Splendour in stone
The Hindu : y>Heritage Gangaikondacholapuram resonates with the tales of a legendary father and son
Photos: BY AUTHORRoyal saga The Chandesanugraha murthi panel.
The sculpture calls out to me. Carved in stone is the story of a devout cowherd called Chandesa who worships an icon of Shiva on sand and anoints it with milk. His father angrily strikes him, and Chandesa retaliates. His staff turns into an axe, chopping off his father’s legs, just when Shiva lands on the scene and accepts him into his fold.
When the guide finishes his narration, it seems just another tale from Indian mythology; but it does not end there. “See the sculpture carefully; the cowherd is a prince, and the prince is the great Rajendra Chola 1,” he says, explaining that this could be an allegory.
Engraved in stone is the coronation ceremony of Rajendra Chola 1, graced by Shiva and Parvati as the prince dedicates all his laurels to them.
The sculpture that depicts this celebrated moment is the famous Chandesanugraha murthi panel from the Brihadeshwara temple.
I am in Gangaikondacholapuram, the long-lost Capital of Rajendra Chola 1, which has mysteriously disappeared leaving behind this mammoth temple.King of the world
This was the town that once ruled all of India up to the Gangetic plain, and also Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia and Indonesia.
When Rajendra Chola 1 conquered the Gangetic plain, he built a lookalike of the Brihadeshwara temple (built by his father, Raja Raja Chola I) in his new-found capital, Gangaikondacholapuram. However, he did not complete the temple. The towering 180-feet-tall Vimana seems to touch the sky. A majestic Nandi obstructs our gaze. A few gardenerstend to the lawn, while we soak in the ambience. Various forms of Shiva captured in different moods stand out in the artistic mosaic.
Gangaikondacholapuram temple
A giant lion-shaped sculpture, called Simhakinar, in the form of the Chola emblem stares at you. “This is the way the…More
