With simplicity, the possibilities are endless.....
-Carl von'Bailiff
In
our previous post we wrote about Baba Allauddin Khan rebuilding a languishing gharana, in which context we recalled
the word of guidance we had received from B. Unnikrishnan, Senior Chartered
Accountant of Trivandrum. Nacheez harboured in his bosom, a secret ambition to
build a Shiva Temple, we had confided in him. Rebuild an abandoned temple, was
his quiet advice. Apart from the spiritual pay-off in the form of witnessing the good you do to the 'vastu', there is the 'regulatory pay off'- the authorities don't grudge the birth of a new temple on Government lands, the ' economic pay off', you save money on land, etc.etc.etc., various other Pay Offs....wow we said, that's why Keralites are everywhere...you know...
Question
is why and wherefore would YT want to build a Shiva temple at all, given the
fact that we were never identified with
overtly religious tendencies. No third person including Missus has been privy to this secret ‘monumental’ longing. It
positively goes against the grain of our family-wisdom. Dad, who had a phobia
for temples, once accompanied Mother all the way to Badrinath, just to squat outside the precincts, not allowing even
the temple’s shadow to fall over him..In the case of our brother Sheikh Shekhar
(a Saudi subject now), once as an engineering student he had donated a hundred bucks
to a classmate, out to build a temple, and so remorse-struck was Brother, that
he called on the friend the next day, and as he could not muster the courage to
demand back the sum donated, pinched a set of pliers behind his back,
estimating the worth of the pliers to be honestly around the sum donated, which
quelled the pangs of his conscience..
Why
we would like to build a Shiva temple has to do with the simple beauty of the
traditional Hemadpanti style of
construction, which can be practised by the humblest folks, and the holy shraddha or devotion with which they
revere Lord Shiva. Then of course, Shiva’s character is outrageously off-beat,
rich with possibilities- passionate, forgiving, gullible, all-powerful…. Mind
you, in our home of adoption, that is the Christian State of Meghalaya, Mahashivratri is the only Hindu-God
anniversary which is a Public holiday, yessir…a non-negotiable holiday under
Negotiable Instruments Act. The explanation given to votaries of Janmashtami by non else than the CM is-
this is a Tribal State, and Shiva is the only Tribal Indian God, only son of
the soil.
.
To come back to Hemadpanti temple architecture, it is an
architectural style, named after its founder, Prime Minister Pandit Hemadri, or Hemadpant from the 13th
century court of Seuna Yadavas of
Devgiri , that is Daulatabad
near Aurangabad. The form has a sort of eternal simplicity. [1]
The
simplest representative of this style would be the common temple you’ll see on
the top of a hill, provided there is one, in the vicinity of any Hindu
settlement. The fact that every village surrounded by hills, whatever the
altitude, boasts of such a temple is a tribute to human shraddha or dedication, and human endeavour. Imagine how they would
have carried uphill the huge stones and other construction material…like industrious little ants carrying grains of sugar..
The
process of building a temple atop a hill would commence with the discovery by
the local populace, of a sadhu or Mahatma on one of the hills. Devotees would
start frequenting the Mahatma and the
need would eventually arise for a temple in order to keep the weather at bay...
The
simplest to build is a Shiva Hemadpanti temple.The temples structure is infact congruent with the
form of the Shivalingam. Fits like a
glove..
 |
| THE STRUCTURE |
 |
| CLOSE APPROXIMATION TO HEMADPANTI |
 |
First
you erect a simple structure with a dome on pillars Then, Shiva’s faithful
Nandi has to be accommodated outside the sanctorum,
which dictates the creation of an elongated verandah. Thereafter, simply by extending the verandah on either side of Nandi,
the required space for devotees to sit, pray, chant, or be offered protection
from the elements is created. Extensions are permitted to any extent, and often they end up as pavilions. In the sanctum
sanctorum, the idol is so easy to make- it’s found in nature- that’s
obviously why jyotirlinga temples
abound. The only construction material required is plenty of rough stone slabs
for the ceilings, and maybe a few hundred feet of stone pillars for the columns
and for functioning as the criss-crossing horizontal supports for the slabs.
For a few hundred years now, the function of the horizontal columns has been
taken over by iron girders.
Variants
of the Hemadpanti happen when
different types of extensions are created, or the kalash made more elaborate,
sculptures thrown-in….depending upon the budget of the village trust…with
simplicity, the possibilities are endless.
While on the subject of roofs, find it all under one roof he, he, he, in http://arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/roofs-1.pdf
Dharsanam.com
is a good guide so far as South temples are concerned. Here we display the
mind-boggling variations of the architecture…
 |
| TEMPLE AT CHENGALPATTU, T'NADU: SIMPLEST FORM: NO DOME EVEN |
 |
| BIT MORE ELABORATE: BHIMASHANKAR, M'RASHTRA |
 |
| STARK HEMADPANTI: NANDI OUTSIDE |
 |
| PONNERI SREE AGATHEESWARA, CHENNAI |
 |
| KALARAM TEMPLE, NASIK: DUAL GARBHAGRIHA |
 |
| COPYBOOK HEMADPANTI: MAHADEV OF YEOTMAL |
 |
| VIKHALE KAMALESHWAR: BEAUTY AND BRAINS |
 |
| TAKALGHAT: EXPANSIVE PAVILION |
 |
| ALL NEEDN'T BE H'PANTI : DUTTA OF VASAI, MUMBAI |
That still leaves the end open: will we or will we not, mince ambition will be fulfilled or nyet...?
[1] Equally simple and
masterful was the idea which Muhammad bin Tughlaq wove around the town in the
14th century, when he sought to relocate Delhi to Daulatabad, lock,
stock, barrel and cattle, with tragic consequences...
