Kanchipuram

Arrived in Kanchi on Sunday evening 16th August. Kanchipuram is known as the ‘Golden City of Temples’ and is considered one of the seven main sacred cities of India. It has over a hundred temples there today but is said to have had over a thousand. I saw four, two Visnu temples:  the Vaikuntha Perumal Temple and the Varadaraja Temple and two Shiva Temples: The Ekambareshvara Temple and the Kailasanatha Temple.

It rained quite a bit on the evening and morning I spent in Kanchi  so the bit about the’ Golden’ city was lost on me. It was all a bit sludgy so I decided on a whirlwind rickshaw tour of the four main temples. I had about one hour in each which is absolute blasphemy given how much there was to see, but I wanted to arrive in Tirumala before nightfall.

The first temple I visited, was the Vaikuntha Perumal temple, a Vishnu Temple, built in the 8th century by the Pallava king Nandhivarman Pallavamalla. It  is unusual in having three sanctums, with Vishnu in reclining, standing and sitting pose respectively. I took darshan of Vishnu in his sitting pose and on ekadashi and festival days the other forms are open to the public.

Vaikuntha Perumal Temple Kanchi

The temple is small with grassy verges and the sounds of devotional music greet you as you step into its courtyard. There was only one other visitor there with me so the priest was very generous with his time and showed both of us around the inside of the temple.

He explained  why the walls and carvings of the temple were so badly deteriorated. Apparently no one knows the exact mix of sandstone and other materials that comprise these walls and so cannot restore them.

With his blessings and some sweets, I left to visit a Shiva Temple, the Kailashanath Temple.

Vaikuntha Perumal

The Kailashanatha Temple is probably the most beautiful and best preserved of the four temples I visited in Kanchi. It is a small temple and also possibly the oldest, built in 7th century by Rajasimha Pallava.

Kailashanatha Temple

When I sought my rickshaw driver’s help in finding  the concealed entrance to the inner sanctum on the side of the temple, he told me I could not go into the temple. Nonetheless we went in together and both my driver and I were met and welcomed by a most gentle Brahmin who, in impeccable English inquired about my pilgrimage and explained to us the details and story behind the huge Shiva Linga in the dark cavernous shrine.His family  name was Subramanian, and his family have been priests there since the 14th century.

Unlike the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, whose architecture it resembles, this temple, away from the eroding forces of the sea, seems to have survived incredibly well. The brahmin also shared his concern for the future maintenance of the temple due to lack of knowledge of the exact constituents of the sandstone edifice.

He also inquired whether or not education was corrupt in my country and then launched into a polite yet vehement criticism of the Indian Government’s ‘propaganda’ forcing people into  technological and vocational fields of  education. He decried the lack of interest in culture and traditional forms of learning.

It’s funny, I seem to remember a similar lament by Professor Gombrich at Oxford a few years ago. He would have had much to share with this little brahmin on the other side of the world. I left very happy to have met him and with my rickshaw driver urging me on to the next temple, The Shiva, Ekambareshvara Temple.

Ekambareshvara/Ekambaranatha Temple

This is the largest temple in Kanchipuram, and though parts of the main temple were built by the pallava Kings, the rest of the huge temple complex was built mainly in the 16th and 17th century. None of the  gopurams (tower gateways) are opposite each other nor are the walls of the temple parallel to each other. For me this lack of symmetry created a sense of  discordance. Or perhaps it was also because it was raining as I arrived with little time to appreciate its open spaces.  I was glad to enter its inner hall ways.

Corridors of the Ekambareshvara Temple. I took the picture without my contact lens, as you can see.

At first I was refused entry to the inner sanctum by a rather pushy brahmin. When I mentioned the word ‘donation’ he changed his tune. Inside, although there were quite a few visitors, the brahmins at the shrine were welcoming and allowed me to take extra time viewing the Shiva Linga. It is made of sandstone and is believed to have been made by Parvati (wife of Shiva) and worshipped by her  when she was separated from him.

There is also a mango tree (said to be about 3000 years old) here under which Parvati is said to have worshipped Shiva and performed penance for offending him. Naturally she won him over with her extra-ordinary feats and they continue to live happily ever after.

Parvati's Mango Tree

The Varadaraja Temple

The third temple I visited was this major Vishnu Temple built by the Kings of Vijayanagar in the 12th century. It is counted along with Tirupati and Sri Rangam as one of the major temples in South India.Varada means bestower of benedictions and raja means king.

Entrance to the Varadaraja Temple

Sri Varadaraj

In this temple I had a brahmin guide who took me around the 1000 pillared hall with its myriad carvings from the Puranas and the Ramayana and showed me up the stairs of the small hill on which the deity of Varadaraj is located.  It was not such a steep climb and the large, standing deity towers down upon all those ascending to pay their respects.

Hanuman lifting mountain

The story is that Lord Brahma had Visvakarma, the architect of the demigods, make a wooden deity of Lord Varadaraja. The utsava-murti (festival deity ) is said to have emerged from Lord Brahma’s sacrificial fire. It was felt that the wooden deity would be ruined if constantly exposed and worshiped. Therefore the deity was immersed in the temple tank, and a granite deity was installed in its place. It is taken out for viewing every 40 to 50 years.The next time will be 2019 and the temple expects hundreds and thousands of pilgrims to flock  here for this rare privilege.

Temple Tank

Kamakshi(Love-eyed)  Amaan(Goddess) Temple

Finally I arrived at the Kamakshi Amaan temple and was a bit pessimistic about gaining entrance given my Meenakshi experience in Madurai. However, Nick  (that’s Dr Nicolas Sutton to those of you who don’t know him)  furnished me with the name of  a Mr Shastri who had been very kind to him on his visit to the temple. So, as I was being ushered away from the entrance for being the freckled-pasty- skinned pariah that I am, I asked for Mr Shastri please.

A look of recognition in the eyes of the guard mellowed his approach into one of direction to the far corner of the temple. There, befittingly adorned with  body paint and brahmin thread, sat Mr Shastri who never heard of Nick Sutton.  ‘How many Mr Shastri’s are there ? ‘ I asked, and he laughed saying there were many, maybe 30. But the laugh may have mellowed him, or perhaps the  potent vibration of the name Dr Nick Sutton did it, because he waved a hand towards the guard and told him to show me around.

So thank you Nick, for Mr Shastri. I’m sorry I never got to meet the gentleman himself, but I had a much appreciated guided tour of the Temple. I took no photographs, because I didn’t want to push my luck.

The temple is  one of three main holy places of Goddess/Sakti worship in India, the other two being Madurai and Varanasi and was built by the Cholas in the 14th century.

Within the temple too there is a Vishnu shrine, The Varaha Perumal Temple, located just left of the entrance to the inner shrine which was the first place the guard took me, before showing me into the inner shrine where the Goddess is seated on a lotus. There is also a shrine to Shankara Acarya (who installed a chakra here) within the temple.

To further add to my good fortune, the bookseller at a bookstand without asking for any payment gave me free gifts of   pictures of Kamaskhi, and a gold-coloured coin with Kuvera (the treasurer of the Gods) and Lakshmi (the Goddess of Fortune) on the other side. I thought the OCHS  might benefit from this little blessing.  Maybe we should install it somewhere in the centre.- Every little helps!

I left this final temple visit in Kanchipuram  feeling very much blessed by the loving glance of Kamakshi and with prasadam ( sweets given out at all temples) bursting from plastic bags I raced off to collect my bag from the Hotel and catch a bus to Tirumala

 

Kumbakonam

Sarangapani Temple Kumbakonam

Kumbakonam, known as the Temple Town, is a  former capital of the Chola kings in the 7th century, and is about 4 hours by bus from Tiruchirappelli. It has about 15 temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva around the town centre and there is also a rare temple to Brahma  here too.

The Sarangapani temple, mostly built by the Nayaks between the 13th and 17th century ( the central shrine dates to the Chola period, 10th-12th C.E) is considered to be one of the most important Vaishnava temples in South India along with Sri Rangam (Tiruchiappelli) and  Sri Venkateshwara or Balaji Temple in Tirupati. Here again Lord Vishnu is seen reclining on Ananta Sesa, the celestial serpent.

My experience here was very welcoming. Arriving in the evening of the 9th in time for the evening ritual, I was met with the sweet smell of hay and cows as soon as I stepped through yet another fabulous Dravidian gopuram (gateway). There, to one side, was a small cow sanctuary (goshalla) complete with new born calves.

The evening was balmy and breezy and I was among the very few visitors to the temple that evening. This allowed for a tranquil and unhurried stay. A group of  eight brahmins, in a small inner courtyard immediately in front of the inner sanctum, were reciting prayers in unison from their Sri Vaisnava scriptures. I sat for about a half hour, welcomed by the altar priest, in the timeless space of sacred chant until I was ready for sleep and repeated it all again the next morning before leaving for Chidambaram.

The Cow Sanctuary at the Sarangapani Temple

 

Sri Rangam

Famous Depiction of Sri Ranganath

Arrived in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) on Thursday August 6th and left on Sunday 9th for Kumbakonam.

Sri Rangam, possibly the largest temple in India, is the foremost of the 108 main Vaishnava temples ( Divya Desams). It is situated 2kms from Trichy on an island surrounded by the Kaveri and the Kolladam rivers. It is vast! The temple complex itself covers over two and half square kms and other than the Balaji deity at Tirupati, attracts the most pilgrims of all temples in India.

Sri Rangam

Vishnu here is said to have been worshipped by Lord Brahma and Lord Rama.  Ramanuja acarya (1017-1137) the celebrated teacher of Vedanta, made his headquarters here and his  mortal remains  have been interred inside the Sri Ramanuja shrine within the temple premises.

Ramanuja acharya's samadhi

Given the  historical, cultural and theological import of Sri Rangam, it was with great anticipation that I queued for an hour for my opportunity to take darshan of (to see and be seen by)  Sri Ranganath (Vishnu). Depictions of Lord Ranganath  reclining on a couch provided by the coils of the celestial serpent, Ananta Sesa with five raised and wide -open hoods is a famous image throughout India and beyond. Now I was actualy here and would see this form myself.

The devotional fervour of the hundreds of others queueing was palpable and I sought for an appropriate meditation as we approached the inner sanctum. What prayer could I say? what offering should I make ? what blessing could I ask for ? or what should my meditation be  when my turn arrived.

Finally the moment came, all 10 seconds of it as we were ushered past, and I didn’t see any reclining deity or serpent couch. I missed him completely!  In the darkness of the cave-like sanctum I saw only the small front (utsava) Vishnu deity.

So that was it…all the way from Oxford to South India…. and finally, I saw nothing I expected to see.

That afternoon I queued again and this time I had just one less complicated thought.:’ Please let me see you! ‘

This time I did see his face and form but it took a third time for me to see Ananta Sesa hovering above Vishnu’s head.  I laugh now thinking of so much  anticipation evaporating in an instant. There’s that expression about how you can take a horse to the water trough, but you can’t make him drink.  I was so full of my heads ideas that I could not just ‘be’ there and look. It took three times for me to just ‘show up’ and ‘drink’ and leave the corridors of my head.

 

Pushkar

Pushkar

Arrived in Pushkar, Tuesday afternoon around 4 o’ clock. Pushkar is beautiful, with a lake surrounded by rugged hills on all sides. The lake, very much receded suggests little rain though the surrounding areas look lush and green.

Here is one of the very few places to find a temple to Brahma in India, and is said to be the place Brahma dropped flower petals that caused the appearance of three lakes. There are many different stories as to why Brahma is not worshipped.

One is that Brahma wanted to perform a yajna (fire sacrifice) at Pushkar but needed his wife with him to do so. Since she, Savitri was late, he married Gayatri, the priests daughter instead. But Brahma had not asked Savitri’s permission to do this so she cursed him so he would only to be worshipped at Pushkar. Along with Brahma’s temple (and about 400 other temples) there are two hills, one large and one small with temples to Savitri and Gayatri respectively.

Route to Savitri Temple

Pushkar ghats & Gayatri temple

Three little incidents, along with the story of the Maharaja of Jaipur’s trip to England (see previous post), set me thinking about sacred territory and how the word ‘sacred’ with a single vowel shift changes to ‘scared’ and how fear can indeed shape territorial responses even in the realm of sacred territory or space.

I decided first to pay my respects to Pushkar lake but on approaching Badri ghat, where steps lead down to the water – or mud in this case – two crows did a Hitchcock (see film: Birds) and swooped down on my head twice. It was more of a push than a peck and I was glad to have my hair protectively piled high on my head. There must have been a nest nearby and the little dears were just being protective. I took my shoes off just in case religious etiquette might have been their problem, and since these were my first moments in sacred Pushkar, I was eager not to offend. Fear of offence is very real in sacred India.

Poised for strike two

Then as I sat out by the isolated lake edge, a chorus of dog barks started up. Not aggressive barks, more like: “Who are you and what are you doing on our turf?’ I did my best to pursue my contemplative moment until five of them came over for a sniff. That must have gone well as within seconds they were all over me benedicting me with the blessed mud of Pushkar lake and affectionately chewing my scarf and shirt to pieces. I gave up, and returned to the street looking like something from the swamp. Buying a new shirt and leaving the digested one behind, I thought how over-intrusive attention, in sacred spaces the world over can over-whelm reflective moments in our surroundings. Over zealous preachers; pushy priests with commercial interests; overly friendly advances or speaking for myself,

Badri Ghat

bombarding some poor unsuspecting sadhu with too many questions.

The third incident was at the Raghunath temple where I was promptly given my marching orders because I was a foreigner, irrespective of life-style or practice. A sign at the gate pronounced ‘ NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED ‘. The guard was apologetic and kindly added that he did not think it was a good idea and was sorry I could not go in. I appreciated his sympathy and am glad this is the exception rather than the rule here.

I thought again of the Maharaja of Jaipur’s Ganges Urn story. Both incidents demonstrate an underpinning exclusive or elitist approach that withholds access to the sacred out of fear of contamination or pollution. Unlike the Maharaja of Jaipur, not even a bottle of Ganges water could counter-act contaminating influence in my case. Perhaps I should have tried rupees!

Protective, intrusive and exclusive approaches may be part of the multi-layered and complex interweaving of many strands in issues concerning the sacred, but it is my experience here that it cannot be limited by or to them.

Tonight at midnight I leave for Udaipur and from there to Nathdwar and Dwarka. That’s the plan. Let’s see what happens.