Wedding Gowns and Dwarapalas

On our way to the UNESCO World Heritage Hindu temple of Prambanan, we stopped at some smaller temples, including Candi Plaosan. Built around 825 AD, this Buddhist temple was gifted by a Hindu prince to his Buddhist princess wife from another dynasty. Although comprised of 174 buildings of varying sizes, many of the structures suffered significant damage during the 2006 earthquake. 

Despite its proximity to Prambanan (about 1 km northwest), it lacked the large crowds, enabling ease of exploration.

Two massive Drawapalas serve as guardian figures in front of the two main temples at Plaosan.

Flanking the outer walls of the main temple are beautiful carvings of Bodhisattvas. Some of the carvings reminded me of those at Tamil Nadu's impressive Thanjavur Hindu temple, except that the color of these stones were much darker than those in India. 

Inside the main temples, portions of sculptures remained, although some were headless. 

During the time I was there, Plaosan became slightly more lively when a wedding party arrived to take a few photos. Although many of the members were dressed in jeans, the bride was dressed in a Western gown and the groom in a white Indonesian outfit. As in other places, several people came up to me, asking if they could have a photo taken with me. 

Having had a chance to explore most of the site, we now were ready for the granddaddy of them all - Prambanan.

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Behind the Layers

Bongwonsa Temple, Seoul

Although I find the highly intricate paintings on temples to be exquisitely beautiful, the faded scenes also attract my attention. What stories do these flecking paints or stained surfaces have to tell us? How do the processes of pigment application vary from when the murals were first created? What devotion the artists must have had, painstakingly rendering each detail. What would they think to see their designs all faded away?

Thanjavur Hindu temple, India

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Lightning Strike on Thanjavur's Gopuram

 

This weekend a storm went through southern Tamil Nadu, with lightning striking one of Thanjavur's gopurams (entryway structures leading into the main temple). This particular gopuram was built during the Chola period (approx 1,000 AD). Unlike most of the structures at this impressive UNESCO site that were made out of stone, this gopuram, known as Rajarajan Thiruvaayil, was built out of brick and lime mortar. Despite lightning rods being fitted in much taller structures nearby within the complex,  lightning still was attracted to the structure's composition and smashed one of the kalasam pointed elements at the top.

The Thanjavur temple is a marvel to see - one of Tamil Nadu's most beautiful temples. Sadly, the majority of visitors to India never make it to South India.

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Thanjavur - the Brihadishvara Temple

Our next destination was Thanjavur. We only had time to visit its main landmark – the Brihadishvara Temple. Considered the finest example of Chola architecture, this temple is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was completed in 1010AD, built by Rajaraja Chola I and is a testament to the unrivaled power and might of the Chola dynasty.

Like other Hindu temples, entrance is through the gopura gateways. In front of one of the two gopuras an elephant stood off to the side, blessing people by putting its trunk on their head. Both gopuras were of the same shape and contained carved figures. Dominating the outer façade of the inner gopura mirrored symmetrically on each side were two fanged dvarpala door guardians, directing devotees to the sanctum with their pointed figures. These are considered to be the largest monolithic sculptures of any Indian temple. Other panels illustrated scenes including the marriage of Shiva and Parvati.

In the middle of a spacious courtyard was the Brihadishvara Temple, surrounded by various subsidiary shrines. In front of the temple was the Nandi Mandapa, so named for the monstrous sculpture of Nandi (Shiva’s bull vehicle) carved out of a single block of granite weighing 25 tons. Devotees passed by the side of this calf sculpture with a large underbite, with a length of 6 m (20 ft) and 3.7 m (12.1 ft) high. It is the second largest Nandi in India. The ceiling of the mandapa was painted with bird, angel, and floral motifs, contrasted against a sapphire blue colored background.

Seeing the long lines waiting to get into the temple, we decided instead to focus on the exterior as well as the passage area around the sanctum. The star of the show for most is the Vimana, a 66 m (217 ft) high pyramidal structure made out of granite and built over the sanctum. Unlike most temples, this Vimana is actually taller than its gopuras. On top of the thirteen storeys is an octagonal cupola, carved out of a massive block of granite weighing 80 tons. The shadow of the cupola never falls to the ground, demonstrating the remarkable calculations of the architects. Although historians are unsure of exactly how the cupola was placed on top of the vimana, but the most popular theory is that it was hauled up a six-kilometer long ramp, moved along by elephants that rolled it up the ramp using perfectly round logs. At the top of the vimana is a guilded finial, presented by the king himself. In niches closer to the bottom portion of the temple were life-size sculptures of various gods including Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Ganpati,Ganesh, and Lakshmi. As in the Darasuram temple, remnants of paint were scene, with red and green appearing to be dominant colors.

If one simply gazed and admired the main temple, they would be missing one of Thanjavur’s great treasures – Chola frescos adorning the ambulatory passage around the sanctum. These frescoes were discovered in the 1930s when the inferior 17th century Maratha paintings covering them began to disintegrate. Portrayed in the frescoes were lifelike portraits of royals, deities, dancing girls, and elephants. I was a bit surprised by how vibrant the colors were, made of rich pigments of lapis lazuli, red and yellow ochre, lime and lap soot. Most were in fairly good condition. In front of the frescoes was a row of lingas. Guidebooks said that the frescoes would be closed for viewing, but thankfully they were not. I only had to contend with a fence around its perimeter that was very easy to photograph through (no flash, of course). I do hope that exposure to the elements will not destroy these pieces.
Near the building now serving as an archaeological museum, I once again spotted a group of men and women dressed in all red. I had seen them in Mahabalipuram as well – was there some sort of pilgrimage in which these folks were participating? The bright red of their clothing created a beautiful contrast to the neutral colors of the stone.

With the light already beginning to fade, it was now time to head to Trichy, located 36 km from Thanjuvur. Compounded by a large construction detour in Trichy, it was well into the evening before we arrived at our Tamil Nadu government hotel, which I’ll be sure to never stay at again.

See more photos of Thanjavur on my Flickr site

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