TRANSITIONING OF TIME WHEN PALLAVAS MET CHOLAS

There are numerous temples that are there in Kanchipuram that have the architectural values of both chola heritage and Pallava heritage filled with numerous sculptures and artistic value carved In the walls of each temple in Kanchi Puram take for example the kailasanathar temple it is located in the town of Kanchipuram famous for its carvings and architecture 

Built by the cholas and maintained by the Pallavas

While some of them built by Pallavas and maintained by the cholas. 

1. Ekambareshwar temple 

 It is a temple that is located in the town of Kanchipuram that is known to be related to the element of earth basically the temple was built by the Pallava empire then it was beautified by the cholas and also the temple is filled with many carvings and also its famous for its carvings and the fact that it is said that this temple is a marvel of Pallava architecture in fact many people tend to visit this and so many other temples built by the pallavas and beautified by cholas in fact the temple is very massive and also breathtaking the gopuram is massive in size and I was bewildered by the size of the gopuram so tall that you can easily spot this temple from the local highway that connects Kanchipuram to Chennai this place is said to be protected from pralaya or the great flood and the flow of time by the hands of lord shiva himself it is believed that the goddess came and prayed here even though he tried and tested her with a downpour of showers and she won lord shiva over here in fact he came and married her and she manifested as Kamakshi Amman and shiva manifested as Ekambaranathar.

this is me standing beside the temple pond

2. Kamakshi Amman temple 

It is a temple dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi who came here and with deep penance towards lord shiva won over him and married him and assumed the role of goddess of love and prosperity it is still known that many people come and worship her and pray to her before the beginning of a marriage as it is believed that she is the goddess of love and beauty it is still known that she married lord shiva over here under a mango tree and made a shiva linga to pray to him 

This is the story of Kamakshi Amman in fact it is believed that the great Adi Shankara came and prayed to her at one time over here .

3. Ulaganatha Perumal temple 

This is a temple that is dedicated to Vishnu he is actually worshipped as ulagalantha Perumal who is actually the avatar of Vishnu who is worshipped as Vamana the 5th avatar of lord Vishnu who decided to test the loyalty of the asura king Mahabali who was known for his generosity as a king who was ready to give everything to his people his generosity was so powerful that Indra the king of the devas saw him as a threat to the devas and he asked Vishnu to help him out but Vishnu saw that his generosity was genuine much that mahabali was ready to give up his life knowing that vishnu was close to him in fact Vishnu himself praised him and gave him the permanent seat of the king of the netherworld this was the generosity of Mahabali it is also said that when Mahabali attempted to give Vaman 3 paces of land shukra the guru of the asuras saw through the disguise of Vamana and knew him as Vishnu and he tried to restrict Mahabali from giving him the three paces of land it went to such an extent that he transformed to a fly to stop the water from flowing from vamanas kamandalam or pot to be exact but 

Vishnu knowing this took a thorn and poked his eye then afterwards the water flowed and touched his feet thus Ganga who was in the pot at that became sacred since she touched the feet of Vishnu such that whoever goes or sprinkles her water or takes a dip in her waters they attain liberation she actually attains swargaloka because she touched Vishnu’s feet when he came as Vamana there is another story of how Ganga came down to the earth it is part a of king bhagirathas journey a descendant of rama himself who is known to have sought lord shiva's help to bring down the river ganga from swargaloka.

this the legend behind Ulaganatha perumal.

4. kanchi kailasanathar 

this is a temple that is dedicated to lord shiva built by the chola empire famed for its carvings of lord shiva and Dwarabalakas and also an ancient site featuring stunning carvings of lord shiva and his various avatars even the goddess too and his disciples such as agastya and the 63 nayanmars of saivism who were known for spreading saivism throughout tamilnadu and its various parts the most revered amongst the 63 nayanmars are sundarar,tirunavukarasar and thirugnanasambandar also known as the padal petra stalam amongst the 63 nayanmars for the first 2 and thirugnanasambandar lord shiva chose them whereas thirunavukkarasar was a saivite by birth and started to spread saivism after he was redeemed by lord shiva after a period of time before that let me tell you about sekkizhar he was actually a poet famed for spreading about the lives of the 63 nayanmars we actually know about them as he told the king about them first and through him about sundarar and the others we know it as the periya puranam also this puranam contains the life of the 63 nayanmars of saivism which was later recorded by nambiyaruar nambi a vaishnavite by birth who was serving under the empire of raja raja chola it was he who told nambiyarurar nambi to look for sekkizhar works in the vault of the chidambaram temple when he searched for it he found only bits and pieces of sacred texts that later was known as the periya puranam raja raja chola also known as arulmozhi varman made it sure to tell about their lives and make it known amongst the people at that time he was the one who built the famous brihadeeswara temple i wrote about the temple in my previous blog post from chola heartlands to lingothbavar a famous avatar of lord shiva these are some facts about the 63 nayanmars of saivism.

This photo was taken when i first visited kanchi kailasanathar temple this temple is said to be built by the cholas