1.24.2005

Arjuna Ratha - Dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Arjuna ratha: Dedicated to Lord Shiva, this ratha speaks a lot about Shiva iconography and dravida style of architecture. It seems to be governed by the local shaivite faith, interestingly depicting on one of its walls as Vrishabhavana Murti - shiva leaning on Nandi, his bull inteh central niche.



The images on either side seem to be similar to the representations of yakshi couples but cannot be ascertained. I might just be wrong. The main vimana has a stupi below which are three lines of haras making it a three storeyed tower. The hara consists of shala kutas and karna kutas with gavakshas spread across. If you look closer its very visible to see sculptures within the niches.

Here is a larger view of the same, its worth a look

Below the main ratha are a series of rectangular grooves which indicate that there has been some kind of wooden beams that might have stretched out of the main structure. Whether it held a path of circumambulation around it is anybody's guess. The Nandi is carved on a rock behind the main structure, in this case, due ot the availability of rock there. Interestingly, the arjuna ratha and the draupadi share a platform, held up on the backs of elephants and lions, discovered recently in the last 6 months.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Sirishabarigirish said...

Nice Article