Balcony Banter: Grandeur of the Kailasanatha Temple, Kanchi

Three hundred years after the Kailasanatha Temple at Kanchi was built, a certain tourist visited the temple. He was bowled over. It was poetry in stone! He ordered for the measurements of the temple to be taken forthwith. With this, he rode back to his capital city. Such was his restlessness that he could not go back to his palace. His first priority was to find a piece of land and lay the foundation for what would be his temple....on the same lines as Kailasanatha; only it would be 9-times bigger and better! He was no ordinary tourist- He was King Raja Raja Chola!

And what he built was the Brihadeeshvara Temple at Thanjavur. They say copying or imitation is the best form of admiration. Raja Raja Chola's Brihadeeshvara Temple was copied.... a second time at Gangaikondacholapuram by his son Rajendra Chola.
When we think of the Cholas and their immense contribution to temple construction, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram are the first temples which come to mind. What we don't know is that the blueprint for these finest temples came from elsewhere- from the Kailasanatha Temple built by the Pallavas at Kanchipuram. And that too, a baffling 300 years before these Chola masterpieces!

Gangadhara

We are at the Kailasanatha Temple at Kanchipuram. This is the oldest standing functional temple at Kanchipuram. It is 1400 years old and built by the Pallava king Rajasimha Varma. His successor Nandi Varma built the Vaikunta Perumal Temple, also at Kanchi. These two temples are strikingly different from the other temples at Kanchi.

Till the time of Rajasimha Varma, temples were built as bas-relief works inside caves. We find such examples at Mahabalipuram and even elsewhere, like the Chalukya works at Badami.
Rajasimha Varma was a pioneer when it came to building a temple by stacking up boulders. He was a trailblazer, and temple-construction would never be the same again.

What greets us at Kailasanatha is the sheer grandeur- the scale, the richness in sculpture and the detail. The elaborate temple tower and the corridors are filled with panels- stone panels, each depicting an episode from the puranas. A casual visitor will likely miss them. You need a tourist guide. We are lucky to have the guide Narayanan. He makes the place come alive.

The sanctum sanctorum has a giant Shiva linga. It has 16 "faces", each face is a chiseled flat side. If an octagon has 8 sides, you double it and you get the 16-faced Shiva linga. A little tunnel runs from one side of the garbhagriha to the other side. There are steps to a point inside, after which you crawl your way out! It is dark and narrow and we have no volunteers to burrow through the tunnel!

Kailasanatha is dominated by Shiva in his various forms. Dakshinamurti, Ananda-thandava murti, Urdhva thandava murti,

Ananda-thandava

Lingodbhava, Gangadhara, Kiraata, Trimurti, Tripurasamhaaramurti....each one is a gem. Lord Vishnu's popular avatars find a place too- in samudra mathanam, as Trivikrama and Narasimha. So does Devi as Durga. The 'ratna trayam'- Shiva, Vishnu and Devi dominate the sculpture-scape, but the focus is on Shiva at Kailasanatha. It is clear that the Pallavas of the time were equal devotees of Shiva and Vishnu as evident from these two temples- Kailasanatha and Vaikunta Perumal.

Not to be missed is this huge panel depicting King Rajasimha Varma and his queen Rangapataka. And the entry points to the temple flanked by two walls- one with the 12 Adityas and the other with the 11 Rudras. A couple of plain panels would have had paintings in the past- remnants of which are seen today....in greens and red….and with the partial image of Lord Vishnu. That is all that survives.

Poosalaar naayanaar and King Rajasimha:

The consecration of the Kailasanatha Temple was scheduled. The night before the event, Lord Shiva appeared in King Rajasimha's dream. Shiva said he could not be part of the ceremony the next day because he had another consecration ceremony to attend at Nindravoor by his devotee Poosalaar. King Rajasimha rushed to Nindravoor (to the North West of present-day Chennai) to see the temple which superseded his. To his surprise, he found there was no temple at Nindravoor. He searched out Poosalaar and reached his hut. That is when he learnt that Poosalaar had built an entire temple, brick by brick in his own mind! That day, was the consecration day planned for the 'maanasa' temple. King Rajasimha understood the supreme power of devotion- even emperors had to bow down!
Nindravoor became "Tiru-nindravoor" and Poosalaar is venerated to this day as one of the 63 naayanmaars. The story of Poosalaar is inextricably linked to the Kailasanatha Temple at Kanchi.

Muthuswamy Dikshitar has composed a couple of songs on the Kailasanatha temple. One of them is "Kailaasanathena samrakshitoham" in the raga Kambhoji, Shiva's favorite raga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ3n_2Kq8xE

Words are superfluous. They can do no justice beyond a point. We leave you with these pictures. They can perhaps convey a little....a little of the sense of awe, wonder and absolute amazement we felt!
No doubt....this is poetry in stone!