The Tanjore Trip - 2

So what could have inspired or prompted Raja Raja to undertake the building of a temple on this scale?

Many things may drive a king, and one with enormous resources at his command is more likely to vigorously pursue his whimsies and dreams. Raja Raja was a man with not only ambition and means, but also vision and purpose. He was an imperialist, a classical example of an expansionist who did not flinch from war and destruction. He was also a man of taste and refined sensibilities. His taste, ambition and vision are reflected in both his expansionist policies and his artistic endeavours. Perhaps an extraordinary man like Raja Raja could only envision and implement projects on a mega scale; anything lesser would not even pass his mind.

But there may be another angle to the whole question. Historians say the inscriptions on the temple walls at Thanjavur rather unusually begin by praising the king or singing of his achievements. The Keralanthaka Vaasal is said to be commemorative of his victory over the Cheras – a secular objective blurring the religious vision. Step through the Keralantaka Vaasal and you will find yourself facing the third of the lofty entrances to the temple – called the Raja Raja Vaasal. The King actually named the temple entrance after himself. Historians say Raja Raja identified himself with Tripurantaka, an aspect of Lord Shiva? Hmm...do we detect a chest thumping megalomaniac here?

Wait, there is more. A documentary film says Raja Raja was urged to build the temple as a sort of atonement for his transgressions. Waging needless wars, following his ambitious expansionist vision, Raja Raja had to make up for the blood on his hands. Temple building was his way of appeasing the gods.

No one can actually be understood in monochrome; it is the many facetedness of our personality that makes us so inconsistent in action, difficult to understand and yet so endearingly human.

Whether the Tanjore temple was Raja Raja's ego trip or guilt trip or simply an expression of his aesthetic sense or spiritual growth is for historians to debate. For us the temple was a visual treat that led to an aesthetic experience that verged on a spiritual experience. After all, isn't it true that any attempt to go beyond the mundane - through any art form - is as spiritual as a religious act or ritual?