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Confluence of different styles

Photos: R. Ashok and S. R. Raghunathan

TREASURE: A view of the gopuram

I gaze at the music treatise etched in stone, to the right of the Idampuri Vinayaka. “Watch out for the bees,” warns the employee of the Archaeological Survey of India, pointing to the huge bee hives on the rock. The seventh century Kudumiyanmalai inscriptions on music were discovered in 1904 by H. Krishna Sastri, a mathematician, who also knew Sanskrit, and who took up employment as an epigraphist.

The inscriptions are arranged in seven sections. Prof. Sambamurthy describes these inscriptions as the “first record to mention the solfa names of the seven notes... where the srutis are designated by resorting to the vowel changes in the name of the note and reduced to a mnemonic system of absolute notation.” There is also an inscription, which says that King Maheswara, disciple of Rudracharya, is the author of the music inscriptions, which he intended to benefit students. However, it is not clear who this king is.

Inscriptions of musical notes

The music inscriptions are to the south of an east-facing rock cut temple also of seventh century origin. This cave temple is called Melakkoil or Tirumerrali. Archaeologist Dr. Kudavayil Balasubramaniam says that in the case of Pandya rock cut temples, the linga was hewn out of the same rock, as the temple took shape, resulting in one big monolith of temple and deity. The Kudumiyanmalai temple is one such monolith, and therefore a Pandya structure, he says. According to Dr. Raja Mohammed, former curator of the Pudukottai Museum, the temple is Pandya, because the linga rests on a square peetam.

Outside the sanctum sanctorum are two dwarapalakas smiling smugly, with none of the sternness one would expect of security guards. The two earliest inscriptions in the cave temple are those of the Pandyas.

The temple is rich in inscriptions, one of which, made in the 36th year of the reign of Kulottunga Chola I (1070-1118) records commercial transactions that ensured supplies to the temple. It says two people were given the right to levy brokerage on all betel leaf imported into the district. In return they had to supply the temple annually with areca nuts and betel leaves.

The panel of Siva-Parvathi with the Nayanmars

Above the Melakkoil is a rare bas-relief of Siva and Parvati on rishaba vahanam, flanked by the 63 Nayanmars.

When the temple property was auctioned in the 13th century, Thiru-k-kaariyaan Magal Umaiyal Nachiar, a temple dancer, bought it and transferred ownership back to the temple. She later built the Soundaravalli Amman temple, near the cave temple. King Sadayavarman Veerapandian II gave the Goddess the name Thirukkaama Kottathu Aruvudai Malai Mangai Nachiar.

The Kuduminatha temple came a few centuries after the cave temple, sometime in the 10th century. Built by the Cholas, it was renovated by the Pandyas in the 13th century and by the Vijayanagar Kings in the 15th. There is what is called a 1,000-pillared mandapam at the entrance, which, however, has only 645 pillars. The sculptures here are of Vijayanagar style. Here one finds figures of Hanuman, Sugreeva and Vali. Completely smeared with butter and vermilion, it is not possible to take in the beauty of the sculpture.

In the Vasantha mandapam, the sculpture of Nrisimha tearing out the entrails of Hiranayakasipu, captures attention with its expression. The agony of a terrified Hiranyakasipu, whose hands and legs are held in vice like grip by the ferocious man-animal. The Rati and Manmadha figures are noteworthy for their attention to detail. The Siva in Urdhva tandava pose is a masterpiece. There are also two sculptures of soldiers on horseback, trampling down their enemies.

The gorgeous vasantha mandapam.

Now for the name of the deity. Why Kuduminatha? The story goes that the priest garlanded his sweet heart with the garland intended for Siva. The king noticed a long hair on the garland, and demanded an explanation. To save the priest from the king’s wrath, the Siva lingam put out a tuft of hair (kudumi). Sikainathan is another name.

But Tamil scholar Ra.Pi. Sethupillai has a different explanation. According to him, kudumi, a Tamil, word, also meant crest of a hill. Since this temple was near a hill, it was called Sikainatha temple. He pointed to the fact that in Kannappar Puranam, the Siva in the Kalahasti temple was referred to as Kudumi Devar, because that temple too was near a hill.

Outside the Akhilandeswari shrine is a mandapam, of Nayak origin, where the ceiling is a single hexagonal slab of granite, and the floor too is a hexagonal slab of matching dimensions. Pudukottai Thondaman kings used to have their coronation ceremonies here, it is said. Now, local people now celebrate weddings here. That set the writer wondering. The temple is a great monument and will not the smoke from the homam fire damage the walls and the ceilings?

Kudumiyanmalai is on the Pudukottai-Manapparai route.

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