dear members, the frescoes above the brigathishwarar are a must see. there are only 3 paintings remaining, the rest all covered by nayak period paintings( much like cinema posters covering milestones or place names) i think that must be the most true to life representation of rrc as Mr. kudavasal Balasubramaniam explained to us. for you had to spread the plaseter on the wall and paint within 24 hours before the mixture sets.
rrc was muscular, had mongoloid features(narrow eyes and high cheek bones) and a muscular physique.( remember he was esentially a navy man before he ascended the throne and weaklings dont survive in the high seas) what struck me was the painter had drawn 7 (or so)wives in varying colours.but their sizes had varied from normal to 3 feet.( it was the way of the artist to represent their hierarchy, i guess)
another painting had the chidambaram temple. whereas the sabhais are all exactly like now the outside kopurams are something like a kerala style. i was under the kerala influence on chidambaram was after malik kafur invasion when nataraja was in kerala for a century almost. i made the trip 6 months back and had the luck of Mr. kudavasal Balasubramaniam explain the details to us. but people who came with me on the trip to the higher reaches of brihadishwarar temple have been complaining of bad luck ever since?
Yes! I visited first time and in the next few weeks I resigned my job for some reasons, and I went unemployed for a few months. But, then I got placed in a gud company. I think this is "kaakkai utkaara oanam pazham vizuntha kathai". May be any change will have some effect.
unfortunately i have no pictures. photographs are banned inside the place.
some official photographer called behl had taken the snaps. i searched on the net but not available.
arun this one is a must see.
some two hundred feet of hollow space( was the hollow the akasa lingkam and not the building ?) and on top a 80 feet stone with nothing to support it below. absolutely claustrophobic. the stone is supported by interlacing of 2 ton rocks and no cementing materiel. the architect must have been a genius.
back to the photos. can somebody tell us if these photos are available.
Dear Jagan I agree and disagree... I have visited the temple every thursday for all the years I have lived year....I used to bribe the Brahadeswarar to make us win all the Quiz competetions and the bribe was 108 suthu around the praharam and nandhi......So you get to appreciate all the sculptures
But the reality is you will find more people visiting the Karuvurar sannadhi to see the Ballis...and pray to Varahi amman and thursday is her day.....
Its true the brahadeswarar doesnt attreact the same crowd as meenakshi,Kamathchi or even our own Punnai nallu mariamman
Historical or even mythological pedigree do not matter to the faith of people, as with everything in this transient world, even faith has a fashion, current example: the amazing growth of Prathyankara Devi cult.
I once conversed with a orthodox vaishanavite who was cribbing against people preferring Thirumalai to Thiruvarangam. He said, before Vijayanagar kings adopted the place, it was a jungle shrine where most days the priest was the only human visitor to the place, while Srirangam was THE TEMPLE for centuries before.
I was in Rameshwaran some years back and found to my surprise that most local revered the Muneeswaran more than Ramanatha swami, though their occupation was thanks to him as the crowd puller,
I can only quote "Samasarovayam Athiva Vichitraha- This world is extremely strange"