Chola Frescoes at Tanjore Big Temple

After my eyes feasted and my lens scanned the spectacular stone sculpted images of Brihadeeswara Temple, I moved on to the murals on the walls around the temple. These huge murals are now of great interest to the historians, mainly because three different styles have been portrayed through them. The Nayak and Maratha paintings were known for long. In 1931 the Chola frescoes were accidentally discovered by S.K. Govindaswami, a young history lecturer from Annamalai University. The Nayaks who ruled in 17th century had painted in their own style over the Chola frescoes.



Lord Shiva is depicted in various forms, each mural telling a story, even hairdos of queens, their ornaments drawn in detail. The fine proportions in the drawings make them comparable to the frescoes of Ajanta.



Click to enlarge the pictures to see the details and some of them peeling off at the edges.

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Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur

The Brihadeeswarar Temple is the oldest among the Group of Chola Temples, World Heritage Site in Tamil Nadu, India. It was built in 1010, that is exactly ten centuries back! Raja Raja I of Chola empire (985 - 1014 A.D.) dedicated it to Lord Shiva, as Nataraja, the king of cosmic dance.

The temple is a 13 storey tower made out of granite, the shikhara (dome) alone is believed to weigh almost 80 tonnes. No matter wherever you are in the city of Thanjavur you can see this Big Temple and it is a great point of reference if you get lost. The sheer size and the detailed sculptures on the facade just swept me off my feet. At the top of the shikhara is a metal vase with a lotus design, that has inscriptions mentioning the names of various kings.




The unique factor about the chola temples is that the tower over the sanctums is taller than the towers over the gopuram(tower) at the entrance. The temple tower is 70m high ad is credited to be the highest of its kind in the world. We watched the sunset of 26th Dec 2009 there, the darkness setting in and the moon rising over the gopurams, then we revisited the temple the next morning again just to see how it reflected the early rays of sun.

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Krishna Mandapam, Mahabalipuram

Krishna Mandapam is one of the eight mandapams(Halls) of Mahabalipuram, a World Heritage Site in Tamil Nadu. The sculpted images all in good condition. The images carved on the surface of the wall depict the famous story of Krishna as a child saving the villagers from the wrath of Lord Indra. He is shown as holding the mountain on his little finger, and all the villagers and the animals taking shelter under the mountain, protecting themselves from incessant rains.

The story is like this:
"The shepherd community namely Gokulas thanked Lord Indra once a year for his showers of blessings. But Lord Krishna asked the people to stop their practicing such custom as it was the people’s hard work that brought the people the materialistic wealth and not Lord Indra. Due to this Lord Indra got angry and ordered the rain clouds to pour heavily to destroy all the animals. The people trembled in fear and went to Lord Krishna for help and Lord Krishna did this mighty act of protecting the people by lifting the huge mountain to protect the people and their cattle, the mighty effect was that he lifted the mountain with his single little finger. The downpour was for server continuous days. Lord Indra felt very embarrassed and with drew the clouds, considering the marvelous act of the small boy."



The way the sculptor had sculpted the various emotions is amazing. I stood admiring the image of the cow licking her calf as she was being milked by a villager. The curve of her tongue and her half closed eye depicted the tender motherly feelings so well.



The shepherdess holding her child's hand and pots on her head... did she have an anxious look or did I imagine it... a man carrying his child on his shoulder... human relationships sculpted on speechless stones yet speaking volumes.

I was wondering if this served as some kind of classroom centuries back where little children took their lessons, and these sculpted images served as visuals!


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Salted and Dried Fish, at Poompuhar

Continued from Fishermen at Karaikal, Tamil Nadu.

So? What happens to the fish that aren't sold? We continued our journey through coastal Tamil Nadu. I was sure I would sight fish being dried somewhere along the beaches. Not faraway from Karaikal, at Poompuhar, I saw the women folk of fishermen community at the job. The villagers were using centuries old method of salting the fish and leaving them out to dry in direct sunlight.



Women were eviscerating whole fish, then these fish were cleaned and washed in buckets of sea water. Interesting!

One of them told me they had stacked them layered with salt initially, after the curing period, they are laid out in rows to dry. Drying them increases the shelf life of these products. Fresh fish if not handled and salted properly are prone to both bacterial and fungal attack. So this curing with salt which is easily available, is the most popular method adopted by villagers for preserving them.



No other kind of processing, other than salting and drying of these fish was done in this village. One can add other ingredients like herbs, vinegar, suagar or spices to enhance the flavor, texture and color. That would require a good processing and manufacturing unit and lot of investment. For these simple villagers it was the simple salted way.

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Fishermen at Karaikal, Tamil Nadu

Fishing is a major industry in the coastal areas of India. From livelihood perspective, trading in fish, both fresh and dry seems to be the most profitable one. The richer among them have good big boats, while the poorer ones usually set sail in smaller ones. This is one activity which requires a low or nil investment but assures rich returns. It offers good livelihood for the poor people of coastal areas.



Many families have this trade to earn their daily bread. Any natural calamity or strikes organised by political parties can seriously effect their earnings, it can even mean going to bed hungry.

























Men are out in the sea at night, by dawn they are back with their catches. Then the race begins... the catch is sorted out, frozen with blocks of ice which will melt fast if it is a hot day, packed and then delivered to the hotels and retailers in the local area.Any delay, the fish rots and that could mean only loss.


The shots were taken during my recent visit to Karaikal beach... Fisherman's activities in a small scale in a small village of Tamil Nadu, India.


So, What happens when the fish aren't sold? Read here.