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1466145615P1M14TEXT.Pdf Paper: 1 Detail Study Of Natyashastra, Specially Dance Related Chapters And Sangita Ratnakar Module 14 Kumbhakonam Sarangapani Temple Sarangapani temple is situated in Kumbakonam in Tanjore district in Tamilnadu. This is one among the 108 Divya Desam (important shrines of Vishnu). Many saints and alwars have sung songs in praise of this deity. This temple is situated on the banks of river Kaveri. Hence it is one of the Pancharanga kshetrams (five important shrines of Vishnu in the banks of river Kaveri). Initially the temple was built by the Pallavas. This temple was then developed magnificently by the medieval Cholas. Later the Vijayanagar kings and Madurai Nayaks renovated and contributed towards this temple. LEGENDS ABOUT SARANGAPANI There are many interesting legends regarding this temple. Sarangapani is the Vaishnava diety incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Jagadish Ayyar in his book South Indian Shrines (Madras, 1922, p.124) describes the origins of the incarnation of Vishnu as Sarangapani. In this avatar (incarnation) he was named as Sarangapani which means (in Tamil) as ‘a person holding a bow in his hand’. A legendary story in the Sthala Purana reveals that Vishnu came to earth to bless the mortals. Sage Hemarishi, an ardent devotee of Vishnu, performed penance to obtain goddess Lakshmi to 1 be his daughter. He sat in front of the sacred tank called porthamarai kulam, in Kumbakonam. Lord Vishnu was pleased by his prayers and granted the boon to the rishi. Goddess Lakshmi emerged from the porthamarai pond amonst thousand lotuses and the rishi was happy to have a daughter. He named her Komalavalli. Since Lakshmi was already born on earth Lord Vishnu followed her. From his abode in Vaikundam, Lord Vishnu descended on earth in a chariot drawn by majestic horses and elephants. In this avatar he was named as Sarangapani. He stayed in a nearby Siva temple called Someswara temple. Gradually love bloomed between Sarangapani and Komalavalli and eventually they got married. Another popular legend is that a staunch Brahmin devotee of Lord Vishnu spent all his life in the service of the deity. At the end of his life he felt his loneliness and prayed that his last rites (karma) to be performed by the Lord. Aravamudan (name of the festival deity) descended himself to perform the last rites of the devotee on the Deepavali day. This ritual is continued till date and the priests perform the death ritual annually in the temple. This is very rare and one of its kind rituals performed in a Vishnu temple. It is believed that Lord Sarangapani was instrumental in compiling the nalayira divya prabandam. A Vaishnavite saint named Nadamuni, during his prayers, heard some divine verses in praise of the Lord by a few devotees in the temple. He was exhilarated and asked them to sing the remaining verses. The devotees did not know the remaining thousand verses. Lord Sarangapani appeared in the dream of Nadamuni and asked him to visit Alwarthirunagari (Vishnu shrine) in 2 Tutucorin district to learn the other verses. Here Nadamuni gets blessings and learns the rest of the verses from saint Namalwar. He compiles the verses and the hymns sung by twelve Vaishnava saints (alwars) and this came to be known as nalayira divya prabandam (4000 holy verses).The tradition of singing the Divyaprabandam / ददव्यप्रबंधम in Vishnu temples continues even today. The main deity in this temple is in a half-reclining pose. Here again there is a tale to justify the position of the diety. Saint Thirumizhisai alwar in his manglasasanam hymns asks the Lord whether he was resting with a leg pain due to his long walks in the woods during the Rama avatara. The Lord tries to get up to grace Alwar. Alwar requests Him to bless him from the half-waking position. This position of the reclining Perumal (God) is a very unique feature of this temple. Sarangapani temple is situated in Kumbakonam in Tanjore district in Tamilnadu, between two rivers -- Arisalaru and Kaveri. The temple is enshrined in a huge granite wall with many small shrines. The temple is built in the Dravidian architecture style. The Raja gopuram (main tower) is 173 feet high and has eleven tiers. This is one of the tallest gopurams in Kumbakonam. There are five more small gopurams around the temple. The temple faces the east direction. The sanctum is shaped and constructed like a chariot and this style of architecture in a temple is called the ratha temple. The chariot is drawn by beautifully sculpted elephants and horses. There are openings from either side of the ratha picturizing the descent of Lord Sarangapani to the chariot. The sanctum faces the east direction. There are two stepped entrances to the sanctum called utharayana vassal / 3 उतरायण वस्सऱ and dakshinayana vassal / दक्षऺणयान वस्सऱ . These two entrances are open for six months in turn according to the direction of the sun. The porthamarai kulam (temple tank) is situated opposite to the western entrance of the temple. The porthamarai tank has a hall in the centre called Hemarishi mantapam / हेमररशी मंडऩम . The main deity Sarangapani is in a lying position resting his head on his hand also called pallikonda perumal. The reclining posture of the deity is unique and is known as uddhana sayana. There is a vimana on top of the deity called vaideeka vimana / वैदीक ववमान. There are sculptures around the sanctum sanctorum depicting the story of Narasimha avatara of Lord Vishnu. The temple has two beautifully carved wooden chariots for the annual procession. The chariots weigh 300 tons each. They were renovated in the year 2007. The chariots are taken out in procession twice a year. Once during Brahmotsavam (April-May) and another during Ratha Saptami (January-February). During these festivals the chariots are pulled by thousands of devotees across the streets around the temple. The festival idols of Sarangapani and Komalavalli are brought to the thermutti / थेरमत्ु तत (corner of the street) where the chariot is stationed, after elaborate religious rituals conducted in the temple to the idols. The festival deity is called Aravamudan. This car festival was praised by Thirumangai Alwar as rathabandham / रथबन्धम . The temple follows the Pancharatra agama / ऩंचरात्र आगम and the Vadakalai tradition. The temple priest is a Vaishnavite Brahmin. He performs daily pooja and the annual pooja of the deity. The daily rituals are performed six times a day. Each ritual comprises three steps viz. alankaram, (decoration), nivedanam (offering of food) and 4 deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Sarangapani and Komalavalli Thayar. There are weekly, fortnightly and yearly festivals. All these rituals are conducted with Vedic chants by the priests and music by nadaswaram and tavil. INSCRIPTIONS The Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy (ARE-1927, p.49) recorded three inscriptions on the temple. The inscription number 294 is attributed to Kulotunga Chola ΙΙΙ. On the outer prakara on the base of the mantapa there is an inscription (293) attributed to Sadasivadeva Maharaya of Vijayanagar dynasty (1482 A.D.). Another inscription on the base of a hall connected to Sarangapani matha reads about the contributions of Ragunatha Nayak (1551 A.D.) of Tanjore. The inscription on the mantapa of the central shrine (ARE 1959, P.64) recounts the endowments of Krishnadevaraya towards the worship of the deity Sarangapani. From these inscriptions it is evident that the mantapa in the central shrine came into existence prior to 1385 A.D. An inscription engraved in the mantapa of the southern prakara (no.294 of 1927) dates 1178 A.D and belongs to the nearby Somanatha temple built by Kulothunga Chola. Apart from these slabs, there are dance sculptures incorporated in the gopuram of the temple. These are the kinetic expression of a dance mode codified in the dance text Natyashastra and are called karanas. On the basis of inscriptional and architectural evidences, archeologists opine that the Vaishnava shrine is attributed to 14th century A.D. There are 96 dance figures carved on the outer walls of 5 the gopuram. The department of Archeology confirmed that the dance karanas do not originally belong to this temple. The dance sculptures belonged to either the Somanatha temple (12- 13centuryA.D.) or the Shiva temple of Cholamarthanda Chaturvedimangalam, a Brahmadeya in Manninadu. The stylistic feature of these dance sculptures have little in common with the other bold reliefs on the gopuram. The dance karanas are inserted with their names. They are arranged in a horizontal manner as in the Brihadeswara temple in Tanjore. They are larger than the Chidambaram karanas and smaller than the dance karanas in the Brihadeswara temple. The inscription under each relief show that they are independent slabs. Taking the chronology into consideration, the dance karanas belong to the later part of 12th century. This was probably built after the Brihadeswara temple and implemented the dance karanas on the gopuram. The extensive work of scholars to fix the date and the connection to the different karana panels in Sarangapani temple has benefited the dancers in the study of karanas. These panels were debatable as to whether the karana sculptures were sculpted by understanding the technicalities of Natyasastra / ना絍यशास्त्र by the sculptors or were they blindly followed the mere movements they saw by the dancers or models. The three figures among the reliefs confirm that the karanas belong to a Shiva temple and not Vaishnava shrine. In one figure the inscription reads that it is a Tandava of Kali, and the other inscription reads as Tandava of Shiva. The third figure shows Shiva in the urdhavatandava / उर्धववतांडव although the inscription reads as suda, possibly the corrupted form of suci (name of a karana).
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