We
think of Nataraja – the King of Dance – mostly in bronze alloy form. In several
Siva temples, the central shrine has a stone lingam as moolavar, while the
ustavar, usually Nataraja or Somaaskanda, is made of bronze. We rarely see the
other forms of Siva in the koshta – the insets or enclave in the walls of the
main sanctum, or sometimes the next outer wall.
In
early Chola temples – those built between 875 AD and 985 AD, between the reigns
of Aditya Chola and Uttama Chola, both inclusive – we can see Siva as
Lingodhbhava in the rear koshta. Recently I travelled to Chidambaram and
Kumbakonam, and visited early Chola temples at Tukkacci, KoneriRajaPuram, and
Aaduthurai. I saw Natarajas, not of bronze, but of stone, in the koshtas of
these temples.
In
Tukkaaci, especially, the idol looks it is made of bronze with a sheen of
patina, not stone! I tapped it with fingernails and it even sounded metallic.
Here I share some photos of these beauties.
The photos are here in the Tamil version of this blog.
