Offbeat What's the link between Tiruvannamalai and Halebid?
At the entrance of the ancient shiva temple, on the eastern side stands a massive tower called Vallala Maharaja Gopuram. A sculpture of this king is majestically seen inside. I had a doubt if it was the same Hoyasala king, Veera Ballala III. Suddenly my mind traversed across the state to Halaybeedu and Belur in Karnataka that were ruled by him. My inner wisdom sought clarity on the topic to establish the mysterious link between Haleybeedu and Tiruvannamalai.
Tiruvannamalai is the agni sthala among the pancha bootha shrines of Lord Shiva in Tamilnadu. The legendary event of lighting up the maha deepam has been spectacular when all the houses in the town are lit with small lamps or agalvilakku.
At the entrance of the ancient shiva temple, on the eastern side stands a massive tower called Vallala Maharaja Gopuram. A sculpture of this king is majestically seen inside. I had a doubt if it was the same Hoyasala king, Veera Ballala III. Suddenly my mind traversed across the state to Halaybeedu and Belur in Karnataka that were ruled by him. My inner wisdom sought clarity on the topic to establish the mysterious link between Haleybeedu and Tiruvannamalai.
On a sunny forenoon in November, it was a long drive from Hassan to the historical town, Halaybeedu (The old abode) once ruled by King Vishnuvardhana. The roads enroute are barren and rocky with some windmills visibly generating power on hills. All earlier rulers were against the Pandiyas. Out of humanity, Ballala wanted to help King Sundara Pandiyan of Pandiya dynasty in Madurai to fight against his step-brother,Veera Pandian. When Ballala took his army to the south, the wicked minded sultan Allaudin Kilji with his commander Malik Kafur ravaged the city of Haleybeedu or Dwarasamudra. For long, the sultan wanted to suppress the king and waited for a tumultuous opportunity to crush him.
Ballala marched against the Sultan of Madurai and won a massive victory against them. It was around 1312 A.D. that King Ballala sent his son Vira Virupaksha along with the Sultan to Delhi as token of peace. His intention was to regain strength in the meantime and stage a strong storm against the Sultan. For the next 350 years, interestingly, Madurai had been a seat of attraction for all Delhi Sultans including Aurangzeb.
With major resistive powers wiped out completely by the Sultan, Ballala was the only ruler left. Since Haleybeedu had been the frequent target, he established his kingdom in Tiruvannamalai to defend invasions. For nearly two decades the Sultan was aggressively planning to capture Ballala. In Haleybeedu many sculptures stand mutilated with broken limbs. We are lucky indeed to enjoy the preserved beauty of the leftover heritage monument. When we see the damages inflicted by them on the nuances of stone craft, our eyes ooze in anger and hatred.
After constructing the rajagopuram of the Arunachaleswara temple, King Ballala puffed up with his proud achievement. During a festival, the lord seated on palanquin refused to move through the entrance. After his repentance the lord consented to pass through this gopuram and taught him humility and greatness.
In 1343 A.D. the Sultan forces unexpectedly attacked and took the king as captive. Ballala was killed brutally in the battle of Madurai and his mortal remains gruesomely butchered. His immense heroism paved way to Vijayanagara dynasty under Harihara Raya.
A king's repenteance
The history records that Tiruvannamalai of the present day was Arunachalapuram. King Ballala was praised for his uprightness, generosity, humaneness and love for the lord. With no issues then, he prayed god to grant a child. The lord became a child at the hands of the royal couple and soon disappeared. Since the king had embraced the child with love, Lord Siva assured him that he would perform all his funeral rites himself as his son. Thus goes the recorded history.
On the death anniversary of the king, the lord himself performs rites, comes calling his appa at the village Pallikondapattu, where his palace existed long ago. This festival is known as 'Maasi Magam Theerthavari Urchavam’.
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| Vallala gopuram |
My mind whisked across the monotonous sculptures seen on this Vallala tower and matched those seen at Hoyasaleshwara temple (Halaybeedu), Chennakesava temple (Belur) and Chamundi Temple (Mysore). Though the architecture there had resemblance, rarely Chola style of sculptures were also seen which denotes that the migration of Tamil sculptors to Belur and Haleybeedu should have taken place.
Even in the 21st century, his glory stands as much as the power of Lord Hoyasaleshwara at Haleybeedu and Arunachaleswara at Tiruvannamalai. King Ballala is a blessed soul among the rulers of his dynasty. My recent tour to Haleybeedu unfolded a clear picture to sign off at Thiruvannamalai. The link is finally in place.
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*The Hindu, Metroplus (Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Madurai), Nov 21, 2010
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