Thanjavur’s Brihadeeswara temple, an outstanding symbol of the greatness of ancient Tamil civilisation, is no complete stranger to debate.
Whether it is the ‘jinx’ connected to the temple or the Centre’s opposition to the transfer of the management to the State federal government in the 60 s and 70 s or the setup of Rajaraja Chola I’s statue within the temple premises or the fire and the following stampede in June 1997, the temple has been in the limelight all through.
This time, the kumbabishekam(consecration), held after 23 years, on February 5, provided yet another chance for historians, scholars and political activists of various camps to engage themselves in an intense argument over the binary– Tamil versus Sanskrit.
” I do not keep in mind having actually come across any such debate when the previous kumbabishekam was kept in June 1997,” recollects T.N. Ramanathan, who was the then District Collector of Thanjavur. “The current debate sounds brand-new to me,” he includes.
R. Nagaswamy, a veteran archaeologist who has actually been studying the temple for years, emphasises that when paal abishekam ( putting of milk) was done on the lingam in 1997, a verse of Thirugnanasambandar [in Tamil] was recited. “It exists in a video cassette being sold at the temple,” he explains.
In tune with the State’s popular political narrative, the language row is considered as one more dimension of the bigger dispute– Aryan versus Dravidian. This was in spite of Rajaraja Chola I himself being a promoter of both Tamil and Sanskrit, which might be attested to by inscriptions available on the temple facilities.
However, P. Maniyarasan, an advocate of the principle of Tamil nationalism, argues that just as English is dominating every field of public activity in modern times, Sanskrit played a similar function, even from the duration of Pallavas who preceded the Cholas. “We see it as a sign of imposition by external forces,” he states.
The essence of the controversy was whether the consecration ought to take place in Tamil or in Sanskrit. Or, to put it simply, it needs to stick to Agama principles or the Tirumurai, a 12- volume compendium of Tamil hymns in appreciation of Lord Shiva. While Tamil supporters contend that the Tamil works transcend to what has been composed in Sanskrit, archaeologists such as Dr. Nagaswamy and T. Sathyamurthy, former Superintending Archaeologist of the Archaeological Study of India (ASI), say the problem is not quite about what is superior.
The success of the Tamil work was never ever in concern. As far as temples in Tamil Nadu are worried, they follow the Agama principles, which are nothing but a set of guidelines about all aspects o