Occupying an important place among the ancient
classical monuments of Pudukkottai, the Thirugokarnam temple, popularly
known as Brahadambal Temple, lies in the foot of a rock. This is one of
the oldest temples in South India, with its history dating back to early
7th century AD and still in use.
The deity is known as Gokarnesvara, and is
associated with the sthala-puranam
(ஸ்தலபுராணம்)
of this temple. It goes on the following lines. The
celestial Kama-dhenu (காமதேனு) happened to arrive late one day at Indra’s
(இந்திரன்) court.
She was banished from the heaven and condemned to live the life of an
ordinary cow on earth until such time as she should have expiated her
sins by worshipping the God Siva. On reaching earth, she sought the
hermitage of the sage Kapila (கபிலர்) situated in the jungle at this place. Under
his guidance she performed daily worship to the Siva lingam under the
bakula (vakula) tree. Everyday she tramped to far away river Ganga and
brought its sacred water in her ears for the God’s abhishekam
(அபிஷேகம்,
ablution). Hence the god is called Gokarnesvara or the ‘Lord of the
cow’s ear. In due course she had a she-calf, but stifling motherly
instincts, she still performed her daily journey leaving her calf at the
temple gate. But soon the time came for her salvation, and as she
retuned one day at nightfall with the sacred water in her ear, the God
taking the shape of a tiger stood across her path at a place since
called Thiruvengaivasal (திருவேங்கைவாசல்)
and threatened to devour her. On her
remonstrating that it was time for the ablution of the God, she was
allowed to go on condition that she returned immediately after the
worship was over. When the cow came back, according to her promise, the
seeming tiger changed its shape, and Siva and Parvathi manifested
themselves and carried the cow to heaven. According to a variation of
the story the tarn on the top of the hill, was cut by the cow with her
horn and stored with the Ganga water from her ear, and a cleft on the
top of the lingam is said to be a hoof-print that she left as she bathed
the idol in the sacred water.
Locally the temple is better known as Brahadambal
temple. A shrine for Brahadambal constructed later at the ground level.
The goddess Brahadambal was the tutelary deity of the Pudukkottai
Tondaiman rulers. They proudly called themselves 'Brihadamba-dasa'
or 'servant of Brahadambal'. They ruled the kingdom in the name of the
goddess. The Tondaiman rulers even minted coins featuring the portrait
of Brahadambal. The temple was, thus, intimately associated with the
ruling families of the region.
There is also another presiding deity,
Vakula-vanesvara (வகுளவனேஸ்வரர், ‘God-of-vakula-forest’) and is named after the sthala
vriksham (temple-tree) of the temple, namely, Mahizha Maram (the Bakula
tree, Mimusops elengi).
The temple was constantly being renovated and
additions made till the last century. Because of this continuous history
over a very long time the temple acquired some special features.
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The cave temple has
more architectural technical features compared to other cave temples
of this region
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The relief sculpture
of ‘Sapta-matrika’ (சப்தகன்னியர்) of this temple is important from the point of view
of iconography
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It contains about 30
inscriptions. Some of them are Grantha inscriptions of the 7th
century AD
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There are two main
deities: Gokarnesvara and Bakula-vanesvara
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There is no shrine for
Nava-graha
(‘the-nine-planets’)
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The temple has five
ther-s (temple-cars), which is a large number comparatively, with
marvellous craft work, architecture and of noteworthy features
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Because of the
benevolence of the royalty the temple was the centre of dance, music
of great repute
Because of its
exquisite architecture and noteworthy sculptural and artistic features,
this is an excellent temple for study of temple architecture and
iconography starting from early Pallava – Pandya (7th
century) period till Nayak period (17th century).
the Temple architecture
One enters the temple complex from the south. Beyond the customary Ganesa
at the entrance, one passes through a long corridor leading to the shrines on
the ground level. This corridor is exquisitely decorated with carved pillars
and sculptures. These carvings exhibit unsurpassed piece of art and workmanship
of the Nayak period. There are shrines for Kasi Visvanatha (காசி விஸ்வநாதர்)
and a vasantha-mandapam (வசந்த மண்டபம்) on the left before reaching the
Raja-gopuram (இராஜ கோபுரம்) at the end of the corridor. The Raja-gopuram is
guarded by dvara-palaka (துவாரபாலகர்). On the right side a big Drum or
Murasu (முரசு) is placed to beat in morning and evening, when pooja-s are performed.
The temple Raja-gopuram
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Rathi-Manmatha sculpture
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Leaving Raja-gopuram, we enter into the Silpa-mandapam (சிற்ப மண்டபம்,
Sculptural mandapam) also called Rasi-mandapam (ராசி மண்டபம்). The ceiling
of this mandapam is adorned with sculptures of the Rasi-s. On the colonnades
are found some exquisite portrayals of Rathi-Manmatha (ரதி மன்மதன்), Durga (துர்கை),
Karnan (கர்ணன்), Arjunan (அர்ஜுனன்), Raman (ராமன்), Dasaratha (தசரதன்) and
Kaikeyi (கைகேயி), etc. On the left side of this is the Golu-mandapam (கொலு
மண்டபம்), a large mandapam, which has seen very colourful Nava-rathri (நவ
ராத்திரி) functions in the past. On the right side are the oonjal-mandapam (ஊஞ்சல்
மண்டபம், swing hall) and the kitchens.
Crossing a door we reach the Brahadambal shrine. The present structure of
this shrine seems to be a very late structure, probably added within the last
two centuries. The absence of any inscription on its wall bears out this conclusion.
The large mandapam in front of the Amman shrine, like the corridor leading into
the temple from the street belong to the Madurai Nayak (மதுரை நாயக்கர்)
style. On the pillars of this mandapam are figures in high relief of chiefs
and nobles who have not yet been satisfactorily identified. During the
Tondaiman (தொண்டைமான்) period daily worship included dance and music
recitals in this mandapam.
The east-facing Brahadambal shrine consists of an ardha-mandapam (அர்த்த
மண்டபம்), beyond which is the garbha-griham (கர்ப கிரகம்). The statue of the
Goddess of extraordinary beauty, adorns the sanctum.
The pradakshina (perambulation) starts with the 63 Nayanmar-s (நாயன்மார்கள்)
on the left and then the east-facing shrines of Maha-Ganapathi, Rishabha-rudha
(ரிஷபா ருடர்) and Kasi-lingam (காசி லிங்கம்). Ahead of this if the beginning
of the excavation of the original cave temple. There are a few minor deities
like Kuzhandai-vadivel (குழந்தை வடிவேல், முருகன், Murugan) and Sapthalingam
(சப்த லிங்கம்), in the niches on the left approachable through a flight of
stairs.
On to the left of the entrance to the Gokarnesvara shrine on the rock face
to the south of the cave are figures the Sapta-matrika (சப்தமாதர்), Ganesa
and another deity who may be identified as Veerabhadra (வீரபத்திரர்).
The rock cut shrine
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In the rock-cut garbha-griham is Gokarnesvara in the form of a lingam. The
ardha-mandapam has two large relief sculptures, Ganesa on the south wall Gangadhara
(கங்காதரர்) on the north wall. All these are typical 7th century
Pallava-Pandya sculptures.
The maha-mandapam and the other mandapam-s in front of the central rock-out
shrine belong to the Chozha and Pandya (11th to 13th century AD.) periods. Some
beautiful bronzes, kept under lock, are found in the maha-mandapam. Facing the
shrine are the bali-pitham (பலி பீடம்), dhvaja-sthambham (த்வஜஸ்தம்பம்) and
nandi (நந்தி) installed on a rock-clearance. It is likely that the passage
to enter the Gokarnesvara shrine must have passed through this.
The sunai
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To the north of the nandi is the exit to reach the shrines of the upper
level. Immediately on the left is an inscription belonging to the Raja Raja
III (மூன்றாம் இராஜராஜன்) period (1226 AD). A short flight of steps takes one
to the sunai (சுனை, tarn) from which the suburban population took drinking
water in the past. A view of the tarn and the rocky outcrop is a pleasing
sight.
On the left to the exit, situated almost above the Gokarnesvara shrine,
are the shrines for Subrahmanya (சுப்பிரமணியர்), Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi,
Annapurani (அன்ன பூரணி) and Rudrashalingam (ருத்ராக்ஷலிங்கம்). And on the
right to the exit are that of Brahma, Jvara-haresvara (ஜுவரகரேஸ்வரர்,
‘destroyer of fever’), Bhairava, Surya, the four Saivait saints, Appar, Sundarar, Gnana-sambanthar
(ஞானசம்பந்தர்) and Manikka-vachakar (மாணிக்கவாசகர்), Chandra and
Dandayudha-pani (தண்டாயுதபாணி).
Mahizha-maram, the sthala-vriksham
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From this vantage point one can have a view of the surroundings: the Mangala-kulam
(மங்களக்குளம், tank) in the east and rocky out crops all around. From here
one can see the Raja-gopuram, which is nor visible from elsewhere, the
vimanam (விமானம்) of the Brahadambal shrine and of Vakula-vanesvara (பகுளவனேஸ்வரர்).
Not to be missed is the grand old mahizha-tree (மகிழமரம், Mimusops elengi or Vakulam in
Sanskrit), which is the sthala-vriksham, with its extensive crown. The trunk
of the tree can be seen at the ground level.
Nataraja with his consort
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Returning to the ground level, and continuing the pradakshina (பிரதக்ஷனம்), we come to
the mandapam, which houses bronzes of Nataraja, His Consort, and the four Saivait
saints. These idols are of exceptional beauty. Beyond this is the shrine for
Mangalambikai (மங்களாம்பிகை), built in 13th century AD. It has an
ardha-mandapam (அர்த்தமண்டபம்) (15th century AD.) also. To the west of this
is the sannidhi (சந்நிதி) of Vakula-vanesvara. He is worshiped in the form
of a lingam. The shrine, in its present form, belongs to 18th century AD. On
the northern wall of this shrine are sculptures of Vinayaka and
Dakshina-moorthi (தக்ஷிணாமூர்த்தி). One can see these sculptures from the
outer corridor itself.
A hexagon shaped Sukravar-mantapam (சுக்ரவார மண்டபம்), dhvaja-sthambham
and mahizha-tree are seen within the premises in front of the Brahadambal
shrine. At the base of the tree is a small idol of Sadhasiva-brahmendra (சதாசிவ
பிரம்மேந்திரர்). The reason for worshipping Sadhasiva-brahmendra in this
temple is because he happened to be the guru of Tondaiman (தொண்டைமான்) Rajas
and the sage blessed the Raja with Dakshina-moorthi slogan-s and mantra-s.
MANGALA-THEERTHA-MANDAPAM (மங்களத் தீர்த்த மண்டபம்)
Soldiers on horse-back, Mangala-kulam
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The gate to the east of Sukravar-mantapam leads to the Mangala-theertha-mandapam
and the Mangala-kulam (tank). Now badly neglected the tank has seen better days.
The last Maharaja, Rajagopala Tondaiman was crowned on the steps of this tank.
Two exquisitely carved pillars are found on both sides of the steps flying down
to the tank. They look as if two horses are bearing the pillars and exhibit
a fine piece of art. One Rasi-Chakra (ராசி சக்கரம்) is also seen on the
ceiling of this mandapam. The northern part of this mandapam is built by
late Pandya-s (13th century) southern part by Tondaiman-s (17th century AD).
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