Adbutha Simham at Maddur

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Adbutha Simham

 

Maddur, is a sleepy town about 11/2 hr by train from Bangalore, and roughly the

same distance from Mysore. Children are hungry and eagerly awaiting this station

where delicious masala dosa and vada - Maddur vada - can be had. The train stops

and off they go. Luckily a vendor is nearby. Frantically orders are given and

one lad zips back with the delicious smelling tiffen. The lass pays the money,

urges the vendor to give the remnant quickly and sprints for the train. The joke

is on them. The train remains put for ten minutes, they need not have hurried.

The whole family is busy devouring the goodies...

By road from Mysore, Maddur is about 90 minutes. The Mysore Bangalore road is

superb. One itches to take the wheel of the car. Aged relatives are accompanying

us and the driver has been instructed to stay on the right side of 80kmph. Wrong

side we say.

Just outside Mysore is Srirangapattana, bastion of Tipu and his pater, more

importantly for us SriRanganatha reclines there in all His splendour. Then onto

the sweet sweet Mandya famous(infamous?) for its water hungry sugarcane fields,

the domain of Lord Janardhana. Then comes Maddur and Mallur follows. These

somnolent towns remind one of the incomparable R.K.Narayan's Malgudi.

Actually we go to Mallur,pronounced by the locals as Mayyur, first about 20 kms

away. We are just that wee bit late. Lord Ramaprameya denies us darshan. We have

a glimpse of the winsome and mischievous vennai thazhi Krishna through the

locked grilled door. He is on all four, no three, with one hand holding a butter

ball. Both His knees are on the floor one ahead of another. He has lovely curly

hair ...mai vannam nerum kunji... kuti lalaka samyuktham... Small decorative

cradles are hung above Him. He is famed for granting children to the childless.

We will have to revisit Mallur, which is on the four lane highway, to be graced

by Aprameya and Krishna.

 

Disappointed, we hasten to Maddur. It is so named because gunpowder and cannon

balls used to be manufactured here. Ugra Narasimha temple is about half to three

quarters of a kilometer from the main road. There too we are just that bit late.

Luckily for us the archaka comes back and it turns out that he is well known to

our uncle. We are ushered in and after the brilliant sunshine it takes some time

for our eyes to accomodate to the shady sanctum.

Time for a rewind. Krishna and His beloved saka, pal, Arjuna were walking

thereabouts in the fag end of Dwapara yuga. It is one of the ironies of the

sport of our Lord that His beloved Arjuna did not attain moksha. The only sishya

of the original Jagadguru, Krishnam vande jagadgurum...Arjuna went to swarga

inspite of being singularly fortunate to have listened to Geetha shastra from

the coralline lips of Vaasudeva Himself. Well, thats another story.

Arjuna requests Krishna to show him His avatara, incarnation, as the wonderful

Nrisimha, Man-Lion. Krishna demurs saying that He cannot reprise that hyper

energetic role as the world will not be able to bear it. Instead He asks Brahma

to build a temple with an icon of Nrisimha in His most ferocious form. The

temple is small. The courtyard in front is shaded by a canopy formed by creepers

let loose over a metal frame. This is a standard feature of most temples in the

small towns of Mysore. In fact the shrub in front of Sri Ranganayaki's shrine in

Sivasamudra, Mohanaranga's asthana, is rumoured to be about 400 to 500 years

old!

A small many pillared mandapa leads to the sanctum. The curtain is drawn aside

and Nrisimha is revealed in all His glory. He is neither sitting nor standing.

At his feet are Garuda and Prahalada. Their stature is very small. On his lap is

Hiranyakasipu. Our Lord has eight hands and two of them are hidden within His

mighty foe's abdomen. Another pair of upper limbs hold aloft the entrails of the

asura as a garland. One pair of hands hold the traditional Sankha and Chakra.

The fourth pair hold pasha, rope and ankusha, goad. Lord Nrisimha is hailed as

....mrithyum mrithyum namamyaham... He is death itself to the god of death.

He has three eyes. Most wonderfully the third eye is between the inner ends of

the eyebrows. It is small and round. In Vaishnava iconography Sudarshana,

chakrathazhwar is depicted with three eyes and the third eye is in the centre of

the forhead a la Shiva. Nrisimha is also shown with three eyes in many temples,

usually the accessory eye is in the forehead. Here it is at the nasion, the root

of the nose and is circular.

Our Lord's face is ferocious and his fangs can be seen. His nasal bridge,fangs

and tounge are covered by silver foils, as is His moustache. It is as if a six

petalled silver flower has bloomed in the lower part of His face. He is about

seven feet tall.

The utsavar is in small side room just in front of the sanctum sanctorum.

As a regular visitor to the Metta Azhagiyasingar sannidhi at Srirangam one can't

help comparing these two Nrisimhas. Metta Azhagiyasingar is small and is

exquisite. He too has eight hands and the right uppermost one, prefectly

sculpted, is held high in an abhaya mudra. He is considered the guardian deity

of the Srirangam temple and His sanctum was repaired and rebuilt by Kaliyan,

Thirumangaiazhwar himself. It was this Nrisimha who granted approval to Kamba

Ramayana when it was first presented. Scholars, as is their wont, had objected

to Vibeeshana recounting Nrisimha's story to Ravana just before being kicked

away, as this is not to be found in Valmiki's Ramayana. Suddenly a thunderous

peal of laughter was heard from the sanctum high up and all gathered in the

mandapa at the base, in front of Periya Piratti's sanctum, were thrilled. This

was taken as the seal of approval and since then Kamba Ramayana is exalted as

the best Tamil work.

Two of Metta Azhagiyasingar's hands are inside the asura's tummy and our Lord

has him in His lap as He squats on bent knees. A small Prahalada with folded

hands appears to be holding up His left knee and lap. Some times when

Hiranyakasipu's face is seen, one is surprised to behold that he is smiling. The

carving is delicate and skillful. On the right side our Lord has chakra and a

small sword almost like a dagger in the remaining two hands. On the left He has

sankha, ankusha and nagapasha in the three left hands. Metta Azhagiyasingar also

has three eyes and the third one is in His forehead. This temple is high up and

the stairs are hewn from rock and are narrow and uneven, hence few visit this

sanctum. But we can say without doubt that this Nrisimha is truly personable, a

veritable Azhagiyasingar, handsome lion!

Back to Maddur. After feasting our eyes on Nrisimha we come out. The young

brahmachari then takes us to temple to the right. Boys are playing cricket under

a huge tree. Play is held up as the elders cross the road. We climb about 20

steps and stand stunned. A massive, about 18 feet high figure of Sriman Narayana

is in front of us.

Another flash back. King Vishnuvardhana, who was enlightened by Sri Ramanuja to

shed his former faith and embrace Visistadvaita and Sri Sampradaya had a mother

who had lost her eyesight. He approached his mentor who advised him to take her

to Kanci and pray to Sri Perarulalan, Vardarajan, who gives whatever is asked.

Due to old age she was unfit to travel. The king built a temple for Sri

Varadarajan and consecrated this massive image. Our Lord is in the standing pose

and has shanka,chakra and gadha. His lower right hand is in the abhaya mudra. He

has beautiful eyes, a characterstic of deities in Karnataka. To garland Him one

has to climb up about ten steps.

The peerless Kurathazhvan who sacrificed his eyes for Ramanuja darshana was

granted sight by Sri Varadarajan. Similarly the king's mater got back her

vision. Since then He is hailed here in Maddur as Kanci Kannu Vardarajan. The

temple appears to have been recently renovated.

We worship our Lord and return the way we came. Though we are disappointed that

we were not able to have darshan of Aprameyan and Krishna at Mallur, we thank

our Lord for blessing us in Maddur, that too, twice.

Dr.S.Sundar Rajan Trichy

Mar 8 2010.