AmrithaGhateshwar Temple – Melakadambur – Cuddalore -
Tamilnadu
ABSTRACT
The town of Kadambur or
Thirukadambur was an important metropolis of the later Chola’s (848 -1279 CE)
and reminds us of the historical Tamil Novel “PONNIYIN SELVAN” “Son of Ponni or River Kaveri” which talks about
the early life of Arulmozhivarman or Raja Raja Chola l (947-1014CE), by Shri kalki Krishnamurthy. The town is about
31 Km’s from Chidambaram, 6Km’s from kattumannarkoil and 7 kms from
Veeranarayana lake or Veeranam lake built by Rajaditya Chola (907-955CE).The
fort of Kadmabur is the place, where the Chieftains of the Cholas hatched a
conspiracy to overthrow the rule of Sundara Chola and took an oath to make
prince Maduranataka Chola the next King. It is here that Karikal Chola was
assassinated. In this historical town is the twin temple of Amrithaghateshwarar
“God of the pot of Amritha or Nectar” in
Mela kadambur known as the Indra Vimanam or Aeroplane of Indra and
Rudrakoteeshwarar “The Lingam of Kotee or crore Rudra’s” temple in Keezha
Kadambur.
INTRODUCTION
The Shiva Parvathi, (Amritaghateswarar & Vidhyujyothi
Nayaki) temple in Melakadambur was built during the reign of Kulottunga Chola I
(1025 – 1122 CE). It is known as Karak kovil (Chariot shaped temple), and it is
thought to be the first shrine built in the shape of a chariot with wheels
drawn by spirited horses. The word Karam in Tamil also means the Kadamba tree, being
in a forest of Kadamba trees (Anthocephalus cadamba), the temple is known as
Karak koil. There are 63 Shiva temples located north of river Cauvery and this
is the 34th temple on the north banks, there are 127 shiva temples
on the south of Cauvery.
KEYWORDS
Pallava’s, Chola’s,
Karak Koil, Vimana, Devakoshtha, Dashabhuja, Alingana Murthy, Gangadhara,
Kulothunga Chola 1, Thevaram, Ananda Thandava, Urdhwa Thandava, Melakadambur,
Pathanjali Yogi, Indra, Romasa Rishi, Rishi Agasthya,
Purusha-mirugam,Parvatharaja, Ardhanaareeshwara.
LEGEND
After great efforts the Devas derived the pot of Amritha or
Nectar from the Samudra Manthan or churning of the Ocean of milk (Paarkadal in
Tamil), but in their greed to become immoratal, they forgot to invoke the
blessings of God Ganesha before consuming the same. This Infuriated, Ganesha
who took away the pot of the nectar. A drop of nectar fell in this place known
as Kadambur, which manifested itself as a Swayambhu Lingam. The Devas realized
their folly and invoked ganesha, who returned back the pot of nectar and
advised the Devas to pray to God Shiva here as Amrithaghateshwar or the “God of
the nectar pot”.
Adithi the mother of the Devas traveled to Bhuloka from Devaloka
every day to pray to Amrithaghateshwar. Seeing his mother’s efforts, a
distressed Indra converted the temple into a
INDRA ON THE DEVAKOSHTHA
Chariot and wanted to take it away to Devaloka. God Ganesha
divining Indra’s mind, pressed the Chariot and sank one of the wheels, which
got stuck into the ground making it immovable. Indra invoked God Ganesha and
asked him to release the Chariot.
Ganesha asked Indra to install 1000 lingams in the place and take the
temple to Devaloka. Indra tried establishing 1000 Linga’s, however every lingam
would break on installation. Perplexed Indra prayed to Mahadev, who advised him
to install only one Lingam chanting Shiva’s name a thousand times. Post installation, Mahadev fascinated by the
place wanted to stay in the same place and asked Indra to come and pray to him
daily as a proxy to his mother - Adithi. The legend says that Indra visits the
temple of Amrithagharteshwar daily and prays on behalf of his mother.
HISTORY
The THEVARAM is a seven volume treatise on the hymns composed
and sung in praise of MAHADEV SHIVA in Tamil, primarily by Tirunavukkarasar
(Appar),(570-650CE), TiruGnyanasambandar(7th Century CE) &
Sundarar (8th Century CE) & Manickavasagar (862-885 CE) being
called Nalvar or the “Saintly four”, the most prominent Nayanaars of the sixty
three Nayanaars, of Shiva Siddhanta, which forms part of the larger twelve
Volume compendium of hymns TIRUMURAI composed by many other poet saints from
the 6th Century CE to the 11th Century CE. The Tevaram talks of 275 such
Temples known as PAADAL (Hymn) PETRA (acquired) STHALAM (Place), whose
principle deity SHIVA has been praised by the hymns.
It is the 88th mentioned Temple out of the 275
temples, which finds a mention in the Thevaram, by Appar and Sambandar, thus
making the temple at the least 1500 years old. The reference to this temple in
three of the Padigams indicates the popularity of the temple in the 6th
century itself as a place of worship. The Current structure in the shape of a
stone chariot would have been renovated by Kolothunga Chola l in 1113 CE. The
temple contains an inscription from the 41st & 43rd year of his
reign, which corresponds to 1113 CE suggesting the existence of the temple
built in stone.
The Shiva Lingam definitely predates the temple by many
centuries; the earliest structures of the temple presumably would have been in
wood and subsequently in bricks, but even before the renovation in 1113 CE the
structure would have been in stone. This inference comes from the Simha or Lion
pillar’s, which holds the canopy of the main devakoshtha idols and resemble the
pillars of the Pallava era (275 – 897 CE).
The Muslim sultanate’s invasion had left the
temple in a condition of ruins and it is only in the 1880s, that Sri
Aru.Arunachalam from the Chettiyar clan of Devakottai started renovating the
temple with the mandapam’s, praharam and the Rajagopuram which, Later, was
completed by Sri.Somasundaram Chettiyar from his own family and consecrated in
1920 with a Kumbabhishegam.
Rajendra Chola 1 had gone on an expedition
(1019-1021) upto the Ganges, to conquer the territories of Vengi now in Andhra,
Kalinga – Odisha, Pala – Bengal and brought it under his control. On his return
he brought back some artifacts and got them installed in his Kingdom including
the Dwarapalaka’s placed in front of the Temple in Ganagai Konda Cholapuram,
his capital. Two of those artefacts,
from the expedition are in this temple. One is the Stone idol of Vinayaka and
the other one is a metal or Panchaloha idol of Dashabhuja Vrishabha Tandava
Murthy. These two artefacts were donated to this temple by kulothunga Cholan 1.
Dashabhuja Vrishabha Tandava Murthy
This Idol is that of Shiva as Thandava Murthi or dancing God,
dancing on Nandin- Vrushabha with 10 hands or Dashabhuja. This metallic Idol of Shiva is used as a
“Chalabera” or procession deity, for performance of special puja”s and can be
seen only on Pradosham days. The Idol is elaborate and very unique in its
magnificence with the pedestal containing Parvathi, Vishnu,Bhairava,
Veerabhadra, Vinayaka, Gandharva’s & Bhoothaganas.
TEMPLE –
ARCHITECTURE
This temple in its original form would have
been a living example of the combination of Nagara and Dravidian architecture.
Infact it could be called as a miniature of architectural excellence, for the
Chola’s to emulate with grandiose. The original structure would have consisted
only of the Chariot and all other Mandapam’s praharam, subshrines, compound and
the Rajagopuram are from a later period.
This temple known as Karak Koil or the Chariot
shaped temple has two pair of wheels and is pulled by two horses. It boasts of
sculpture across its outer wall depicting Sages,Devas, scenes of epics like
Ramayana, Krishna Leela, Shiva Leela and the stories of the Shaivaite Saints
known as the Nayanar’s, Madanika’s, Musicians, Simha’s, Yaali’s,Bhooota’s,
without a space to add some more sculptures.
The main frame of the temple consists of a
Garbhagriha or sanctum which is Chaturanga or Square in nature with an extended
ardhamandam which is again a smaller square attached in the front.There are
four wheels attached to the Garbhagriha walls with two horses attached to the
Ardhamandapa. The axel coming out of the ardhamandapam, seemingly resting on
the horse, points out to a change in the floor plan. This axel on both the
sides would have had additional wheels and the horses would have been in a
position front of the ardhamandapam,which would have been like a yoke holding
the horses.
The outer walls of the Garbhagriha, has an
enlarged aedicule or sub shrine and one main deity on all three sides,
Dakshinamurthy (flanked by Indra and Romasa Rishi) on the south, Mahavishnu
(flanked by Surya and Chandra) in the West and Brahma (flanked by Parvatharaja and
Patanjali yogi) in the North. These main deities have two more aedicules with
Simha Prabhamandala( lion faced halo) (one above the other) from the centre of
the wall of the sanctum to the top tier of the Vimana, containing different
version of the same god (Dakshinamurthy, Veena Dhara Daskhinamurthy, yoga
Dakshinamurthy) one above the other. Similarly Mahavishnu, Paravasudeva,
Mahavishnu and three Brahma are on top of one another.
Similarly the Ardhamandapam outer wall has
Kanni Ganapathi, Ardhanaareeshwara and Rishi Agasthya on the southern side and
Gangadhara, Alingana murthy and Vishnu Durga. Each flanking figure on the wall of the
garbhagriha is depicted as worshipping a small Linga sculpted as part of the
pilaster in front of him. In fact even the main deity of Mahavishnu and Brahma
are praying to a Lingam placed next to them.These pilasters are also decorated
with various roopams of Shiva including the Anand Thandava of Nataraja being
watched by Parvathi, Urdhwa Thandava, Gajasamhara, Kankalamurthy, Bhikshatana,
Lingothbhava being prayed to by Vishnu and Brahma, amongst celestial dancers,
musicians and many more.
BRAHMA & VISHNU PRAYING TO THE LINGA PLACED ON THEIR
SIDES
Generally in the early chola period, Devakoshtha or the Aedicules
on the walls of the sanctum facing east, consisted of Vinayaka (south
Ardhamandapam wall), Dakshinamurthy (south Garbhagriha wall), Mahavishnu or
Lingothbhava (west Garbhagriha wall), Brahma (north Garbhagriha wall &
Vishnu Durga (north
wall) making it a consistant 5 idols in number. In this temple 15
major murtis or idols of Deva’s & Rishi’s decorate the Devakoshtha.
SAGE AGASTHYA
The six attending figures are personified by their own costume,
jewelry and attributes relevant to their identity of Rishi’s or Deva’s, but the
most unique part is the presence of a small square tablets above their heads
depicting symbols characterizing them.
Indra has six open spirals
(which look like blooming lotuses with flowing stem) depicted above his head
signifying his attributes of sky, lightening, thunder, storms, rain & war.
Romasa Rishi (disciple of Sage
Agasthya) is crowned with the tablet showing Cosmic Tree, signifying his
treatise, he being the author of the ancient Astronomical work “Romasa
Siddhantha” and had a life span of astronomical proportions.
Chandra – Moon, has white water lily depicted on the tablet above
his head symbolizing Rebirth and enlightenment.
CHANDRA
Surya has the tablet of the Lotus above his head. The iconography
of Surya is seen holding lotuses in both hands, blooming of the lotus signify
creation or new beginning.
SURYA,
HIMAVAN OR PARVATHARAJA & PATHANJALI YOGI PRAYING TO LINGAMS
Parvatharaja or Himavan or Himalaya is the father of Devi
Parvathi, the tablet above him has the Purushamriga, or Human-lion or the
Sphinx as known in Bharathavarsh. The Purushamriga sculpture can be found in
some of the southern temples including the Nataraja temple at Chidambaram and
also in lamps used to pray to the dieties. The purusha-mirugam (mirugam in
Tamil is animal & not Deer as in Sanskrit) wards of evil and removes the
sin of devotees. Patanjali yogi is the
reincarnation of Adi-Sesha and one of the founding sages of the Chidambaram
temple. He had sought from Mahadev Shiva, to see the Cosmic Dance of Natarajan
in Chidambaram. The tablet above his head aptly shows the Ananda Thandava of
Nataraja as in Chidambaram.
The temple has 18 layers from the basement or
adhishthanam upto the Prastara (the beam denoting the end of the Garbhagriha
wall) including the Pada or the wall of the Garbhagriha. The Vimana of the
temple is two tiered or Dvitala, of which the lower tala is octagonal (eight
sides) and has Panjaras (small rectangular crevice or cavity in the wall like
niche where an idol or decorative elements are generally placed) (frames or
semi – aedicules) consisting the Deva’s of the cardinal direction and flanked
by four small vimana’s (or miniature temples) on the edges of the square top of
the sanctum.
The top tier of the Vimana is the griva and
Shikhara both circular in nature in the form of a Vimana with feathers like
features, ready to fly, with the metal Kumbham on top. This section has again four
aedicules with Dakshinamurthy, Brahma, and Vishnu on three sides and Shiva on
the eastern side on the Sukhanasi.
·
The entrance to the east facing temple is
through a three tiered Rajagopuram. This leads into the only Praharam of the
temple which houses the original structure of the Chariot and all other later
additions including the Mahamandapam, the Sanctum of Devi parvathy facing south,
the compound wall, Rajagopuram and all other shrub shrines.
·
The prime deity Shiva known as
Amirthaghateshwar is in the form of a swayambhu Lingam, with an octagonal
avudayar or pindika in the Chaturanga Garbhagriha.
·
Devi Parvathi is in the roopam of Parashakthi
– who has all the three devi’s Saraswathi known as Vidhya, Lakshmi known as
Jyothi & Parvathi known as Nayaki, hence she is known as Mother Vidhyu
Jyothi Nayaki or locally Jyothi
Minambal.
Temple
Architecture Ref: https://www.asianart.com/articles/ratha/index.html#4 Shri Raja Deekshithar
Historical Ref: Sthala Puranam by Mr.G.Vijay – Temple Chairman –
kadamburvijay@yahoo.com
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