Exploring Shiva Kanchi

by Prema Nandakumar

Kanchipuram visited – the second of a three-part series

It is now time to move towards Shiva Kanchi. Unlike Budd­hism and Jainism still struggling to keep some space for themselves, Saivism waxes strong, with the temple of Kamakshi as the leader. Known as Kamakottam, the temple may have begun as a Shakta centre of worship. Archaeological studies suggest a much earlier origin to the temple as Vimala Tirupalli, dedicated to a Jain yakshi.

The Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram.

Coming to the importance of Kamakshi for Shiva Kanchi, the Puranic narrative says she was originally worshipped as the consort of Ekambresvara, and was part of him, as the Ardhanariswara. This takes us to the legend in Kanchi Puranam when Parvati once covered the eyes of Shiva in Kailasa, plunging creation into darkness and was cursed. She expiated it by taking a human birth and worshipping a linga made of sand. When the river was in floods, she embraced the linga to guard the image. She is Kama-kodi, the loving creeper that has entwined herself with the Lord. In the course of the evolution of worship, the goddess began to be worshipped as the Durga of Kamakottam (old) and later the present temple of Kamakshi was raised on what was obviously a Jain temple dedicated to a yakshi.

The glorious city of Kanchi was put the sword by the Islamic general, Malik Kafur, in the 14th-Century. Idols were broken and the Kamakshi temple was one of the major victims. As in other Kanchi temples, worship was stopped for some decades, till Kumara Kampana of Vijayanagar drove away the Muslim invaders like Malik Kafur and Muhammad Gawan and restored religious rituals. From then onwards, the Vijayanagar kings took good care of Kanchi and Emperor Krishnadeva Raya loved visiting the great city.

Kamakshi temple today is at the very centre of the city with the Ekambaranatha temple to the northwest and the Varadaraja temple to the southeast. It is interesting to note that all the major temples in the city are structured to face the temple of Kamakshi. The seated Kamakshi is a noble image and to her front is the Sri Chakra in which the Mother Goddess is said to reside in her subtle form. In this legend-rich area, I am told that Adi Sankara installed the Sri Chakra which transformed the fierce goddess (Ugraswarupini) into the calm and beautiful Kamakshi (Brahmaswarupini).

While I am standing in the sanctum the priest offers information which shows this is a legend-rich space. Coming out I am shown the santana sthambham, indicating the place where King Dasaratha gained the boon of progeny from Goddess Kamakshi. This is news to me, but is there an inch of space in India which does not feel close to the Rama story? In the first prakara we have the niche of Dharma Sastha (Ayyappan) with Poorna and Pushkala. Tradition avers that Karikala Chola worshipped Sastha who gave him the weapon called chendu which ensured the king’s victory in the Himalayan regions.

A visitor can never exhaust Shiva Kanchi. There are innumerable temples dedicated to Shiva around and one can wander into any one of them and remain absorbed in the visuals as well as the devotional fervour with which aspirants go there to worship. Since Kamakshi is the Supreme Goddess honoured here, none of the Shiva temples have a separate shrine for the goddess, though an image is kept for ceremonial (utsava) processions. Many of the temples are considered to have been present for several hundred years. For instance, coming out of the western gate of Kamakshi temple, you can walk to the Makaliswara temple, said to be the special residence of Rahu and Ketu.

Walking out of the southern gate of Kamakshi temple, we come to the celebrated Kachabeswara temple where Vishnu in his Tortoise avatar worshipped Shiva here. Entering a mandapa within, I found a series of Buddhist figures on the stone pillars. It is very obvious that these pillars had been retrieved from a Buddhist vihara several centuries earlier. Perhaps the vihara was the original structure and when it came down to make way for a Shiva temple, the pillars were set up again to form the present mandapa and some of the masonry was used by the builders.

The various temples to Shiva interest us in some way or the other. Ekambranatha’s raja­gopura, built by Emperor Krishnadeva Raya in the 16th Century, rises to 192 feet. The Lord here represents the element of earth (prithvi). The consecrated tree is mango and the guide assures me that it is 3500 years old. I believe him. Disbelief has no place here which is a citadel built on faith in the Supreme. Despite all the activities around, time stands still in this area. It comes to a complete stop as I enter the Kailasanatha temple built by Rajasimha (Narasimhavarma Pallava II) and his son Mahendra III.

If it is exciting to go into the smaller Shiva temples in Kanchi, it is a life-time experience to enter this structure at the periphery of the city. The sanctum has a huge Linga, symbolising the Supreme while on the rear wall you can watch wide-eyed the sumptuous Somaskanda panel. Shiva and Parvati have Subramania between them (on the lap of his mother) with Brahma and Vishnu watching the group with adoration. The outer wall of the sanctum is an amazing presentation of gods and goddesses. In between the two walls we have a very narrow passage for parikrama. You have to crawl to enter it and also crawl to come out of it. The officiating priest did tempt me by referring to it as the Gateway to Heaven, but I decided that discretion is the better part of valour!

Apart from the abundance of carved sculptures everywhere, there is also a treasure-trove of paintings in this temple. It was growing dark, so once again I succumbed to my ‘discretion’, though I had read in a book about them.

“The cells of many of these contain traces of old paintings on plain walls or painted stucco over reliefs. The external reliefs of these parivara shrines of the malika contain a variety of sculptures, both Saivite and Vaishnavite, of varied iconography, thus making this temple complex a veritable museum of iconography and plastic art. The sculptures include the dikpalas and Ganesa, who makes his first appearance in Pallava temples, as also the Saptamatrika group, Chandesa and other parivara deities.”

For Shiva Kanchi, the Kanchi Kamakoti Math is a major Saivite presence. Tradition avers that Adi Sankara went to the Himalayas where he had darshan of Shiva and Parvati. He brought the Sphatika Linga given to him by Shiva to Kanchi where he established a monastery and installed the Linga for worship.

Among the pontiffs who graced the Math in recent times, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, popularly known as the Paramacharya, took the Math to great heights by initiating a resurgence of Indian culture. Vedic studies, renovation of temples and a fillip to traditional arts like sculpture and architecture have been given great importance by the Math, as well as medical help for the masses. Priceless service to Shiva Kanchi through propagating Saiva Siddhanta has come from Jnanaprakasar Math, probably the oldest of its kind. Apart from ritualistic worship of Meykandeswara in the Linga form, the Math arranges lectures on philosophical and theological aspects of Saivism, as propounded in the 14 Meikanda sastras.

(To be concluded)

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