GIRIJA KALYANA MURAL PAINTING IN VIRUPAKSA TEMPLE, Vijaya Chandru, PI and Nalini K Rao Co-PI, IIACD, (March, 2013)

Story: “Girija Kalyana” - Marriage of Pampamba/Pampambika/Pampa Devi/Hampamma (i.e. Parvati ) with Virupaksa (Shiva) referred to locally as Pampapathy (husband or Pampa)

Location: On the ceiling of the Maharanga Mandapa of Virupaksa Temple, Hampi, Taluk, Bellary District,

Time Period: Post Vijayanagara period, between eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (A.L. Dallapicolla 1997)

Early Indian scholars had placed them between the fifteenth and sixteenth century (S. Paramasivan 1935, in the sixteenth century and sometime after 1508 (C. T. M. Kotraiah 1959)/ The general consensus was that it around the time of the construction of the Mandapa in 1509-1510 when Krishnadeva Raya order the construction (South Inscriptions, 1890-1979, IV, No 258). C. Sivaramamurti (1968) assumed that they from the fifteenth century. After a careful study and comparison of the Viirupaksa temple murals with those at eighteenth and nineteeth century sites in Andhra Pradesh and , A.L.Dallapicolla (1997) places the Virupaksa murals between eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Inscriptions: There is no inscriptions on when and by whom the paintings in Virupaksa temple were commissioned or executed, although there is an inscription that the long open pillared hall or Maharanga Mantapa, which houses the Girija Kalyana panels and other mural panels in its ceiling was commissioned by Krishna Devaraya in 1509/1510 (SII, IV, No 258). While the major expansion of the temple occurred in the Vijayanagar period, there is an inscription as early as seventh century AD of the Western Chalukyan king Vinayaditya that states that he worshipped the goddess Pampamba and Virupaksha at Hampi. (Indian Antiquary, VI, pp, 85-89, No XXIX)

Vaishnava/Shaiva/Tribal Deities: Often listed as Shaiva although Hampamma or Pampamba/Pampa Devi is a non Aryan Devi who is Sanskritized through mariage to the Hindu Pantheon Shiva.

Like in many other South Indian site, Hampamma or Pampa Devi (a river goddess) is a non aryan original patron goddess of Hampi/ Pampa Kshetra who has been ‘sanskritised” through marriage to the Hindu pantheon Lord Shiva. According to local folklore, Pampa Devi is the mind-born daughter of Brahma, She performs several penances at the lotus pond known as Pampa Sarovar (one of four Sarovars or ponds that Brahma is said to have created) to win the heart of Virupaksha and is said to have married him at the place where the temple has been built. She is later born as Dakshayani, the daughter of Daksha and is subsequently reborn as Parvathi to Mena and Parvatharaja/Himavant (daughter of the Himalayan Mountain). Being a living temple of great significance to locals and many others, the marriage of the presiding deity Virupaksha with Pampa Devi/Hampamma takes places every year in December in Hampi.

Based on the Mahbharata or Ramayan Epics or Purana: Vyasa narrates the Girija Kalyana or marriage of Shiva in the Sanskrit version of the Sivapurana It is also found in the Lingapurana. The great poet Kalidasa also narrates this in his poem Kumar-Sambhava also narrates this.

Drawing from the Shivapurana, Lingapurana and the great Kalidasa tradition, a Hampi based Veerashaiva writer-poet Harihara also created a champu kavya (mixture of prose and poetry) called GirijaKalyana Mahaprabhandam. This has been lauded for its Champu Kavya rendition well as its vivid descriptions of the natural beauty of Pampa Kshetra (Hampi).