Saturday, October 7, 2017

Bhoothalingaswamy Temple, Boothapandi – The Temple

Bhoothalingaswamy Temple, Boothapandi – The Temple
The temple is said to have constructed by Pasum Pon Pandyan king somewhere between 25AD to 50AD in the name of his father. The temple is situated at the foot of the hill known as Thadakaimalai which is considered to be the abode of Thadagai in Ramayana. The temple faces east and there is a tank with a small Mandapa on the northern side. The presiding deity is called Bhoothalingaswamy. The sanctorum of the temple is a crude cell excavated on the eastern face of a huge irregular mass of rock. The Linga is also carved in the same rock. There is no vimana over this shrine.



The Ardhamandapam and Mahamandapam were only later additions. The rock is grit round by a thick stonewall which gives it the appearance of a minor fort. On the right side of entrance to the sanctum is the image of Vinayak and the image of Nandi is in front of the Linga. On the right side of Nandi facing south is Nataraja with Sivakami Ambal. Aditya, Subramanian with valli and Deivanai, Sandikeswarar are other deities of the temple.


Outside the prakaram(outer courtyard), anyone will be allowed pooja to the Kasi Viswanathar and Ulagayanayagi. Sthala Vriksham is Vilwa Tree. The cave temple is excavated on the eastern slope of the side of the hillock situated in the middle of the village. This temple comprises of an outer prakara, inner prakara and the main cave with a frontward pillared mandapam constituting a large complex. The rock cut cave forms nucleus structure around which temple structures added in the subsequent period of time. Altogether forming the large temple complex.


A large perimeter wall in the periphery encloses the outer prakara. The temple is accessible from four entrances. The western entrance is through three tier gopuram or gateway. The gopuram has granite base and three-tiered brick super-structure decorated with stucco images. The pillars, supporting base tier of the gopuram, bear images of the donors (of the temple) appear in folded hand gesture (mudra) On the west face of the tower there are two guards in stucco images appear holding small and large clubs in each of their hands.


On top of the boulder towards east of this tower, there are two stucco images: one is a milking cow and the other one is Lord Shiva with trident. There are two entrances on the south wall. The westward entrance arch on the south wall is decorated with stucco image of Lord Shiva with consort Uma in Ananda-Thandava posture. Also, there are two musicians on either side of dancing Shiva. The eastward entrance on the south wall leads to the river Pazhayaru. The simple entrance on the eastern wall is located before the sanctum of the prime deity.  



The entrance on the northern wall leads to the temple tank with a mandapam in middle. On the western side to the left of the entrance of the outer prakara adjoining the rock slope is the shrine for Sastha. There is a Pillaiyar shrine under the tree. The inner perimeter wall encloses the sanctums of the prime deity, goddess Sivakami, shrines for minor deities, mandapams and inner prakara. The parts of the inner southern and northern walls sit on the rock. There are three entrances leading to the inner prakara: One entrance on the southern wall, other two entrances on the eastern and northern walls.


The eastern entrance leads to sanctum of the goddess Sivakami. Another entrance with single tier gopuram leads to the prime sanctum. The southern entrance leads to Pazhayaru river. This entrance is supported by adishtanam, pillars with square, kattu, square sections, vettu-potikas and prastara components. The ornamental arch houses the celestial wedding event: Lord Vishnu handing-over goddess Meenakshi to Lord Sundareswarar. 


The inner prakara extends on all three sides except the rocky western side. The inner prakara includes sanctums of god and goddess as well as shrines for minor deities i.e., Kanni Vinayagar, Sastha and Somaskandar. Somaskanda shrine has sanctum and mukha-mandapam and vimana with nagara Griva and shikhara. Sastha shrine has eka-tala nagara vimana and sanctum guarded by Dwarapalakas (boothas). Kanni Vinayagar shrine has eka-tala Vesara vimana and sanctum and mukha-mandapam. Chandikeswara shrine and Dakshina Murti shrine are located on the north and south side prakara of the prime deity.


There is a shrine for Lord Muruga and his two consorts Valli and Devayani. The front of Sivagami Ambal shrine is the best example of its sculpture. The Manmathan and Rathi are attractive to view. The chain is made from stone. The Ramayana says Rama killed Vaali from behind. If stood in front, Rama Vaali’s image can be seen, but if the observer is in front of Vaali’s image, then Rama’s image cannot be seen.


A beautiful piece of art in the temple lies in the wooden Kalyanamedai the Mandapa. It has been made so skillfully that the joints are invisible. The Medai contains numerous multi-colored images. a Srichakkram is engraved on the panel of pillar in the Kalyanamantapa. There is no inner prakaram for both the shrines. On the south west corner of the common Prakaram of the shrines is Vinayaga who is locally called “Ninaithathai Mudikkum Vinayakar”.



Mandapams:
Two mandapams are located before the sanctums of god and goddess and they are known as wedding mandapam and Chettiar mandapam. The wedding hall is supported by ornate pillars with bas relief sculptures. Some are simple pillars sectioned by square kattu and square and some other pillars are composite pillars. The cupid or Kamadeva Manmatha and his love Rathi images appear on a pillar. The Chettiar Hall is also supported by ornate pillars with bas relief sculptures. Some are huge Yali pillars.
The mukha-mandapam and large mandapams were added before the cave sanctum of the prime deity during later age. The mukha-mandapam has supportive floor, wall supported by square pilasters, taranga potikas and prastara components. Kapota has ornate kudus. The large mandapam can be accessed through entrances at east and south walls. Mandapam is supported by square kattu square kattu square pillars with vettu potikas. The bronze idols are protected in this mandapam. The Vinayaka idol in lalitasana posture is found in the inner mandapam.
Sivagami Amman Shrine:
The east facing Sivagami Amman shrine has a two tier vimana, mukha-mandapam and large mandapam. The vimana, built on a granite base with a brick superstructure, has a kapota banda adhishtana and the vedika component is shown in between the adhishtana and pada (wall). The octagonal (Vishnu-kanta) pilasters with nagabandha pada support the roof. The potikas above the pillars are madalai with nanudal  tipped with sharp bud bearing the prastara components that adjoin the roof. The three sides of the external walls are sectioned and shown as simple koshta-panjara. The Adi-tala hara walls have been raised considerably high and the second tala also has hara walls. The stucco images adorn in sala and griva koshtas. 
Cave Sanctum:
The Cave sanctum is 1.71 m in the north-south direction; 1.38 m in the east-west (south wall) direction; 1.46 m in the east-west (north wall) direction; with the height of 1.73 m. The floor, roof and the walls of the cave sanctum are well formed. The sanctum entrance is 0.67 cm in width and 1.60 m in height. The sanctum houses Bhoothalingaswamy in the form of Shivalingam. Shivalingam is sculpted out of the mother rock and the rectangular 'Avudai' measures 0.80 cm in length in the north-south; 0.75 cm in width in the east-west directions and 0.52 cm in height. 
The external faces of Avudai is embellished with padabandha adhishtana with components such as jagadi, vritta Kumudam, khanta flanked kampa and pattaka mouldings. The Rudra (cylindrical) bana sits on the square Avudai. A small pit is shown towards north to receive the anointed water. A water chute is seen running up to the north wall of the sanctum and continued in the east wall of the sanctum.