Porunai Zephyr: A glimpse of ‘Cheranmahadevi’

Cheranmahadevi is just in the middle of the river-stretch from Papanasam to Tirunelveli where the Tamiraparani is at her full force through the vast plains. All along the route, the river collects water from all her tributaries flowing down from the Podhigai Hills except ‘Chitraaru’ which joins the mainstream just before ‘seevalapperi’. I would like to call this river-stretch as the first phase or the Western segment of the river and the stretch from Tirunelveli upto its confluence into the Mannaar Bay may be called as the Eastern segment. Almost all the villages and towns along the course of the river are ancient human settlements. One well known example is ‘Aadhichanallur’ which is a Preserved site of the State Archeology Dept from where pre-historic artifacts are excavated.

Cheranmahadevi as the very name suggests, has Chera [Kerala] royal connection, and is a historic township on the banks of the river. Once this town should have been very close to the river banks like other nearby villages. But now the township is far away from the river course. The presence of important temples, big ghats along the river banks and ‘chekku’ - the traditional stone-wood mechanism for oil pressing said to be found amidst the river side paddy fields prove this shift of the township. The township might have transformed into fields as the fields or forest is transformed into towns. Flood might have been the primary cause as in the case of 18^th Century - ‘Kaansaapuram’ – Khan Sahib Puram - on the other side of ‘Seevalapperi’ – Seevalapperi was an important junction in the ancient times –a small settlement in the name of Mohammed Yusuf Khan who once commanded British-Arcot Nawab army and led several campaigns against Pulithevar – the first native King of India who challenged the British Colonisers and succeeded in keeping them at bay for several years. Kaansaapuram was later shifted to the present ‘Burkit Managar’ named after a British Collector, Burkit – who shifted this settlement affected by the river floods.

There are several ancient temples in Cheranmahadevi [said to be about 42] denoting the cultural and economic richness of this region. This town is said to be a ‘Chaturvedi mangalam’ as per the inscriptions – i.e. a town usually established with the royal patronage - with quarters of pundits having expertise in four Vedas. One of the Nava Kailash Temples is situated at Cheranmahadevi. The popular string of Nava Kailash Temples are the nine temples placed along the banks of the river Tamiraparani from Papanasam to ‘Senthapoo mangalam’ near the confluence of the river into the Mannaar bay.

River Tamiraparani Maa has blessed Cheranmahadevi region with her bounty and has bestowed scenic, emerald green- paddy fields up to the horizon in every direction here.

The temples are said to be with a lot of epigraphic panels – I don’t know where to get those information from. The Archeological Dept web sites reveal no such information of documentation. I approached the Tiruenlveli Archeological Dept office and learnt that the hitherto documented epigraphic details are only at Chennai Archives which are yet to be published. It is obvious that there is no exhaustive documentation and compilation of artifacts, art works and epigraphs of Tirunelveli Region.

I visited ‘Appan Kovil’ – Appan Venkatachalapathy Krishnan Temple which is right on the southern bank of the river with my colleague and friend, Hari – an admirer of art and heritage. We participated in the ‘ulavaaram’ – voluntary physical work for an hour or so with the ‘Nellai Ulavaarappani kulaam’ a team led by Sri. Muthukrishnan, an ex-air force man who is a pious, simple, and tireless organizer bent upon the mission of harnessing the youth force towards the cause of temples – he has organized thousands of ‘ulavaarams’ – voluntary efforts - in almost all the temples of Tirunelveli District and in tedious tasks of de-silting many temple-tanks.

This temple was once in sheer neglect - and I remember – was in a dilapidated condition – just in the visible distance from the road side. The tenacious efforts of this energetic ulavaaram team have paved the way for complete restoration of this temple to its present state.

Following is the old and present state of the temple Gopuram;

The above old view has been taken from one cheranmahadevi blog.

Below,the very same Gopuram from the inner side view at present - after renovation.

Kanadian chatram - an annadhaana chatram – choultry offering free food – which is defunct now is housed inside this temple complex.

‘Kanadian’ is the name associated with a pious, priestly youngster from the present Karnataka state who visited this region and constructed a canal – which is still referred as ‘Kanadian kaal’ -Canal, and several irrigation systems with the gifts that he received from the Chera King. This youth prayed unto Sage Agasthiya Maharishi and got his divine vision. The Sage guided him on this mission. Several acres of agrarian lands along this canal are said to be earmarked for this choultry.

Sri. Muthukrishnan asked me to visit Sri Bakthavathsala Perumal temple just a kilometer away on the banks of the river. Baktha vathsala – a fine Sanskrit name which means one who is fond of his devotees – vaathsalya means affectionate – which implies the closeness of Vishnu Murthy to his devotees.

This huge temple complex hidden amidst vast plantain and paddy fields - just appurtenant to a river ghat is under ASI – Archeological Survey of India - preservation. The ASI panel informs that this temple was constructed in medieval Pandya period. ASI dates this temple to 12^th Century. Few statutes of later Nayakkar royalty are also found in this temple. These royal image sculptures near the southern entrance to the second periphery are impressive and show the attire and patterns of Nayakar period. There is no more information made available by the ASI to the visitors other than this simple panel.

ASI – does’nt apply the lime – kaavi stripes – which are usually applied on the outer walls of other temples. To prevent possible acidic corrosion of lime-kaavi chemicals they are avoided – and the original stone as such is preserved by the ASI. This temple complex is a treasure trove of exquisite sculptures with minute carvings.

We were simply taken aback by the beauty of this sculptural wonder particularly that of the kostam walls – i.e. the walls surrounding the garba-grihum - the sanctum-sanctorum. The temple is full of various patterns of lion motifs indicating Narasimha Murthy and may be also due to the royal patronage extended to this temple. The splendid architectural pattern of the inner precincts is comparable to the famed Hoysala temples. The ASI web site informs that this temple is with Chola architectural touches with inscriptions of Chola and Pandya regimes. This temple site is a centrally protected monument under the control of Archaeological Survey of India since 1921.

Thiruvaaleeswaram temple in Ambai Taluk and two rock cut temples of 8^th Century with inscriptions in Varunachimalai near Sankarankovil are the two other monuments and Kunnathur pothai – a yet un-excavated site near Tirunelveli are under central protection in Tirunelveli District.

Few views of this marvel - a ‘Kalthali’ – stone structured temple of Pandya dynasty are as below;

The main entrance to the temple in the second and third circumference walls are West-wards whereas the temple is actually East-wards.

The open corridor between the first and second periphery walls.

The high temple walls are usually made of sized stones assembled with interlocking fixtures in two rows. Inner of these two rows of stone walls are filled with binding materials such as processed lime and bricks.

Following pictures show the splendidly structured and minutely carved inner ‘kostam’ walls and circumference corridor – the inner prahaaram;

It is said the Indian art patterns symbolize ‘water’ among the elements unlike the aggressive ‘fire’ patterns of the Chinese art. Just imagine the abrupt dragon fire of the Chinese pattern which is contrary to our patterns which are usually balancing from a centre point i.e. with symmetric alignments and hence this ambiance brings in a sense of peace and tranquility to the mind of the visitor. The traditional house-‘kolams’ are also of similar in their intrinsic art pattern.

Arjunan thapas – the penance of Arjuna – as a ‘pudaippu’ sculpture i.e. embossed sculpture - on a front mandap pillar. Arjuna is seen in a perfect yogic posture with a boar in the background symbolizing the epic story of Mahabharath. Penance of Arjuna is obviously one of the popular sculptural choices of ancient sculptors - which we can spot in almost all the major temples of Tirunelveli Cheemai. However undoubtedly the master piece of this depiction is that one of the Pallava sculpture found in the Mahabalipuram rock relief. .