Saturday, 1 October 2016

THIRUMAZHAPADI – PONNIYIN SELVAN MEET AT THANJAVUR PERIYA KOIL 2016

...a
Continuation post.

26th
September 2016.

On
the second day of our Ponniyin Selvan meet at Tanjore, Periya Koil, Mr Anusha Vekatesh, the historian and writer
also joined with us for the Thirumalapadi
and Mela Palur ( Constructed by Pazhuvetaraiyar during 7th century ). For the second
day Program we vacated the Lodge at Kumbakonam and hired the same Taxi up to Thanjavur via Thirumalapadi and Mela Palur.

THIRUMALAPADI

During
one of the Nandhiyamperuman’s Marriage urchavam, I had the opportunity to see
the function sitting on the banks of river Kollidam. It is a popular belief in this area that
impediments in getting married will be overcome if they see the marriage
festival of Nandi Devar. Sundarar has sung
the Devara hymns start with ‘Ponnar meniyane’ on this temple God Sri
Vaidyanatha Swamy. During morning dharshan we had the opportunity of hearing
this hymn through the othuvar. During this time we
looked the temple with History and Heritage point of view. ( for Details of my first visit : Click Here )

HISTORY

The antiquity of
this place goes back to the Sangam Period. It was an army camp of the valiant
Malavar Clan of the Sangam Age and hence called Malavar-padi and later as
Thirumalapadi. There is another saying that Lord Shiva danced in this temple
with a Mazhu in his hand for Markandeya maharishi, hence called as Thiru
mazhapadli. This temple has thedevara
hymns of Appar, Sambandar also. It was
also visited by Ayyadigal Kadavarkon who praised it in his hymns of
Shetravenba. This saint has been identified with the Pallava king Simhavarman
(540-558), the grandfather of Mahendra Varman Pallava (598-630).

HERITAGE
& ARCHITECTURE

The
outer walls of the temples has about 140 inscriptions of Chozha, Rajaraja -1,
Marathas and Vijayanagara kings. Which
speaks about the Queens of Aditya–I, Rajaraja–I, and Rajendra–I
made gifts to the temple in the form of lands and ornaments. The first and
second gopurams of this temple were built during the periods of the Pandyas and
Cholas respectively.

Chembian Mahadevi, grandmother of
Rajaraja the Great, hailed from Chembiakudi, 4 kms from Thirumazhaipadi. Other
historical places like Pazhuvur, Alambakkam, Kandaradithyam (birthplace of
Kandraditha Chola) are all situated within a radius of 15 kms. There are quite
a few references to the Thirumazhaipadi Temple in the famous Tamil litterateur
Kalki’s work, ‘Ponniyin Selvan’.

The Siva temple was built of stone during
the period of Aditya–I (871-907). Rajaraja–I ordered for its rebuilding and was
completed by his son Rajendra–I. Again it was repaired by the Hoysala king
Viranarasimha in A.D. 1235-36. They are superb examples of the meticulous care
taken by the Pallavas who rebuilt built it in the 7th century CE. The 108-ft
tall, seven-tiered Rajagopuram of Thirumazhaipadi Temple faces east and towers
over the landscape of the banks of the Kollidam. It looks magnificent when
viewed from the river bed. The second gopuram with five tiers is about 80 ft.
tall. Both the rajagopurams are decorated with a rich array of stucco sculptures
that tell the many stories from the Thiruvilayadal, the history of Lord Shiva. The
Somaskandhar of this temple made of single stone. The Vaidyanathaswami Temple
at Thirumazhaipadi and the temple of Sundarambika lie within a sprawling 10-hectare
campus full of coconut and palm trees. The Amman
temple has the contribution of
Nattukottai Nagarathars also.