SHIVA - THE COSMIC DANCER

  HARIHARA SWAMY TEMPLE - THONDAVADA - ANDHRA. About 10 KM's from Tirupati is a small town called Thondavada, which down the history would have boasted about many temples including Venkateswara temple called Thimmappa, Agastyeshwara temple, and other temples. The Agasteshwara Swami Temple is in a huge compound adjascent to the Swarnamukhi river flowing behind. The temple compound from the back has a gate, which opens into the River with steps. In the centre of the River, Swarnamukhi is a beautiful Mandapam, which seems to be as old as the temple itself and my estimation is of (500 - 1000) years old. In the Mandapam is a unique sculpture of Shiva and Vishnu standing in the same Idol of about 8 to 9 feet from the pedestal facing opposite sides. The Mandapam does not have a Vimana. SHIVA The Idol of SHIVA is placed on the pedestal which is carved like a Lingam. Jata tied up on the head like a coconut, with snakes as haaram, round bracelets in all arms ( Chaturbhuja) and anklets well o

PARASHURAMESHWAR TEMPLE – ANDHRA PRADESH – CHITTOOR – GUDIMALAM – Part 2 The Temple contains a very early LINGA with a full-length figure of SHIVA, housed in the GARBHAGRIHA of the temple. This is one of the earliest LINGA associated with SHIVA discovered so far, and it has been dated to the 2nd/1st century BCE. This is "the only sculpture  to survive from ancient South India, before sculpture’s were made under the Pallava Dynasty around the 6 th - 7th century Current Era.   Nothing similar to the lingam or any object similar to it, exists within many hundred miles of the temple or anywhere in South India making it unique and  mysterious. If assigned an early date, the figure on the linga is ""one of the earliest surviving and unequivocal images of the god Shiva".   The LINGAM was, discovered by  Mr. T.A.Gopinatha Rao an ASI archaeologist , a few years  before he published it in 1916. The LINGAM is carved out of a hard dark brown local stone. It is over 5 ft

PARASHURAMESHWAR TEMPLE – ANDHRA PRADESH – CHITTOOR – GUDIMALAM – Part 4 SHIVA – PARASHURAMA – BRAHMA -  THE LEGEND - GUDIMALLAM Sage JAMADAGNI was a SAPTARISHI in the current MANAVANTARA   and PARASHURAMA or Bhadrarama was his son out of his Kshatriya wife RENUKA & the 6 th incarnation of MAHAVISHNU   who visited the earth to absolve it from the weight of the sins of mankind. So chaste was Renuka, the wife of Sage Jamadagni, that she used to carry water daily in pots made out of unbaked clay with the power of her devotion to her husband. One day she was attracted to some gandharvas flying over the river and was momentarily filled with desire, the unbaked clay dissolved in the water. Sage Jamadagni divined through his yogic powers all that had happened and in a fit of rage asked his sons to execute her. None except, Parashurama agreed and beheaded his mother to death with his axe.   The sage cursed his other sons to become stone.   Pleased with Parashurama Sage Jamadagni gave

PARASHURAMESHWAR TEMPLE – ANDHRA PRADESH – CHITTOOR – GUDIMALAM – Part 1 SHIVA – THE OLDEST LINGAM - THE INDUS CONNECTION  LINGA WITH SHIVA   The PARASHURAMESHWAR Temple structure at Gudimallam, and the sculpture of the LINGAM looks similar to the workshop of the MELUHHA hieroglyph.   The Meluhha’s were probably the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization, currently in Baloch - Pakistan. They Traded in the modern Indian and Afghanistan region along with trade connections to MESOPOTAMIAN SUMER in Iraq. SHIVA - THE SMILING HUNTER The remarkable feature of the sculptural motifs on the temple, look like a continuity of Meluhha hieroglyphs: safflower (Safforn), elephant, ram, tabor or drum, goblin (gaNa metaphored by 'elephant legs' on the Gudimallam sculpture), oxhide ingot on the jewellery of the sculpture (depicted on Indus writing of MOHENJADARO tablet m1429 showing oxhide ingot cargo on a boat).  SAFFRON FLOWER MOTIF ON THE TEMPLE VIMANA Did the builders of the Temple, kno

PARASHURAMESHWAR TEMPLE – ANDHRA PRADESH – CHITTOOR – GUDIMALAM – Part 3 SHIVA – THE " LINGAKRITI TEMPLE" OVER THE SHIVALINGAM Gudimallam is a small village, in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh and about 20 KM’s from Tirupathi. The Village on the banks of river Swarnamukhi , with very fertile land with lush greenery, has become popular  and well-known, because it houses the Temple dedicated to SHIVA and known as ,  known as "THE PARASURAMESHWARA TEMPLE”. The existence of the LINGAM predates the current TEMPLE structure by at least 800 to 1000 years as the LINGAM dates to at least about 2300 years before the CE.   The estimates of the date of the temple vary considerably, but it is usually dated to "the later Chola and Vijayanagara periods", so possibly a thousand years later than the sculpture. The lingam must have been placed in the open, with the rectangular stone surround that still remains. The LINGAM in temple remains in worship. The Temple itself is