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Hewn out of a rock

The climb up the hill in Tirukolakkudi is taxing but rewarding. PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

ELEGANT: The Siva temple

A dusty old book had spoken of a cave temple in Tirukolakkudi but as we travelled we saw little of the village or even a hill, the road seemed to be guarding its secrets well! Our first view was an avenue with stately trees. The avenue soon gave way to trees on the one side and a small hill on the other side encircled by an expanse of water. The first few feet of the hill were thick with vegetation of old mango and neem trees, the rest of the hill was made up of huge boulders of grey granite. The expanse of water was quite muddy but that didn't seem to deter the buffaloes from wallowing in the pool or the children playing in the water near the pillared mandapam (pillared structure without walls).

We circled this scene that seemed to have frozen in time to go to the main part of the village. A flight of 100 steps flanked by two small but elegant temples led to a main door hewn out of the rock. "The main door is open only on special occasions," said the priest as he opened a small part of the giant door through which we had to jump. Inside we had to climb another two flights of stairs each steeper than the other. The stairs took us to a level part of the hill. A grove of gooseberry and jack fruit trees offered shade against the sun.

Peaceful and serene

We spent a few minutes in front of the Sivadharmapureeswarar shrine. The temples walls and pillars were plain but the simplicity and elegance were a fitting tribute to the sense of peace and serenity that the atmosphere had. A short path behind led to a small cave that housed a bas relief of Ganesha in a rare pose of his trunk turning to his left side. "Notice the jackfruit near his leg", said the priest. It was a fine sculpture but we were entranced with the view outside. There was a small pool of water sheltered by a sheer rock face. The sunrays and the darting fish caused the water to cast shimmering reflections on the rock face. We went on to the main shrine for Kavonapureeswarar and Athmanayaki. Frustratingly, we got no leads on why Siva had such an unusual name but we were transfixed by the beauty of this small cave temple.

We entered a spacious hall that had a few fine bronzes stashed away in a heavily barricaded room. The little chinks in the grill and the thin beams of light revealed a wealth of detail on the bronzes. The cave itself is a simple one with a small lingam. On either side were two large bas reliefs of sages carrying water. "Don't touch the wooden couch," warned the priest. "This temple is administered by the Kunnakudy Adheenam (Saivaite monastery) and that is the throne for the presiding monk."

Exiting from the temple we passed a huge rock face covered with inscriptions. Across a shaded path we were confronted with a massive convex shaped rock. Following the curve were thin slits that seemed to be steps. A kind soul had in the past donated enough iron pipes to make a railing.

The temple for Murugan, or Cheyon as he was known in ancient literature was a simple one. It had a fine figure of the six-faced God. We circumambulated the shrine, wet our legs in the small spring and wended our way down. On reaching the bottom of the hill, we sat by the shrine of Poyyamuneeswarar to catch our breath. I fortunately had extracts of the translations of the epigraphs on the different rock faces.