A mural in Tiruppudaimarudhur celebrates saint-composer Annamacharya, his son and wife

Tiruppudaimarudhur, a colony connected the banks of the Tamiraparani river, is location to the revered Narumpoonathar Shiva temple, a must-visit for anyone passionate astir history. The temple boasts a five-tiered rajagopuram, with a constrictive staircase that ascends to its apex. Each tier is adorned with stunning murals and woody carvings that day to the Vijayanagara and Nayak periods.

The paintings exemplify the sthalapurana of Tiruppudaimarudhur, events from Tiruvilaiyadal Puranam and Periyapuranam, arsenic good arsenic scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and Valli Thirumanam. The artwork besides offers a glimpse into the socio-political and economical events of the clip and an intricate imagery of the Venad-Nayak war, highlighting the temple’s humanities significance.

S. Balusami, subordinate prof of Tamil astatine the Madras Christian College, Chennai, has conducted an extended probe astir Tiruppudaimarudhur paintings. He has concluded that these artworks vividly picture the ‘Tamiraparani battle’ of 1532 CE, fought betwixt the armies of the Travancore king Bhoothala Veera Udaya Marthanda Varma and the Vijayanagara emperor Achyutadevaraya.

Balusami identifies Dhalavai Ariyanatha Mudaliyar, the distinguished wide of the Madurai Nayaks, arsenic the visionary down the commissioning of the paintings. He is besides credited with establishing the shrine for Ariyanayaki amman astatine Tiruppudaimarudhur.

The timeline for the paintings is believed to beryllium betwixt 1532 and 1564 CE, station the Tamiraparani warfare of 1532 and preceding the pivotal conflict of Talikotta successful 1564, which marked the illness of the Vijayanagara empire.

The vibrant paintings besides represent a divers array of musicians and dancers. Publications by Balusami and the Department of Museum picture the musicians’ appearance, but don’t place the individuals. However, 1 notable artwork that has humanities value is seen connected the 3rd level. It features 2 men, 1 holding a tambura and wearing the distinctive Kullayi headdress and the different holding cymbals. They unmistakably place arsenic the revered saint-composer Annamacharya and his lad Pedda Tirumalacharya, for it matches with the iconographic practice of different known sculptures of Annamacharya. The pistillate is Thimmakka, Annamacharya’s wife, the archetypal pistillate Telugu poet.

Celebrated arsenic the ‘Pada Kavitha Pithamaha’, Annamacharya lived betwixt 1408 and 1503 CE and composed 32,000 keertanas. His profound bequest of creating sankeertanas dedicated to Swami Venkateswara was continued by his descendants, notably his lad Pedda Tirumalacharya, and his grandson Chinna Tirumalacharya, besides a notable composer of sankeertana. The celebrated creation ‘Vandeham jagat vallabham’ is attributed to him.

In 1922, astir 14,000 sankeertanas, on with respective different literate works, were discovered successful a enclosure (Sankeertana Bhandagaram) wrong the Tirumala temple. The entranceway to this repository features sculptures of Annamacharya and Pedda Tirumalacharya, symbolising their important contributions to devotional music. This iconography besides matches with the Tiruppudaimarudhur paintings. In Krishnapuram colony adjacent Tirunelveli, 1 tin find a sculpture of Annamacharya astatine the Venkatachalapathy temple. Initially it was hard to place the sculpture, but present a committee identifies the sculpture arsenic that of Annamacharya.

The timeline of Achyutadevaraya and Ariyanatha Mudaliyar and their transportation with Krishnapuram and Tiruppudaimarudhur corroborate the sculptures and the paintings are of Annamacharya.

But much important is the portrayal of Annamacharya’s wife, Thimmakka besides known arsenic Tirumalamma. Her singular work, Subhadra Kalyanam comprising 1,170 padas, eloquently narrates the matrimony of Arjuna and Subhadra. The enactment flows gently, and the verses are suitable for singing. She has written it based connected Nannayya’s Andhra Mahabaratam.

Thimmakka besides adds a spot of humour to the exchanges betwixt Krishna and Arjuna. Another notable facet is that the sringara rasa is expressed from a woman’s constituent of view. Unlike the Vyasa and Nannayya versions of the Mahabharata, Thimakka’s sees Arjuna sojourn Ahobilam, Tirumala, Kanchipuram and Srirangam during his pilgrimage, possibly a pointer to the places she had visited.

One does wonderment though arsenic to wherefore determination is nary sculpture of hers successful Tirumala. Perhaps, she was not that celebrated astatine the clip those sculptures were commissioned. The 1 successful Tiruppudaimarudhur is precious due to the fact that determination appears to beryllium nary different known sculpture oregon coating of Thimmakka. And that is however an iconic Telugu writer ended up being celebrated successful a colony successful Tamil Nadu acold distant from Tirumala.