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Lot Essay
The Shaiva saints of which there is a group of sixty three, are known as nayanmars or leaders. They were part of a community of holy persons traveling the countryside, stopping at temples a long the way to sing the glories of the enshrined deity. Their hymns form the sacred canon of South India.
The images of the saints are ideal portraits, transfigured by bhakti, the state of loving devotion.
Chandikeshvara is the principal guardian of Shiva. During the Chola period, all Shiva temples had a separate subsidary shrine dedicated to Chandikeshvara as supervisor, usually on the northern side near the sanctum. Legend speaks of the young boy worshipping a simple mud linga and using milk from the cows he tended for the ritual daily lustration. When his father came to chastise him for wasting the milk, Chandesha was so absorbed in meditation that he did not hear. His angry father kicked the linga and Chandesha lashed out with his staff, which miraculously turned into Shiva's sacred axe. Pleased by the intensity of Chandesha's devotion, Shiva and Uma blessed him with a divine garland, see V. Dehejia, Chola, Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, p. 109.
The images of the saints are ideal portraits, transfigured by bhakti, the state of loving devotion.
Chandikeshvara is the principal guardian of Shiva. During the Chola period, all Shiva temples had a separate subsidary shrine dedicated to Chandikeshvara as supervisor, usually on the northern side near the sanctum. Legend speaks of the young boy worshipping a simple mud linga and using milk from the cows he tended for the ritual daily lustration. When his father came to chastise him for wasting the milk, Chandesha was so absorbed in meditation that he did not hear. His angry father kicked the linga and Chandesha lashed out with his staff, which miraculously turned into Shiva's sacred axe. Pleased by the intensity of Chandesha's devotion, Shiva and Uma blessed him with a divine garland, see V. Dehejia, Chola, Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, p. 109.