At the first temple they visited as a couple, they didn’t just pray. They spent six hours taking pictures of the gopurams and vimanas, discussing style and structure. Rajashekaran, who is in construction and Vidhu, an Assistant Professor of Architecture met at an epigraphy class over a mutual love for temple architecture and history and married soon after.
What followed was an extensive trek across districts, opening their eyes to the marvels of Tamil Nadu’s hidden histories and mysteries around its architecture.
Tamil Nadu’s amazing architectural history is often connected to Thanjavur. If you go to Madurai and Thanjavur, sure you’ll see lots of temples. But we wanted to go to Tirunelveli because we know the Cholas and the Pallavas did a lot for architecture. But the Pandyas are undiscovered. No one actually knows much about the Pandya eras contributions.Rajashekar.
Preparations were massive, because the couple wanted to spend little on food and miscellaneous expenses. “We got an Etios hatchback, no driver. We drove ourselves around, packed vegetables, pulses, masalas, electric cooker and a stove. When we got hungry, we cooked inside the hotels we stayed. We barely spent much over 12 days.” Their days began at 6 am, endlessly documenting and stopping only to cook.
The highlight was a set of caves that Rajasekharan likened to the Ellora of the South. The caves while unfinished, have the finesse of the Ellora.
The Pallavas developed a unique form of inscription called the Granta, and the Pandyas developed the Vathezhuthu. Again, not a lot have evidence of the latter because while preserving these caves, chemical paint often reacts with the rock and these inscriptions are barely seen or may even fall off.Rajasekharan
Tamil Nadu also has its own dragon – the Yaazhi. “We saw these wonderful life-size sculptures of half-elephant-half lion creatures. Sometimes there are also half-goat half-lion. They’re found across panels in certain temples, but few of us know the significance of them,” says Rajashekar.
Frescoes in Villupuram, the origins of Pillaiyar worship among the Chalukyas and even the goddess that is often derogatorily refer to as ‘Mudevi’ were scattered across their long journey.
Some of the sculptures are just thrown onto the ground, as a signal of their neglect. This is also where smuggling begins.They are then buried in the ground and later taken away. These are 14th-15th century treasures that we are losing to lack of knowledge.Rajashekar
As the tradition goes, a woman normally visits a temple after her marriage to pray for the good of it. We visit temples as a couple to do as much little good for the temple as we possibly can.Vidhu.
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