Dear Friends, Maliyadipatti, in Pudukkottai dist, has two cave temples, one for Shiva and one for Vishnu. The former has a foundation inscription of the Pallavas however the latter one does not have any such foundation inscription. Most scholars assigns this second cave to the Pandyas. However its time of construction is in dispute.
Thanks vj, Shash & other esteemed members, With this article I start my journey with the Pandyas, hope to complete this in next two years. I still have few things left with the Pallavas, their structural temples and also will be taking up the Guptas this year with my final MP trip. So, Pandyas will easily take 2 years to complete, but I am hopeful :) -Saurabh
Saurabh, 2 points that you can consider adding to the article. a. The inscription on upper cave talks about the donor regaining his eyesight. there was an wonderful article around this in varalaru.com or one of the members who went on field trip with Kalaikovalan blogged about this. It was one of the inscription which has a medical interpretation hence significant. b. As VJ pointed out the Nandi requires a special mention. The base and the nandhi is still part of the mother rock and they have been carved out.
The article is great. Keep up your great work. I am sure, like VJ, you will soon start attracting stalwarts like Lockwood, Binoy Bhel to your blog.
Thanks for your feedback, will try to incorporate this. I have talked about the eyesight inscription in my article but it was not in details as I do not have copy of the inscription. I have asked Sankar sir about the copy so if he has then he will let me know.
Most of the articles in varalaru.com are in Tamil hence not much help to me as I don't know Tamil. I did find two English articles from this site and have quoted those as well in this article.
Vj sure has gained a very good impression and reputation about his works and we all should be proud of him. It will not be wrong if I say that his blogs only motivated me to take up serious interest in this field. I have never said it to him (but now he will know) that I started blogging only after observing poetryinstone website. I don't remember whether I tried to contact him in those times however he was one of the inspiration behind taking up this task. It was Kathie who introduced me to you and Vj as before coming to PSVP I was with REACH group where Kathie was also a member.
It will be an owner if the articles attract the attention of some esteemed scholars. Benoy sir reads the articles when he gets time as I am in contact with him through mails. I have never interacted with Micheal Lockwood. Adam Hardy of Cardiff Univ UK has also shown interest in these, currently he is involved with Hoysala temple renovations in Karnataka. Archana Verma who has worked extensively on Bagh caves has also communicated her interest.
You see I am not a scholar but just a curious guy who would not think twice to question any well-established theory if there is a shadow of doubt just to get clarifications and with no intentions of attack on those great scholars. But its a long long way to go and many things to learn. I am just a drop in this vast ocean.
Hope this mail does not qualify to the category of personal mails.
As discussed, please include Pandya structural temples also. There is a big list of temples which have hevay synthasis of Pandya/Chola. Varaguna1, 2 ,Parantaga and Virapandya .
I have a big list, which need to be documented.
Please take an approval for photographing the live temples. Really a unexplored treat is waiting.
thanks for all the nice words - and not to take the amount of work you put in for your posts and quote detailed references - much more structured than what most of us do. Keep up the good work. Each of us have a distinct style and target audience- Most people would like to start such efforts and we must encourage them to do - since no one duplicates another, every effort brings in a different sight / angle. But we must all remember that sustenance and authenticity are two key things we must bring in. am happy that we are being taken notice off, the promotions ( aka personal mails etc) are done and thanks to Sps sir for putting in the nice words, to me the objective is to make a portal where all can share the burden of properly documenting the thousands of treasures found in our great nation. In that regard, please view our media exposure n events - more to widen the bracket and rope in fresh talent
Wow. Excellent work. I know I don't write much, but I do read all I can. And the way you record such details is amazing. Even better that they're getting visibility in the mainstream media and among scholars. Seriously, kudos.
VJ - thanks for the quote from my (now almost defunct blog :). Incidentally, I wrote the story of the Malayadippatti inscription in Chandamama's August 2010 issue, in my history column (yes, shameless plug, but what will you? :). It was titled, "A Confession in Stone."
Incidentally, other stories on the following for last year's historical column (Chandamama):
October 2010 - Sithannavaasal's cave temples September 2010 - Kolli Hills legends
I think writer Sujata has written about a similar personal experience in a tamil magazine (kumudam or vikatan);
He once experienced a sudden blinding flash ( he thought that Krishna was showing His viswarupam); he lost his vision temporarily and had treatment. Perhaps it was detachment of the retina. He was told the process will reverse itself in a few days with proper rest, but surgery may be required if sight is not restored. Fortunately for him, he got cured in a fortnight or so.
I had a different experience; while waiting at the airport, one eye was clouded with millions of tiny dark specks, but the number of spots reduced to countable levels in an hour or so. When I consulted an eye doctor the next day, he made light of it (perhaps to allay my fears) and said that it is due to the gel detaching from the retina, and normally recovery happens in 99% of the cases. Touch wood, no recurrence in the last two years.