The Colas c35.48

c35.48

First comes Airāvateśvara of Dārāśuram (Tanjore district VIII, fig. 15). The temple is called Rājarājeśvara in its inscriptions, after Rājarāja II in whose reign it was built, though additions were made to it by Kulōttunga III also. Originally the temple seems to have had a number of enclosures (*prākāras*) with *gōpura* entrances to each, of which only one is now intact. Axially, the main temple has the same plan and parts as the Tanjore temple, with the addition in front of the *mahāmaṇḍapa* of a pillared *agramaṇḍapa* having a porch on the south. This ‘*Rājagambhīran tirumaṇḍapam*’ as it is called is so built as to simulate a chariot on wheels drawn by elephants. The temple belongs to the Meru class like the Tanjore temple, and is conceived as a *padmakośa*. While the general similarity between this temple and its predecessors of Tanjore and Gaṅgaikoṇḍa-cōḷapuram is unmistakable, there is a striking increase in the quantity of figural and decorative sculpture on every part of the temple. One of the most interesting sets is the series depicting scenes from the *Periya-Purāṇam* on the short pilaster strips and the recesses between them in the dado on the base of the *garbhagṛha* wall over the *yāḷi* frieze. The similarity of the scenes of Sundara’s life in this series and in the mural paintings of Tanjore is very striking. These labelled scenes⁴² attest the powerful moral influence of Śēkkiḻār’s epic narration of the ‘lives of the saints.’ Another development of an architectural motif that calls for particular notice is the transformation of the ogee or doucine below the *palagai* into a well-developed inverted lotus with a whorl of expanding petals, the *idaḷ* properly so called: in later styles it becomes multi-seriate and consists of two or more alternating whorls of petals. The corbels also evolve some way towards the later *puṣpabōdigai*, particularly by the chamfered parts on either side of the central tenon beginning to assume the floral shape that came to be known as *maḍalai*. The *kumbhapañjara*, of which the beginnings are traced on the recesses of the Tanjore walls, also evolves further in both the lower *kumbha* and the *pañjara* on top.