Kailasanatha Temple, Kanchipuram
Period & Builder
The Kailasanatha Temple in
Kanchipuram, is one of the great Pallava monuments. The Temple was built by
Narasimha Varma II alias Rajasimha
(700-728 CE). Emperor Raja Raja Chola is said to have worshipped at this
Temple. He is said to have drawn inspiration from this splendid vimanam for building his magnum opus Sri Brhadiswara Temple in
Tanjavur.
Temple
architecture/style/specialty
The soldiers riding on the lion on the outer
wall show ravages of time. They are not made of stone; rather appear to be made
of some mixture of sand and bricks. They may have been repaired at later time.
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The Temple contains numerous
panels depicting Siva as Nataraja, Ardhanariswara, Dakshinamurti, Bhikshatanam,
Svastika posture.
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The Temple is surrounded on three sides by
around 54 cave-like structures designed for meditation.
In most of these caves, Siva is
seated with Parvati by his left side.
There is a huge niche, in which
and eight-armed Durga stands with her paraphernalia, one foot daringly placed
over her Lion. She is flanked to her right by a huge Yali and on her left in a smaller niche, by her own benign form,
performing penance on a pedestal while the lion crouches beneath.
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The entrance is through a modest Rajagopuram. This is to be explained,
since building huge gopurams, taller
than the vimanam is a subsequent
feature of post-Pallava period (seen in only four temples – Sri Rangam,
Arunachalam, Madurai). There are a number of shrines around the Temple, which
are maintained by the ASI.
Deity
The Lingam
in the sanctum is more than ten-feet
tall and has sixteen facets. There is a passage around the shrine, through
which devotes are encouraged to go round. One has to crawl into the entrance,
walk around the sanctum and crawl out
of the exit. The entrance symbolizes death and exit rebirth. It was indeed a
challenge for me to enter and come out alive. I would not advise anyone to try
it unless one has an agile body or steel mind or both.
A medium-sized Nandi sits far away from the Temple who
is flanked by four huge fierce Yalis
standing. This is heavily photographed including me.
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