Happy Shivaratri. Enjoy a tour of Shiva

[vsn2007]

Dear Rasikas,

Happy Shivaratri. Please enjoy a tour of the Padal petra stalams of Nayanmayar via a youtube video produced by our own Kanniks(Venkatamakhi).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwSupcUT ... r_embedded

Om Namah Shivaya

[venkatamakhi]

Dear Vivek:
Thanks for sharing this audio/visual presentation with Rasikas. More information on the Tevara stalas can be seen on templenet at www.templenet.com .
Once again, greetings on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.
Regards,
Kanniks (Venkatamakhi)

[cmlover]

Just magnificent and appropriate VSN2007 and Kanniks.
The lilting music is very elevating complimenting your skill in composing!
I did not see the famous Tanjore temple in the collection. Nice to have included Amarnath in the collection..
Many thanks..

[rshankar]

Hi Kanniks - a lovely presentation! I had to watch the link twice - once to watch the video and the second time to take in the svarajati - great job Kanniks on the composition, and Vidita has done a great job singing! By the way, was it only me, or was the svarajati more like hindustAni yaman than kalyANI?

[cmlover]

I too was tossed between Yaman and Kalyani. I wonder what kanniks had in his mind!
The presentation however is more in the HM style which is bewitching...

[venkatamakhi]

Dear Shankar, cmlover:
Thanks so much for your kind compliments.
It is definitely along Hindustani lines; I envisioned it first as a short two part dhrupad and then added the 7 svarasahitya passages - commencing in n,s,r,g,m,p,d -- and the last svara passage with 8 avartanas commencing in n,d,p,m,g,r,s -- with svarakshara-sahityas corresponding to these svaras (nirupama,sadyojata, rishi, gambhira, madanadi, parama, daruka -- and nirajasanadi , damodara etc.)..: Once again, thanks for your appreciation.
Kanniks

[venkatamakhi]

Just magnificent and appropriate VSN2007 and Kanniks.
The lilting music is very elevating complimenting your skill in composing!
I did not see the famous Tanjore temple in the collection. Nice to have included Amarnath in the collection..
Many thanks..

The collection of temples in the video accompanied by 'nilakantha vamadeva' includes the 275 tevara paadal petra stalangal. These 275 shrines or 'Abodes of Shiva' have at least a chapter of 10 verses written in their praise by Appar, Sundarar or Sambandar. Some like Sirkali have 100s of chapters, while some have just one chapter. The 275 temples that are thus glorified with at least one chapter of poems are referred to as 'tevaara paadal petra talangal'. In general, these are svayambhu (linga) kshetras. Some of these temples such as Tiruvarur, Madurai, Kalahasti, Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram etc. are well known, although for example Madurai is known more for its grandeur, and Kalahasti today for the rahu/ketu pariharam and so on .

Amarnath is not in its collection. I have put in a picture of the HImalayas in place of Gowrikund. Mount Kailash was sung by Sambandar from Kalahasti, he did not visit Kailasam.

Interestingly, time honored pilgrimage sites like Kashi do not figure in this list.

The Thanjavur Brhadisvara temple, is a human-made temple. It is a grand edifice built by the ardently devoted king Raja Raja Cholan. Raja Raja lived about 200-300 years after the Tevara moovar. He was inspired by their poems and he commissioned the compilation of these hymns by Nambiyandar Nambi who collated them and their pannisai. Raja Raja set up huge endowments for supporting the singing of these hymns in various Shiva temples all over the land.

The Brhadisvara temple was built after the period of the Tevara moovar, so it naturally does not figure in the list of 275. Dikshitar lived in Thanjavur in the 1800s (possibly the 1820s). There are compositions in his repertoire that are dedicated exclusively to Brhadisvara and Brhadamba. It should be noted that the original name of the temple was Rajarajesvaram and not Brhadisvaram. The name periya koyil led to the evolution of the name Brhadisvaram.

India's temple legacy is phenomenal. There is much to be discovered.

[cmlover]

Thanks Kanniks for the details.
I thought Thevaram includes the 'naalvar' including Manikkavaacagar. I am not sure that will add more temples to the list.
Good that you reminded me that the Tanjore temple comes after the thevaram era. As also the northern temples like Kasi/Amarnath /... not being included. What is the reference to Sambandar singing about Kailasam; I thought all of them would have generically referred to Kailash as well as Kasi...
Since most of the temples have undergone renovations it is tempting to speculate how they would have looked during the Thevaram times. Would you have some chronology ?

Do please do one on the Dikshitar temples too with a nice composition (this time all CM) from you...

I fully agree India's temple legacy is phenomenal.. Has National Geography done any feature program on them?

[vgovindan]

I have visited the (Tanjore) temple a few times. My opinion is that, though it is magnificent from outside, the garbhagRa and inner hall are unfinished. I have read somewhere that before the temple could be completed some mishaps took place and therefore, it has been left unfinished. http://kandiyar.hpage.us/mixed_news_for ... 11591.html

[rshankar]

Kanniks - thanks for the explanation about the composition. It is really very a very haunting svarajati. Do you compose for bharatanATyam as well?
Of the ones you have listed, I have been to a paltry few: cidambaram, vaidISvaran kOil, triSira giri, kAnci (all the ones listed) and amRtaghaTESvaram (tirukkaDayUr) once. I have also been to kapAlISvaram and aushadapuri several times. I do have a question - if you go by the sanskrit names, there are so many places that are called agnISvaram, bhAskarapuram/dinakarapuram (being in sunny tamizh nAdu, I get it that so many of these places are hottt, but even so), and amRtaghaTESvaram. Why is that? Also, isn't the pATalISar temple in cuddalore another pADal peTRa sthalam? Did I miss it in your listing?

[gobilalitha]

RAVI, i saw Vidhya venkat's post in fb telling us about her visit to Shiva temple at Gaylang,SINGAPORE where there was pooja, bhajans, music by V.Sankaranarayanan and a lecture by Sudha Seshayyan. it was awesome throughout the night

[venkatamakhi]

Thanks Kanniks for the details.
I thought Thevaram includes the 'naalvar' including Manikkavaacagar. I am not sure that will add more temples to the list.
Good that you reminded me that the Tanjore temple comes after the thevaram era. As also the northern temples like Kasi/Amarnath /... not being included. What is the reference to Sambandar singing about Kailasam; I thought all of them would have generically referred to Kailash as well as Kasi...
Since most of the temples have undergone renovations it is tempting to speculate how they would have looked during the Thevaram times. Would you have some chronology ?

Do please do one on the Dikshitar temples too with a nice composition (this time all CM) from you...

I fully agree India's temple legacy is phenomenal.. Has National Geography done any feature program on them?

1. The 12 Saiva Tirumurais include Tevaram, Tiruvacakam and other works. The hymns of Appar, Sundarar, Sambandar are referred to as Tevaram. Manickavackar is not one of the 63 Nayanmars; he is said to be of a later period. His work is referred to as Tiruvacakam. As students of the Tamilnadu State board, we did study a few hymns of Manikkavacakar as a part of high school Tamil. The association between Saints and Temples is a huge topic.

For temples associated with Manikkavacakar please see: http://www.templenet.com/Saints/maanikka.html
For temples glorified by the Tevaram, please see: http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/shivlist.html

2. A stalam is regarded as a Tevara Paadal Petra Stalam only if there is a full chapter of 10 verses dedicated to it. Currently, full chapters (patikam) of 10 verses are available only for 275. The Tevara saints are said to have visited them and sung in detail. Much of these are in Chola Naadu. Only about 5 are North of Tondai Naadu and tradition holds that he sang of them during his visit to Kalahasti.
Many worship places could have been 'sacred groves', or 'kaavus' with a svayambhu shrine (e.g. saamajaatavi nilaya svayambho -- referring to tiru aanai kaadu - saamaja atavi in jambupate) ; the architecture of the superstructure around them has evolved over time, during the rule of the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and Nayakas.
Please see: http://www.templenet.com/abode_initial.html

And thanks so much for your kind words. Yes, I shall do a feature on temples related to Dikshitar .

Regards,
Kanniks

[venkatamakhi]

Kanniks - thanks for the explanation about the composition. It is really very a very haunting svarajati. Do you compose for bharatanATyam as well?
Of the ones you have listed, I have been to a paltry few: cidambaram, vaidISvaran kOil, triSira giri, kAnci (all the ones listed) and amRtaghaTESvaram (tirukkaDayUr) once. I have also been to kapAlISvaram and aushadapuri several times. I do have a question - if you go by the sanskrit names, there are so many places that are called agnISvaram, bhAskarapuram/dinakarapuram (being in sunny tamizh nAdu, I get it that so many of these places are hottt, but even so), and amRtaghaTESvaram. Why is that? Also, isn't the pATalISar temple in cuddalore another pADal peTRa sthalam? Did I miss it in your listing?

Shankar,
1. Thanks so much for your remarks on nilakantha. Bharatanatyam music, Yes. I have composed a ballet titled 'aadavallaanin aindu sabhaigal' on the stalapuranas linking madurai,tiruvalangadu,kutralam, tirunelveli and chidambaram (the five cosmic dance halls of Shiva )-- choreographed by Kalaimamani Saraswati.

2. The Tamil names are the ones referred to in Tevaram. e.g. aiyARRappar - pancha nadisvarar. chokkar - sundaresvarar, kachchi - kAnchi - . The Tamil names are the - unique ones. The names agnisvara come from stalapuranas referring to agni's worship of Shiva; bhaskarapuram from the fact that the sun's rays fall on the shivalingam on some select occasions during the year. the amritaghatesvara name relates to the legend of the celestial nectar amritam, amritakalasam, pralayam. Many temples are associated with Agasthyiyars worship of Shiva's kalyanakolam. So you would see Agastisvara as the name of Shiva in many places. There are many names associated with a deity in a single place also. This is a very interesting topic and I could speak on this for a long time.

3. Tiruppathirippuliyur is the stalam where pATalIsar is worshipped. This is in Cuddalore. It should be in the video.

Many thanks and regards,
Kanniks

[rshankar]

Kanniks, your bharatanATyam ballet reminds me of ANDavan piccai's composition (set in rAgmAlika by ?) 'ADavallAn yemmai ALa vallAn' that goes on to describe the 5 sabhAs...Must have been lovely - are any clips uploaded on youtube that you can share??

[venkatamakhi]

Kanniks, your bharatanATyam ballet reminds me of ANDavan piccai's composition (set in rAgmAlika by ?) 'ADavallAn yemmai ALa vallAn' that goes on to describe the 5 sabhAs...Must have been lovely - are any clips uploaded on youtube that you can share??

Shankar, I will have to upload the old video clips. But of 'aadavallaanin aindu sabhaigal sometime'; but here is a clip of the work that I did at Singapore last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrjn1pbmFdM

Also, I have a production being performed today. 'The Silk Road', performed by the NUS Indian Instrumental ensemble explores cultural connections between India and China using music.
http://www.nusiie.org/silkroad.html

Thanks and regards,
Kanniks

[cmlover]

Breath taking indeed. The ensamble is very live and the whole performance is equally lively. The mallari is well coordinated. I thought you could have taken advantage of the screen for projecting appropriate temple scenes to enhance the visual.

By the by can you post the lyrics ....

... waiting to see snippets from the The Silk Road...