CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Thumpamon, Baroque Architecture, Kerala

Tirukkambadi, Baroque Architecture, Kerala

Sembiyan Mahadevi rebuilt the Tirukkotisvara temple at Tirukkodikaval in stone during her son Uttama Chola's reign (971 – 988 CE). An earlier temple in brick existed at least from the days of Ko-Ilango Muttaraiyar. Sembiyan Mahadevi got all twenty-six old inscriptions to be re-inscribed and the earliest one belongs to the days of Nandipottaraiyar (III) of the Pallava dynasty. The temple is a single-storeyed structure with a bulbous crowning cupola (sikhara). There are nine divinity niche (devakoshtha) figures in typical Sembiyan Mahadevi fashion. References: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, pp.184-185, S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1971, pp. 174-176.

Tirumalai Nayakar Mahal Shed, Madurai

Tirumalai Nayakar Mahal Site Museum, Madurai

The Tirutantonisvara temple at Tiruci can tentatively be assigned to Aditya I's reign (871 - 907 CE) though it could as well be assigned to Vijayalaya's time (850-871 CE). The displaced inscriptions on the temple suggest rebuilding of the temple. While the inscriptions do not date before the late tenth century, the temple architecture and associated sculpture belong to earlier time period. For example, the door guardians (dvarapalas) inside seem archaic and their hand gestures do not commonly occur in early Chola examples. However, the figures in the divinity niches (devakosthas) are somewhat of a later period. References: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, p. 153.