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| Kudumiyanmalai temple near Pudukottai, TN wikimedia Common.org |
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| Kudumiyanmalai, Pudukottai. pudukkottai.nic.in |
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| Kudumiyanmalai temple TN vgopalan.blogspot.com
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Located atop a hill in a small village of Kudumiyanmalai about 20 km from Pudukkottai town, the district headquarter, Tamil Nadu are two historic rock-cut cave temples, the larger one is called Chokkanathaswamy temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and the small one is Melakovil. The temple complex was built in phases by Chola, Pallava and Nayak rulers and here, there are 100 inscriptions on the temple wall, and the ones (7th century) by Pallava ruler Mahendravarman on Music is quite fascinating. Apparently, many of them date back to Pallava dynasty including a big hall- mantap that has 1000 ornate granite pillars. The rock inscriptions on Carnatic music in the small cave temple is recognized as one of the earliest surviving sources of Indian music notation and they outlay the grammatical notes of Carnatic music.
Not quite well-known outside Pudukkottai dist, it is one of the fine places of worship with a host of well-carved sculptures; it is under the control of the ASI -the Archaeological Society of India. It is listed as one of the important monuments in the state of Tamil Nadu.
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| Kudimiyan malai, Pudukkottai dist. mapsofindia.com |
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| Kudumiyanmalai temple TN. pudukkottai.nic.in |
Stone-carved sculptures galore, the temple has impressive architecture and especially, the mantap that displays a chariot drawn by elephant or horses has similarity with that of Sarangapani (Vishnu) temple, Mela Kadambur Amirthakadeswarar Temple, Nageswaraswamy Temple (the latter two are dedicated to God Shiva) at the temple town Kumbakonam and Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur town. Each large stone sculpture is done with meticulous care and attention.
The interesting sculptures are Ulagalanda Perumal (Vishnu who covered heaven and earth with two strides), Veerabhadra in agora form, Ravana, the demon king of Lanka with ten heads (implying his ten gunas) and the alluring couple - cupid Manmathan and Rathi, and Vishnu in Mohini avatar (to save God Shiva from demon Padmasurya). Besides one can see the ten avatars of God Vishnu in this Shiva temple. This temple is rife with too many stone sculptures through out the complex, each surpassing the other in workmanship. A rare sculptural wonder is the sentinels -Dwarapalakas in this temple that give different stare, one is smiling and the other facing north gives a stern look.
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| Kudumiyanmalai temple TN vgopalan.blogspot.com |
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| Kudumiyanmalai temple TN pinterest.com |
The shrine for goddess Akilandeswari is said to have been built by one Umayal Achi who was from Devadasi sect. She named the goddess Malaya Mangai. The main deity in the large temple is called Kudimiyan (Kudumi in Tamil means tuft or top)) for two reasons: The presiding deity is on a small hillock. According to the legend when the priest was in conversation with his would-be wife,the ruler visited the temple with out any advanced information. Taken aback, the priest took the flower from the woman and gave it as prasad to the King. When the ruler noticed a shred of hair in the prasad, he asked the priest who said it was from the God's head. Upon enquiry, the priest told the king that he would show the tuft to him on the following day. When the king visited the shrine to test the veracity of priest's explanation, to his surprise, the king saw the tuft on the God's head. Both the priest and the woman were in tears and thanked the deity for his timely help. Later their marriage was solemnized; hence the name Kudumiyanmalai (malai in Tamil means hill).
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| Kudumiyanmalai 2nd cave temple TN cpreecenvis.nic.in |
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| Inscriptions, Kudumiyanmalai temple TN tripadvisor com. |
This is the reason why the presiding deity of this temple is called Sikhagiriswarar. The other small cave temple called Melakkoil or Tirumerral is equally an interesting one. The lingam is monolith made from the same rock. Famous for musical inscription describing notations for the seven-stringed musical instrument 'Parivadini,' the cave temple has exquisite pillars and portrait sculptures of Nayaka period..
Yet another impressive feature of the small cave temple is the rock-cut panel depicting sixty-three Nayanmar (Tamil saints who glorified God Shiva in their hymns)) worshipping Siva and Parvati on Rishaba vahanam (Nandi/ bull mount). Unlike other temples where the 63 Nayanmars are installed on one side, here they are depicted on two sides with the God and his consort in the middle.
Also found in this cave temple are Tamil-Brahmi inscription on the south-western slope of the hill taking its antiquity to early times.
K. N. Jayaraman (Author: navrangindia.blogspot.com)
