Yesterday I’d made myself some time to visit Narthamalai & Sittannavasal after a site meeting at Trichy. Procrastinated for nearly 12 years. NHAI had laid out good roads along the Coimbatore - Karur - Trichy - Karaikudi stretch & it was a pleasure driving except for the frequent interruptions at the ‘users Toll collection’ booths where all the good minutes saved by speeding on these roads were duly undone because of bunching of vehicles and oddly fixed toll tariff where people would fumble for the change or engage in a mumbling argument with the ticketing staff. Some - particularly the travels guys - would purposely avoid giving changes to make the ticket clerks work their bit. The siting of a toll abutting the serene premises of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam in Tiruparaithurai was a bad choice for two reasons - the road was too narrow at this point & this caused considerable queuing up of vehicles; the other reason is that the Ramakrishna mutt was founded along the banks of river Cauvery in a scenic setting to impart education and to carry out their social & spiritual missions. Today the compound wall is only half the height of what it was, thanks to the road which has been widened & heightened leaving the plinth of abutting buildings at a much lower level than that of the road. Besides, there seems to be hectic activities & considerable CO2 emission because of the bee line of vehicles waiting to clear the toll. Wanted to make a picture of this miserable situation but somehow a weary feel took over & resisted me from getting out. Just about 100 meters from here a sign read that the toll road ends and the rough patches that followed testified it.
After finishing business at Trichy, started off to Narthamalai via the new NH-210. Took a division to the right and what a difference it was between the drive on the highway & this beaten track. There, one could see nothing but the black top & here one could hardly see any road as hovering branches of the trees cast heavy shadows keeping off the light & heat. Halfway through, a lorry was tipping off a load of sand & road repair works were happening. We took a detour which was again worthwhile as one could see the rural hinterland of this region. Towards the end, road curved along the foot of a series of hillocks & passed through 2 large boulders and we almost missed the monuments if not for a meek signboard of ASI in its standard navy blue metal plaque. My driver should have visualized an imposing grand temple when I mentioned that we were going to visit some historically significant chola temples.
Though small in scale the cluster of three temples with a raised enclosure, cool water body at the foot of the hillock, a lone neem tree looming over the pool and an imposing hill in the background, all of which were bathed by the warm sunlight and glistening in various hues of yellow and ochre presented a serene spectacle. The ASI seemed to have taken good care of the edifice. The main temple was locked, few kids were playing in the pool and on enquiry with them found that the guardian usually comes in the eve on Tuesday & Friday and the temple seldom gets visitors. It was a pity - made some pictures by sticking any lens through the mesh grills of the steel gate. Few loads of regular sized bricks stood ominously close to these temples - wondered what was about to be done with that. Made several pictures - the absence of priest or ASI caretaker was disappointing as I was curious to gather info about the temple and also to have a sitting inside the shrine.
The temples were, according to historians significant because they were the experimental prototypes of the Cholas when they started establishing their foothold in the Tamil region. The architecture is clearly influenced by that of their predecessors, Pallavas who were the pioneers of rock cut & structural temples. Instead of being conceived as symbols of supremacy of the religion or ruler, these temples were built by the sthapathis / stone craftsman to get familiar with the concept of working entirely with stone - a transition from the technique of building with wood, brick and lime. The siting is an obvious choice - at the foot hill of a beautiful rock providing stones for quarrying, water from the natural catchment and a serene setting fit for their R & D with stone architecture. The sight should ofter a stunning impression on a full moon’s day. An interesting relief on the rock with inscriptions of archeological importance was found to the right of the main temple.
Left the place & proceeded towards Sittannavasal - another monument - a cave temple with paintings similar to that in Ajanta & Ellora. Following my iphone took the directions along the rural areas without touching the main highway. A bumpy & sinuous drive, half on black top & half on mud roads took us to a junction & from there reached the main road. Looked hike Sittannavasal had received much more attention & grants - there was an entrance portal and the entire area was developed with parks, catchment lake & bus stops. Place was teeming with visitors. Petty shops near car park areas were busy catering cool drinks & short eats.
The hill was an imposing one, stretching across for more than a km & striking with its rich color, imparted by the setting sun.The modest muga mandapa was conspicuous for the grill & mesh gates in between all the 4 pillars. Groups of people were squeezing in and out of the small door and fortunately the ASI care taker though wary of his rhetoric since morning, got up & gathered us to explain about the famous vegetable dye paintings. With his cane stick he pointed to the remains of the painting, that had survived centuries of neglect and vandal and shared interesting observations - particularly interesting were the life cycle of a lotus flower, the peaceful co-existence of men, women, birds & animals at a pond and portraits of a king & his associates. In this hall on either sides were Parsvanathar & Mahavir. He then moved on to the cave chamber where 3 jain Thirthankaras were carved out of the rock face. Here he stood still and asked us to observe in silence - to our surprise we heard a faint humming sound emanating from the cave. He demonstrated this few more times standing outside the chamber as well. It was quite mysterious I should admit. I’d imagined some more interesting edicts around and the guide mentioned about stone beds of the jain monks atop the hill under the shade of a protruding rock outcrop. Sun was setting in & I skipped the thought of climbing up the hill - seemed to be a fairly long trek and it was closing time as well.
A sense of disappointment took over while returning. Such beautiful pieces of history imbibing artistic values and techniques have been silent victims of neglect & vandal.
After my return to Coimbatore, browsed about Narthamalai & to my surprise found that I’d missed out the most important edifice here - the Vijayalaya Choleeswaran temple at Melmalai. For a moment I blamed myself for deciding to do this visit without enough home work. However it also rang me that I have a valid excuse to make one more trip there - this time perhaps with family & friends.
After finishing business at Trichy, started off to Narthamalai via the new NH-210. Took a division to the right and what a difference it was between the drive on the highway & this beaten track. There, one could see nothing but the black top & here one could hardly see any road as hovering branches of the trees cast heavy shadows keeping off the light & heat. Halfway through, a lorry was tipping off a load of sand & road repair works were happening. We took a detour which was again worthwhile as one could see the rural hinterland of this region. Towards the end, road curved along the foot of a series of hillocks & passed through 2 large boulders and we almost missed the monuments if not for a meek signboard of ASI in its standard navy blue metal plaque. My driver should have visualized an imposing grand temple when I mentioned that we were going to visit some historically significant chola temples.
Though small in scale the cluster of three temples with a raised enclosure, cool water body at the foot of the hillock, a lone neem tree looming over the pool and an imposing hill in the background, all of which were bathed by the warm sunlight and glistening in various hues of yellow and ochre presented a serene spectacle. The ASI seemed to have taken good care of the edifice. The main temple was locked, few kids were playing in the pool and on enquiry with them found that the guardian usually comes in the eve on Tuesday & Friday and the temple seldom gets visitors. It was a pity - made some pictures by sticking any lens through the mesh grills of the steel gate. Few loads of regular sized bricks stood ominously close to these temples - wondered what was about to be done with that. Made several pictures - the absence of priest or ASI caretaker was disappointing as I was curious to gather info about the temple and also to have a sitting inside the shrine.
The temples were, according to historians significant because they were the experimental prototypes of the Cholas when they started establishing their foothold in the Tamil region. The architecture is clearly influenced by that of their predecessors, Pallavas who were the pioneers of rock cut & structural temples. Instead of being conceived as symbols of supremacy of the religion or ruler, these temples were built by the sthapathis / stone craftsman to get familiar with the concept of working entirely with stone - a transition from the technique of building with wood, brick and lime. The siting is an obvious choice - at the foot hill of a beautiful rock providing stones for quarrying, water from the natural catchment and a serene setting fit for their R & D with stone architecture. The sight should ofter a stunning impression on a full moon’s day. An interesting relief on the rock with inscriptions of archeological importance was found to the right of the main temple.
Left the place & proceeded towards Sittannavasal - another monument - a cave temple with paintings similar to that in Ajanta & Ellora. Following my iphone took the directions along the rural areas without touching the main highway. A bumpy & sinuous drive, half on black top & half on mud roads took us to a junction & from there reached the main road. Looked hike Sittannavasal had received much more attention & grants - there was an entrance portal and the entire area was developed with parks, catchment lake & bus stops. Place was teeming with visitors. Petty shops near car park areas were busy catering cool drinks & short eats.
The hill was an imposing one, stretching across for more than a km & striking with its rich color, imparted by the setting sun.The modest muga mandapa was conspicuous for the grill & mesh gates in between all the 4 pillars. Groups of people were squeezing in and out of the small door and fortunately the ASI care taker though wary of his rhetoric since morning, got up & gathered us to explain about the famous vegetable dye paintings. With his cane stick he pointed to the remains of the painting, that had survived centuries of neglect and vandal and shared interesting observations - particularly interesting were the life cycle of a lotus flower, the peaceful co-existence of men, women, birds & animals at a pond and portraits of a king & his associates. In this hall on either sides were Parsvanathar & Mahavir. He then moved on to the cave chamber where 3 jain Thirthankaras were carved out of the rock face. Here he stood still and asked us to observe in silence - to our surprise we heard a faint humming sound emanating from the cave. He demonstrated this few more times standing outside the chamber as well. It was quite mysterious I should admit. I’d imagined some more interesting edicts around and the guide mentioned about stone beds of the jain monks atop the hill under the shade of a protruding rock outcrop. Sun was setting in & I skipped the thought of climbing up the hill - seemed to be a fairly long trek and it was closing time as well.
A sense of disappointment took over while returning. Such beautiful pieces of history imbibing artistic values and techniques have been silent victims of neglect & vandal.
After my return to Coimbatore, browsed about Narthamalai & to my surprise found that I’d missed out the most important edifice here - the Vijayalaya Choleeswaran temple at Melmalai. For a moment I blamed myself for deciding to do this visit without enough home work. However it also rang me that I have a valid excuse to make one more trip there - this time perhaps with family & friends.
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| Pond, hill and temple |
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| Route to Narthamalai |
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| Inscriptions |
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| Sittannavasal cave |
