Bhima Ratha, Mahabalipuram - Abode of Vishnu

Faith Mysticism

-Staff

By Staff

Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 12:21

The naming convention at Mahabalipuram needs a serious re-look for it has blindly been named after the Pancha Pandavas but really has nothing to do with them. As it was very rightly deduced by J C Harle, the Bhima Ratha was most probably attributed to Lord Vishnu. The unfinished carving of the interior and the very width of this cave indicates that there are strong possibilities of a plan for a reclining Vishnu on Ananta well within these walls.

The high chance of this possibility is because Mahabalipuram already flaunts two other reclining Vishnu idols not too far away in the Mahishasuramardhini cave as well as within the heart of the Shore Temple. It is clear that the cult of Vishnu had a very strong role to play, in parallel to Shiva, who seems to have gained reasonable strong ground in these regions. Vishnu has also been depicted in his Varaha avatara (incarnate) as well as Trivikrama in the Varaha cave, here at Mahabalipuram. The Krishna Govardhana is another striking panel that cannot be ignored, but the strangest thing is that there is no Garuda depicted, like the many Nandis. Instead the boar is profusely depicted across this rocky landscape, one prominently being right next to the shore temple.

Revisiting the unfinished rock at the left of the Bhima Ratha, it's very clear that there is a strong possibility of a boar being carved out of this rock more than Garuda, since there has been no visible representation of Garuda found here at all. Though the rock is unfinished, there is no indication yet that a boar could have been carved there. Yet given the trend of the way things seemed to have been planned here, its highly possible that a boar would have taken position next to the Bhima Ratha indicating this cave is actually dedicated to Vishnu.

What is even more intriguing is that The Rathas seem to be dedicated to the respective deities, Mother goddess Mahishasuramardhini, Shiva, Vishnu and Indra. The Dharmaraja Ratha alone is dedicated to Lord Shiva, and displays an entire catalogue of Shiva iconography on its walls.

This is when the heart skips a beat. The reality of this was always in front of us, and yet we didn't see it. Apart from iconography another stark Pallava contribution is to the field of architecture. Their architecture was sculpted into rock, and wooden facades were expressed on rocky walls. One of the most striking features that seemed to have governed the Pallava architecture here is that of the Chaitya Grahas, primarily those found at Bedsa, this again is quoting J C Harle. His view is that a small cell in the Bedsa monument has very beautifully been depicted here on monolithic rock on the roof of Bhima Ratha. Even more interesting is that most of the old houses (wooden prototypes)depicted on the Bharut and Sanchi stupa have remote resemblances with this roof.

The Buddhist influences are very clear even in Brahmanical architecture, though the enshrined was possibly Vishnu or Shiva; the exterior definitely expressed a lot of Buddhism. One more example of the evolution of art is the Ratha is also the prototype to later Gopurams that sprang up during the later Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagara periods. If we added more of this roof to itself and tapered it like a pyramid, the resulting shape would be that of a Gopuram. The Ganesha Ratha is a clear indicator of such innovations in architecture. We also see this innovation at the Kailashnatha temple at Kanchipuram, where the Gopuram hosts the shrine of a deity and is not just reduced to a mere gateway like the later years, where the shrines are reduced to smaller niches.

Reliving the life and growth of an ancient idea is one of the most fantastic jig saw puzzles one can solve, and Indian architecture has plenty for anyone interested.