CHENNAI: The Kayarohaneshwara temple in Kanchipuram is one of the lesser-known ancient Siva shrines in this town. This east-facing temple does not have a gopuram but only an entrance gate leading to the outer enclosure (prakaram) which in turn leads to the inner prakaram wherein is a bali-pitham and a Nandi mandapam. In front of the Nandi is a small perforated stone window through which the main Lingam can be seen.
The entrance to the main sanctum is from the south side through a doorway opening into a mandapa where the metal images of Nataraja and Sivakami are kept. The east-facing Siva Linga is worshipped as Kayarohaneshwara, behind which is a Somaskanda image (Siva seated next to Parvati, with their son Skanda on the lap of Parvati) flanked by Vishnu and Brahma.
Close by is a metal image of Goddess Kamalambikai (Parvati). The tradition connected with this temple (Sthala Puranam) mentions that Siva carried Brahma and Vishnu on His shoulders during the great deluge (pralaya). This is why Siva here is worshipped as Kayarohaneshwara, since he carried the kaya (body) of Brahma and Vishnu.
An important feature of the main sanctum is that it is in an apsidal shape which in technical parlance is known as Gajaprishta (in Samskrit, ‘gaja’ is elephant and ‘prishta’ is back), In Tamil it is known as ‘thunganai-madam’ which means that it is like the back of a sleeping elephant. The first structure belonging to this category of architecture in Tamil Nadu is seen in a monolithic temple in Mamallapuram which belongs to the Pallava times of the 7th century A.D.
Subsequently, when the Cholas conquered the Pallavas and ruled over their territory comprising mostly the northern part of present-day Tamil Nadu, they too started to construct some of their temples in the gaja-prishta style. Many of these temples can be seen even today and most of them are still in worship.
The devakoshta (niches) on the walls of this gajaprishta sanctum have images of Ganesha, Dakshinamurti, Vishnu, Brahma and Durga. There are separate sanctums in the prakaram for Karpaga Vinayaka, Shanmukha (Subramanya) with consorts Valli and Devayanai, Mahalakshmi, Chandikeshwara, Navagraha, Guru Bhagavan, Bhairava and Surya. Many of these have been consecrated in this temple in much later times.
Apsidal shaped shrine
The main sanctum is apsidal in shape (gajaprishta vimanam)
First seen in
The first structure belonging to this category of architecture in Tamil Nadu is seen in a monolithic temple in Mamalla-puram which belongs to the Pallava times
Know your city
The Kayarohaneshwara temple is in Pillaiyapalayam, a locality in Kanchipuram
Coordinates: 12.81° N, 79.69° E
Chithra Madhavan
cityexpresschn@gmail.com
The writer is a historian who focuses on temple architecture