Back to the past!

I refuse to call the PeriyaKovil in Thanjavur a temple...because it didnt feel like one to me. I felt more...familiar. Wait...before you guffaw at that line, Let me explain.

The minute my family announced a pilgrimage to Kumbakonam/Srirangam via Thanjavur, I perked up. I'm an agnostic who pushed an Iyengar group to take on this trip in full gusto. The only reason was the promised detour to a Saivite King's symbol of monumental glory! The very name Raja Raja Chozhan is music to my ears. It is, I know history - but it rings more like a name from 'my' past. I hope the guffaws have stopped and this piece is read with the attention it deserves! I continue...

I always felt a 'connection' with any historical anecdote, from when I was 12yrs old, mugging up dates of conquests to when I was in the 12th Std., writing long paragraphs on Kings and Kingdoms. History was the only subject where I won and my peers lost. Of course my teachers thought I was just plain brilliant at it. Only I knew the real reason! I clear my throat....

I would transport myself into racing along the Mongol terrain with Chenghis Khan as he conquered one Chinese territory after another. I would feel the seat on the Peacock Throne as that would've been a gift from Nadir Shah. I was the Rani of Jhansi staking my life to the welfare of her state. I helped Chandragupta Maurya plan his war strategies, sitting in his army tent. I held religious discourses with Akbar in Fatehpur Sikhri. I've played chess with Jahangir, romanced Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal (where else!), sang soulfully with KrishnadevaRayar, who was in hiding from his uncle and I would fall in love forever with Raja Raja Chozhan. Obviously because we spoke the same language! That was the only reason why I would score so much in History and almost fail in Maths, Physics and Chemistry (the rest of the subjects were quite ok!)

Back to the present: With this refrain of thought, I step inside the hot annals of Periya Kovil, camera in hand and quite a bit of family in tow.

In my dreams, this place was always cool - the corridors and compound was washed with fresh water from the well. The feet, bereft of sandals would soak in the cold rock slabs. The huge area would be an expanse of silence. This was a temple of Art - with sculptors working their way to polish their creations to the faint sounds of the veena and mirudangam. A group of musicians in one corner, providing the melody for the beat from every chisel that fell off the statues & pillars. Apart from the King, there were a few ministers who had come to see a performance that evening. Mine. A dance to remember.

{Raja Rajan was a dynamic and highly intelligent king, whose exploits were the crux of Ponniyin Selvan - an immortal classic by Kalki. My all time love for history came from this novel. And each time I read it, I would imagine myself in Thanjavur.}

The King and I were dressed in red. My dance - the only thing that moved me in this world, was appreciated by many but most profoundly by Raja Raja Chozhan. We were given a few minutes alone, one of the very many we were to have, within the very walls of this temple fort.I stop.

My flashback was interrupted by the sight of the temple elephant that was trained to pose with every passing visitor! 2008 - and I'm smiling and hitting my head on my travel back in time. I shrug myself out of this improbable imagery and walk on... to see the temple tower emerge. A sight to behold, this indeed is a testimony to the emperor's greatness! The Nandi, held court imperiously (a witness, perhaps?) and I clicked on from various angles. I walked further to the main temple...the altar of Lord Shiva, the biggest Lingam in all of India. At this point, RajaRaja Chozhan came back. And the veena resumed its tune.

This time, the King had the face of an actor, whom I had the privilege of meeting more than once before he died. Sivaji Ganesan, had enacted the role of the Chozha king in a Tamil movie. There was this scene in that film, where his daughter - the princess plans to elope with her lover, and she chooses the tunnel from the palace leading to the temple altar, to escape. When she reaches the altar, garland and lover in hand, she finds the king, standing tall with his sceptre, giving her a non-verbal order that she might have come this far but she cannot go further! The ShivaLingam acts as an ally to this 'kingly' moment. A powerful metaphor, where the roles of a mortal king and that of an immortal one are juxtaposed!

With this image in mind, I enter the queue of devotees, who unlike me, were quite immersed in drawing Lord Shiva's attention to their woes! I for one, stayed transfixed at the thought of being in the same room, as Raja Raja Chozhan... Imagine! The King and I have now walked these very steps, touched the same walls, treaded the same ground in and around this very location. This 'same-same' journey happened to two people - one a king and one a commoner in two different time zones, that's all! Wow...! I go back to my dream.

I'm by the King's side. He is saying something to me. I turn around to leave, and he just gazes on. RajaRaja Chozhan's gaze is deep, like a tiger, that amazes and scares you simultaneously. He waits, plans, catches you unawares and holds you captive for a lifetime!