Darasuram

Travel writer Lakshmi Sharath continues her series on less known heritage site. See Lakshmi’s earlier post in the series on Alamparai.

Great kings do not just leave behind maps depicting their conquests. They also leave behind their footprints etched on the sands of time. Their empires fade away and many a capital city disappear but the crumbled remains of forts and temples erected by them stand as a testimony to their reign. These were my first thoughts as I entered a dusty village called Darasuram in interior Tamil Nadu, into the portals of an ageless Shiva Temple

darasuram

Built by Raja Raja Chola 11 in the 12th century, this temple, often referred to as a miniature marvel was called Airavateshwar Temple and it took over 25 years to complete. Legend has it that the Chola king was fulfilling the wish of a female cowherd who wanted to have a temple in her village and he personally designed every single stone here, which is described as a sculpture’s dream in stone. The town itself came to be known as Rajarajapuram

A temple shaped like a chariot drawn by horses and elephants supported by 100 monolith pillars carved exquisitely greet us. Mythical yali carvings grace the outer pillar. Stories from Indian mythology come alive on the pillars as sculptures dance in front of your eyes. The temple is a veritable gallery of dance and art.

Various moods and forms of Shiva adorn the temple. So you see an angry Shiva burning Kama, the God of love, while another sculpture describes his fight with Tripuras. Marriages and penances are enacted in stone, but finally we stop at a handsome form of the lord watched over by women. Dwarf-like Shiva ganas are playing various musical instruments, one on a drum, another holding a conch.

darasuram

The temple wall is a veritable art gallery. Scuptures made of polished black basalt are typical representations of ancient Chola art. Multi headed and multi armed, they come alive with various emotions. There is Agora Virabhadra with an angry expression with three heads and four arms or a peaceful Agasthya, a four armed Nagaraja folding his hands with a snake hood above his head, a three faced eight armed Ardhanarishwar (half woman-half man ), an eight armed Durga sitting on the severed head of a buffalo amongst other sculptures. The Shiva Purana and Periya Purana are enacted here as tales of devotion and devotees ooze out of the stone. It is little wonder that the temple, along with the two Brihadeshwar temples is a World UNESCO site.

We walk down to the Devi temple which is silent and closed. The yalis look down on us from the pillars. We sit quietly and lean against the yalis and wonder about how time had stood still here. The hamlet must have been bursting with life at one time. Today it is just a town of memory, forgotten except for some stray tourists and scholars who generate curiosity in the lives of simple agrarian folks.

This post was written by Lakshmi Sharath for AffordableCallingCards.net, which offers long distance India phone cards.


Alamparai Fort

Travel Writer Lakshmi Sharath continues her series on less known heritage sites on India Travel Blog with a post on Alamparai Fort. See her earlier story on the Pallava Cave at Mandagapattu.

As we drove down from Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry along the Coromandel Coastline, we passed through a bustling village called Kadapakkam. We almost lost ourselves in the milling crowds and missed the small board that mentioned “Alamparai.” We asked around, but got no answers. Finally, curiosity got the better of us and we decided to take a detour. The roads however led us into an entire different world – silent and scenic. There were backwaters on either side with nets and a few boats were bobbing on the waters. We followed the roads until we reached the crumbles of an old fort. A few coconut trees were dotting the landscape, while the entire blue sea stretched out in front of us.

alamparai

A rusty ASI board gave us some information. We were at the 17th century Alamparai fort, also called Alampara. Built during the Mughal era, it was ruled by the Nawab of Carnatic and was later on gifted to the French for their support. The British eventually destroyed the fort and the dockyard which was more than 100 meters long.

alamparai fort

We read that Alamparai was the ancient land of Idaikazhunadu, mentioned in the literary work, Siruppanatruppadai. The sea port was used for trade by the Arcot Nawabs. Zari, salt and ghee were exported from here. Coins were minted from here as well and later on the mint was shifted to neighbouring Pondicherry. The mint built on a highway near Alamparai here even housed a Shiva temple, a “choultry” or a hall. A pond was built for the benefit of the travelers coming down this route towards Rameshwaram.

alamparai

We finally met some fishermen who took us on a boat ride in the waters. We asked them about the choultry and the temple, but they instead told us about film crew who came here to shoot. It was hot, but the salts of the sea beckoned us as we bid farewell to them and drove on towards Pondicherry.

This post was written by Lakshmi Sharath for AffordableCallingCards.net, which offers long distance calling card to India


Ancient Pallava Caves near Chennai – Mandagapattu Cave Temple

This is a guest post from Lakshmi Sharath, who will be a writing about less known heritage sites on India Travel Blog in the coming days.

When Arun asked me to post on some of the lesser known monuments that I had visited, Mandagapattu was the first that came to my mind. A humble rock cut cave temple, this was the first ever prototype built by the Pallavas under Mahendravarman 1, long before the internationally renowned Mahabalipuram was built.
pallava caves

This trip, like many others was planned at the last minute.  I was in Chennai (Madras) where the idea of exploring ancient Pallava cave temples was floated around.  We decided on an impulse and hit the road. A couple of hours later, we were cruising through lush fields, but the landscape dramatically changed to rocky outcrops and boulders. We had just crossed the fort town of Ginjee , when we took a detour. A small rusty board brought our car to a sudden halt.  The hill seemed to open out to us, as we walked through the narrow opening to reach our destination – the cave temple at Mandagapattu carved out of a 100 feet hillock.
To the uninitiated, it looked like just another barren shrine, carved in a piece of rock.  A flight of steps led to the cave temple, carved for the trinity, flanked by the door guardians or the dwarapalakas. The shrines were empty. But as I read the inscription, I realized that I was at a 7th century cave temple, the first of many to come.
pallava caves

The temple in the inscription is referred to as Lakshita Yathaanam . And Mahendravarman declares that he is not building the temple from any perishable material – brick, wood, metal and limestone or stucco.  I also learnt that the early Pallava style was neither bold in their depiction of dwarapalakas, nor did they have too many embellishments in the form of relief sculptures.  However their style slowly evolved as they moved on to structural temples like the ones in Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram.

We walked around the shrine and found an ancient well, where we sat for a while, listening to the sounds of silence, as the sun set though the rocks.

This post was written by Lakshmi Sharath for AffordableCallingCards.net, which offers long distance calling cards, such as India phone cards.