This cave temple has some interesting features worth visiting.
1. supposed to be first dance posture representation in Tamilnadu 2. Significance of lion motifs 3. again supposed to be first movement reliefs of warriors 4. ayudha-purusha dvarpalas
yes, need to talk of pandyas, will start with tirumalaipuram shortly on poetryinstone as well. But need Saurabh to do his through works as well !! wonder how you do all this, without knowing tamil !! hats off bro
Hi Sankar sir, As discussed with you and few members earlier, I will go for Pandyas after the Pallavas. For this I need to explore Madurai region extensively, I hope I will get support from our esteemed members from that region. As I do not know Tamil, so such a support is much needed and highly appreciated.
You need not request me, I better prefer an order from you :)
Hi vj, Thanks for nice comments, as I stated earlier, I am just arranging the thoughts and ideas of earlier scholars. We are proud of those scholars whose work we refer and study. I face little issues as I don't know Tamil, I can understand Sanskrit little bit but when I read the Tamil inscription, I cannot link the abstract with the original inscription. However for that I assume that the scholars who have translated those texts have taken utmost care while doing so. Hence accept whatever is translated :). There is not much work available on Pandyas, at least in English, hence my next quest will be for Pandyas. Hope we all can align and create a synergy so that we produce good work with less efforts or shared efforts.
There are quite a few books on the Cave temples of the pandiyas. The most extensive study is by Dr Kalaikkovan - but his books are in tamil.
* Then Thamizhnattu Kudaivaraigal - Cave temples of southern tamilnadu - Vol 1
* Then Thamizhnattu Kudaivaraigal - Cave temples of southern tamilnadu - Vol 2
* Madurai Mavattak Kudaivaraigal - Cave temples of Madurai district
All are brilliant works. Esp his work on Thirupparamkudram kudaivarai with Ravanan on its cover is a spell binding work. This was his presentation in Chemmozhi conference as well.
Other notable works are from Soundarajan and Rajavelu/A.K Seshadri
Hi Shash, You can get all the ASI books from Aryan Books, New Delhi. There address is given in ASI site, http://asi.nic.in/asi_publications.asp. You can call them to get the books. They sell on the prices given in the ASI site, they charge minimal shipping charges. They will give you their bank account details where you can do bank transfer and then they will ship the books. I am dealing with these guys from a long time and have quite satisfactory experience. SPS sir also bought few books from them. You can give my reference as well, if needed. One information, all the ASI books are in publication, whichever book is there in their site is available. Good news isn't it :)
Hi Gokul Sir, There is one book with title 'Cave Temples of the Pandya Country Art and Ritual : With Special Reference to Putukkottai Region' by V Latha, published by Sharada Publication New Delhi. May you please let me know if this is a good book to start with? Any other member know about this book?