Far East SRIRANGAM

[Guest guest]

The following report is from THE HINDU issue June 7 1997:

 

CHOLA PERIOD SCULPTURES DISCOVERED.

 

"Several sculptures of 1200 A.D. were discovered during a survey by a

team of archaeologists and historians at TRIBHUVANAM, near

Saliyamangalam, 15 km from Thanjavur. The team headed by Dr R.

Nagaswamy, former director of Archaeology, Kudavasal Balasubramanyam of

Saraswathi Mahal Library, Prof Thyagarajan of Ariyalur and Mr S.

Sachidanandan, a teacher of the village, found that Tribhuvanam was a

township established around 1200 A.D. by Kulothunga Chola III and named

Tribhuvana-vira-puram after his title. AN ANCIENT VISHNU TEMPLE,

DEDICATED TO RANGANATHA and now in ruins, WAS THE CENTRAL PART OF THE

TOWNSHIP. A 14TH CENTURY INSCRIPTION ON THE RUINED BASE OF TEMPLE HAS

MENTIONED THIS FACT. The Vishnu temple is now housed in a small

structure, a few metres in front. The relics of a Siva temple

consisting of a linga and an image of Goddess Parvathi in stone was also

found about one km to the north east. A group of Saivite bronzes,

unearthed here about 50 years ago, were found to be in the Madras

Government museum."

 

COMMENT: Could this Tribhuvana-Kulottunga III be the one who made

amends for his predecessor's rabid intolerance of srivaishnavam? the

one who is said to have remarked that srivaishnavam was not protected by

fortresses of stone; it was SrI rAmAyaNam and tiruvAimozhi which

were the effective wall ('tirumadiL') of protection.

 

I have visited the kuruvAlappar koyil in jayankonDam taluq of the newly

created Perambalur district. It is obvious that the temple is named

after SrI Tirukkurugai-kAvalappan, whom SoTTai-nambi visited when Appan

was practising yoga. The temple is dedicated to SrI vIranArAyaNa

perumAL (same as in SrI nAthamuni's birthplace, vIranArAyaNapuram/

kATTumannArkoyil, near tillai-chitrakUTam/chidambaram); a little east

of kuruvAlappar is the nellitOppu where there is a SrIranganAtha temple

in neglect.

 

Sri Mohan Sagar and Sri K. Srinivasan (of Quebec) had taken a break

(their message May 27) from abstruse metaphysics, and refer to the

SrI ranganAtha temple in Angkor Vat, Cambodia, built by the king

sUryavarman II in 9-11 cent. Sri Srinivasan reasonably surmises that

the king had visited Srirangam, maybe also met SrI nAthamuni/

SrI ALavandAr/uDaiyavar.

 

He remarks that there cd be a reference to this in the Cambodian mss.

Someone, placed in the former Indo-China region and preferably in

Cambodia itself, cd look up a good history of Cambodia/kAmbOja and tell

us about it.

 

I have an English translation of a **Tibetan work (circa 14th cent.) of

Buddhist travelogue which refers to the temple of 'ranganAtha' in

kAnchIpuram; this probably refers to the 'yathOkta-kAri' who is also

in reclension over the Sesha-dalpa. I have an **article published by an

Assamese anthropologist, containing the photograph of a large-size

Central-American (Inca/Maya?) sculpture depicting a deity seated over

the Sesha-dalpa (something like in AihoLe, Karnataka). On a visit to

(north) Korea in Sep'94, I had noticed an imagery like 'SrI' arising

from the sea-waves. The coronation ceremony of the monarch of Thailand

includes recitation of tiruppAvai stanzas (referred to as 'lOrpA',

perhaps in garbled form).

_________________________________

**not readily with me in Memphis.

 

 

The exposure of srIvaishNava influences and concretisations in the

Far East (and possibly in Central America) is a very fascinating study

in itself. Thank U, Srinivasan!

 

aDiyen rAmAnujadAsan, T.S. Sundara Rajan.