For those who have directly landed on this page, the post continues from the previous post. For continuity and hopefully lesser confusion, requesting you to glance there first.
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| The partially damaged dancing Shiva on the ceiling |
As we continued to listen to Pujar's narration, our gaze wandered to the ceiling where Lord Shiva was dancing on one leg. Grace and agility apart, the other leg was lost to vandals. We were told that this piece of incredible art was intact even during Pujar's grandfather's times. Ignorant locals resorting to vandalism as a source of entertainment had gotten away with damaging some iconic pieces.
The temple however had the fortune of coming under the protected monument act and we were fortunate to still have a plethora of the craftsmen's skills to feast our eyes upon. It was impossible to imagine how gorgeous the temple would have looked prior to falling prey to the multiple factors that had affected it.
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| Lights and shadows bouncing off the ceiling design |
There were other ceiling designs that were intact. Lights and shadows played tricks on our eyes as they fell upon one of these designs. Was the center part concave or convex? Standing beneath the ceiling and spinning around to check it from all angles did make me dizzy, but it was so exhilarating.
The high frequency voices of the college students was now replaced by the calls of sparrows, Indian robins, magpie robins and other birds that were playing around in the nooks and crevices of the temple. I think I must have done a couple of 'pradakshinas' (the act of walking clockwise around a person/deity/temple as a mark of respect) around the temple while trying to locate the resident Hoopoe pair. They were blissfully feeding and raising new generations of Hoopoes, oblivious to the fact that their home was centuries old. A rare and unusual winter visitor to this temple, the brown rock chat, surprisingly nests in this temple and is an enigma to bird lovers. It managed to evade me quite effectively, especially since I refused to nose dive behind it as it vanished behind the walls of the temple complex.
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| Kirthimukhas adorn the temple tower |
A closer look at the outer walls of the temple revealed exotic designs flowing out from the mouth of lions that were present on each level of the gopura (temple tower). I learnt later that these lion faces were called as Kirtimukhas and had a story of their own to signify their presence in temple architectures. They are known to be the symbol of lord Shiva himself.
The top of the temple tower stood starkly different from the rest of the temple. This was the restored part. The Kirthimukhas vanished at this point, still it was an impressive effort. This also raised the question of what motivated the craftsmen of the bygone eras to come up with such incredible designs that just cannot be emulated these days. Did they really belong to the past or were they simply so far ahead of their time, that we cannot catch up even with every bit of modern technology.
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| An extremely ornate window |
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| They ruined the figurine but she held on to her grace and poise. |
An extremely ornate window took care of the ventilation in the closed part of the temple while a demure damsel stood looking gorgeous even in her dilapidated state. She managed to retain her grace and poise despite all the damage.
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| Makara torana design on the rainwater drainage system. |
Even the rain water drainage system was ornate with makara toranas on either side. The bottom of this drainage was probably the only part that managed to escape the craftsmen's tools.
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| One of the Broken artifact stored in the Saraswati mutt. |
On one side of the temple was the Saraswati mutt, built for all the well read scholars, poets, exponents in vedas etc. to worship goddess Saraswati. This place was now being used to store broken artifacts from in and around the temple premises.
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| The temple Kalyani known as Kheelabandha |
Behind the temple was the Kalyani or the stepped water tank. The Kalyani was called Kheelabandha. 'Kheela' meaning nail and 'Bandha' indicating a bonding. This was to indicate that if the temple was inverted and placed into the Kalyani, it would fit as perfectly as a nail would fit into a wall. Of course this was all based on imaginations, but I would not be surprised if it was true, considering the level of perfection that seemed to be the order of the day here. The Kalyani had a depth of almost 80ft from ground level.
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| Another carving with a man trying to avoid getting stamped by an elephant. |
Interestingly we were also told by Pujar that the whole town was full of temples and houses had been built over a lot of them making further excavation impossible . If excavation has to be carried out, the entire town would have to be shifted out and everyone would have to be compensated for the same. In fact one of the centuries old gateway to the erstwhile Ishtikapura or Itige had become a part of someone's house now. The doorway to the past was lost in the present.
We had been there for almost a couple of hours and would have gladly spent more time if we were not already late for our next stop. Just as we were getting out, a few boys walked in with a box of cake to celebrate their friend's birthday in the lawns. The lack of such amenities elsewhere nearby made the lawns a choice spot for local residents. The temple being a mute spectator in its midst. Not exactly what Mahadeva Dhandanayaka would have envisioned. Wondering what all would the temple have witnessed while trying to stand its ground.
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| Shivatheertha pushkarani with the precarious steps in the far end. |
Outside the temple a few egrets sat lazily on a rock in the pushkarani or the pond connected to the temple. This one was called as Shivatheertha. A few steps leading to the pushkarani seemed to be supported by a miracle along the far wall. Not sure who would have dared to climb down that one.
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| Even two blog posts are not sufficient to do justice to this temple's beauty |
This temple certainly needs more than one visit to admire its incredible beauty. I was imagining how it would look on a full moon night, moonlight bouncing of its walls and pillars, standing silently, holding on to centuries of memories that would have seeped into every crevice of its structure, with stories only it could narrate.
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