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Paper: 1
Detail Study Of Natyashastra, Specially Dance Related Chapters And
Sangita Ratnakar
Module 14 Kumbhakonam Sarangapani Temple
Sarangapani temple is situated in Kumbakonam in Tanjore district in
Tamilnadu. This is one among the 108 Divya Desam (important
shrines of Vishnu). Many saints and alwars have sung songs in praise
of this deity. This temple is situated on the banks of river Kaveri.
Hence it is one of the Pancharanga kshetrams (five important shrines
of Vishnu in the banks of river Kaveri). Initially the temple was built
by the Pallavas. This temple was then developed magnificently by the
medieval Cholas. Later the Vijayanagar kings and Madurai Nayaks
renovated and contributed towards this temple.
LEGENDS ABOUT SARANGAPANI
There are many interesting legends regarding this temple.
Sarangapani is the Vaishnava diety incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Jagadish Ayyar in his book South Indian Shrines (Madras, 1922,
p.124) describes the origins of the incarnation of Vishnu as
Sarangapani. In this avatar (incarnation) he was named as
Sarangapani which means (in Tamil) as ‘a person holding a bow in
his hand’. A legendary story in the Sthala Purana reveals that Vishnu
came to earth to bless the mortals. Sage Hemarishi, an ardent
devotee of Vishnu, performed penance to obtain goddess Lakshmi to
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be his daughter. He sat in front of the sacred tank called
porthamarai kulam, in Kumbakonam. Lord Vishnu was pleased by his
prayers and granted the boon to the rishi. Goddess Lakshmi emerged
from the porthamarai pond amonst thousand lotuses and the rishi
was happy to have a daughter. He named her Komalavalli. Since
Lakshmi was already born on earth Lord Vishnu followed her. From
his abode in Vaikundam, Lord Vishnu descended on earth in a chariot
drawn by majestic horses and elephants. In this avatar he was
named as Sarangapani. He stayed in a nearby Siva temple called
Someswara temple. Gradually love bloomed between Sarangapani
and Komalavalli and eventually they got married.
Another popular legend is that a staunch Brahmin devotee of Lord
Vishnu spent all his life in the service of the deity. At the end of his
life he felt his loneliness and prayed that his last rites (karma) to be
performed by the Lord. Aravamudan (name of the festival deity)
descended himself to perform the last rites of the devotee on the
Deepavali day. This ritual is continued till date and the priests
perform the death ritual annually in the temple. This is very rare and
one of its kind rituals performed in a Vishnu temple.
It is believed that Lord Sarangapani was instrumental in compiling
the nalayira divya prabandam. A Vaishnavite saint named Nadamuni,
during his prayers, heard some divine verses in praise of the Lord by
a few devotees in the temple. He was exhilarated and asked them to
sing the remaining verses. The devotees did not know the remaining
thousand verses. Lord Sarangapani appeared in the dream of
Nadamuni and asked him to visit Alwarthirunagari (Vishnu shrine) in
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Tutucorin district to learn the other verses. Here Nadamuni gets
blessings and learns the rest of the verses from saint Namalwar. He
compiles the verses and the hymns sung by twelve Vaishnava saints
(alwars) and this came to be known as nalayira divya prabandam
(4000 holy verses).The tradition of singing the Divyaprabandam / ददव्यप्रबंधम in Vishnu temples continues even today.
The main deity in this temple is in a half-reclining pose. Here again
there is a tale to justify the position of the diety. Saint Thirumizhisai
alwar in his manglasasanam hymns asks the Lord whether he was
resting with a leg pain due to his long walks in the woods during the
Rama avatara. The Lord tries to get up to grace Alwar. Alwar
requests Him to bless him from the half-waking position. This
position of the reclining Perumal (God) is a very unique feature of
this temple.
Sarangapani temple is situated in Kumbakonam in Tanjore district in Tamilnadu, between two rivers -- Arisalaru and Kaveri. The temple is enshrined in a huge granite wall with many small shrines. The temple is built in the Dravidian architecture style. The Raja gopuram (main tower) is 173 feet high and has eleven tiers. This is one of the tallest gopurams in Kumbakonam. There are five more small gopurams around the temple. The temple faces the east direction. The sanctum is shaped and constructed like a chariot and this style of architecture in a temple is called the ratha temple. The chariot is drawn by beautifully sculpted elephants and horses. There are openings from either side of the ratha picturizing the descent of Lord Sarangapani to the chariot. The sanctum faces the east direction. There are two
stepped entrances to the sanctum called utharayana vassal /
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उतरायण वस्सऱ and dakshinayana vassal / दक्षऺणयान वस्सऱ . These two entrances are open for six months in turn according to the direction of the sun. The porthamarai kulam (temple tank) is situated opposite to the western entrance of the temple. The porthamarai tank has a hall in the centre called Hemarishi mantapam
/ हेमररशी मंडऩम . The main deity Sarangapani is in a lying position resting his head on his hand also called pallikonda perumal. The reclining posture of the deity is unique and is known as uddhana sayana. There is a vimana on top of the deity called vaideeka vimana / वदैीक ववमान . There are sculptures around the sanctum sanctorum depicting the story of Narasimha avatara of Lord Vishnu. The temple has two beautifully carved wooden chariots for the annual procession. The chariots weigh 300 tons each. They were renovated in the year 2007. The chariots are taken out in procession twice a year. Once during Brahmotsavam (April-May) and another during Ratha Saptami (January-February). During these festivals the chariots are pulled by thousands of devotees across the streets around the temple. The festival idols of Sarangapani and Komalavalli are brought
to the thermutti / थेरमतु्तत (corner of the street) where the chariot is stationed, after elaborate religious rituals conducted in the temple to the idols. The festival deity is called Aravamudan. This car festival
was praised by Thirumangai Alwar as rathabandham / रथबन्धम .
The temple follows the Pancharatra agama / ऩंचरात्र आगम and the Vadakalai tradition. The temple priest is a Vaishnavite Brahmin. He
performs daily pooja and the annual pooja of the deity. The daily
rituals are performed six times a day. Each ritual comprises three
steps viz. alankaram, (decoration), nivedanam (offering of food) and
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deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Sarangapani and
Komalavalli Thayar. There are weekly, fortnightly and yearly festivals.
All these rituals are conducted with Vedic chants by the priests and
music by nadaswaram and tavil.
INSCRIPTIONS
The Annual Report on South Indian Epigraphy (ARE-1927, p.49)
recorded three inscriptions on the temple. The inscription number
294 is attributed to Kulotunga Chola ΙΙΙ. On the outer prakara on the
base of the mantapa there is an inscription (293) attributed to
Sadasivadeva Maharaya of Vijayanagar dynasty (1482 A.D.). Another
inscription on the base of a hall connected to Sarangapani matha
reads about the contributions of Ragunatha Nayak (1551 A.D.) of
Tanjore. The inscription on the mantapa of the central shrine (ARE
1959, P.64) recounts the endowments of Krishnadevaraya towards
the worship of the deity Sarangapani. From these inscriptions it is
evident that the mantapa in the central shrine came into existence
prior to 1385 A.D. An inscription engraved in the mantapa of the
southern prakara (no.294 of 1927) dates 1178 A.D and belongs to
the nearby Somanatha temple built by Kulothunga Chola.
Apart from these slabs, there are dance sculptures incorporated in
the gopuram of the temple. These are the kinetic expression of a
dance mode codified in the dance text Natyashastra and are called
karanas. On the basis of inscriptional and architectural evidences,
archeologists opine that the Vaishnava shrine is attributed to 14th
century A.D. There are 96 dance figures carved on the outer walls of
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the gopuram. The department of Archeology confirmed that the
dance karanas do not originally belong to this temple. The dance
sculptures belonged to either the Somanatha temple (12-
13centuryA.D.) or the Shiva temple of Cholamarthanda
Chaturvedimangalam, a Brahmadeya in Manninadu. The stylistic
feature of these dance sculptures have little in common with the
other bold reliefs on the gopuram. The dance karanas are inserted
with their names. They are arranged in a horizontal manner as in the
Brihadeswara temple in Tanjore. They are larger than the
Chidambaram karanas and smaller than the dance karanas in the
Brihadeswara temple. The inscription under each relief show that
they are independent slabs. Taking the chronology into
consideration, the dance karanas belong to the later part of 12th
century. This was probably built after the Brihadeswara temple and
implemented the dance karanas on the gopuram.
The extensive work of scholars to fix the date and the connection to
the different karana panels in Sarangapani temple has benefited the
dancers in the study of karanas. These panels were debatable as to
whether the karana sculptures were sculpted by understanding the
technicalities of Natyasastra / नाट्यशास्त्र by the sculptors or were they blindly followed the mere movements they saw by the dancers
or models. The three figures among the reliefs confirm that the
karanas belong to a Shiva temple and not Vaishnava shrine. In one
figure the inscription reads that it is a Tandava of Kali, and the other
inscription reads as Tandava of Shiva. The third figure shows Shiva in
the urdhavatandava / उर्धववतांडव although the inscription reads as suda, possibly the corrupted form of suci (name of a karana). Many
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research scholars have concluded that the reliefs in Sarangapani
temple depicting karanas are from a Shiva temple and date back to
the later part of 12th century A.D.
The dance reliefs on the gopuram does not appear in any sequential
order that coordinates with Natyashastra or other dance texts. Some
inscriptions have been obliterated. In some other reliefs the number
or inscription text is not clear. In a few there is a number and an
inscription. There are few reliefs (ten of them) which do not fall into
the category of karanas. They can be identified as thanas, caris / स्थान, चारी etc. According to the cadences of the movements of karanas, Kapila Vatsyayan divided the karanas available in
Sarangapani temple into the following categories:
1. sama – karanas / सम करण 2. hasta – karanas / हस्त कर 3. swastika – karanas / स्वत्स्तक करण 4. recita – karanas / रेचचत करण 5. vricika- karanas / वतृ्चचक करण 6. sthana- karanas / स्थान करण 7. cari – karanas / चारी करण 8. kati – karanas / कटी करण 9. pada – karanas / ऩाड़ करण 10. uru, parsva / उरु, ऩाचवव
These are grouped in terms of predominant aspect of the stance,
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movement, etc. The karanas are self-contained units with an initial
position of an intermediary path of movement and final stance. In
some there is a continuity with the preceding movement and which
follows the other. The regroupings of karanas make it clear to
understand that 50 percent of the reliefs and inscriptions related to
them are correct and connect with the text of Natyashastra. It also
reveals the sculptors’ observation of the kinetic vocabulary and their
revelation of the art with understanding. The unfinished karana
reliefs in Brihadeswara temple is replaced by great precision in
Sarangapani temple. Later some of the reliefs were found in the
nearby Kumbeshwara temple and added to the sculptures in this
temple. Adding this altogether there are 98 karana reliefs in this
temple.
Many Alwars have sung in the praise of this deity. Thondaradipodi
alwar / थोंदाराददऩोदी अऱवर, poigai alwar / ऩोइगाई अऱवर, Madurakavi alwar / मदरुाकवव अऱवर , Kulasekara alwar / कुऱसेकरा अऱवर , Thirupunazhwar / चथरुऩनुाज्ह्वर, Pei alwar / ऩेइ अल्वर , Boothat alwar / बतूहत अऱवर, Thirumazhisai alwar / चथरुमात्ज्हहसी अऱवर, Nam alwar / नाम अऱवर , Peri alwar / ऩेरी अऱवर and Sri Andal / श्री आनडाऱ have all sung hymns in the praise of the deity and hence the shrine is referred to as padalpettra sthalam. Vishnu is always
portrayed with a conch and a discus, but in this temple the presiding
deity is portrayed as having a bow which is invisible. In most of the
Divya Desam temples the presiding deity is given the prominence in
the rituals. But in Sarangapani temple both presiding and procession
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deity (uthsavamurthi) is given prominence in the rituals. Hence it is
called the Upayapradana Divya Desam with due respect to the
uthsavamurthi.
As Kumbakonam is the place of many sacred rivers it is believed that
the devethas of the rivers come and worship Lord Sarangapani. Since
it is the birth place of Goddess Lakshmi (consort of Vishnu) the pujas
are first offered to the Goddess and then to Sarangapani. The temple
shrines are constructed in such a way that devotees first come to the
shrine of Komalavalli Thayar and then proceed to the Perumal shrine.
The first ritual early in the morning is the gopuja (cow worship)
which is performed in front of the Thayar sannadhi (shrine). The
South Indian temples are the repository of art, architecture, religion,
philosophy, and social interaction. Sarangapani temple in
Kumbakonam is one such temple which represents the South Indian
civilization over the centuries.
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