My native is kumbhakonam, but my brought up was in chennai.......I dont know the value of our culture when i was in India. I used to go to many temples in and around kumbhakonam but at one point of time i realized about the glory of our history.
In April 2011 we went to India and we traveled to few temple which is related in Ponniyil Selvan book.....that inspired be to write about my experience and the history about the temples.
The journey started from Erode and we reached Thadhiyur.... we had the plan from the next day....
The 1st place we visited was Palayarai, was the first capital of the Medieval cholas.This is 7kms from kumbhakonam. Here is the 6th century sri somanathaswamy temple.
This is the entrance of the temple....and i am v depressed about the maintenance of this temple. To my surprise, i saw a couple who was a big fan of ponniyin selvan was cleaning this place out of there own interest.
Remains of this temple.......
A sad state of our history.....which was one of the capital city of the cholas....
One of them told in the temple, there is The great Rajaraja cholan resting place near by. So we drove the car to see the samadhi of the Great King. My heart sank when i saw the place. His samadhi was on the road side with a small shelter made of coconut tree leaves. There was a man who takes the responsibility of lighting the lamp and cleaning the samadhi.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GqmsZIwNkY&feature=related
Subramanya murugan temple :
The Subrahmanya Temple at Thiruvizhchil, (Saluvankuppam), Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu was dedicated to lord Muruga. This was constructed during the Tamil sangam period.
This was discovered after the Tsunami hit this place on 2004.This brick temple is about 2000 years old and it one of the ancient temple discovered. This temple has two layers of construction: first the brick layer during the Sangam period and a granite layer on the top of the brick during the Pallava era ( 8th century ).
They have discovered three pillar, which had an inscription belonging to the seventh regnal year (813 A.D.) of Dantivarman, talks about a Brahmin woman named Vasanthanar, wife of Sri Kambabhattar of Sandilya Gothram, belonging to Manaiyur, near Tiruvallur, donating 16 "kazhanchu" (small balls of gold) to the Subrahmanya temple. The interest from this gold was meant to be used to maintain the temple's perpetual lamp.
In April 2011 we went to India and we traveled to few temple which is related in Ponniyil Selvan book.....that inspired be to write about my experience and the history about the temples.
The journey started from Erode and we reached Thadhiyur.... we had the plan from the next day....
The 1st place we visited was Palayarai, was the first capital of the Medieval cholas.This is 7kms from kumbhakonam. Here is the 6th century sri somanathaswamy temple.
One of them told in the temple, there is The great Rajaraja cholan resting place near by. So we drove the car to see the samadhi of the Great King. My heart sank when i saw the place. His samadhi was on the road side with a small shelter made of coconut tree leaves. There was a man who takes the responsibility of lighting the lamp and cleaning the samadhi.....
Subramanya murugan temple :
The Subrahmanya Temple at Thiruvizhchil, (Saluvankuppam), Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu was dedicated to lord Muruga. This was constructed during the Tamil sangam period.
This was discovered after the Tsunami hit this place on 2004.This brick temple is about 2000 years old and it one of the ancient temple discovered. This temple has two layers of construction: first the brick layer during the Sangam period and a granite layer on the top of the brick during the Pallava era ( 8th century ).
They have discovered three pillar, which had an inscription belonging to the seventh regnal year (813 A.D.) of Dantivarman, talks about a Brahmin woman named Vasanthanar, wife of Sri Kambabhattar of Sandilya Gothram, belonging to Manaiyur, near Tiruvallur, donating 16 "kazhanchu" (small balls of gold) to the Subrahmanya temple. The interest from this gold was meant to be used to maintain the temple's perpetual lamp.
The other pillar, with the inscription belonging to the 12th regnal year
(858 A.D.) of another Pallava king, Nandivarman III, mentions that one
Kirarpiriyan of Mamallapuram donated ten "kazhanchu" of gold to the
temple.The third pillar inscription says about The Raja Raja Chola 1. Apart from these they also have other pillars which says about the Pallava kings Dantivarman I, Nandivarman III and Kambavarman, the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III and the Chola king Rajendra Chola III.
Even thought, the Temple is not a complete structure today, it makes us proud and excited about the greatness and richness of our ancient architecture work.
please post your comments....
This temple is in Cholamadevi village near Thiruverumbur, 12 km away from trichy City. This is a shiva temple built in 1065AD. The temple, dating back to the 11th century, is a virtual treasure house of historic information pertaining to the Cholas. The adhistana and the walls of the temple are fully covered with inscriptions belonging to the periods of Raja Raja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I and Vira Rajendra Chola I. A majority of the inscriptions belong to Raja Raja I. Further, the inscriptions contain the earliest known reference to Sankara Bhashyam, a commentary on Sankara's philosophy, written by Chidaananda Bhattaara. The inscription is in Tamil with a few Sanskrit words in between written in Grantha characters.
Apart from the importance of the inscription, the temple itself is rated as an architectural marvel and built as per specifications of the Silpa Shasthra. The Siva temple consists of a central shrine, ardha and Mahamandapas. The presiding deity, the Linga has a square base. The four-pillared ardhamandapa has exquisite in the front. Two dwarapala sculpture adorn the entrance of the ardhamandapa.
Some say these sculptures belong to Parantaka period.
A you tume link about this temple...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCXrrE-zmI
Picture of the temples....
The historical importance of its majestic ruins should me maintained by both people and the government........
Kailasamundhiyar Temple:
This temple is in Cholamadevi village near Thiruverumbur, 12 km away from trichy City. This is a shiva temple built in 1065AD. The temple, dating back to the 11th century, is a virtual treasure house of historic information pertaining to the Cholas. The adhistana and the walls of the temple are fully covered with inscriptions belonging to the periods of Raja Raja Chola I, Rajendra Chola I and Vira Rajendra Chola I. A majority of the inscriptions belong to Raja Raja I. Further, the inscriptions contain the earliest known reference to Sankara Bhashyam, a commentary on Sankara's philosophy, written by Chidaananda Bhattaara. The inscription is in Tamil with a few Sanskrit words in between written in Grantha characters.
Apart from the importance of the inscription, the temple itself is rated as an architectural marvel and built as per specifications of the Silpa Shasthra. The Siva temple consists of a central shrine, ardha and Mahamandapas. The presiding deity, the Linga has a square base. The four-pillared ardhamandapa has exquisite in the front. Two dwarapala sculpture adorn the entrance of the ardhamandapa.
Some say these sculptures belong to Parantaka period.
A you tume link about this temple...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCXrrE-zmI
Picture of the temples....
The historical importance of its majestic ruins should me maintained by both people and the government........
