For most people, temple visits are about walking the limen between the mundane and the divine, trying to touch God, and finding an outlet for your sorrows and aspirations. However, if one decides to look beyond rites and customary expressions of devotion, you might hear the walls singing the tales from your favourite epics, teeming with exquisite art and architecture, becoming a world that is truly divine.
The Janal Talks, a series of talks organised by the Kerala Museum, had Dr Preeta Nayar granting aesthetes admittance into the world of temples. The evening witnessed the supposed water-tight chambers of devotion opening up to every lover of art, reading the house of gods as the house of melding of sculptural art and architecture.
The anatomy of a wooden love story: Why it became what it did
Dr Preeta Nayar started the conversation by providing a history of the state and placing added emphasis on the fact that the climatic conditions (specifically the monsoon patterns), geology, geography, and the availability of timber and laterite stone shaped the construction of temples in the state. The earliest phase of temple architecture (dated between the sixth and eighth century CE) was represented by cave and rock-cut temples, for example, the surviving Kallil Bhagavathy temple in Ernakulam and Kottukal cave temple in Kollam.
The structural temples were erected around the ninth and tenth century CE, as indicated by epigraphical references. This period was followed by governmental records of the evolution of structural temples in three progressive stages—Early phase (800-1000 CE), middle phase (1001-1300 CE), and late phase (1301-1800 CE)—constructed in accordance with “vastushastram” and “thachushastram”. She also opined that the availability of wood would be another reason for wood carvings predominating stone and metal in Kerala’s temples. The architects’ predilection for wood is also reflected in the exuberant wooden panels, beams, brackets, rafters, pillars and ceilings. However, these wooden structures were never exclusive and were supported by stone and metal.
Just another temple visit?
If you are preparing for another morning (or evening) temple visit, let it not be a damp walk right into the sanctum sanctorum, with a list of wants and complaints.
The layout of a conventional Kerala temple has five enclosures or “pancha prakaras,” namely: “antarmangala/akathe balivattom”, “antahara”, “madhyahara”, “bahyahara/purathe balivattom”, and “maryada/puram matil.” “Maryada” encompasses the “gopuram” (entrance gateway) and “oottupura.”
“Maryada” in itself is a sight to behold for art lovers, as many wealthy temples, like the Guruvayoor temple, have commissioned mural art for the outer wall. The entrance gateways, often positioned at four cardinal points, are wonderous carvings, from the “sreemukham” (which can include scenes from “kiratharjuneeyam”) to its base (which houses the Ganapathi, “gopikavasthrapaharanam,” “thadaka vadham” etc.). In the case of Cheruvathur Veerabhadreswara temple, in the Kasaragod district, the doors, pillars, brackets, and ceilings of the “gopura mandapam” are home to floral designs, as well as anecdotes from the puranas.
The fourth prakaram or the “bahyahara includes the circumambulatory path, “balikkalmadapam”, “balikkal”, “deepasthambham”, “koothambalam”, subsidiary shrines, “dwajasthambham”, and “anakkootil”.
The “dwajasthambham” (flagstaff), at times, bears on top a composite figurine of the primary deity’s vehicle, and the base has complex representations of the “ashtadhikpalakas”. The “balikkalmandapam” is home to the principal “balikkal” and would have ceilings with wooden sculptures of the “ashtadhikpalakas” or “navagrahas”, beams with mythical story panels and brackets with divine or semidivine figures. The “balikkal”, carved in stone, represents the commander-in-chief of the deity in the primary temple, like “Harisenan” for Vishnu or “Harasenan” for Shiva temples.
In short, every nook and corner of the temple carries a story cut out from the epics and some of the stories are also painted on the structures. The “koothambalam”, or the temple theatre, is ideal for aficionados of performing arts and is also home to exceptional sculptures carved on the ceiling and pillars.
The third prakaram, “madhyahara”, includes the “vilakkumadam,” a galaxy of lamps, though its presence is limited to the major temples. Amidst this glowing structure sits another “unhappy,” bearing the deities or mythical animals.
The second prakaram or “antahara” comprises of the “nalambalam”, “valiyambalam”, “titappalli”, and “mulayara”. The nalambalam is the pillared open hall surrounding the “srikovil”, and the broad side of the nalambalam facing the “srikovil” is called valiambalam.
In an interesting example, Dr Nayar highlighted the peculiarity of Kerala temples lacking strong sectarian passions, as in the door lintel of the “nalambalam” at the Vadavanthur Maha Vishnu temple, the carvings capture Ananthashayi Vishnu offering flowers to the Shivalinga. The pillars of the hall are often made of stone, containing exquisite carvings of deities. “Titappally” is the holy kitchen, and the “mulayara” is where the germination of cereals and pulses, used for tantric rites, happened.
The first and innermost prakaram is called the “antarmandala,” containing the “namaskara mandapam”, “balikkals”, temple well, and the “srikovil”.
The “namaskara mandapam” is a square-shaped pavilion with a raised platform as well as beams and pillars with intricate decorative elements, carved in stone or wood.
The ceiling of the namaskara mandapam at Avittathur Mahadeva temple is such that it can trap you in a trance for hours. Similarly, the brackets of Sree Madiyan Koolom temple, in Kasaragod district, have a picturesque manifestation of the Krishna Leela and an excerpt from the Ramayana.
The “balikkals” in stone along the “prathakshinapatha” are art in themselves, representing the eight deities (ashtadhikpalakas), “saptamatrikas,” and “bhoothanathas.” In your temple journey, you might also come across the “nirmalayadhari,” a doppelganger of the Shiva linga, that is nothing but a close associate of the primary deity, like Chandeshwara for Shiva and Mundini for Durga. “Shrikovil” is the principal shrine of the temple and it could be circular, square, apsidal, or even elliptical or octagonal, something that you are likely to miss if you do not pay close attention. The architecture is so meticulous that it is brimming with art even in the “sopanam,” the flight of steps to the shrikovil.
In many temples, sopanam resembles rolled-up tongues of “vyalis”, or they carry relief sculptures. Guarding the srikovil are towering figurines called the “dwarapalas” and the “dwarapalikas.”
In Vishnu temples, the members of the duo are named Shankhapani and Chakrapani, and in Durga temples, they are named Jaya and Vijaya. The walls of the srikovil are mostly made in granite; either plain, plastered, painted or sculpted. Dr Nayar mentioned that the decorative devices include “kudya sthambhas (pilaster motifs),” “toranas” with makara arches, “shala shikaras,” and “kapotha pinjaras.”
What Dr Preeta Nayar provided is a beautiful delineation of art and architecture in words. To understand the beauty of this world in all its glory, one should start viewing the house of gods as houses of art and architecture. The world of wonder is not only inside the temple, but the beauty also percolates into structures surrounding the temple, like the temple pond of Sree Madiyan Koolom temple, which sings the Ramayana story. To sum it up, “a thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.”
