Heritage
Enigmatic spires
THEODORE BASKARAN
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The many unanswered questions over the monuments make every visit to Mamallapuram exciting.
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All the three temples have the characteristics of late Pallava work…lighter anatomy and jewel-like precision in workmanship.
Photo: Theodore Baskaran
Unfinished monoliths: The two Pidari rathas.
The many enigmatic questions that arise when you go around the monuments of Mamallapuram are what make each visit so exciting. Why are most of the monuments left unfinished? What was the provocation to abandon the project so abruptly? That colossal b
as relief…is it Arjuna’s penance, Bagiratha’s penance or is it the Jain legend of Sakara and his sons, as argued by Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy? So many scholarly papers have been written on Mamallapuram that there are two books that contain just the bibliography — one by British art historian William Willets and the other by our own N.S. Ramasamy (Maypole).
Differently named
Our last visit was on a pleasant February morning. A cool breeze wafted across, providing the air with a welcome nip. We decided to spend our time looking at the three monolithic temples that are on the western side of the rocky outcrop, by the side of the Buckingham canal. You hardly get any visitors here; Of these, two rathas are close to each other and the third, further away, stands alone. These monoliths bear names that are from a different realm, of folk deities such as Pidar
i. If they had been completed and dedicated, they would have borne a canonical name. There is a Pidariamman temple here by the roadside which has lent its name to these two rathas. One of the Pidari rathas, the south
ern one, bears some beautiful celestial figures in the vimana. Over the niches are toranas.
Typical late Pallava work
By the side of a lake called Valayankuttai — the fisherman’s pond — is the third monolith, in splendid isolation. Like most of the other monuments in Mamallapuram, these monoliths are also unfinished. Of these, the Valayankuttai ratha is less incomplete. It is almost complete, with an outer hall (arthamandapa). Based on stylistic grounds, it is pointed out as the later one. All the three temples have the characteristics of late Pallava work̷
0;lighter anatomy and jewel-like precision in workmanship. The floriated torana springing from the mouth of makaras, in low relief on either side of the niche, the wagon-roof motif are all typical late Pallava design
s, echoing Arjuna ratha on the other side of the hill. But none of the three works bear any inscription and so one is not sure about the authorship of these rathas. At least one art historian, K.R. Srinivasan, believ
es that these rathas are also the works of Rajasimha.
The two Pidari rathas with the classic Dravida vimana are two storied. In one, the top is square and for the other it is octagonal. The Mukundanayanar temple you see on the left of the road as you approach Mamalla
puram Township is on the pattern of Pidari ratha. It gives you an idea as to how a monolith is transformed into a constructed temple.
All around these three rathas, you see evidences of stone masonry work that had gone on but left abruptly at various stages. Some boulders are dressed. There are two large rocks which were chosen to be worked on as monoliths and you
see that preliminary dressing has been done. On some rocks you see evidences of attempts to split them. If this work had been completed there would have been as many monoliths on this side as on the other side.
Age-old context
There are a lot of bushes and scrubs around the three rathas. Butterflies flitter on the Avaram flowers and on the Nerunji flowers on the ground. A Goldren oriole calls periodically and keeps up a background music. A couple of Palmy
ra palms tower over the neem and pongamia trees. But for the occasional motor vehicle that passes over the bridge across the canal, we could have been in the Pallava times. It was as if time had frozen. The plants, t
rees, the insects and birds they attract, are all authentic and belonged to the place. They provide an ambience and a context to the monuments. They have been together for millennia. That is one overpowering reason why we should not destroy the native vegetation around the monuments to lay a monotonous, artificial and out of place lawn there. Unfortunately, around many monuments lawns have been laid, endowing these places with a ridiculous uniformity.
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