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Art and Culture of Tamilnadu
R. Nagaswamy
13. THE SHORE TEMPLE AT MĀMALLAPURAM
Māmalapuram was developed as flourishing seaport by the great Pallava monarch, Narasimhavaraman I, and has ever since remained important in the history of south India. A naval fleet was despatched from here, by the same king, to Śrī Lanka which was conquered and his vassal, Manavarman, installed on the throne. But above all, the grand conception of Rājasimha in cutting huge boulders of granite into exquisitely carved rathas has provided this seaside village with the most attractive and important monuments in India. The free standing monolithic temples called rathas, the lavishly sculptured cave-temples and the huge rock-face portraying sculptures narrating the story or Arjun obtaining pāśupata situated almost on the seashore, draw the admiration of the world. The charm of the place is enhanced by a temple with two towers, familiarly known as the Shore Temple.
Set against the background of unfathomable sky and the boundless sea, each merging with the other in a far off horizon, with the melody of the waves gently rolling over the outer walls, with the two towers as if piercing the blue canopy of the sky, with their sharp spires and with the green wood in the front welcoming the visitor with a gentle breeze, the Shore Temple has a splendour unsurpassed in aesthetic appeal. With the rising sun spreading its rays like a golden ball, with white clouds moving across, the towers are most fascinating. The temple, standing as it is on the coast for over a thousand years with most of its sculptures having been eroded, due to saline action but leaving vestiges here and there, mere outlines, shines in its pristone glory.
This temple is the most complex group of all the temples of south India, having two shrines placed one behind the other, one facing east and the other west. These two shrines are separated by a rectangular shrine sandwiched in between and having its entrance from the side. This shrine is dedicated to Viṣṇu, who is represented as lying on his serpent couch and known as Talasayana Perumaḷ. The other two shrines are dedicated to Śiva. There is a large Open court at the western end.
A little to the south of the sancta and within the compound is a majestic lion which carries a miniature Mahiṣāsuramardini carved inside a square cavity cut in the neck of the animal. Two attendant deities of the Goddess are shown as mounted on either side of the animal. A little to north of this, in the platform, is an exquisitely carved deer shown with majestic ease. Unfortunately its head is mutilated. In between the deer and the lion could be noticed a dwarf with only the legs preserved.
This temple with triple shrines was built by Narasimhavarman II, familiarly known as Rājasimha. That Rājasimha was a great patron of art, literature and other fine arts is revealed in innumerable titles he assumed for himself like Vīṇānārada. He was a great devotee of Śiva and a prolific temple-builder. Both lithic records and copper plate grants of the Pallavas extol him as one who lavished wealth on temples and scholars. It is to the genius of this monarch that we owe the monumental Kailāsanātha temple of Kāñcīpuram, and the Talagirīśvara temple at Panamalai. An inscription in Pallava grantha characters, in the balipīṭha at the western end of the Shore Temple, extols the prowess of Rājasimha.
This temple has been so often visited and illustrated that the very name of the Shore Temple would recall the two towers standing on the shore. However, there is one factor which has escaped attention. The temple originally consisted of three, vimānās the third vimāna which was over the Viṣṇu shrine has crumbled down. That these shrines were under regular worship for long is borne out by literature and epigraphs. Thirumaṅgai Āḻvār, who lived in the eighth century A.D. has sung the temple and refers to Lord Viṣṇu as Kaḍalmalai Talaśayana Rājarāja has left two inscriptions in the temple, recording gifts of lands, etc. Interestingly he mentions the names of the three shrines of at Kṣatriyasimha Pallaveśvaragṛham, Rājasimha Pallaveśvaragṛham and Paḷḷikoṇḍaruḷiya Devar shrine.
As mentioned above, Rājasimha who constructed this temple, was a king of varied tastes and delighted in assuming hundreds of titles, as evidenced from the Kailāsanātha temple inscriptions. Amongst his titles, mention may be made of Rājasimha, Narasimha, Kṣatriyasimha and Puruṣasimha, as also Mahāmala, Śaturmala, Amitramala, etc. It is, therefore, evident that the Kṣatriyasimha Pallaveśvara and Rājasimha Pallaveśvara mentioned in the inscription are after Rājasimha's titles. A recently discovered label inscription found on the lintel of this Viṣṇu shrine, in the Pallava grantha script of the Rājasimha age, gives the name of the temple as Narapathisimha Pallava Viṣṇu gṛham. This find confirms that the Viṣṇu temple was also built by Rājasimha. The other reference is to the Talasayana shrine. An inscription of Virārajendra Chöḻa, also found in the temple, refers to this Lord as Kaḍalmalai Emperumāṉ.
From the above it is evident that all the three shrines in the temple were under regular worship for a considerable time. It is well-known, that according to the prevalent custom, a temple is placed under worship only when it is crowned with a vimāna, and duly consecrated with a stūpi (Kumbhābiṣeka). It is, therefore, certain that the Talasayana shrine of the temple had a vimāna, which has crumbled. The above conclusion is amply justified by the presence of a course of rectangular and square pavilion ornaments (bhadraśālas and vimāna types) which formed the first storey of the vimāna. This is further proved by the rectangular pavilion ornaments of the other storyes still lying scattered inside the compound. Judging from the extant remains, the vimāna was of a rectangular type with a series of stūpis arranged in a line on it ridges, and attained a height between those of the big and the small towers.
Though rectangular vimāna over the sanctum went out of existence in later times, it was present Pallava days. The monolithic temples of Ganeśa and Bhīma rathas, both in Māmalapuram, are splendid examples of the rectangular vimānas. The Mahendravarmeśvaragṛha, constructed at the entrance of the Kailāsanātha temple of Kāñcīpuram by Rājasimha’s son, a structural example of the rectangular vimāna still preserved. The same rectangular structures form the principal form of the gateway towers called gopuras in the south Indian temple-complex in the succeeding centuries.
Rajasimha's conception of this temple-complex, with two square vimānas interspersed with a rectangular one, each spire from the land's side showing an increase in height and the whole being set against the background of the ocean is indeed a marvel, an inspiration and vision quite befitting a great artist like Rājasimha.
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