Gandaberunda

 A Jewelery, a saree, Russian Kingdom, a temple Vehicle, Mysuru kingdom, a story narrated by a common man, Karnataka government, Albania nation, a sculpture I have seen in person are all connected by a very strange common theme. 

Figure 1: Sculpture in a temple pillar, Bengaluru

The above sculpture is carved on a pillar in Ulsoor Sri Someshwara temple of Bengaluru. It is called Gandaberunda. Though similar, its spelling and pronunciation varies in different regions of India like Gandaberundam, Gandaberunda Pakshi and so on. It is also referred to as double headed eagle or double headed bird in general.

Depictions of many imaginary creatures is a common sight in Indian temples. One can easily assume this sculpture as a depiction of yet another imaginary bird. Yet, it is special. To understand its speciality let us check the direct and indirect details we can gather from this depiction.

Depiction of movements in Stone Sculptures -1

We are all fascinated by looking at movements in nature. The sky, with its passing clouds, the ocean, with its curvy waves, the trees, with its fluttering leaves fascinate us! We miss seeing such movements in temple sculptures. Generally, the stories from the epics are depicted using multiple sculptures. The sculptures on the stones had the limitation of not able to depict the movement of an action with in a single frame. This was my belief until I saw few sculptures in Ulsoor Sri Someshwara temple at Bangalore.

It is very common to see a variety of imaginary creatures in temple sculptures. It starts with Lord Ganesha, who is usually depicted with a human body and an elephant head. This concept extends all the way to mix and match of various animals and birds. For example, the imaginary animal Gajasimha is a combination of an Elephant and Lion.

I came across this interesting sculpture on one of the pillars in the mantap of this temple. It kindled my imagination as to what this sculpture tries to depict!

Sculpture on a pillar at Ulsoor Sri Someshwara temple, Bangalore

It is easy to ignore this sculpture as yet another imaginary bird with three heads. But how about dropping this idea and stretching our imagination along with the sculptor a little further. We can arrive at few other possibilities too.

Maintenance of a Temple - Part 2

Part 1 covered  the evolution of the temple’s exteriors as seen through photographs from years 1890 to 2023!

This Part 2 covers other changes carried out  in the temple.

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 Changes in the flooring of the temple enclosure

While  going through some old photographs I have  noticed changes in the  flooring of the temple enclosures.  It is a normal practice to leave the flooring between the buildings within the temple with properly levelled mud or grass.  Since there are few trees in the middle of  the enclosure even now,  we  can  assume the flooring was originally  left with mud.  

 

An information board made in a stone slab can be seen in the temple premises. It is dated 12 June 1994. It conveys Shrimati K. J. Pramila Thammana of Vijayanagara has  sponsored the work of laying the stone slabs for the flooring. What a  noble  gesture!.  It is a huge surface area too be covered.  So happy to see  the concept of such noble donations continued even in 20th century.

Maintenance of a Temple - Part 1

Once upon a time Bangalore was known as “Pensioner’s Paradise”.  Later it is was known as “Garden City”.  Now,  the Paradise is gone,  the Garden is going and  is getting replaced as “Silicon City”! 

Strengthening Bangalore’s reputation of Pensioners paradise,  there is a mention of a pensioner in a stone inscription in the  year 1799 itself.  And this stone inscription is documented in the  Epigraphia carnatica Vol 9, compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice, the Director of the Mysore Archaeological Department and released  between 1894 and 1905.

In this inscription referenced as “Bn – 15”,  Sarangu Sadupperi Sabhapati mudaliyar who identifies himself as a pensioner has  donated his  house to Ulsoor Sri Someshwara Temple.  Probably he was a government employee under British  India and got retired from the services. 

A sculpture and its headcover

After death,  only few are remembered forever.  Few examples are Mahatma Gandhi(1869-1948) and The Buddha (563 BCE - 483 BCE or 480 BCE - 400 BCE).  How about an artist who lived about 600years ago and whose name we don’t even know? If he has to leave a strong impression on us  even today,  how great his creation could be?

I am referring to this simple sculpture!