Among South Indian architectural edifices, Vettuvan Koil, a monolithic temple in Tamil Nadu’s Kazhugumalai, deserves special mention. A sculptor’s paradise, it is a monolithic temple like the Pancha Rathas in Mamallapuram and the Kailasanatha temple in Ellora.
Kazhugumalai, near Kovilpatti in today’s Thoothukudi district, is a small village also known for its large structure, the Kazhugachalamurthy temple. Beautiful images of Jain figures carved on rock too are found in the place.
This village was anciently known as Araimalai or Thirumalai. It has been referred to in Pandyan inscriptions as Necchhuram and Tirunecchhuram. Interestingly, the antiquity of the place may be traced back to Megalithic culture. A good number of urn burials found here attest to human habitation here during the Megalithic and successive periods.
Vettuvan Koil was excavated under the patronage of an early Pandyan King Parantakan Nedunjadaiyan. But not much historical information is available about the monolithic structure except for a myth about the artists. According to a popular version, it is said that the monolith was excavated by a father and son. The son began to work from the top and could complete all sculptures, while the father, carving from the bottom, could not finish the work. There was some problem between them that ended in the killing of the son. The lower portion of the monolith is unfinished while the upper portion has been completed with beautiful sculptures. Vettuvan Koil in Tamil means the heaven of sculptors. However, beyond this popular story, the reason for the incomplete work must be something else.
Vettuvan Koil, dedicated to Lord Siva, is a small monument with a rectangular plan. It is excavated about 7.5 metres deep into the rock. The temple has a pavement around the main structure, provided for easy circumambulation. Dated to around 760-800 CE, Vettuvan Koil has a Dravida vimana emerging from the rectangular rock. Unfinished at the lower level, the temple is completed from the roof-kapota portion to the shikhara. The shikhara is an eka-tala vimana with sculptural embellishments on the first level and also on the neck level of the octagonal stupi. On the corners of the stupi are four figures of seated Nandis. Architecturally, the shikhara emerges directly from the kapota (canopy) with frontal projected lions as dentils of its base. The shikhara consists of a beautifully and elaborately carved shala panjara in the centre, followed by karna kutas that have frontally projected chaitya niches. These niches are decorated with exceptionally beautiful sculptures of divinities seated in graceful postures, all around the square form of the shikhara.
The sculptures of Gods are present on the outer face of the shikhara along with gana, apsara and gandharva-yaksha figures. They decorate the abode of Siva and form part of the retinue of the main divinities. The Vettuvan Koil sculptural programme follows the traditions that were well established and the sculptures are found in their prescribed places. Nevertheless, the artists appear to have enjoyed the maximum freedom in sculptural expressions. Sculptures of divinities are carved on all four cardinal directions in front of the stupi: Dakshinamurthy, Umasahita Murti (Siva with Parvati), Narasimha and Brahma. In the first tala, various forms of Siva, Parvati, Skandha and Vishnu are found.
The fascinating aspect of the sculptures is that usually the images are depicted in samabhanga (straight frontal) postures. Here, the sculptures are in asana (seated) postures. It appears that even the iconographic texts are silent about these. The sculpture of Dakshinamurthy is depicted playing the mridangam. It is a rare and unique example of Siva as Dakshinamurthy in the act of playing a percussion instrument. In fact in entire peninsular India, there are no such sculptures hitherto known. Siva is seated on the peetha, right leg folded and kept flat, and the mridangam is kept on it. The left leg is on the apasmara—the ignorance personified as a gana-like figure. Siva Dakshinamurthy has four arms, with the upper hands having a parashu and sarpa. The other sculptures of Siva carved on the first tala are highly graceful and refined in style. The seated posture appears very casual and comfortable. In the figure of Vishnu, an almost similar posture is carved; in his upper hands, He has the shankha and a chakra held in prayoga mudra; the lower right hand has bahubeeja phala and the lower left one is casually kept on the ground. The sculptures of Skanda and Parvati also appear in the same strata of the shikhara. Parvati is seated on the projected space of the tala in a rare posture for a divinity, but one that is common for women in South India. Her right leg is folded up, while the left one is kept flat on the ground. The details and youthful look make the image very serene. Narasimha is seated in leelasana, while Brahma is in padmasana. The sculptures on the shikhara make it an artist’s heaven as all of them are carved with a great sense of beauty and creativity.
Vettuvan Koil, in its conception and style of architecture, follows the set typologies of the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram and the Virupaksha Temple in Pattadakal. However, the monolithic temple remains a unique monument because of its beautiful and enchanting images, which possibly inspired some of the sculptures in Ellora’s Kailasanatha temple.
R H Kulkarni
Professor, Dept of Art History, College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath
(rhkulkarniarthistory@gmail.com)