<< Our Photo Pages >> Eclipse Commemoration Pavilion near Mamallapuram - Ancient Temple in India
Submitted by liesbethpankaja on Friday, 17 September 2010 Page Views: 5704
Multi-periodSite Name: Eclipse Commemoration Pavilion near MamallapuramCountry: India
NOTE: This site is 24.44 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Mamallapuram
Latitude: 12.363700N Longitude: 80.100100E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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This is a pavilion or mandapa of four by six pillars with a flat roof and originally open on all sides with the front facing South. By the side of this pavilion we find a small shrine for Ganesha and what is left of a sacred tank.
It is found by the side of the East Coast Road just South of Mamallapuram. The pillars are decorated although some have been left unfinished. The reliefs on the pillars depict deities, mythological creatures and abstract symbols. On the base of the front row of pillars we also find depictions of human beings, probably the donors responsible for the building of the mandapa. One figure is sculpted in a completely different style and is probably a later addition.
It depicts a Western trader or sea-captain. The nearby fort of Sadras was a Dutch trading post in the 17th and 18th century. But the really interesting part of this pavilion is its ceiling. It depicts several solar and lunar eclipses together with mythological figures and animals. The eclipses are depicted by cobras approaching a lunar or solar disk. This is known to represent eclipses.
Further we find a sphinx or purushmriga, the saint Kannappa, a gandha-bherunda (double-headed eagle), a whale, a moray eal, scorpions with human faces, a tiger-like animal chasing a deer, a tortoise and a turtle, and many fish. On the outside of the roof-beams we find several heads with fangs and two hands, this is Rahu, the Asura who represents the ascending lunar node. From the arrangement of the eclipse depictions Raja Deekshithar, the person who discovered them, concluded that a total solar eclipse was depicted through the symbol of a lotus medallion.
Raja Deekshithar suggests tentatively the possible date of one of the eclipses depicted could be Mahashivaratri on February 21st 1300. He also thought some of the animals depicted, for instance the scorpions, could be references to the constellations in which the commemorated eclipses occured.
For a complete introduction and discription with lots more photos please see his article on Asian Art:
Mysterious Pavilion: Document in stone of astronomical events.
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