unearthed
From
1000BCE-300CE, the greatest accomplishments of the kingdoms of the
early Chola, Chera and the Pandyan kingdomsincluded brick
shrines to
deities Murugan, Shiva, Amman andThirumal (Vishnu) of
the Tamil pantheon. Some were built Several of these have been unearthed
near Adichanallur,Kaveripoompuharpattinam and Mahabalipuram, and
the construction plans of these sites of worship were shared to some detail in
various poems of Sangam literature. One such temple,
the Saluvannkuppan Murukan temple, unearthed in 2005, consists of three
layers. The lowest layer, consisting of a brick shrine, is one of the oldest of
its kind in South India, and is the oldest shrine found dedicated to Murukan.
It is one of only two brick shrine pre Pallava Hindu temples to be found in the
state, the other being the Veetrirundha Perumal Temple at
Veppathurdedicated to Vishnu. The dynasties of early
medieval Tamilakkam expanded and erected structural additions to many
of these brick shrines. Sculptures of erotic art, nature and deities from
the MaduraiMeenakshi Amman Temple, Chidambaram Thillai Nataraja
Temple and the SrirangamRanganathaswamy Temple date from the
Sangam period.
Pallavas
The Rathas in Mahabalipuram-Tamilnadu
The Pallavas ruled
from AD (600-900) and their greatest constructed accomplishments are the
single rock temples in Mahabalipuram and their capitalKanchipuram,
now located in Tamilnadu.
Pallavas
were pioneers of south Indian architecture. The earliest examples of temples in
the Dravidian style belong to the Pallava period. The earliest examples of
Pallava constructions are rock-cut temples dating from 610 – 690 CE and structural
temples between 690 – 900 CE. The greatest accomplishments of the Pallava
architecture are the rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram. There
are excavated pillared halls and monolithic shrines known as rathas in
Mahabalipuram. Early temples were mostly dedicated to Shiva. The
Kailasanatha temple also called Rajasimha Pallaveswaram
in Kanchipuram built by Narasimhavarman II also known as
Rajasimha is a fine example of the Pallava style temple. Mention must be made
here of the Shore Temple constructed by Narasimhavarman II
near Mahabalipuram which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Contrary
to popular impression about the succeeding empire of the Cholas pioneering in
building large temple complexes, it was the Pallavas who actually pioneered not
only in making large temples after starting construction of rock cut temples
without using mortar, bricks etc.(**) The shining examples of such temples are
the Thiruppadagam and Thiruooragam temples that have 28 and 35 feet (11 m)
high images of Lord Vishnu in his manifestation as Pandavadhoothar and
Trivikraman forms of himself. In comparison the Siva Lingams in the Royal
Temples of the Cholas at Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapurams are 17 and 18
feet (5.5 m) high. Considering that the Kanchi Kailasanatha Temple built
by Rajasimha Pallava was the inspiration for Raja Raja Chola’s Brihadeeswara at
Thanjavur, it can be safely concluded that the Pallavas were among the first
emperors in India to build both large temple complexes and very large deities
and idols(**) Many Siva and Vishnu temples at Kanchi built by the great Pallava
emperors and indeed their incomparable Rathas and the Arjuna’s penance Bas
Relief (also called descent of the Ganga) are proposed UNESCO World Heritage
Sites. The continuous Chola, Pallava and Pandiyan belt temples (along with
those of the Adigaimans near Karur and Namakkal), as well as the Sethupathy
temple group between Pudukottai and Rameswaram uniformly represent the pinnacle
of the South Indian Style of Architecture that surpasses any other form of
architecture prevalent between the Deccan Plateau and Kanniyakumari(**).
Needless to add that in the Telugu country the style was more or less uniformly
conforming to the South Indian or Dravidian idiom of architecture.(**)
Pandya
Srivilliputtur Andal Temple is the official symbol of
the Government of Tamilnadu. It is said to have been built by
Periyaazhvar, the father-in-law of the Lord, with a purse of gold that he won
in debates held in the palace of PandyaKing Vallabhadeva.
The
primary landmark of Srivilliputtur is 12-tiered tower structure
dedicated to the Lord of Srivilliputtur, known as Vatapatrasayee. The tower of
this temple rises 192 feet (59 m) high and is the official symbol of the
Government of Tamil Nadu. It is said to have been built by Periyaazhvar, the
father-in-law of the Lord, with a purse of gold that he won in debates held in
the palace ofPandya King Vallabhadeva. The Government of Tamil Nadu uses
this temple tower as part of its symbol.
Cholas
Detail of the main vimanam (tower) of the Thanjavur
Temple-Tamilnadu
The Chola kings
ruled from AD (848-1280) and included Rajaraja Chola I and his
sonRajendra Chola who built temples such as the Brihadeshvara
Temple of Thanjavur and Brihadeshvara
Temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the Airavatesvara
Temple of Darasuram and theSarabeswara (Shiva )Temple, also
called the Kampahareswarar Temple at Thirubhuvanam, the last two
temples being located near Kumbakonam. The first three among the above four
temples are titled Great Living Chola Temples among
the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Cholas were
prolific temple builders right from the times of the first king Vijayalaya
Chola after whom the eclectic chain of Vijayalaya Chozhisvaram temple near
Narttamalai exists. These are the earliest specimen of Dravidian temples under
the Cholas. His son Aditya I built several temples around the Kanchi and
Kumbakonam regions.
Temple
building received great impetus from the conquests and the genius
of Aditya I Parantaka I,Sundara Chola, Rajaraja Chola and
his son Rajendra Chola I. The maturity and grandeur to which the Chola
architecture had evolved found expression in the two temples of Tanjavur and
Gangaikondacholapuram. In a small portion of the Kaveri belt between
Tiruchy-Tanjore-Kumbakonam, at the height of their power, the Cholas have left
over 2300 temples, with the Tiruchy-Thanjavur belt itself boasting of more than
1500 temples. The magnificent Siva temple of Thanjavur built by Raja
Raja I in1009 as well as the Brihadisvara
Temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram, completed around 1030, are
both fitting memorials to the material and military achievements of the time of
the two Chola emperors. The largest and tallest of all Indian temples of its
time, the Tanjore Brihadisvara is at the apex of South Indian architecture. In
fact, two succeeding Chola kings Raja Raja II and Kulothunga III built
the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram and the
Kampahareswarar Siva Temple at Tribhuvanam respectively, both temples being on
the outskirts of Kumbakonam around AD 1160 and AD 1200. All the four temples
were built over a period of nearly 200 years reflecting the glory, prosperity
and stability under the Chola emperors.
Contrary to popular impression, the Chola emperors patronized
and promoted construction of a large number of temples that were spread over
most parts of the Chola empire. These include 40 of the 108
Vaishnava Divya Desams out of which 77 are found spread most of South
India and others in Andhra and North India(**). In fact, the
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, which is the biggest
temple in India (**) and the Chidambaram Natarajar Temple (though originally
built by the Pallavas but possibly seized from the Cholas of the pre-Christian
era when they ruled from Kanchi) (**) were two of the most important temples
patronized and expanded by the Cholas and from the times of the second Chola
King Aditya I, these two temples have been hailed in inscriptions as the
tutelary deities of the Chola Kings (**). Of course, the two Brihadisvara
Temples at Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram as well as the
other two Siva temples, namely the Airavatesvara
Temple of Darasuram and the Sarabeswara (Shiva )Temple
which is also popular as the Kampahareswarar Temple at Thirubhuvanam, both
on the outskirts of Kumbakonam were the royal temples of the Cholas
to commemorate their innumerable conquests and subjugation of their rivals from
other parts of South India, Deccan Ilangai or Sri Lanka and the
Narmada-Mahanadi-Gangetic belts(**). But the Chola emperors underlined their
non-partisan approach to religious iconography and faith by treating the
presiding deities of their other two peerless creations, namely
theRanganathaswamy Temple dedicated to
Lord Vishnu at Srirangam and the Nataraja Temple atChidambaram which
actually is home to the twin deities of Siva and Vishnu (as
the reclining Govindarajar) to be their ‘Kuladheivams’ or tutelary (or family)
deities(**). The Cholas also preferred to call only these two temples which
home their tutelary or family deities as Koil or the ‘Temple’, which denotes the most
important places of worship for them, underlining their eq. The above-named
temples are being proposed to be included among the UNESCO World
Heritage Sites, which will elevate them to the exacting and exalting standards
of the Great Living Chola Temples(**).
The temple
of Gangaikondacholapuram, the creation of Rajendra Chola I, was
intended to exceed its predecessor in every way. Completed around 1030,
only two decades after the temple at Thanjavur and in much the same
style, the greater elaboration in its appearance attests the more affluent
state of the Chola Empire under Rajendra. This temple has a larger Siva linga
than the one at Thanjavur but the Vimana of this temple is smaller in
height than the Thanjavur vimana.
The Chola period is also remarkable for its sculptures
and bronzes all over the world. Among the existing specimens in museums around
the world and in the temples of South India may be seen many fine figures of
Siva in various forms, such as Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi,
and the Siva saints. Though conforming generally to the iconographic
conventions established by long tradition, the sculptors worked with great
freedom in the 11th and the 12th centuries
to achieve a classic grace and grandeur. The best example of this can be seen
in the form of Nataraja the Divine Dancer.
Badami Chalukyas
Virupaksha temple, Pattadakal, Karnataka built in 740
The
Badami Chalukyas also called the Early Chalukyas, ruled
from Badami, Karnataka in the period AD 543 -753 and
spawned the Vesara style called Badami Chalukya Architecture.
The finest examples of their art are seen
in Pattadakal, Aihole and Badami in northern
Karnataka. Over 150 temples remain in the Malaprabhabasin.
The most
enduring legacy of the Chalukya dynasty is the architecture and art that they
left behind. More than one hundred and fifty monuments attributed to the Badami
Chalukya, and built between 450 and 700, remain in
the Malaprabha basin in Karnataka.
The rock-cut temples of Pattadakal,
a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, Badami and Aihole are their most celebrated
monuments. Two of the famous paintings atAjanta cave no. 1, “The
Temptation of the Buddha” and “The Persian Embassy” are attributed to them.
This is the beginning of Chalukya style
of architecture and a consolidation of South Indian style.
Rashtrakutas
The view of the Kailash Temple from the top. The photo
is taken at the cave temples clusters of Ellora, Maharastra, India.
The Rashtrakutas who
ruled the deccan fromManyakheta, Gulbarga district, Karnataka in
the periodAD 753 - 973 built some of the finest Dravidian
monuments at Ellora (the Kailasanatha temple), in the rock cut
architecture idiom. Some other fine monuments are the Jaina Narayana temple
at Pattadakal and the Navalinga temples at Kuknur in Karnataka.
The
Rashtrakutas contributed much to the culture of theDeccan. The Rashtrakuta
contributions to art and architecture are reflected in the splendid rock-cut
shrines at Ellora and Elephanta, situated in present dayMaharashtra. It is said
that they altogether constructed 34 rock-cut shrines, but most extensive and
sumptuous of them all is the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora. The temple is
a splendid achievement of Dravidian art. The walls of the temple have marvellous
sculptures from Hindy mythology
including Ravana, Shiva andParvathi while the ceilings have
paintings.
The project was commissioned by King Krishna I after the
Rashtrakuta rule had spread into South India from the Deccan. The
architectural style used was dravidian. It does not contain any of the Shikharascommon to the Nagara style and was built on
the same lines as the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal inKarnataka.
Western Chalukyas
Dodda Basappa temple, Dambal, Gadag district,Karnataka
The Western
Chalukyas also called the Kalyani Chalukyas or Later Chalukyas ruled the
deccan from AD973 - 1180 from their
capital Kalyani in modern Karnataka and further refined the Chalukyan
style, called the Western Chalukya architecture. Over 50 temples exist in
the Krishna River-Tungabhadra doab in central Karnataka. The
Kasi Vishveshvara at Lakkundi, Mallikarjuna at Kuruvatii, Kalleshwara temple at
Bagali and Mahadeva at Itagi are the finest examples produced by the Later Chalukya
architects.
The reign of Western Chalukya dynasty was an important period in
the development of architecture in the deccan. Their architectural developments
acted as a conceptual link between the Badami Chalukya
Architecture of the 8th century and the Hoysala
architecture popularised in the 13th century. The art of Western Chalukyas
is sometimes called the “Gadag style” after the number of ornate temples
they built in the Tungabhadra - Krishna River doab region
of present day Gadag district in Karnataka. Their temple building
reached its maturity and culmination in the 12th century, with over a hundred
temples built across the deccan, more than half of them in present day
Karnataka. Apart from temples they are also well known for ornate stepped wells
(Pushkarni) which
served as ritual bathing places, many of which are well preserved in Lakkundi.
Their stepped well designs were later incorporated by the Hoysalas and the
Vijayanagara empire in the coming centuries.
Hoysalas
Symmetrical architecture on Jagati, Somanathapura,
Karnataka
Main article: Hoysala architecture
The Hoysala kings
ruled southern India during the period AD (1100-1343) from their
capital Belur and laterHalebidu in Karnataka and developed a
unique idiom of architecture called the Hoysala
architecture inKarnataka state. The finest examples of their
architecture are the Chennakesava Temple in Belur,Hoysaleswara
temple in Halebidu, and the Kesava
Temple in Somanathapura.
The modern interest in the Hoysalas is due to their patronage of
art and architecture rather than their military conquests. The brisk temple
building throughout the kingdom was accomplished despite constant threats from
the Pandyas to the south and the Seunas Yadavas to the north. Their
architectural style, an offshoot of the Western Chalukya style, shows
distinct Dravidian influences. The Hoysala architecture style is described
as Karnata Dravida as
distinguished from the traditional Dravida, and is considered an independent
architectural tradition with many unique features.
Vijayanagar
Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, Karnataka
The whole of South India was ruled by Vijayanagar
Empire from AD(1343-1565), who built a number of temples and
monuments in their hybrid style in their capital Vijayanagar in
Karnataka. Their style was a combination of the styles developed in South India
in the previous centuries. In addition, the Yali columns (pillar with charging horse),
balustrades (parapets) and ornate pillared manatapa are their unique contribution.
King Krishna Deva Raya and others built many famous temples all
over South India in Vijayanagar Architecture style.
Vijayanagara architecture is a vibrant combination of
the Chalukya,Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles, idioms
that prospered in previous centuries. Its legacy of sculpture, architecture and
painting influenced the development of the arts long after the empire came to
an end. Its stylistic hallmark is the ornate pillaredKalyanamantapa (marriage
hall), Vasanthamantapa (open
pillared halls) and the Rayagopura (tower).
Artisans used the locally available hard granite because of its durability
since the kingdom was under constant threat of invasion. While the empire’s
monuments are spread over the whole of Southern India, nothing surpasses the
vast open air theatre of monuments at its capital at Vijayanagara,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In the 14th century the kings continued to
build Vesara or Deccan style monuments but later incorporated
dravida-style gopurams to meet their ritualistic needs. The Prasanna
Virupaksha temple (underground temple) of Bukka Raya I and the Hazare
Rama temple of Deva Raya I are examples of Deccan architecture. The varied and
intricate ornamentation of the pillars is a mark of their work. At Hampi, though
the Vitthala temple
is the best example of their pillared Kalyanamantapa style,
theHazara Ramaswamy temple
is a modest but perfectly finished example. A visible aspect of their style is
their return to the simplistic and serene art developed by the Chalukya dynasty. A
grand specimen of Vijayanagara art, the Vitthala temple,
took several decades to complete during the reign of the Tuluva kings.
The Lost temple of INDIA : Mysteries of Asia
In “Lost Temples of India”, we examine
these 1,000-year-old temples adorned with intricate and beautiful sculptures.
We learn how the kings used large herds of trained elephants to drag the
millions of stone blocks into place and how these temples are virtually unknown
and unvisited by Western tourists. Truth or fiction, the stories of Mysteries
of Asia will amaze and delight.
When people think of India, they
think of the Taj Mahal, Shāh Jahān’s eternal memorial dedicated to his wife
Mumtāz Mahal. But there is a more ancient and secret India hidden deep in its
tropical jungles, with one of the greatest building efforts in the human
[record]. History has produced thousands of strange and mysterious temples that
are today lost and forgotten. This is India’s Deep South, a land of emerald
green rice fields and immense palm forests, where every few miles temples soar
toward the heavens in the countryside.
Here, over a thousand year ago, 985 AD to be exact, Rajaraja
Cholan became King of the Chola Dynasty. His original name was Arunmozhivarman,
and his title was Rajakesari Varman or Mummudi-Sola-Deva. He was the second son
of the Parantaka Cholan II.
His capital was the city of
Thanjavur. Thanjavur was the royal city of the Cholas, Nayaks, and the
Mahrattas. Thanjavur derives its name from Tanjan-an asura (giant), who
according to local legend devastated the neighbourhood and was killed by Sri
Anandavalli Amman and the God Vishnu.
Rajaraja Cholan was one of the greatest kings of India, and in
the south he embarked on one of the largest building plans in the history of
mankind that still continues till this day. He
and his successors moved more stone then the great pyramid of Giza.
The extent of the Temple Grounds is so large that over 200 Taj
Mahal’s can fit into it.
You might ask why Rajaraja Cholan
built all these temples. Well, it was the same motive that built Europe’s
cathedrals and Egypt’s pyramids. He was moved by the power of faith. You have
to understand one thing about India: this is a land with almost as many gods as
people, and it believes all life to be sacred; even a humble ant has its place.
Gods are worshiped differently here than in Europe. During festivals, for
example, the gods are taken from their shrines and paraded around in the temple
grounds, their costumes are changed at the end of the day, and they are put to
bed for a few hours rest at night.
Generally, it’s believed that if
these and other rituals are performed perfectly, then it’s going to be more
beneficial for you, so that’s why rituals are taken very seriously and they are
memorized rigorously by priests. These rituals hardly if ever change with the
passage of time. For any religion, anywhere in the world, including
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and so on – to flourish it helps to have friends
in high places, like kings or very wealthy benefactors. For Hinduism, with its
vast temples and thousands of priests, friends in high places are absolutely
essential. Rajaraja was one of the greatest patrons of arts and religion in
India’s long history.
And this was his start, the great
temple of Bragatheeswarar.
It’s one of the most amazing buildings in
India. It’s 10 times taller than
anything built before it, and not only is it huge, but
it’s made of granite, one of the hardest stones in the world.
The inner shrine under the large tower contains a large phallus-shaped stone,
called a ‘Ling’, which represents the god Shiva, one of the most powerful and
popular gods, and also one of the three gods of the Holy Trinity that began,
runs, and ultimately ends this universe, only to start all over again. The phallus-shaped ‘Ling’ which is Shiva is 12 feet in height and
5 feet in diameter. Every day the priests dress Shiva, and wash
him with milk. This has been going on since the creation of the temple and it
still goes on today in an unbroken chain for the past thousand years.
To build temples like these
required huge amounts of money, and the easiest way to get it was by attacking
your weaker neighbors. Rajaraja began his career with the conquest of the Chera
country. He defeated Chera King Bhaskara Ravivarman, whose fleet he destroyed
in the port of Kandalur. He also seized Pandya Amara Bhujanga, and captured the
port of Vilinam. By his campaign against the Singhalees, he annexed northern
Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka), and built a number of stone temples in the
Ceylonese capital Polonnaruva. Most of his triumphs were achieved by the
fourteenth year of his reign (AD 998-999). Rajaraja assumed the title “Mummudi
Cholan” and moved his capital from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruva. The Chola
culture and Shiva religion permeated the whole of Ceylon.
Having thus realized his cherished
military glories, in or about 1003 AD Rajarajan sheathed his sword and turned
his thoughts toward a life of peace. It was about this time, that the
Chidambaram temple authorities bestowed on him the title of “Sri Rajarajan”.
India is a huge country and it has
a very diverse climate. Eastern India is a desert, while the western part
receives the highest rainfall in the world. Central India is a huge plateau
covering four modern states. Warfare in India was a very different affair in
each climatic region, with one common element throughout: the war elephants.
In the jungles of South India,
Rajaraja had an ample supply of elephants for his war effort. Now, wild
elephants might seem the right candidates to become war elephants, but they are
actually very docile, only attacking when provoked. Only the biggest, fiercest,
and fittest tusked males could be used as war elephants. Ancient elephant
trainers, or “mahouts” (still called by this name today), made a stockade and
drove elephant herds into a funnel that led them inside. As recently as the
1960s, the same method was used to capture elephants as in Rajaraja’s day,
except they were used then for labor instead of war. The ancient mahouts picked
the strongest bulls among the herds to be trained for the battlefields. The
rest became working elephants, used for heavy lifting and transporting heavy
objects for construction projects. The mahouts controlled the war elephants by
getting them drunk on fermented rice liquor, called “makar”, before every
battle. The elephants could literally slice their way through a battlefield
with razor-sharp blades attached to their trunks. From the top of the
elephants, spear throwers, generals, or archers could rain down death on the
people below. Despite these advantages, elephants are very hard to control.
Instinctively, they don’t favor killing people en masse. Only the legendary
skill of the mahouts could make them do so. It is interesting to note, just
like the Roman legions we know, the names of over 70 regiments in the ancient
Indian army that distinguished themselves in battle are known because the names
are inscribed in the temples – like the
Ilaiya-Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar, Parivarameykappargal (a regiment of Personal Bodyguards), Mummadi- Chola-terinda-Anaippagar (a regiment of the Elephant Corps). The surnames or titles of the king or of his son are usually prefixed before the regiment’s name, possibly as a sign of attachment after a regiment distinguished itself in a battle or other engagement. It would be considerably honorable and prestigious to be in the king’s own regiment.
Ilaiya-Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar, Parivarameykappargal (a regiment of Personal Bodyguards), Mummadi- Chola-terinda-Anaippagar (a regiment of the Elephant Corps). The surnames or titles of the king or of his son are usually prefixed before the regiment’s name, possibly as a sign of attachment after a regiment distinguished itself in a battle or other engagement. It would be considerably honorable and prestigious to be in the king’s own regiment.
After Rajaraja secured a good supply of money, he started
construction on his Temple of Bragatheeswarar. The
quarry that supplied the granite was over 50 miles away from
the temple site. Most of the stones were moved with boats, but some much
heavier stones, like the81.3-ton capstone at the summit of the tower, were
moved with a combination of ramps and elephants. The remains of the original
ramps still exist today after a thousand years, indicating a gentle 6-degree
slope pointing toward the top of the temple. The ramp began 1 mile from the
temple, and gradually intersected with the top of the tower 216 feet in the
air. Stones were moved from the quarry to the ramp, and up the ramp, with
elephants pulling the stones over wooden rollers, much the same as the way
ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.
You’d think Rajaraja was crazy going to so much trouble to make
just a temple, but let me explain. Rajaraja was a very religious man, and he
was caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, his religion
forbade him to kill, and on the other hand, to be a successful king he had to
make war on his neighbors for his people’s sake – otherwise his kingdom would
be weak and easily overrun. So he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of his enemies. He firmly believed as do all Hindu’s today in rebirth
and reincarnation, and that your actions in this life will determine your lot
in the next one. Given the blood on Rajaraja’s hands, he might come back as a
worm or something even worse. So he spent fabulous amounts of money on his
temples. As one example, it’s
written in an inscription that it took 4,000 cows, 7,000 goats, and 30 buffalos
just to supply the butter required for the lamps that were lit in the temple and temple
grounds. And this was just one temple. Rajaraja provided for hundreds of
temples that he created just to insure that he kept his karma in good standing.
By his generosity, he hoped the gods would overlook his transgressions and be
persuaded to reincarnate him as something better than a worm.
Indian religion during Rajaraja’s time
also spread across other lands. That’s why in the steaming jungles of Cambodia,
the temples of Angkor Wat don’t depict Cambodian gods, but the gods of India.
Not only did religion spread, but also art. When Europe was languishing in the
Dark Ages, the artists in the Chola Empire were making bronze statues like the
famous Nathraja shown below.
This is Shiva, who appears as
Nathraja, the Lord of the Dance, simultaneously crushing the dwarf of ignorance
under his foot, beating the drum of creation, unleashing the fires of
destruction and finally raising one hand in assurance, telling us to fear not.
Near Thanjavur, artists still create bronzes as they did in Rajaraja’s time,
placing mud from the Kavari River on a hand carved wax statue to create a mold.
After that, they pour molten bronze or gold into the mold and let it cool to
take the shape of the statue.
When Rajaraja died in 1014, he
left behind him a shining legacy that made him one of the greatest patrons of
art and religion in India. The Chola Dynasty ended with King Rajendra Chola
III, the last Chola king. The last recorded date of Rajendra III is 1279 AD.
There is no evidence that Rajendra was followed immediately by another Chola
prince. The Chola empire was completely overshadowed by the Pandyan empire,
though many small chieftains continued to claim the title “Chola” well into
15th century.
This is a mural showing Rajaraja,
drawn during his reign, showing him in red standing behind his guru. If you
have seen a picture of the god Shiva, you might find similarities with the hair
style of Rajaraja. It must be noted that some archeologists dispute whether
this is actually Rajaraja or not.
HISTORY OF TAMIL CULTURE--Kumari Kandam- The Lost Continent
Kumari
Kandam or Lemuria (Tamil:குமரிக்கண்டம்) is the name of a supposed sunken
landmass referred to in existing ancient Tamil literature. It is said
to have been located in the Indian Ocean, to the south of
present-day Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of India.
References in Tamil literature
There are scattered
references in Sangam literature, such as Kalittokai 104, to how
the sea took the land of the Pandiyan kings, upon which they
conquered new lands to replace those they had lost. There are also
references to the rivers Pahruli and Kumari, that are said to have flowed in a
now-submerged land. The Silappadhikaram, a 5th century epic, states
that the “cruel sea” took the Pandiyan land that lay between the rivers Pahruli
and the mountainous banks of the Kumari, to replace which the Pandiyan king
conquered lands belonging to the Chola and Chera kings (Maturaikkandam, verses
17-22). Adiyarkkunallar, a 12th century commentator on the epic, explains this
reference by saying that there was once a land to the south of the
present-day Kanyakumari, which stretched for 700 kavatam from
the Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the south. As the modern
equivalent of a kavatam is unknown, estimates of the size of the lost land vary
from 1,400 miles (2,300 km) to 7,000 miles (11,000 km) in length, to
others suggesting a total area of 6-7,000 square
miles, or smaller still an area of just a few villages.
This land was divided
into 49 nadu, or territories, which he names as seven coconut territories (elutenga natu), seven Madurai territories (elumaturai natu), seven old sandy territories (elumunpalai natu), seven new sandy territories (elupinpalai natu), seven mountain territories (elukunra natu), seven eastern coastal territories (elukunakarai natu) and seven dwarf-palm territories (elukurumpanai natu). All these lands, he says, together with the
many-mountained land that began with KumariKollam, with forests and
habitations, were submerged by the sea.Two of these Nadus or territories were
supposedly parts of present-day Kollam and Kanyakumari districts.
None of these texts name
the land “Kumari Kandam” or “Kumarinadu”, as is common today. The only similar
pre-modern reference is to a “Kumari Kandam” (written குமரிகண்டம்,
rather than குமரிக்கண்டம்
as the land is called in modern Tamil), which is named in
the medieval Tamil text Kantapuranam either
as being one of the nine continents, or one of the nine divisions of India
and the only region not to be inhabited by barbarians. 19th and 20th Tamil
revivalist movements, however, came to apply the name to the territories
described in Adiyarkkunallar’s commentary to the Silappadhikaram. They
also associated this territory with the references in the Tamil Sangams,
and said that the fabled cities of southern Madurai and Kapatapuram where the
first two Sangams were said to be held were located on Kumari Kandam.
In Tamil national mysticism
In the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, Tamil nationalists came to identify Kumari Kandam
with Lemuria, a hypothetical “lost continent” posited in the 19th century
to account for discontinuities in biogeography. In these accounts, Kumari
Kandam became the “cradle of civilization”, the origin of human languages in
general and the Tamil language in particular. These ideas gained
notability in Tamil academic literature over the first decades of the 20th
century, and were popularized by the Tanittamil Iyakkam, notably
by self-taught DravidologistDevaneya Pavanar, who held that all
languages on earth were merely corrupted Tamil dialects.
R. Mathivanan, then Chief Editor of the
Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project of the Government of Tamil Nadu, in 1991
claimed to have deciphered the still undeciphered Indus script as
Tamil, following the methodology recommended by his teacher Devaneya
Pavanar, presenting the following timeline (cited after Mahadevan 2002):
ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of
“the Tamilian or Homo
Dravida“,
ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC: beginnings of
the Tamil language
50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture of
the Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by
a Pandya king
3031 BC: A Chera prince in his wanderings
in the Solomon Island saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Kumari
Kandam.
1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established
by a Pandya king
7th century BC: Tolkappiyam (the
earliest known extant Tamil grammar)
Mathivanan uses “Aryan Invasion” rhetoric
to account for the fall of this civilization:
“After imbibing the mania of the Aryan
culture of destroying the enemy and their habitats, the Dravidians developed a
new avenging and destructive war approach. This induced them to ruin the forts
and cities of their own brethren out of enmity”.
Mathivanan claims his interpretation of
history is validated by the discovery of the “Jaffna seal”, a seal bearing
a Tamil-Brahmi inscription assigned by its excavators to the 3rd
century BC (but claimed by Mathivanan to date to 1600 BC).
Mathivanan’s theories are not considered
mainstream by the contemporary university academy internationally.
Popular culture
§
Kumari Kandam appeared in the The Secret Saturdays episodes “The King of Kumari Kandam” and “The Atlas
Pin.” This version is a city on the back of a giant sea serpent with its
inhabitants all fish people.
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