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Lot Essay
Legend speaks of the young boy worshipping a simple mud lingam 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 lingam 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, hence the name Chandikeshvara, see V. Dehejia, Chola, Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, p. 109.
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, and their hymns form the sacred canon of South India. The images of the saints are idealized portraits transformed by bhakti, the state of loving devotion. Of the nayanmars, Chandikeshvara is the principal saint, the guardian of Shiva. During the Chola period, all Shiva temples had a separate shrine, usually on the northern side near the sanctum dedicated to Chandikeshvara.
For another example of the same subject, see V. Dehejia, Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, p. 109, cat. no. 19.
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, and their hymns form the sacred canon of South India. The images of the saints are idealized portraits transformed by bhakti, the state of loving devotion. Of the nayanmars, Chandikeshvara is the principal saint, the guardian of Shiva. During the Chola period, all Shiva temples had a separate shrine, usually on the northern side near the sanctum dedicated to Chandikeshvara.
For another example of the same subject, see V. Dehejia, Chola: Sacred Bronzes of Southern India, 2006, p. 109, cat. no. 19.