DANSBORG FORTRESS

Many a tourist get confused between Dutch and Danish and my impression that Dansborg fortress was Dutch was proved wrong as soon as I visited the Tranquebar beach. The Ozone rich beach of Tranquebar was a pleasant way to spend our spare time where the hindu monuments are closed between 1 to 4 pm invariably. This place boasts of the second rich place on earth which contains a rich content of O3 ( signifying heavy oxygen ) after Swiss.


The ozone rich Tranquebar prevents the harmful ultraviolet from penetrating the atmosphere, which has a rejuvenating effect on the health of an individual breathing the air, which was a real surprise to me. No wonder the trip to Tranquebar and Velankanni did not make us sick due to constant drenching we had on fourth November 2009.

On 5th May 1620 a treaty was signed by Tanjore king Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak and King Christian IV to set up a trading centre at Tranquebar. Based on the agreement a sum of Rs 3111/- per month rent would be paid to the Nayak King as royalty for lease of land to Danish authorities. The document was signed with gold insignia and signed by the king in Telugu ( which is actually Kannada since Vijaynagar emperors belong to Karnataka ) This document is preserved in the museum at Copenhagen.


Fort Dansborg was built by Danish Navy commander Ove Gjedde, as a residence for the governor and other officials for about 225 years. Around the same time Roland Crappe ( first governor ) too bought some land and constructed other bunglows surrounding the Fort.

FORT :

The fort stands tall on the Tranquebar golden beach. The ramparts of the Fort which spreads to the sea has been consumed by sea erosion. The crumbling fortress wall is being pounded by sea waves. The govt. of TN. Erected granite blocks preventing further sea erosion near the Masillamani temple in 2007. The area surrounding the Fort is left open and the beach around the Fort is a nice and clean landscape. It may be matter of time before the sea consumes the beach.
Dansborg fort housed a number of governors ( 35 in all ) starting from Roland Crape (1624 -1636 ) upto Peter Hansen ( 1841 – 1845 ) till the area was sold to the price of 12.5 lakhs.

A number of Danish ships visited the Tranquebar Port from Cophenhagen. They used to smuggle Tea from India and sell it in Britian at a huge profit. Since the decline of trading opportunities and Napoleonic wars saw the decline of Danish empire in India.

This fort is built with brick and mortar in a typical Danish architecture. The boundary walls of the Fort is almost 8 feet thick which stretched into the beach. The surrounding boundary wall of the fort is as thick as upto 15 feet with plaster of paris adorning the walls. The finish in yellowish tinge gives it a heritage look. The Fort area which is almost 100 feet x 80 feet width is having a built up area of one fourth its boundary. The inner ramparts were used to store merchandise and house the prisoners of war.

The governors residence was secured with watch towers and security men on all four sides of the fort. This building currently houses the ASI museum. The artifacts on display covers the entire gamut of Porcelain items and memorabilia from different parts of the world.

There are number of Hindu sculptures too which have been salvaged from the crumbling edifice of the shore temple. The history of the Danish has been well displayed with framed notices. The replica of the treaty signed between the Nayak and the Denmark king too is displayed.

Enterance to the Fort is from the south, which probably was one of the reason for the place not prospering according to the Vastu tradition. In fact there are instances of frequent break out of Cholera, dysentary and other diseases which consumed lot of Danish citizens.


ZION CHURCH :

A holy shrine of Zion was built in 1701 by the Danish administration. The 300th anniversary was recently celeberated.
The first Protestant missionaries set foot in India were two Lutherans from Germany. Bartholomas Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau started spreading their missionary beliefs from the time they landed in 1706.
Ziegenbalg was the first person in the history to preach Christianity in Tamil in the new Jerusalem Church. He had built this church in 1718 AD.

FIRST PRINTING PRESS IN INDIA:
Bartholomas Ziegenbalg is credited to have set up the first printing press in India during 1712 AD. They even produced the first printing paper along with printing in vernacular Tamil. They translated the bible and published the New Testament in 1715 AD. This was a historic development for the people of Tamil Nadu and Ziegenbalg propagated the development of Tamil language. He died on 23.2.1719. He was buried in the church which he built.

ZIEGENBALGS MEMORIAL :
Bartholomas arrived on the Tranquebar coast on 9.7.1706 under the order of the King Frederick IV of Denmark. He was under instruction to propagate the spread of Luther branch of Protestant. They built the new Jerusalem Church in 1718 AD.
He spent two years to master the tamil language and its meaning. He than started collecting rare manuscripts of Tamil written in Palm leaves. One such palm leaf literature was placed in the exhibition at London.

He translated a tamil book Ulaga Needhi ( universal justice ) into Germany too. It is now displayed at a library in Copenhagen. In this book he acknowledges the help rendered by tamil scholars and Brahmins in translating the book into Germany.
Another book published by him in 1718 AD is titled as An account of Malabarians which is available at London library.

DECLINE OF DANISH EAST INDIA COMPANY

During its hey days Danish Company imported more tea than the British company and sold it at huge profit in Britian itself. But the company fell into losses as the British tightened their checking procedures and imports into the country. A short blossoming unofficial trade was quickly dissolved and the company was closed in 1729. In 1730 AD a new company was established Asiatic company with a royal license conferred by the King.

The primary reason for the decline of the Danish Empire seems to be absence of revenue to sustain a colonial empire. The salaries paid to the soldiers and governors were miniscule, when compared to the British counterparts.
Records at the Museum state that It was impossible for the Governor to live a decent life on his 600 rix dollars a year salary. Even the Vicar found his salary of 176 rix dollars a year grossly insufficient to meet his ends.
All the officials were compelled to trade with local Indian traders by smuggling goods to Denmark which was profitable but fraught with risk. Young Lt. Passow was enterprising enough, who was a pauper when he landed in 1754, but after four years of trading activity he managed to build a bank balance of 9000 rix dollars. His official salary was only 150 rix dollars.

Unofficial trading even though forbidden went unpunished due the sheer fact that it was impossible to punish the majority of the citizens of the Danish colony. On occasions there was an uneasy truce between the inhabitants and management at Copenhagen. The company was mired with mountains of paperwork with complaints, suggestions, intrigues and sedition of sorts.
Audits meant harassment of the officials posted at Dansborg. The management had no understanding of the cost of living and compulsions of the officials stationed at Tranquebar. The management wanted better profit realization from the official trading.

Governor Peter Anker ( 1786 – 1807 ) who hailed from a well off Norwegian family was posted as a last resort to streamline the administration and trading in Tranquebar territory. He took his own time to study the lacuna for 2 years and started tightening the reigns of revenue leakage.
He had to tackle a powerful lobby of brokers or dubashes headed by Walter-Supperemania. He abolished tenancy rights for dubashes. This move deprived the officials of commission on rice harvesting and trading activities.


Peter Anker became a target of intrigues and sedition, including his own lieutant Franz von Lichtenstein was part of the conspiracy. Peter Anker was discredited in the eyes of Crown prince Frederick. But the king ignored the barrage of complaints against Peter and honoured him as Knight of order of Dansborg, which was the highest decoration of the times. After successfully completing his tenure of 21 years he was recalled. The debts accumulated during the tenure of Governorship by Peter Anker were so much that he had to bailed out of his debt trap and he approached some wealthy ladies to rescue him. However the king intervened and settled the debts.

Thus the sleeping beauty Fort Dansborg symbolizes traces of the Danish presence on the Coramandel Coast.

OTHER PLACES OF VISIT :
1. Printing press established by Ziegenbalg
2. Ziegenbalg’s house
3. Varadaraj Perumal Temple
4. Basava Mahal
5. Gateway of Tranquebar
6. Pillars House
7. New Jerusalem Church
8. Danish governors bunglow
9. Collectors Bunglow
10. Church of Swedish Mission


LOCATION : Tranquebar or Tharangalpadi is located 296 km from Chennai after Poompuhar. It is enroute to Velankanni on the ECR road. It can be reached from Maylatdurai and Nagpatinam railway head too. The nearest airport is Trichy. We took the route from Chidambaram on the ECR road with a Pondi permit taxi towards Velankanni.

Caution :Ashtma patients are required to avoid this destination which can cause allergic reaction in OZONE rich environs. It is good antidote for heart disease.

NAGORE DARGAH

One night Fatima begum had a dream that she will be blessed by a son who would be saviour of people and will spend his lifetime to spread Islam. The famous saint was born in Manikpur near Ayodhya in 910 AD as per the vision. At an young age Hameed was intelligent and learnt Arabic and mastered the same. He was embodiment of wisdom and divinity.

At his parents insistence he sought a religious teacher who could unravel the various mysteries of the world. He went to Gwalior, where he met his teacher Hazarath Syed Muhamad Ghouse. After a decade of training, he travelled back to his home town with a bunch of 404 disciples. Together they toured extensively to Afghanistan, Baluchistan performing miracles curing the sick of disease, making the dumb speak, deaf to hear, and blind to see.

Enroute to Mecca, Hameed was approached by a noble to bless his wife Johara with a son. The saint gave Nooruddin betel leaf to be chewed by his wife. He ordered seperation with his wife for 40 days and than carry out martial bliss. She ultimately conceived a son who was named Syed Muhammad Yosuf. He followed the holy saint to Mecca as ordained.

The saint travelled extensively from Mecca,Medina to all parts of the Indian sub-continent including Sri Lanka to propagate Islam. Towards the end of his religious tour he visited Thanjavur, where the king Achutappan Nayak was afflicted by pro-longed illness. The saint was invited by the royalty to cure his disease. After deep meditation he discovered it was due to the effects of black magic by his enemies. He found out that a dove was pricked with pins making it suffer. He removed the pins from the body of the dove one by one, and thereby got rid of its suffering. The king was cured of his affliction gradually and in turn offered him some gold jewellery, which he refused to accept. Instead the saint requested the king to grant him a small land bank on the shores of Nagore.

The king happily allotted 30 acres of land opp the sea shore in Nagore, on which the present Dargah stands. The Qadir Wali dargah now symbolises secular tradition with the visit of people from all religious leanings. On every thursday people from all over show up at the dargah and what a coincidence we too showed up on a Thursday.

Kandoori festivity is celeberated during the first fortnight of the Islamic month of Jamathul akhir. Piligrims from all over the world visit the dargah to participate in the festivity.

LOCATION Nagore is located on the ECR route just after Kariakal enroute to Velankanni. One can reach this destination from Pondicherry or Chennai via the ECR road. Otherwise the nearest railway head is Nagapattinam which is scheduled for inaugration from Jan 2010. Otherwise one can reach this destination from Maylatdurai railway station. It is hardly 50 kms. The nearest airport is Trichy 140 km.

Gangaikondacholapuram, tribute to Lord Shiva

The credit for building the new Chola capital goes to Madurantaka, who later assumed the title Rajendra Chola I. ( 1012-1044 AD ) He succeeded his father Raja Raja Chola I ( 984-1014 AD ) who was also a great empire builder. He trained his son under his tutelage for 2 years before being crowned as the king.

GANGES CAMPAIGN :

The quest to rule over a large empire compelled the Cholas to follow an expansionist policy. After conquering the declining Chalukyas He fought the battle of Koppal ( referred as Koppam ) on the banks of the river tungabhadra. There was disarray and confusion among the ranks of Cholas. Rajendra II the younger brother of the king marched forward at great personal risk and Rajendra Chola was wounded on the leg, despite injury he and his brother vanquished the enemies and slaughtered most of the enemies. Thus the king himself was on the battle field and ensured a resounding victory. Thus on the battlefield itself he was crowned as the king. Rajadhiraja lost his life on the battle field on an elephant

On the victory trail the armies marched through Kalinga, upto the banks of Godavari and eventually the Chola army marched toward Pala and defeated the Bengal Kingdom. The campaign lasted for less than two years. The holy water of Ganges was bought from Bengal kingdom down to Gangaikondacholapuram. Thus began the construction of the new capital in 1019 AD and it was consecrated in 1025 AD.




WAR BOOTY :

The victorious army returned with a huge booty of jewels, ransom obtained for returning the territories back to the kings, and statues from the conquered territory. The victory ransom would obviously include the beautiful princes from the vanquished kings.

Three beautiful image of the kalinga conquest were discovered by the tamil nadu archaeology dept at Kilaichengamedu. The image of Durga, Kali, were covered by ant hills. An image of an eight armed Durga too was obtained with a demon being slayed at its feet.

Even Chalukyan era sculptures were bought as victory trophy to the Gangaikondacholpuram. They are now preserved in the Thanjuvur museum.

PALACE :

My quest on Krishnadevaraya’s palace has always been the inspiration to find more about the palace of great rulers. Luckily at Wiki we find the reference to a huge palace built of brick and wooden structure.


The palace would have been magnificient enough to accommodate all the queens. Some of them are mentioned in the inscriptions are Tribuvana, Mukkokila, Panchavan Mahadevi and Viramadevi who committed Sati on his death.


Palace was multi-storeyed, with subsequent rulers adding to the Palace building. The palace housed the queens of the times and the courtesans were housed separately in the adjescent buildings. The remains of the palace is found approximately a km from the great temple of Shiva.


Why Gangaikondacholapuram was chosen as Capital :

Thanjavur had better fortification and natural barrier of the river Cauvery to protect its citadel. One event where the cock chased an elephant seems to have prompted Rajendra Chola to build his capital at the very place, which inspired him to carry out the ganges expedition. He wanted to obviously better his father in building an empire and capital to his name.

The new capital was extensive planned after the construction of the replica of the big temple at this place in 1025 AD. The fortification of the city was carried out by boundary walls running across the capital. The entry gates were named as Thiruvasal ( eastern gate ) Vembugudi gate ( southern gateway ) Even the streets were named Pattu teru ( ten streets ) Thiruvasal Narasam and Suddhamali Lane.

A huge reservoir for drinking water was erected bordering the capital on the river Kolledam. The irrigation channel was called as Annaivettuvan ( slayer of elephants ) The villages surrounding the capital retains its name even today with Jaykondam, Viracholapuram, etc. There is another ancient temple located on the highway which is in a state of demolition but quite prominent, it must have been boundary of the kingdom It is located approximately 9 kms on the highway return to Kumbakkonam from Gangaikondacholapuram.

LOCATION :

Gangaikonda Cholapuram is approximately 40 km away from Kumbakkonam. One needs to take a route to Chennai from Kumbakkonam, with a deviation of 2 km towards left from the highway. It is clearly identified with a prominent board on the junction, and we found it difficult to trace the same on the map, since there was no mention in the Thanjavur district map. It actually falls in Aravavur district. If one bases at Kumbakkonam one can visit 3 of the Navagraha temples Sun, Venus and Mars. The Guru and Chandran temple too can be covered from here. A total of 5 Navagrahas are closer to Kumbakkonam.



SHIVA TEMPLE @ GANGAIKONDACHOLAPURAM :

The city was obviously name Gangaikonda Cholapuram to signify the victory over the Ganges territory, which was even though a temporary victory. Rajendra Chola I was based in the back camp on the banks of river Godavari.

The army returned with a rich booty and immediately an idea struck the emperor to build a better capital than his fathers with all the riches from the vanquished kingdom. Even some of the pillars and statues now adorn the premises of the temple. All the statues are captured are black in colour.

Shiva temple is almost a miniature replica of the big temple, but compact in area. The gopuram measure 68 feet in height with a width of 46 feet, with a 12 feet entry. The outer façade of the temple has two huge statues measuring over 20 feet guarding the temple as it were.

Nandi stationed outside the temple area on the courtyard is huge and it is doubtful that it was monolithic in nature, otherwise it could lay claim as the biggest Nandi surpassing the Lepakshi Nandi. There is a coating of plaster of paris on the nandi for the intricate adornments worn by the Nandi.

Temple of Northern Kailasa :

The images of saraswathi and gajalakshmi the entrance of the sanctum sanitarium The main shrine encloses the image of Brahanayaki the consort of Lord Gangaikonda. This temple even though supposed to be replica of Kailashnath temple of Ellora does not contain the elaborate sculptures of elephant etc. On the roof top there are Lions which is similarly positioned like the Kailashnath temple, which can be seen if one climbs the staircase of the ASI office.

Temple of Chandikeshava :

This temple even though small in structure had an important place in the history of the place. All transactions were carried out in the name of the name of the diety Chandikeshava till the 13th century. He is the principal sub diety of Lord Shiva.


MAIN TEMPLE ( SRI KOIL )

The Mahamandapa of the temple has obviously collapsed due to lack of maintainence. All the statues adorning the superstructure seems to have been salavaged and kept in the open museum and some shifted to Thanjavur museum.

The original basement of the mandapa has survived giving us an indication of the grandeur of conception. The two dwarapalakas adorn the walls of the shrine. The central passage is adorned with a number of pillars supporting the huge shrine. This must have been the base on which the entire gopuram construction activity must have taken place.

Inner passage leads to the main gopuram of the sanctum, wherein a huge lingam measuring 13 feet is positioned. Once again two dwarpalikas adorn the main sanctum. There are two staircases along the sides maybe used for enterance and exit during crowded times. There seemed to have been an underground passage through the enterance which is speculated to be leading to the palace. Some differ and claim it lead to the banks of the river Kollidam.

A third version states that the passage must have served as a treasure warehouse for storing the revenue to the temple. Nobody has ventured into the passage for the fear of poisonous gases, rodents and darkness. My surmise is that the kings used this passage along with his queens to visit the public temple. Treasure theory may have been true in ancient times, but would have been completely explored by the British treasure seekers and abandoned forever.

The temple at Gangaikondacholapuram is replete of paintings unlike the big temple. In thanjavur temple there are 108 dancing poses of Lord Shiva along with the face of the king along with his Guru. 83 paintings are complete and rest is unfinished. Probably the Chola empire collapsed even before the painting work could be commenced.

Shaivite themes adorn the façade of the temple. The episode of Ravana traveling in a chariot is displayed where Lord Shiva is shown as stamping the mount kailash with his toe. Finally the Lord blesses Ravana with a boon.

The second wall panel depicts Lord Vishnu worshipping Lord Shiva with 1008 lotus flowers. There is a shortfall of one flower and Lord Vishnu plucks one of his eye and gifts it to Lord Shiva. Greatly pleased Shiva blesses Vishnu. The wall panels closer to the enterance depicts the marriage of Lord Shiva. Lord Brahma and Vishnu grace the occasion.

Eastern façade depicts the episode of Mahabharat. Arjuna is found performing penance to obtain the pasupati weapon. Lord Shiva tests the diligence of Arjuna picking up a fight with him. In the end the Lord vanquished Arjuna but is pleased with his steadfast resolution and grants him the weapon.

In the northern façade, Lord Shiva is found quelling the pride of Yama inorder to protect his devotee. The other episode relates to Chandikeshava a great devotee cutting of the legs of his father who was disturbing his penance. This pleased the mighty Shiva to salvage the body parts lost by his father.

Overall a visit to Gangaikondacholapuram reveals the intrinsic patronage of the kings to propagate art and architecture of Hindu gods. The dedication to Lord Shiva was immense among the Chola Kings.



TIPS : The temple is supposed to close at 1 pm for lunch and opens at 4 pm and many a times it is closed before time, and therefore it is better to start early to cover all the destinations in the itinerary. If one is delayed try to explore the remains of the palace and architectural remains of the chola period and even the extreme boundary of the chola capital which is in ruins.

Vellankanni, Basilica of Virgin Mary

Prologue : The seeds of Christainity was sown by the doubting Saint Thomas in India. Why was he known as doubting Thomas is an interesting incident. He refused to believe that Lord Jesus resurrected after crucification. Naturally he doubted the veracity of the believers, and later he touched the wounds of Jesus ( in his dreams I presume ) and got rid of his doubt on resurrection. After his faith was restored he became a missionary in spreading the gospel of the Lord. He traveled from Syria to West coast with the merchant vessels of the Roman traders. He landed at Muziris ( Cragnallore ) in 52 AD. He began his missionary work and converted lot of people into his faith, which angered the local priests. Than he moved towards Mylapore in 72 AD, where he started spreading the gospel of the Lord. He was followed by his persecutors from Kerala as he was kneeling and praying on St Thomas Mount. He was pierced with a lance and transfixed in 72 AD. His body was bought by his followers and buried in the residence where he stayed put. ( which is now known as the Santhome Church ) The life history of St Thomas has been ironical from doubts to belief and thereon lynched as martyr in quest of spreading Christianity just like Lord Jesus.

Historical Background :

Around the beginning of the 17th century, a Portuguese vessel Santa Maria set sail to Colombo from Macao. While it was sailing in the deep bay of Bengal it was caught in a cyclonic storm with waves rising above 5 feet and rocking the vessel. Portuguese sailors were staunch believers in Virgin Mary, they knelt and prayed for their mother Mary to rescue them from the violent nature’s fury. The sinking souls vowed to build a chapel in her honour if they were rescued from sinking. Thus the fury of nature abated and within 10 minutes the sea calmed with tranquility unknown hitherto. The battered vessel was veered towards the coast of Vellankani.

They were received by the local fishermen community, who spotted the Catholic linage of the sailors and lead them to a thatched hut which was used as chapel in those days. The Portuguese sailors in gratitude renovated the thatched chapel with brick and mortar construction. The Chapel was 24 feet in length and 12 feet in breadth signifying the cross. They dedicated this church to the Blessed Virgin Mary to honour her miraculous power of healing and saviour from crisis.

If one breaks up the word Velankanni word in Tamil it means White Virgin or meaning Virgin Mother Mary.



LEGEND : ( Courtsey : Velankannichurch org ) :

EVENT ONE

Sometime during the sixteenth century, Our Lady with her infant son appeared to a Hindu boy carrying milk to a customer’s home. While he rested under a Banyan tree near a tank (pond), Our Lady appeared to him and asked for milk for her Son and the boy gave her some. On reaching the customer’s home, the boy apologized for his lateness and the reduced amount of milk by relating the incident that occurred on his way. On inspection, the man found the milk pot to be full and realized that something miraculous had happened. That man, also a Hindu, wanting to see the place where the apparition occurred, accompanied the boy.
When they reached the tank, Our Lady appeared once again. On learning that it was Our Lady who appeared to the boy, the residents of the local Catholic community became ecstatic. The tank where the apparition took place is called "Matha Kulam" or Our Lady’s tank.

EVENT TWO :

Some years later Our Lady appeared again. This time to a crippled boy who was selling buttermilk near a public square on the outskirts of the same village of Vailankanni. She asked him for buttermilk for her infant Son and the boy compiled. Our Lady asked the boy to inform a certain wealthy Catholic man in the nearby town of Nagapattinam of her appearance. Not realizing that his crippled leg was miraculously cured by Our Lady, the boy rose up and began his journey. The man also had a vision the previous night in which Our Lady asked him to build a chapel for her. Together, the man and the boy returned to the site of the miracle.
This time Our Lady appeared to both. The man erected a thatched chapel for Our Lady at the site of Her second appearance. This chapel became a holy place of veneration to Our Blesses mother and She was called henceforth, Mother of Good Health ("Arokia Matha").

Historical Data of Vailankanni Shrine

1. The history of Our Lady of Good Health, Vailankanni, dawned in the 16th century



2. In September 1771, Vailankanni which had been a substation of Nagapattinam Parish, was raised to the status of a Parish.



3. The majestic Shrine facing the East, was renovated twice in 1920 and 1933.



4. His Holiness Pope John the XXIII, raised the Shrine to the status of 'Basilica' on the 3rd November 1962. The apparitions of Our Lady, the Miraculous statue of Our Lady, the countless miracles, the magnificent architecture and beauty of the Shrine, were the motives for this Shrine to become a Basilica.



5. The storeyed extension Basilica was blessed and opened in 1975.



6. In 1985,the little Chapel at Our Lady's Tank, was built a new and blessed.



OUR VISIT TO VELANKANNI :

We began our journey with the cyclonic effect on the coast of Nagapattinam on the fourth of November 2009 from Myalathdurai to transcending the barriers of religion. The entire day trip was stormy akin to the weather faced by the Portuguese sailors in the 17th century. I was praying to the Virgin Mary silently that I should get to see the Basilica in all its splendour and without much rainfall. Behold it was around 5.30 pm when we reached and the murky light cleared along with the heavy downpour and we witnessed the grandeur of the Church, which had an aura of divinity.
Just imagine getting drenched in the weather for the entire day whenever we stepped out of the car, it used to pour and we returned wet. In ordinary circumstances one would abort the trip and get back to the cosy atmosphere in hotel rooms. We refused to return and continued our journey to pray to the Virgin Mary, and she blessed us with health. We were fortunate that we did not fall sick due to constant wetting in the rain.



We lit up 3 candles in honour of the Virgin Mary and donated some currency into the box, and bought back Memorabilia in honour of DVD and book from the Church counter. We had a wonderful dinner at the church canteen too to relish our trip to the core. All the tiredness of the 13 hour trip vanished when we got up in the morning miraculously. Thanks to VIRGIN MARY.


SIGHTSEEING AT VELANKANI :
1. Garden of Jordan
2. Museum
3. Arokia Tank
4. Retreat Centre
5. Various Accomodation
6. Tsunami Memorial
7. Home for the aged
8. Health Centre
9. Shopping Centres
10. Other Churches

Darasuram symbolises finesse of Chola architecture

The Darasuram group of temples is located around 7 kms away from the kumbakonam railway station. I was inspired by a blogger from Ahmedabad to visit this temple on priority when compared to Navagraha temples which is usually ventured as a matter of religious tourism to get rid of their doshas.

My gut feeling had come true to see the Darasuram unraveling as fresh as a daisy after a heavy downpour. Water was flowing all across the temple, and the water channels outside the temple too has been created to drain the water. This maybe due to the fact that the foundation may get eroded of the temple. The ASI has done a tremendous amount of work to resurrect the temple, which was in absolute crumbling stage. Currently one can find the local people taking a morning walk with pride on the precints of the temple garden.


HISTORY : In the absence of an ASI guide books it is difficult to guess the antecedents of the temple. The temple was earlier known as Rajarajpuram. It obviously means that the temple was constructed by one of the kings holding the title Raja. There are so many Chola kings with the title of Raja,which is commonly bestowed on the rulers of the time. In all probability the temple foundation was laid during the reign of Chola King Kollutunga II ( 1133-1150) and completed during the reign of RAJA RAJA II ( 1150 – 1163 AD ).

Why the Cholas who were great builders of temples and monumental edifices went into the downward spiral is a mystery left to be unraveled. Most of the Chola temples are of Shaiva origin, and another religious section was slowly gaining ascendancy under the sage Ramanujam ( 1077 – 1157AD ) It obviously was felt that the followers of Vaishnavism were persecuted in the Chola kingdom and Ramanujam went into exile to propagate his beliefs from Melkote.

Like all great emperors Raja Raja II too had four wives and a retinue of courtesans for sexual gratification. The war of succession among the heirs, imminent attack from the Ceylonese kingdom and rebellion of feudals seem to have lead to the downfall of the empire.

In all probability Darasuram Airateswara temple was completed in 1160 AD and it had approximately taken nearly 15 years to complete from 1145 AD. The construction which begun during the dying days of Kollutunga II and completed during the reign of RAJA RAJA II.


ARHITECTURE :

When an edifice of this nature is built naturally architects have to plan for good ventilation and drainage of rain water accumulating in the premises and to prevent seepage from the roof tops. This aspect was given prime importance apart from natural lighting entering the temple premise.


The placement of Nandi was of prime importance in Chola architecture, at Darasuram Nandi is enclosed in a small mantap. The Nandi is etched in soap stone which obviously seems to have been shipped from neighbouring state. The fact that some of the temples in Hemavathi region seems to have seen plundering for their strong granite structures is the basis of this surmise. On the edifice there is a contrasting effect of the statues installed of Shiva and arthanareswari. These sculptures are in black soap stone.

The façade of the walls seems to have been painted with various depictions and mythological stories during the reign of the Nayaks. They are all in various stages of destruction due to seepage of water and sunlight. It may the natures way of undoing the artificial embellishment.

The main goupuram or vimana stands tall at 85 feet. The frontal mantap is designed as a horse chariot drawn forward as it were during festivity. This inspiration form of architecture had become a hallmark for subsequent rulers to emulate in their temple building activities at Kumbakkonam. The main temple is now known as Airavateshwar Temple. The adjescent temple is Periya Nayaki amman temple or Parvathi.

LEGEND :

Airavat happens to be white elephant of Indira, who worshipped Lord Shiva praying for its health. Even the fabled Yama, ( master of Death ) seemed to have prayed in this temple to get rid of the curse. Lord Yama was cursed by a sage, which lead to burning sensation in his body and he suffered immensely. Yama took bath in a sacred tank in front of the temple and prayed to Lord Shiva to get rid of the burning sensation all over his body. The tank from than on is known as Yamateertham.

Since the elephant worshipped the Lingam, the temple is now considered to be Airavateshwar temple.

INSCRIPTIONS :

The inscriptions embedded on the façade of the wall is a delight for all the connoisseurs and art historians. Most of the inscriptions have lavish praises for the kings of the time for sponsoring the temple’s upkeep by giving grants.

One of the inscriptions state that Pandyan king Maravarman gave grants for celeberating Shivaratri festival and undertaking repair of the temple. During the Tai masam, which was coinciding with Makara shankaranti too festivities were undertaken in this temple.


During the makara times Chola King Rajarajadeva registered a grant of land to meet the expenses of the temple and its upkeep.




UNIQUE FEATURES OF DARASURAM TEMPLE :

1. The idol of single breasted Shiva on the façade of the main temple.
2. Horse drawn chariot sculpture on the sides of the mantap.
3. Gymnastic posture of the comparable to modern circus or gypsies.
4. Lion attacking an elephant ( baby elephant ).
5. Delivery of baby sculpture, helped by attendants in standing posture.
6. Ravana carrying Kailash.
7. Sculpture of Buddha.
8. Saraswathi without Veena.
9. Sculpture of Devi with 8 hands.
10. Two Dwarapalikas at the enterance.

At the enterance there is small mantap which is gives out musical notes, which is now protected against vandalism by secure enclosure. The entire complex is beautifully landscaped with grass and small plants. The gopuram at the enterance seems to have collapsed, now only the side wall remain on the edge of the garden.

During the monsoon the temple look is so fresh and gleaming as if it is ceremonial bath for this temple. We were blessed with plenty of eye soothing greenery and were guided an ASI person who unlocked the museum for our benefit. There were number of statues which seem to have been transferred to Thanjavur museum according to our guide and ASI is in the process of setting up a full fledged museum at Darasuram too. The paintings on the wall ceiling are quite prominent in the museum enclosure too. One has to protect their camera during the rainy season, luckily the weather gods blessed us unlike the previous day ( 4/11/09 ) which was pouring cats and dogs. Darasuram temple is visual treat for lovers of ancient architecture and should not be missed if one happens to visit kumbakkonam,thanjavur or trichy