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Iconographic feature of Lord Padmanabha Swamy
And in response to Dr S. Kalyanaraman's article "S'ilpa of Anantas'ayana and cosmic creation"
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Sayana poses of Narayana have already been classified by religious teachers of the past based on philosophical factors.
As such the 8 sayana poses of Narayana.They are
1. UdhyOga Sayanam ( Thirukkudanthai AarAvamudhan ) ,
2. Darbha Sayanam ( ThiruppullANi ) ,
3. Sthala Sayanam( Thirukkadal Mallai ),
4. Bhoga Sayanam ( Thillai Thirucchitthira kUtam ) ,
5. MaaNikka Sayanam ( Thiruneer malai),
6. Veera Sayanam (ParimaLa RanganAthan at Thiru InthaLUr )
7. Vata patra Sayanam (SrivilliputtUr)
8. Bhujanga Sayanams at 20 divya Desams .
Padmanabha swamy of Trivandrum is Bhujanga Sayanam. In Bhujanga sayanam, Perumal's head will be resting on his shoulder. In this pose, the hand is out stretched. The iconographic description of this hand by Mayamatham says that it could be depicted as holding the mace or supporting the head. So what is told in Mayamatham is Bhujanga sayanam. Srirangam and Thiruppaarkkadal, the two important shrines of Narayana which show his cosmic sayana, are also in Bhujanga Sayana. 20 out of 27 sayana poses of Narayana in Divya deasa are in Bhujanga sayana. This shows the predominance of this pose as denoted by Mayamatham.
The Shiva linga in Padmanabha swamy temple is not a normal occurrence. I indicated the possible interference by Cheran Senkuttuvan. Even in Chidambaram, such kind of interference is not seen. In Chidambaram, Govidarajar's pose is that of Bhoga sayana with bent hand and the palm supporting the head. It is a relaxed pose of enjoying the cosmic dance of Shiva.
Mayamatham gives the pose of "Harihara" as a fused form of Vishnu and Shiva which I have not yet seen in my life. This is like Ardhanarishwara with left half depicting Vishnu with conch and mace and the right half depicting Shiva with trident and axe. (Mayamatham – chapter 36 verses 90 & 91). The rarity of this image shows the non-takers for this form for worship. Instead when a king became powerful and influential he had chosen to interfere with the existing form rather than installing a fused form of Harihara in a new temple. His purpose is to establish the supremacy of his cult and not to accord equal acceptance to both.
Sangam literature is replete with descriptions of how influential kings like Karikala and Nedum chezhiyan had destroyed the temples in enemy's country. Coimbatore region has some temples destroyed by opponent kings who were Tamils. In these instances, the cause for destruction is non-acceptance of Pashanda sects.
- Jayasree
Dr S. Kalyanaraman has sent me the link to 30 rare photos of Harihara of which- 3 are from Thailand, 3 from Nepal, of which one shows Lakshmi and Parvathy along with Harihara, 1 from Bangladesh, 3 from Cambodia with a different head gear / crown and the rest from India. There is one from Mahabalipuram too. Predominantly located at Badami caves and to some extent in Rajasthan and in Gupta region. Mostly ranging from 4th to 11th century AD.
ReplyDeletehttp://huntington.wmc.ohio-state.edu/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=getResults&recID=21&listOfKeyWords=Hari%20Hara&CFID=14182177&CFTOKEN=24756129
A striking feature is that none of them were main deities from a temple. Though they are all housed in museums now, it can be made out that these sculptures were found in Mantaps or in pillars of temples. But as per Mayamatham, Harihara is one of the main deities and not an attendant deity nor even a secondary deity. So the worship of Harihara as main deity must have existed 2000 years ago.
I think by 2000 years BP, separate sects as Saivite and Vaishnavite had come into place. We can quote Manimegalai (Tamil epic) as a proof for this. This book closely following Silappadhikaram makes it a 1st or 2nd century AD book. In Sangam Tamil too, no fusion of Shiva and Vishnu can be cited. There are no exclusive sangam poems on Shiva as there are with Vishnu (Paripadal) but the entire sangam assembly was headed by Shiva of Madurai / Kavaatapuram aka Alavaai / South Madurai.
As most of these images have been found in North India, I think Harihara worship was predominant in North India. There could have existed temples of Harihara but lost due to Muslim invasion. Harihara- Bukka / Vijayanagara kings were perhaps the last dynasty to have patronized this God. Such patronization of Harihara did not exist in ancient Tamil lands.
My big thanks to Dr S. Kalyanaraman for spotting these pics and sending them to me.
There is a place called Harihar where the temple of Harihareswara is found. The link is
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harihareshwara_Temple
Dr S. Kalyanaraman has sent more links:
//Some more:
Two good links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harihara
http://puratattva.in/2012/10/26/harihar-1984.html
Harihareshwara Temple at Harihar in Karnataka state, India, was built in c. 1223–1224 CE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harihareshwara_Temple
Harihara temple, Hampi, Karnataka http://www.indianetzone.com/42/harihara_temple.htm
Harihara temple, Bhadrak (Orissa) http://wikimapia.org/10880901/LORD-HARIHARA-TEMPLE
Harihara temple, Keonjar, Orissa http://peperonity.com/go/sites/mview/keonjhar/14014300/14018245
Lingaraja Temple, Orissa (Close to Udayagiri, Khandagiri caves)
http://www.cultureholidays.com/Temples/lingaraja.htm
Harihra temples, Ossian, Jodhpur http://www.jodhpurindia.net/ossian-city-temples/harihara-temples.html
https://www.facebook.com/HariHaraDevasthanamTemple Port Louis, Mauritius
http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/india/halebid/hal07.html
Ma'm,
ReplyDeleteThere exist a Sanakara Narayanar Kovil in Sankaran Kovil where Shiva and Vishnu exists as a Hariharan.
This is a famous shrine in south Tamil nadu.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZtoNM9Q6_U
Namaskara Smt. Jayasree,
ReplyDeleteThe Harihara tatva also seems to be popular in Andhra Pradesh. I have not seen any temples for this diety, but have seen pictures of Hariharanatha in many telugu smartha households. When I enquired further, I was told that Tikkana Somayaji, who translated a good portion of Vyasa's Mahabharata into Telugu has popularized this tatwa in Andhra desha. Tikkana says that Hariharanatha appeared in his dream and asked him to translate Mahabharata into Telugu. I think Hariharanatha form also resonates with the Smartha Advaitic thought of Hari and Hara being one and the same and a manifestation of the ONE Nirguna Brahma. This is of course in complete contrast with the Visishtaadvaita and Dwaita viewpoints that are monistic and establish supremacy of Vishnu over everyone including Shiva.
K V Narayanachar
Thank you Madam, once again,for your scholarly articles and bringing to light facts that we are unaware of. Still amazed at your wide knowledge!!!
ReplyDeletereg Bhujanga sayanam -one should understand properly- The word "Bhuj" means bend or twisted or coiled implying the meaning of serpent as well as hand which also can be twisted like a serpent in any shape. so we presumed that this word means only hand. it could be also pointed towards a coiled serpent based on the above meaning of word " Bhuj" i am a frequent traveler to bhuj a border town with Rann of kutch in gujarat that borders with pakistan. when you see from the aeroplane the bhuj fort wall has a long multiple bends like a serpent.when you come out from the airport ( now civilian airport but previously military airport as air force base is there ) to reach the town and further towards kandla port the road will have so much bends to reach bhuj. This fort is controlled by military and there is a temple for a big snake presumably "adiseshan" .The name of this serpent deity is "Bhujangan" and this temple is opened for public by army only on three days during Naga panchami days falling in aadi month (july-aug) when we have to get permission from army to go over to this temple which is very oldest with puranic background. so based on this theory that bhujangan is the snake adiseshan and hence the sayanam is on serpent and it does not imply meaning of hands alone. kindly give your comments.
ReplyDeleteMr Skm, Mr Narayana and Mr rk,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
Posted another article as a continuation of this blog.
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/11/some-insights-into-form-and-worship-of.html
Dear Mr Kudanthaiamudhan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your erudite views. Bhuja and Bhujanga do mean serpent. But all these 8 sayana postures are on serpent only. Why then they single out 20 out of 27 poses on serpent as Bhujanga sayana? Why other 7 sayana poses were given different names?
Bhuja also means arm. Only in this pose, the arm is stretched out and even supporting the head on the shoulder region. Moreover Mayamatham says that this hand of Anantha shayin either supports the head or holds the mace. Your comments please.
I am curious to know if any murthy of Anantashayin is there with a mace in the right hand.
madam,
ReplyDeletethis question is not related to this post.
This year north-east monsoon in tamilnadu is not good. everyone is disappointed. south-west monsoon we had received more than enough. why incase of north-east it is not same. what planetary is telling. please write one post anout it. this year shall we get enough rain.
North east monsoon is on. It mostly comes as depression and cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. Since April this year Bay depressions are bringing rain to the east coast of India. The direction of origin of these storms is south east. The century's worst cyclone hit Philippines from south eastern direction recently. China and India are also experiencing rainfall from cyclones coming from southneast.
ReplyDeleteIn part 5 of the series of Rainfall astrology I had written about 9 Meghas of which Tamo Megha is applicable this year. Read here.
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/04/rainfall-prediction-part-5-planetary.html
This is supposed to bring plenty of rainfall and emerging from south east direction. Since the beginning of this year (at Chithrai)this is seen. Next year it is Vayu megha. Vayu would shatter the rain clouds and this would result in scanty rainfall.
Even in the US, the SE- NW oriented tornados are still hitting as late as November. A record high of tornados have hit US this year ensuring heavy rainfall.
Dear Ms Jaysi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy most of your blogs. May you start all your works as audio or video format. You know very well that audio is the original form of knowledge imparting.
Thanks for the suggestion. It will take time to do as you say as I am busy now.
ReplyDeleteVaishnava's claim that Anantapadmanabhaswamy is placing right palm on linga as a mark of benediction.
ReplyDeleteIs that the case?. I think Vaishnava devotees are forced to worship both the deities in this form.
@ Mr Athma,
ReplyDeleteIt is not true. Padmanabha swamy's image does not obey the iconographic rules. The image of linga was perhaps made by Cheran king of Silappadhikaram fame. I have written the details in my blog https://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2013/11/maize-in-hands-of-temple-deities.html from which I am reproducing here the relevant parts.
Describing the iconography of Anantasayin in Chapter 36 and verse 26, Mayamatham says that Vishnu in ananta sayana ( reclining posture on snake-bed) must be depicted with 4 hands. Upper two hands would hold Shanku and Chakra. Of the other two, the left hand holds a flower and the right hand holds his weapon, the mace. Mayamatham mentions "sapushpO Vaama hasthE". It does not say what flower it could be.
The image of Padmanabha swamy is an unusual posture of Anantasayin. Why and how this posture came in to place is a question. What I am going to say here as an explanation may not be palatable to some but there exists some un-publicized event that could throw some light on the difference in this posture.
This deity (Padmanabha swamy) is mentioned twice in Silappadhikaram. Trivandrum or the abode of this God was known as "Adagamaadam" (ஆடகமாடம்) in Silappadhikaram. {Aadagam means Gold}. Madhari, the Yadava woman who did the famous Aicchiyar Kuravai song- dance in Silappadhikaram died by entering into fire after she heard the sad end of Kovalan and Kannagi. In her next birth she was born in the family of the Priest of Padmanabha swamy temple. Silappadhikaram says this and in that context the info on Lord at Adagamaadam comes. ("ஆடகமாடத் தரவணைக் கிடந்தோன் சேடக் குடும்பியின் சிறுமகள் ஈங்குளாள்" Silappadhikaram chapter 30, line 51)
Another context is that the Cheran King Seguttuvan was preparing to go on his Northern expedition to the Himalayas. At that time the priests of Padmanabha temple were waiting to offer him the "Sedam" (sevadi > Sadaari - meaning the feet) of Lord of Adagamaadam. But the king did not take it on his head as he already had Lord Shiva's feet on his crown. So he took up Lord Padmanabha's sEdam on his shoulders. Commentators write that this sEdam is the garland. Since Lord Shiva's sedam (garland) was on his head, the king could not take Padmanabha's sedam on his head and so he took it in his shoulders.
I differ from this view. By the description that Shiva's feet (Sevadi), it is deduced that he is an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and "sedam" refers to Sevadi or feet of Lord or sadari. The head of the devotee is touched by the sadari (Sedam in Tamil in Silappadhikaram) to mean the the Lord's feet touches in the head of the devotee. There is reference to this Alwar's verses too and there are sculptures in temples showing the Lord (any deity) putting his feet on the head of the devotee seated below in reverence.
The priests of the Shiva temple had already offered the SEdam – Sevadi to the Cheran king. (Today there is no practice of offering Sadari in Shiva temples) It is also possible to assume that the king had the feet of Shiva engraved on the crown on his head. Or the king could have offered his prayers to Lord Shiva by placing his head on the feet of Lord Shiva. Now the priests of Vishnu temple (Padmanabha swamy of Adagamaadam) had come to meet him to offer the sEdam of Lord Padmanabha. But the King did not take up the sadari on his head but instead took it on his shoulders.
This shows that this king (Cheran Senkuttuvan) was basically a Siva Devotee. By his refusal to take the Sedam of Padmanabha swamy on his head, one can understand the extent of his 'tolerance' or 'acceptance' of Padmanabha swamy (or any form of Vishnu). This gives room to believe that he (the king) could have interfered in the tradition of this temple and in an attempt to establish the superiority of Shiva over Vishnu, forced them to have a linga near Padmanabha swamy in such a way that Padmanabha swamy could be seen to offer puja to Shiva linga.
(cont'd)
Such interferences were common in the first millennium of the common era.
ReplyDeleteBy this I am coming to say in reply to your question that there is no Shiva puja connected with Padmanabha swamy. Vaishnava devotees see Vishnu in anantasayin pose in that deity. The Main deity (Moolavar) is very clearly seen in Anantasayin pose as explained in Myamantham that I wrote above. They have placed the Linga underneath the right hand of the deity holding a flower as per inconographic rules.
This change must have happened in Cheran Senkuttuvan's times or even before him. His successors also could have been staunch Shiva devotees thereby not giving any room for reclaiming the original posture. Since king's edicts were strict and feared, no one would have opened their mouth about the change and thus in few generations, this would have been forgotten and lost from memory.
I must thank madam Jayasree for her painstaking reply for which I am grateful.
ReplyDeleteThis sincerity is a rare qualification seen only in truly great personages.