Minaksi-Sundaresvara- 'Tiruvilaiyatar Puranam' in Letters, Design and Art

About the Book The present book deals with the tiruvilaiyatal (Sanskrit Fila) myths from the most ancient to the 18th century AD. It is the self-financed report of Dr R.KK Rajarajan and Dr Jeyapriya. The reflections of the theme in the art of the Pandya country is cogently traced and illustrated with 140 photographic illustrations.

Two chapters deal with the artistic potentiality of theme in Maturai and Greater Maturai. The literary sources are summarized in two chapters. Few western scholars have written on Minaksi, "marriage" and Alakar heading to Vaikai from the literary point of view. The present works brings out the artistic dimension of theme. A chapter on Pandyas deals with their history purely from a literary point of view cursorily reflecting on epigraphically sources. An annexure deals with the Sanskrit sources. Another annexure examines the sculptures in the' "New Pavilion" with due reference, to the myths that support such. illustrations.

The work represents a new trekking in art historical scholar- ship, based on Tamil sources. The' tiruvilaiyatals as literary motifs have been traced from the ancient ' (Cilappatikaram 5th century) to the Na y a k a period. The photographic illustrations in color are unpublished and add immensely to visually enjoy the theme. The study shows how a regional theme has acquired national and international recognition by virtue of its many- fold expression in art, thought and literature.

About the Authors Dr R.K.K. Rajarajan is on the. Faculty of Tamil, Indian Languages & Fine Arts in the Gandhi gram Rural University, Tamilnadu. He did his Master's in the Madurai Kamaraj University and M. Phil and PhD with distinction in the Tamil University of Thanjavur. He did his post-doctoral work in the Free University of Berlin as Alexander von Humboldt Fellow during 1999- 2001. He was on the teaching staff of the Eritrean Institute of Technology, Asmara, Eritrea for five years. He has attended national and international conferences at New Delhi, Hyderabad, Hong Kong, Bonn, Berlin, Rome and Indonesia. He has widely published in international journals from Oxford & IBH, Rome, London, Berlin, Naples, Reinbeck, Copenhagen et al. His doctoral and M. Phil thesis have been published by Sharada Publishing House, Delhi. He is a field-based scholar.

His work is on Tamil in relation to Indian art without neglecting Sanskrit.

Dr Jeyapriya Rajarajan took her Master's and M. Phil from the Madurai Kamaraj University and Ph.D. from the Tamil University. She is at present free lance and has published a number articles at home in several felicitation volumes, QJMS and JIAS. Her international publications are from Rome and Naples. Her doctoral thesis has been published by the Sharada Publishing House. Another book on Dravidian Facets of Natarajas in the pipeline.

Foreword This volume brings together for the first time in English literary and iconographic materials associated with the divine sports '(sthalapuranas) of Lord Siva in Maturai. It surveys the entire corpus of published literary works on the theme and combines it with iconographic data in the form of sculptures and paintings in 'a wide range of temples in South India. Some of the material is really new, collected through painstaking fieldwork over the period of many years. The survey of the published literary works is lately comprehensive and covers materials in both Tamil and Sanskrit.

A major problematic of this volume is how temple myths (sthalopuranas; that are highly local in character rise to the regional level and then make their way to the pan-Indic domain.

Such diffusion and spread of local myths and legends to wider arenas and the concomitant transformations that they undergo in the process, have been a largely neglected area of study in conventional Ideology, except perhaps a few perceptive studies like the pioneering work of David Shulman on Tamil temple myths. Some scholars who have worked in this area have stuck to theoretical frameworks like Sanskritization and puranicization and, as a result, have failed to address the diversity of these mythic meterials and their meanings. Others have worked with the tacit assumption that these local materials invariably have Vedic roots. And, therefore, the attempt to reduce every one of these to Vedic essentials is high-minded. The result of all this is to miss out the essential autonomy of some of the local materials from Vedic Hinduism and, in some cases, their outright folk authenticity.

The myths and cults associated with the figure of Kinaki in South India and Sri Lanka present such an instance of local origin and widespread diffusion. The hagiographic narratives that relate the life-stories of the Tamil Nayanmar and the Nvars are other instances where legends of a definitive local origin travelled far and wide and attained a supra-local status (This is, however, a largely untouched terrain: the Tamil materials yet to be meticulously compared with their counterparts in other regions of India to delineate the dynamics of diffusion). A special case of Nayanmar whose iconic forms have accompanied the diffusion of hagiography to Southeast Asia are Karaikkalammai and Candikesvara, While it is quite unclear whether the force of the legendary narrative or the fascination with iconic form caused such extensive diffusion, the prominence accorded to Karaikkalammai or Candikesvara's icons in Southeast Asian depictions is particularly striking.

Another interesting point that the author raises in the course of this book is the logic behind the selection and narrative ordering of the various tiruvilaiyatals in the sculptural panels and the frescos of the temples in South India. The entire corpus of the myths is not depicted in these works of art. This, then, raises the question as to why only some have been portrayed. And a related question is that of the order in which these depictions are placed in temples. An answer to this question could be the, relative popularity of a particular myth. Another explanation would be the local preferences for cults associated with myths in particular temples. A third point is the highly complex interaction. between the classical knowledge systems embodied in the agamas, the silpasastras and the udstusastras, on the one hand, and the highly localized traditions of the chapattis on the other. This is an area of study that needs further investigation.

RKK Rajarajan and Jeyapriya's work is, in many ways, a pioneering attempt. It will be a very useful sourcebook for students of myth, religion, literature, and art history.

Preface A region with its ancient rich cultural heritage, yet living with the traditional pilgrimage milieu is a gifted land - Tamil Nadu. This region has thousands of such temples, live with local myths and cult values. The work is based on the medieval Tamil literature Tiruvilaiyatar Puranam that has frozen a uniquely rich and thus for virtually a virgin domain for Indian Iconography.

It is a known fact that art in India is interwoven with mythologies that may be forthcoming through major literary compositions such as mahapuranas and so on. A group of minor literary works, called cimilakkiyam in Tamil have provided the subject matter for sculptural portrayal in different parts of India. These have not been properly tapped and their sources and sculptural expressions examined. Several sculptural masterpieces (e.g. the Srisailam temple on its outer wall) do exist on the different parts of India that are an enigma to the art historian. These may have their values in sub-regional mythologies that have to be properly examined against their literary setting and cultural background. The present study focuses a regional literature, i.e. the Tiruvilaiyatar Puranam (TVP) "Annals of the Sacred Sports (of the Lord Siva)" that was sub-regional and attained regional and national-international status.

It is not as popular with historians 'and litterateurs as no English translation of the book are available or it has not been properly exposed to the existing knowledge of scholarship.

For the present study we have examined much of the extant sources in Tamil. Few Sanskrit redactions do exist that could not be deployed at present. The TVP is basically the sthalamahatmya of the Great Temple at Maturai, popularly called Minaksi-Sundaresvara. No Indian could say he does not know the Maturai temple. If asked of the TVP, he may be silent. The TVP is a collection of 64+ dramas in which the moving figures are Siva (T. Cokkan, Cokkanatan, Cuntaranz Sundara, Cuntarecuvaran /Sundaresvara, Comacuntaranz' Somasundara) and Devi (Minatciy'Minaksi, Tatatakai). The earliest notations of the myths appear in the Cilappatikaram of Lank, dated 5th century AD. Few episodes are noted in the Tamil bhakti hymns of the Nayanmar of the 7th-8th century AD. Another Tamil work, Kalldtam (10th century AD) presents a brief account of not less than 30 episodes and notes the TVPs are 64 (ZvelebiI1974: 177-85). However, a systematic compilation of the mythologies was the work of Perumparrappuliyur Nampi (12th century AD), called Tiruvilaiyatar Puranam: It was elaborated by another poet, Pararicoti (16th-17th century AD) in three cantos. A number of minor works came out in due course; e.g. Maturaikkalampakam of Kumarakuruparar (early 17th century) and of Nakalinkam Pillai (19th century). The present work takes stock of such available sources. There are few Sanskrit redactions such as Halasyamahatmya, which we keep in reserve. However, a synoptic account is presented in Annexure II.

The first part of the book presents a brief account of the 64 TVPs as told by Paraficoti with cross references to Nampi. Nampi's and Paraficoti may be treated as mahapuranas as of the Tamil genre. Others could not treat as upapuranas and may be called cirrilakkiyam. When compared with the Sanskrit maha- and upo-puranas, those in Tamil are not that comprehensive. In any case the TVP has felt the impact of Sanskrit lore as may be found in the Pancatantras, Jatakas and the tales of Vikaramaditya but have a regional orientation in Tamil cultural thought.

The readers not familiar with the myths of TVP are advised that they read chapter II and then go to I, otherwise chapter I may not be intelligible to them.

The second part of the book deals with sculptural revelations. A series of sculptures appear in the Sundaresvara shrine in -the Great Temple of Maturai. This part of the temple is restricted for the non-Hindus. For non-Indians it is prohibited for entry. Taking into account the good offices of the temple management, we were able to do some photographic work that is meritorious not only to the temple but also to historical scholarship. The illustrations also include those in other parts of the Maturai Great Temple and the Tirupparankunram temple for Murukan. All these photographs go to the credit of Dr R.KK Rajarajan.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages