A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.79

c21.79

Temple building received great impetus from the conquests and the genius of Rājarāja I and his son Rājendra. In the early years of Rājarāja, many temples larger than the specimens so far described, but still of moderate size, sprang up in different parts of his growing empire. One of the most remarkable—unique for the wealth and detail of its sculpture—was the Tiruvāliśvaram temple at Brahmadeśam in the Tinnevelly district. Its *garbhagriha* is square; the *yāli* frieze on the plinth consists of the full figures of the animal, not of the bust alone as elsewhere. The *gaṇa* frieze below the cornice is very well composed and shows figures in different dance poses or otherwise engaged in merriment; some have comic features, like lion- or monkey-faces and pot bellies, and the whole scene of dancing, mockery and music is very humorously portrayed. The entire cornice is elaborately embellished by designs of foliage and creepers in the spaces between the *kūḍus* which are themselves highly ornate arches surmounted by *simhamukhas* ('lion faces'). The first storey of the *vimāna* carries a number of fine sculptures of the greatest interest for the iconography of the period. On the southern side there is the figure of Naṭarāja in the centre with Vṛṣabhārūḍha and Gangādhara on the proper left, and Virabhadra and Devi on the proper right. On the western side, the centre is taken by Lingodbhava flanked by Vishnu and Brahmā. To the proper left are Kālārimūrti and Kirātamūrti and on the other side Yogadakṣiṇāmūrti and Umāsahita. Gajāri occupies the centre on the northern side with Chaṇḍeśānugraha and Sukhāsanamūrti on the proper right, and Somāskanda and an unidentified figure on the left. The eastern side is hidden by the thick brick terrace over the *ardhamaṇḍapa* put up in modern times. The second storey of the *vimāna* reproduces on a reduced scale the ornamental features of the exterior of the *garbhagriha* including the friezes of *gaṇas* and *yālis* and the cornice. On the top of the second storey are placed four magnificent recumbent bulls, very life-like, one at each corner and facing outwards. In the centre rises an octagonal plinth with the grīvā and the domical eight-ribbed śikhara above. The grīvā has niches at the cardinal points bearing figures of a Vyākhyā-dakṣiṇāmūrti on the south, Yoganarasimha on the west, Brahmā on the north, and Indra on the east. Over the highly ornate śikhara are the mahāpadma and paṭṭikā with the stūpi above. The ardhamanḍapa in front of the temple is coeval with it, but the mahāmanḍapa was a later addition, perhaps of the reign of Rājendra I, while the shrine of the goddess is later still, probably dating from the thirteenth century. The Uttara Kailāsa shrine at Tiruvadi (Tanjore district), the Vaidyanātha temple at Tirumalavāḍi (Trichinopoly district), the twin temples to Śiva and Vishnu at Dādāpuram (South Arcot district), and Śivadevāle No. 2 at Polonnaruva (Ceylon) are some of the more notable among the many small temples of Rājarāja's reign, though none of them approaches Tiruvālīśvaram from the standpoint of sculpture.