Dear friends, A few years ago adiyane visited the famous 'sannidhi' of Hayagriva atop the GarudAdri Hill in the village of Tiruvaheendrapuram (near Cuddalore). After offering worship to the deity "vaagadeesan", I commenced the custom-mandated circumambulation ("pradakshina") of the temple. As I walked around the inner "prAkAram", the narrow corridor that winds round the temple, I was struck by the number of messages "written or scrawled on the wall". On a closer look at the scribbling I was intrigued to note most of them were numbers in figures. The 'kOvil-bhattar' who was accompanying me explained that the extensive writings on the wall were actually the handiwork ("crawling masterpieces", he actually called them) of thousands of academic students ... "SSLC, CBSE, BA, B.Com, B.E, CA, IIT entrance exam candidates" ... who after praying to Lord Hayagreeva for success in the examinations they had taken, made it a point to scrawl their respective examination roll-numbers on the temple walls ... "just to ensure the Deity didn't forget their numbers when the time for announcement of exam-results drew near!". Other than those anxious students' roll-numbers, adiyane also saw some fresh and vivid frescoes on the 'prAkAra' walls. The entire stretch of the walls had been freshly painted with images and impressions from ancient religious lore and 'purAnAs' such as, for example, motifs from the 'dasAvatAra', themes from the 'sthala-purAnA-s', artists's impression of Swami Desikan's penance on the GarudAdri Hill and his direct encounter with Hayagriva, and his obtaining 'mantra-upadesa' from the divine bird, Garuda... and so on, so forth. Yet another 'masterpiece' adiyane also saw written on the walls were 'chakkarai-pongal' stains that hundreds of pilgrims had left behind.It is common practice these days that after one has eaten the 'kOvil-prasAdam' -- the delicious but gooey stew of rice, ghee and jaggery that one is served on festival occasions in temples -- one need look no farther than the nearest stretch of temple-wall or pillar to wipe one's hands clean. No water needed for rinsing; no tissue-paper; no fuss, no mess.... just good old, holy temple-walls will do. Writing, and more especially painting, on the walls of places of worship has historically been a Judea-Christian tradition. The magnificent frescoes of the great Michael-Angelo that adorn the walls and roof of the Sistine Chapel to this day are monuments indeed to the great art the Christian religion inspired during the European Renaissance. The great 'Wailing Wall of Jerusalem' of the Jews (on which they say are very archaic and ageless Hebrew inscriptions) is yet another example of sacred relic in the Semitic world. In comparison to their Biblical counterparts elsewhere in the world, the temple-walls in India do not have such masterpieces written or painted upon them. But when it comes to wall-sculpture, carvings or engravings, Indian temples have some of the world's best on their walls and pillars. The corridors and halls of temples like Rameshwaram, or those in Tanjore, Sri Villiputtur, Konarak or Kanchipuram are simply breath-taking. The ancient temple-builders of India obviously didn't stop at merely writing (or painting) on walls; they made stone-walls actually speak! Despite however the long tradition we have in India of temple sculpture, it has become a modern trend these days to have the walls written/painted upon with frescoes (as in the temple of Hayagriva of Tiruvaheendrapuram I visited)... which, I think, is quite a departure from the ancient practice of sculpting them. The reason for the trend seems to be that these days we do not have skilled sculptors ("sthapatis") or artisans in as many numbers as they were available in the ancient days. The Biblical phrase "writing on the wall" is generally used to portend ill-tidings. It is an idiom one uses when one wants to point out some dark and ominous event which may not be very obvious in the present but is actually looming large in the future. As I walked down the GarudAdri Hill that day after worship at the Hayagriva "sannidhi", my thoughts were rather sombre as they dwelt upon the sad state of temple walls today. "Are we condemned to witness only garish painting on walls where once only finest sculpture stood?", I asked myself. "What sad fate awaits these walls a hundred years from now? Will they serve as nothing better than canvas for students to scrawl their exam roll-numbers on? Or as tissue-paper for pilgrims that have feasted upon 'chakkarai-pongal'?". What tragic irony indeed that our great temples walls should have to see their own "writing on the wall"! ******* ********* ********** After considerable time spent on such grim contemplation, adiyane however suddenly recalled to mind a stanza from Peria-AzhwAr's famous hymn "senniyOngu". In the 'pAsuram' Peria-AzhwAr actually spoke quite admiringly of the uses of "writing on walls" contrasting sharply with the dark Biblical connotation given to the term : "UnnUdaya vikramam onru OzhyiAmmal ellAm ennUdaya nenjakkambAl suvar-vazhi ezhyudhikkOndEn ; man adanga mazhu valangaikkonda irAma nambi! ennidai vandu emperUmAn! ini engup-pOginradhE!" ("sennniyongu" - Stanza#6) (meaning): "Like so many inscriptions scrawled upon a temple wall, I too have written on the walls of my heart, O Rama! O valiant one! all the tales of your extraordinary deeds and exploits ("purAnA-s) without exception! And having thus written, I have had you come unto my soul! Do you think I'll ever again let you slip out of my grasp?" The AzhwAr's delightful expression "ennUdaya nenjakkambAl suvar-vazhi ezhyudhikkOndEn" explains to us the great significance of indelibly "writing on the walls of our heart" ("suvar-vazhi ezhyudhi") all the ancient accounts of God's 'avatArA-s' as found in our hoary 'itihAsas" and "purANa-s". And which was why adiyane was thus finally left with this one thought to ponder for long: If one must learn to write upon the walls of one's heart (as the AzhwAr exhorts us), what better way indeed to start than with the walls of a temple? Warm Regards to all of you, peria-AzhwAr tiruvadigale sharanam dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
oppiliappan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |