Site Name: Pullamangai
Date: ca 910 CE
Subject: A view
CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Brahmapurisvara temple, Pullamangai, Tamil NaduThe Brahmapurisvara temple at Pullamangai, of early years of Parantaka I (907-954 CE), is acknowledged as one of the most articulate example of early Chola architecture and sculpture. According to one of the inscriptions, this temple was known in the past as that of Tiru Alandurai Mahadevar. It is of special importance also because it carries many inscribed records of that king’s time under his title of Parakesari. The base mouldings and surface decoration are crisply chiselled and have mythological panels illustrating episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The central niches have elaborate figural arrangements in that the divinities are not by themselves but have elegant companion figures. They are Dakshinamurti, Shiva’s Lingodbhava form with Brahma and Vishnu acknowledging Shiva’s supremacy, and a sculpture of Brahma. The original family (parivara) shrines of the attendant deities have disappeared. By virtue of the temple's large size, its ornateness and the quality of the workmanship, the temple may have been a royal building. References: S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1971, pp.46-49, J. Harle, 1958, M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, pp.165-167.