Periya Koil.....

The following article has it s source from the book Tanjai periya Koil published by the state archaeology centre

Periya Koil!!!

Rajaraja Cholan, the Great Chola king built The Bragatheeswarar (Peruvudaiyar) Temple, also known as Big Temple. "In the twenty-fifth year of Rajaraja Cholan (A.D 1009-10) on the 257th day of the year the king handed over the copper pot for the finial at the top of the Vimana". It weighed about 235 lbs., and was overlaid with gold plate of weight of 292.5 Kalanju or nearly 35 lbs.

Layout

Rajarajeswaram, as the temple was named by its founder, fills a large portion of the small fort (Sivaganga Fort), encircled by moat on the east and west, the Grand Anaicut Channel (Putharu) on the south and by the Sivaganga Garden on the north. The temple entrance has an imposing gateway on the east, on either sides of which stand two small shrines dedicated to Ganapathi and Murugan and further through there is another Gopuram 90 feet high. This way leads into an outer court.

A second and magnificent Gopuram further leads into the main court in which the temple is built. The inner court is about 500 feet long and 250 feet broad, is well paved with brick and stone. The court is surrounded on all sides by a cloister. The western and northern wings have Siva lingams consecrated therein and there are paintings over these walls depicting sixty-four Nayanmars, sacred sport of Siva. The outer measurement of the temple is 793 feet by 397 feet.

Main Shrine

The main shrine of Sri Brihadisvara, the Great God - a Sanskrit rendering of the original tamil name Peruvudaiyar- stands at the western end of the main court. It comprises of five divisions -

1. Garbhagriha or the Sanctum Sactorum and the corridor around it
2. Ardhana-Mandapam
3. Maha-Mandapam with the open aisles
4. Stapana-Mandapam with the shrine of Sri Thyagarajar
5. Narthana-Mandapam for the temple paraphernalia and where the servant wait; and
6. Vadya-Mandapam and portico for the musicians.

Main shrine has three portals named Keralantakan, Rasarasan and Thiru-Anukkan. These portals are guarded by Dwarapalikas or the guardians of the gate. They are of huge proportions and of exquisite workmanship. There are several sets like these in the temple, of which seven of them are 18 feet by 8 feet. They are all monolith, and some are of very high artistic merit, especially at the entrance of Sri Subramanya temple.

The Sivalinga of Sri Brihadisvara is probably the grandest in existence. This image was originally called Adavallan (the one who is good in Dance). Another name was Dakshina-Meru Vitanken. Both the names occur in Thiruvisaipa as the names of the deity are as same as in Chidambaram Temple. This possibly indicates that the Saiva creed derived its support at the time mainly from Chidambaram. Rajaraja Cholan calls the image Rajarajeswaramudaiyar - The Lord of Rajarajeswaram. The tower over the shrine is named Dakshina-Meru after the abode of Lord Shiva at Kailasam, the Uttara-Meru.

Sri Thyagaraja, also called Vitankar, worshiped within a portion of Stapana-Manadapam, is the patron deity of Cholas. The legend goes that their mythical progenitor Chola Muchukuntan helped Indra against the asuras, for which help, he was presented with seven images of Thyagaraja, which he installed in the seven holy places of Thiruvarur, Thiru-nagai-karonam, Thiru-kkareyil, Thirukolili, Thirumaraikadu, Thirunallaru and Thiruvamur which are known as Sapta-Vitanka-Kshetras. Rajaraja Cholan was a devout worshiper of Sri Thyagaraja at Thiruvarur where he built this great temple; and, consecrated Sri Thyagaraja at Thanjavur also, as a mark of his own piety and in commemoration of the exploits of his celebrated ancestor.

The great Vimana is of the Dravidian style of architecture. It rises to a height of about 216 feet, a tower of fourteen storeys, finely decorated with pilasters, niches and images of gods of the Hindu pantheon. The basement of the structure which supports the tower is 96 feet square. The sikhara or cupolic dome is octagonal in shape and crowns the Vimana.

The gilded Kalasa or finial, over dome is 12.5 feet high. It is believed that the sikhara and the stupi does not throw on the ground. The dome rests on a single block of granite, of 25.5 feet square. Two Nandis, each measuring 6.5 feet by 5.5 feet beautify each corner of the stone which is estimated to weigh about 80 tons, and is believed to have been conveyed to the top of the tower by means of a inclined plane commencing from Sarapallam (scaffold-hollow), four miles north-east of the city.

Sub Shrines

Shrine of Sri Subramanya in the northwest corner, Shrine of Goddess Sri Brihannayagi, Sri Chandeeswara Shrine, Shrine of Ganapathy, Shrine of Nataraja in the north eastern corner, the colossal monolith figure on Nandhi, the sacred bull, in the central courtyard and the Shrine of Karuvurar.

The Great Nandhi

The Nandi within is elaborately worked and the Nayak Mandapam is massive and striking. The Nandhi is 12 feet high, 19.5 feet long and 18.25 feet wide. The Nandhi is a monolith weighing about 25 tons and the stone is said to have come from a bed of Gneiss at the foot of Pachaimalai near Perambalur. Another version is that the stone was brought over from the bed of the River Narmada in the north. There is a tradition that the Nandhi is growing in size with the progress of time. It was feared it might become too large for the Mandapam erected over it and a nail was driven into the back of it, and since, its size has remained stationery. Two portrait statuesques on the front pillars of the Nandhi Mandapam are pointed out as those of Sevappanayakan (the first Nayak ruler) and of his son Achyutappa Nayak.

The Frescos

The Chola frescos painting discovered in 1931 by Mr.S.K.Govindasamy of Annamalai University within the circumambulatory corridor Aradhana Mandapam are of great interest. These are the first Chola specimen's discovered. The passage of the corridor is dark and the enthusiast finds the walls on either side covered with two layers of paintings from floor to ceiling. Those of the upper layer are of the Nayak period, as certain labels in Telugu characters mentioned the names of Sevappa, Achyutappa and others. The Chola frescos lie underneath. An ardent spirit of saivism is expressed in the Chola frescos. They probably synchronised with the completion of the temple by Rajaraja Cholan. Saivism was at its height at that time and the Cholas were predominently of that faith.

Tanjore travel..:)

Tanjore Palace

The Palace, on the east main street is a series of large and rambling buildings of fine masonry, built partly by the Nayakkars around 1550 AD and partly by the Marathas. The entrance is by way of a large quadrangular courtyard. The encircling walls are pierced by big gateways to the north and east. The courtyard leads to a many-pillared hall. A small inner courtyard gives access to a large one.

On the southern side of the third quadrangle is a vimana like building, 190 feet high with eight storey and it is the Goodagopuram. This was the palace watchtower and the armory of the Thanjavur Kings till 1855 A.D.

The two Durbar Halls of the Nayakkars and the Marathas and the Raja Sarafoji Saraswathi Mahal Library are the chief sights of the Palace. The Saraswathi Mahal Library has remarkable collection of about 30,433 sanskrit and other vernacular palm leaf manuscripts and 6,426 printed volumes, besides a large number of journals. The library is the effort of the three hundred years of collections by the Nayak and Mahratta kings.

Madamaligai is the tower, which rises from the palace roof beyond the Goodagopuram. It has six storeys. It is believed that this was built by Nayakkar ruler to enable him worship Sri Ranganatha of Srirangam every mid-day. This many storied tower was destroyed by lightning and was subsequently repaired and preserved.

The Sangita Mahal or the Music Hall is a miniature of the surviving court of Thirumalai Nayakkar.

Tanjore Museum

A remarkable collection of South Indian sculptures and paintings is housed in the old palace buildings at Thanjavur (Tanjore)...

Within the museum there is a gallery with a representative collection of stone sculpture from the Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Nayaka periods. Another gallery contains samples of the characteristic glass paintings of Tanjore. There are two principal traditions in this style of painting in South India, especially in Thanjavur. Every Hindu home is supposed to have a prayer room, where the family deity is installed after the house is built. These household images of gods and goddesses are in bronze, silver or clay painted pictures.

The paintings are done on wood, using a variety of colours, and to enhance the pictures, details of jewellery and clothing are added by attaching gold leaf, paper, semi-precious and precious gems.

This museum is however best known for its bronze sculpture collection, of rare artistic quality. The Kalyanasundaramurti ( Tiruvengadu district, early Chola), the images of Shiva and Parvati at the time of their marriage, is truly a masterpiece, one of India's finest bronzes of all time.

Saraswati Mahal Libraray

This library has one of the most important oriental manuscript collections, in India. Established around 1700 AD, the library contains a collection of over 44,000 palm leaf, and paper manuscripts in Indian and European languages. Over eighty percent of its manuscripts are in sanskrit, many on palm leaves and are very unique. The Tamil work includes treatises on medicine, and commentaries on works from the Sangam period, all lipis, pictorial depiction of Ramayana and Mahabharata, miniature books and lineage of the sarafoji kings.

My first trip....

Tittai

When the world was submerged under water during the pralayam... this place remained aloof and vashishtar prayed here during this time.. hence.. Tittai!

There are two famous temple here...vashishteshwarar and Navaneethakrishnan-panchamukha aanjaneyar temple.

Vashishteshwarar Temple

This Shivastalam is also known as Therur or Ratha puram. The name Thittai comes from the temple's location on sand dunes between the Vennar and Vettar rivers. Tenkudittittai is also known as Vilvaranyam, Vasishtasramam, Dhenupuri. It is located at a distance of about 3 km from Thanjavur. Ten Kudi Tittai is considered the 15th in the series of Tevara Stalams in the Chola kingdom located south of the river Kaveri.

This east-facing temple enshrines Shiva in the form of a Shivalingam with horizontal markings. The temple is designed such that a drop of water falls on the Shivalingam once 25 few seconds. There are two stones... suryakanthakal and chandrakanthakal stiffened over the vimana.. these two stones capture moist from air and gives it back in the form of water droplets directly over the lingam, every 25 minutes. This is the nithyabhishekam.

Images of Nartana Ganapati, Dakshinamurthy, Lingodbhava, Bhrahma and Durga adorn the niches. Ulaganayaki's shrine faces the south. Across from the Ambal shrine is a mandapam with carvings of the 12 zodiac signs. There is a separate shrine dedicated to Jupiter. There are also shrines to Surya, Ganesha, Kali, Balasubramanya, Nataraja and Gajalakshmi.

The Vedas, Renukadevi, Vasishtar, Gowtama, Adi Seshan, Kamadhenu and Vishnu are said to have worshipped here. Legend also has it that this shrine surfaced on a mound between the rivers Vennaar and Vettaar. The name Therur or Rathapuram arises from the legend of the chariot of a king by name Sumali being stuck in the dunes here. Legend also has it that the dunes here emerged at the end of the deluge and that Shiva appeared here in the form of a Swayambhu Lingam.

Six worship services are carried out each day. The annual festival at Tenkuditittai is celebrated in the month of Aries. The annual Bhrammotsavam at Tiruvittakkudi is celebrated in the month of Vaikasi (Taurus), where the chariot procession happens on the 9th day, and the glass palanquin Saptastana festival occurs on the 12th day. The Saptastanams here are Tenkudittittai, Vennaaru, Tanjaipureeswarar, Gudalur, Kadapadappai, Punnainallur and Poomalai Naaganathar.

Another striking character of the temple is displayed on 25,26 and 27th of panguni month(april) when sun’s rays directly fall on the lingam during the sunrise and the rest of the temple is in dark...[I got to see it].. and this place is also famous as a guru Thalam.

Navaneethakrishnan-panchamukha aanjaneyar Temple

The panchamukha aanjaneyar is very powerful. If one has any grievances, he can simply write it in a paper, tie it around a full coconut and do an archanai for the god.. and within prescribed time, the complaint is done with. The pujari has a special power of talking with the god.. he is a hanuman upasakar...

ummmm... my travelogue

Hey people.... I had gone for a very looooooooooooooong vacation... ummm... Ok. For some 5 days to Trichy. My mama is staying there. So I jus thought... why don’t I go there, do a bit of exploring... A bit of sight seeing... a bit of sight adichifying.. And of course a loooot of traveling!

So... I will give a brief write up about the places in and around trichy... have a look... of course... I do have their pics... u can check out my album for it... :)


How to reach Trichy?

Bus services

Trichy is well connected to various parts of Tamil Nadu, by private and public bus services. The (chathram) bus station, near Rock Fort temple, runs local and mofussil (city-to-city) bus services, which connect people to nearby towns and villages. Bus services are frequent, once every two to five minutes.
Trichy is also well-connected to the other cities of Tamil Nadu, southern Karnataka and Kerala through private charter buses.
The central bus station runs long distance services to major cities of the State and South India such as Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Erode, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupathi.

Railway

Trichy is the hub of Southern Railway's operation to connect this central part of Tamil Nadu to various parts of India, notably regions in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Maharastra, Karnataka, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh. Trichy Railway Junction has five branches leading to Madurai, Rameswaram, Erode, Tanjore and Chennai.

Airport

Trichy has an international airport about seven kilometers from the city, which operates flights to Indian cities, territories, and neighboring countries (Sri Lanka, Singapore).
Nowadays, flights are operated to Gulf countries such as Sharjah, Fujairah, and UAE, and to Kuwait.

Designing your Career...

Jewellery designing

Fascination for adornment of self is as old as the history of humankind.
Jewellery design for centuries has been the domain of artisans who gained and passed on the expertise to their progeny. The Indian gem and jewellery industry accounts for nearly 43 percent of the world's total exports and is the second major foreign exchange earner for the country. Master craftsmen with their own distinctive and traditional designs and patterns have raptured not just the domestic market but have gained appreciation and acceptance the world over. The profession has become highly skilled and mechanised though unskilled labour still forms a large part of the workforce.

Today jewellery design as a career is steadily grabbing international attention. India has produced award-winning jewellery and accessory designers. India is the largest consumer of gold amounting to about one-third to one-fourth of the world production. Marked at Rs 40,000 crore, it is an ever-growing industry.

Where to study these courses?

There are various institutions across the country. Few institutes offer diploma and certificate courses too.
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) offers courses in Accessory Design. NIFT centers in Delhi and Kolkata, SNTT Women’s University in association with PV Polytechnic offers courses in Jewellery Design and Jewellery Manufacturing.

Dr. Dharmambal Govt. Women’s Polytechnic College, Tharamani, Chennai also offers classes in Jewellery Designing. This is the only course conducted by the Govt. in the area of Jewellery Technology. The World Gold Council has sponsored 48 lakhs to this College, which enrolls men as well as women in this course. To get trained in technology for Gold Jewellery manufacturing, one can join the one-year training lessons. The training fee will be Rs. 15,000. The various phases of the training will include- Basic metallurgy, assess jewellery and stone jewellery and fining the hallmark purity of the Gold.

There are courses for Jewellery designing through Computers (3 Months), evaluating the hallmark value of gold (3 Weeks), polishing (1 Week), Casting technology (2 Months), Embedding stones (2 Months). One can also learn Jewellery Promotion Management and Jewellery Project Management in a short period.

Technology in Jewellery Production and Designing

When you walk into a jewellery store, you usually end up buying what is on display. What if you want a particular design with specific stones cut to your liking with desired shine? That could be possible soon as more and more jewelers fall on technology to inspire new designs sought by customers. While that vision is a few years away, jewellery designing has pretty much come out of the closet: It is no longer a trade carried out by semi-literate goldsmiths in family vaults. Instead, jewellery designers are using nifty software and computer-aided designs to create exquisite pieces.

Indian women have now moved over the 'Y' mania, flaunting designs like snake and oval shaped and chokers studded with colored stones. Tools like gemological microscopes, builders, matrix and polariscopes have enabled jewellery designers to experiment with intricate motifs and give a plethora of choice to women.

Technology is also available for production control, supply chains and inventory management. “Automatic setup, advanced software and technical expertise increases the efficiency of workers by almost five times and reduces discrepancies by about 50-70%. Because of this the finished product is of better quality and can compete with international designs", says Roshanlal of Nakoda Thangamaligai.

Jewel CAD (computer aided design) and CAM (computer aided manufacturing) -- 3D modeling systems -- `matrix’ and `rhinoceros’ are some of the software’s that are commonly used by jewellery designers. These software’s are imported from Italy, Germany, and costs around Rs. 10,000 to Rs 40,000. The final product is then obtained as per the specification and data fed in the computer.

Eternity ring designs are quick and easy with a more advanced, interactive Eternity Ring Builder that draws upon every gem available in the program. Set the shape, size, number, and order of gems and then define gem spacing and other dimensions of the band.

Software that helps enlarge the 3 D versions when creating complex and baroque designs and models comes with a timer attached that automatically records the time spent on a particular project. The greatest impact of utilisation of such technology is time saving. Up gradation of technology saves about 40-60% of time that is spent on moulding and casting a piece of jewel.
Job Opportunities

The job opportunities are immense in this arena. There are placements and campus interviews for students from reputed institutions. Some people may also start their own shop. There are job opportunities in various banks as appraiser. One can also join as marketing head in various firms. Reputed MNCs like TATA have also started recruiting people in this plethora. Exporting Jewelry has become a major revenue Market for our Economy.

Investing in arts....

In May 2004, Picasso's 1904 oil painting, Garçon à la pipe (Boy with a pipe), sold at Sotheby's in New York for $104m (£58m), becoming the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. The fact that the picture had sold in 1950 for $30,000 inevitably strengthened the popular notion that art has become an attractive investment opportunity. The more spectacular gains in art values in recent decades have spawned a new sector within the financial services industry - that of art investment analysis.Art has taken on a new identity as an "asset class" similar to stocks and bonds. But while a masterpiece on the drawing-room wall arguably brings a little more social cachet and visual pleasure than shares in, say, Nokia or Cisco Systems, many people in the art world worry that the aesthetic content of a work of art can become overshadowed by the intoxicating aura of its dollar value.

In the colorful world of art, the business of investing is black and white. You buy a piece of artwork, and hope the artist's work goes up in value. Experts say you might not need to wait long. It can happen within hours of your purchase. Investing in art is investing in your own aesthetic. You have to want to live with the artwork, but you also have to educate yourself on the business end. In addition, you have to be careful, because tax laws are constructed in a way where if you buy art as an investment, you cannot 'derive pleasure' from it. In other words, it cannot hang in your home. Just lock it in a vault.investing in art is the hottest trend prevailing worldwide and turning into a fine art by itself. In addition, the investment market has touched the Indian shores and is playing up to the art galleries in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. With its wide range of ancient, modern abstracts and contemporary paintings available in mixed media Indian art itself is finding connoisseurs worldwide. An eclectic showcase of colorful artworks in pure forms and in mixed media is currently floating in the market waiting to become big investments in the near future. Artists, art dealers and investors all over the world are trying to cracking the code of the value of priceless masterpieces and their resale value.

Investing in Art is on the threshold of becoming a sunrise industry for art dealers. While investment is a heady decision and buying a painting is choice of the heart it is not quite clear as of now if an art lover, for the sake of art would want to resell for a higher price. Until about ten years ago, art investment was unheard of. Rarely does it happen that a masterpiece unearthed from an obscure flea market, sold in an art gallery for cheap is later resold ten times its value.

Now, you have to find out how you can invest in art. Ask yourself,” am I interested in art?” This may seem like a basic question, but too often novices enter the art market without a passion for the medium. The result is that they make poor choices and end up with pieces they don't even like. To find out how far you are knowledgeable about this business, if you took an art history course in college, then good for you. However, don't think that your knowledge begins and ends there. The art world is like any other market, it lives on what is happening today and it hunts for what will happen tomorrow.One way to find out what kind of art lover you are is by visiting galleries and art museums. Museums will give you an indication of the field; galleries will tell you what is going on in the world of art right now. Think of galleries and shows as the marketplace; you must attend them to know what is going on. As a bonus, gallery staff can usually answer many of your questions -- but keep in mind, they are salespeople.

When it comes to art, or any investment for that matter, it is easy to think that you know what you are doing. After all, you see the success of some and you think, why not me? Art, like property, has a lot to do with business, but even more to do with the buyer's taste. Experience plays an important role in this investment process. While a first time buyer isn’t likely to understand how and why the market swings on taste, he isn't necessarily at a disadvantage. Perhaps the best way to insure your investment is by purchasing something you like. Art prices rise and fall, so if you buy something that you like, you will be able to live with it through the lean years.

A.R. Murugadas, an art investor, who has made huge bucks in the process says, “Trading in art is similar in some ways to dealing in other commodities -- it is subject to the market pressures of supply and demand. However, art prices vary with other, sometimes arbitrary, factors -- including aesthetics, authenticity, condition and rarity.”

Everything comes with a ‘risk factor’. As in any other business proposition, it is important to whet the fake from the original, a masterpiece from mundane, oil painted canvas from an acrylic. To minimize risks of bad investments avoid buying genuine fake paintings, as reselling them is tough. Like a picture, a painting speaks a thousand words and makes billions for the investor. For any painting to command that priceless ness, get adequate knowledge first from the art world. Art magazines and gallery newsletters, online guidance is some ways to prepare oneself before investing in art. Like any investment, art is a gamble. Do your research. Buy what you love because even though it might go through a transitory devaluation, the intrinsic value of the work is still there.

Nishabd---Speechless

Some Love stories are never meant to be understood... indeed it is true. Ram Gopal Varma’s film Nishabd, with all its strength and shortcomings, is a piece of quality cinema that talks openly and unabashedly about things and emotions that many would prefer to be flounced under the carpet.

The public may not be kind to this movie. After all, there is no song, no item numbers, no acts of heroism. There is serenity in the quality of the picture. You may feel close to the locations but still... why will u care? The editing is an art. Still, do not care because the story line is something, which may be considered obscene (!!!)

Bodies’ age, feelings don’t. ‘Nishabd’ is the story of a 60-year-old photographer (Amitabh Bachchan) who gets attracted to an 18-year-old girl (Jiah Khan) who is a friend of his daughter. It is the story of mutual love between two people with a huge age gap between them. It is a moving tale of a man torn between his emotions and rationality, between his heart and his mind, between his family and himself as a person. The man listens to his heart, concedes to the girl that he is in love with her. He admits to his wife (Revathy) that he has developed feelings for a girl the age of his daughter. And by doing so he loses the respect of his wife and his daughter.This is the rationale presented by the movie’s 60-year-old protagonist while explaining his attraction towards a teenager. This attraction, though not uncommon, is seldom expressed in real life. And those who express it mostly end up like the protagonist of ‘Nishabd’.

The movie rests solely on the dependable shoulders of Amitabh Bachchan. If not for him, ‘Nishabd’ would have ended up as a average product. His dialogues in the film are plain, but it is the way he delivers them that lends the impact. Many things about his character remain vocally unsaid, but it is his expressions and his glances that make them explicit. He brings out the inner conflict of his character in his body language, his eyes and his expressions. Briefly, it is a performance worth saluting.Jiah Khan is perfectly suited to her role of a girl quite careless about the way she is dressed. There is a sexual undertone to her character in the film but it does not cross the finer line of glamour and obscenity. And her performance of it is not bad for a first timer.

Revathy’s acting is natural. Nasser (as her brother in the film) is effective.‘Nishabd’ goes to prove that Ram Gopal Varma has not lost his magic touch. The eccentric filmmaker is truly the master of his craft. The cinematography and the camera angles are superb.
For all those who love art with amendment, this is the movie!!