In Shiva's temple, pillars make music

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"Ashok Chowgule" <ashokvc@c...> wrote:

In Shiva's temple, pillars make music

Author: M.R. Venkatesh

 

Publication: The Telegraph

 

July 26, 2004

 

URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040726/asp/nation/story_3541002.asp

 

 

 

Shiva is the Destroyer in the Hindu trinity. But here he is Lord

Nellaiyappar, the Protector of Paddy, as the name of the town itself

testifies - nel meaning paddy and veli meaning fence in Tamil.

 

 

 

Prefixed to nelveli is tiru, which signifies something special - like

the exceptional role of the Lord of Rhythm or the unique musical stone

pillars in the temple.

 

 

 

Temples often have columns portraying dancing damsels or musicians

playing their instruments, but rarely do the mute pillars themselves

make music. In the Nellaiyappar temple, gentle taps on the cluster of

columns hewn out of a single piece of rock can produce the keynotes of

Indian classical music.

 

 

 

"You can hear the saptha swarangal (the seven basic notes) come like a

wave as it were from the stone pieces," says a senior priest.

 

 

 

"Hardly anybody knows the intricacies of how these were constructed to

resonate a certain frequency. The more aesthetically inclined with some

musical knowledge can bring out the rudiments of some rare ragas from

these pillars," he adds.

 

 

 

The Nelliyappar temple chronicle, Thirukovil Varalaaru, says the

nadaththai ezhuppum kal thoongal - stone pillars that produce music -

were set in place in the 7th century during the reign of Pandyan king

Nindraseer Nedumaran.

 

 

 

Archaeologists date the temple before 7th century and say it was built

by successive rulers of the Pandyan dynasty that ruled over the southern

parts of Tamil Nadu from Madurai. Tirunelveli, about 150 km south of

Madurai, served as their subsidiary capital.

 

 

 

The rulers following Nedumaran made some additions and modifications,

but left the 10 musical stone pillars in front of the main Shiva shrine

untouched.

 

 

 

Each huge musical pillar carved from one piece of rock comprises a

cluster of smaller columns and stands testimony to a unique

understanding of the "physics and mathematics of sound", temple

authorities said.

 

 

 

In all, there are 161 such small pillars that make music in the Nada

Mani Mandapam before the main shrine of Lord Nellaiyappar, the chronicle

says.

 

 

 

Two equally impressive musical pillars adorn the shrine dedicated to

Goddess Gandhimathi Ambal in the temple complex spread over nearly 14

acres.

 

 

 

To pilgrims, as awe-inspiring as the deity are the isai thoongal,

meaning musical pillars in Tamil.

 

 

 

The chronicle says, quoting well-known music researcher and scholar

Prof. Sambamurthy Shastry, the "marvellous musical stone pillars" are

"without a parallel" in any other part of the country.

 

 

 

In the South though, several temples boast of such pillars, like those

at Azhavar Thirunagari, Tenkasi, Kalakaadu, Kuttralam, Shenbagarama

Nallur, Suseendaram near Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram and Madurai.

 

 

 

But the pillars of Tirunelveli stand out.

 

 

 

"What is unique about the musical stone pillars in the Tiruelveli

Nellaiyappar temple is the fact you have a cluster as large as 48

musical pillars carved from one piece of stone, a delight to both the

ears and the eyes," says the chronicle, citing local Tamil poet Nellai

M.S. Shankar.

 

 

 

Generally, musical stone pillars can be classified into three types,

says Shankar, who has done a study on them.

 

 

 

The first is called Shruti pillar as it can produce the basic notes -

the swaras on the basis of which the Theavarm (collection of devotional

hymns) and the Vedas would be rendered.

 

 

 

Second is the Gana thoongal, which can generate basic tunes that make

classical ragas like Harahara Priya. The third variety is the Laya

thoongal, pillars that produce taal (beats) when tapped.

 

 

 

The pillars at the Nellaiyappar temple are a combination of the Shruti

and Laya types, Shankar said.

 

 

 

"This is an architectural rarity and a sublime beauty to be cherished

and preserved," he adds.

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