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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00008 Sep 2002

 
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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



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