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The Prime Minister, Narendar Modi visited this famous temple near Tiruchi and offered prayers. The entire area reverberated with the sounds of cymbals and musical instruments, and Ilaiyaraja's rendering of the Tirupadiyam hymns was awesome. The programme can be seen as a step in the reclamation of Tamil Nadu and a rededication of the ancient land to its people and culture. The Prime Minister came to the temple attired as a common pilgrim seeking the blessings of the deity. This message was not lost on the people who turned out in thousands to witness the event.
This region has not seen a more potent political spectacle than what we witnessed a few days back.
This drone view shows the immense mass of stone and masonry creatively fused to conjure up a monument that Percy Brown,an early historian of Indian architecture described as, "a feminine counterpart to Tanjavur". The question implied in the quote of Percy Brown has intrigued scholars for the past century or so and there is no concensus on the issue. Rajaraja I built his great temple the Brhadesvara Temple, Rajarajevara Alayam, in his capital, Tanjavur and had endowed it with immense wealth in order to carry out the ritual and religious activities as part of the service of the ruling monarch to Siva. Afterall he was a mere
Siva pada sekara, an ornament at the holy feet of Siva. Dancing girls, muscians, priests and managers were appointed to ensure that the activities were carried out smoothly. And the records of the kings gifts along with those of his Queens, his sister, Kundavi nachiyar, his commanders and chieftains were inscribed on the walls of the temple in the cultured script of the Chola chancery. And yet when Rajendra Chola I came to power in 1014, one of his first acts was to complete the digvijaya and in his 17th regnal year completed the Gangaikonda Solapuram Temple. Rajendra I trnasferred a sizeable part of the Tanjavur staff to man the new temple that he built. What is surprising is that, Rajendra Chola did not even leave a single inscription on the walls of this temple and we learn of his great achievements from the 12 records of his son Vira Rajendra I and his successors. The new capital built by Rajendra with the temple as its ceremonial centre is described in a number of literary works.
Gangaikonda Sholapuram is described in Karuvur Deva's Tiru Issaipa and there is a fairly detailed account of the Chola capital in Kalingattup Parani by Jayankondar as the army marched out on the Kalinga expedition. The information provided by these literary accounts enable archaeologists locate the Chola palace.
Maligai Medu has now been identified as the Chola palace which stood on a stone platform with wooden pillars that supported a highly ornamental roof. Coins, jewelry and Chinese ceramics all point to the high status enjoyed by the residents. The Muvar Ula, a peculiar kind of late Chola text, by Ottakkuttar also contains information about the city and the temple.
While speaking in the Temple, the Prime Minister drew attention to a theme that is as relevant today as it was during the reign of Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044). The Chola king returned from his victorious expedition against the Western Chalukyas, the Pandyas and even the Palas of Bengal and emptied vessels of the water of the Ganga into the huge irrigation tank he constructed, the Chola Ganga tank or Ponneri, the Golden Tank. This demonstrates the central importance of the Ganga as an integrating idea in medieval South India. The Tank was fed by channels from the Kollidam, a tributary of the Kaveri, and the Vadavarru. The water spread was over 130 square kilometers making it a substantial engineering feat.
Both Rajaraja I (985-1914) and his son and successor, Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044) lived at a time when critical changes were taking place in the doctrine and practice of Saiva religion. The Tamil region was deeply influenced by the Kashmiradesa School of Saiva theology and many learned scholars affiliated to the Kashmira school were settled in the Kaveri Delta. The immediate upshot of this was the articulation of Agamas in Chola temple and in both the Tanjavur Temple and in Gangaikonda Solapuram Temples we have agamic saivism embodied in stone with the performance of rituals closely attuned to what the texts prescribed. From the physical layout of the temple,the disposition of the subsidiary shrines, the placement of images on the walls, and the alignment of the devakoshta images we can ascertain the agama informing this temple. This historian has already published a paper on the Agamic background of Rajaraja's temple in a volume in honour of Dr K V Ramesh, one of the preeminent historians and epigraphists of medieval India.
Rajaraja I and his son Rajendra Chola have both been poorly served by historians of contemporary India. In their eagerness to establish the moral equivalence between Turkish maurauders who attacked Hindus Temples desecrated them and finally destroyed them, and indigenous rulers like Rajendra I who ocasionally relocated icons from the territory of the conquered king. I have illustrated the Mahishasuramardini image taken by Rajendra after he defeated Satyasheraya the king of the Western Chalukyas. THe image was installed in the temple where worship was offered, It was not destroyed. Hence there is no equivalence between indigenous rulers and Turkish hoardes. Similarly from Kalinga Rajendra brought back an image of Surya deva which is still under worship. It is time to reassess Indian practices in light of historical evidence and experience.
Prime Minister has honoured Tamil Nadu by his visit and I can confidently say that Rajendra would certainly bless him.
