We can also see early traces of Pallava painting in this temple, with scenes of Shiva, Parvati and Skanda. Nataraja appears for the first time in Pallava art. Surrounding the circumambulatory passage is a wall lined with 58 small shrines of Somaskanda, each capped by an octagonal vimana and decorated with reliefs of the various forms of Shiva. Kailasanatha Temple was South India’s first structural stone temple, built by Rajasimha Pallava in the 8th century CE. The original Varadaraja Perumal image was made of fig wood ( athi varadar) and is probably pre-Pallava too. The earliest images precede the Pallavas: the reclining Narayana of the Thiruvekka Temple, the 30-feet high Trivikrama of the Ulagalanda Perumal Temple and the 25-feet tall Pandavadhutar of Padagam, three enormous images made of stucco. The foundations of South Indian art and architecture were laid in Kanchi. The first time we come across the word Damila or Tamil is in Dandin’s Avantisundarikatha, written in Kanchi for Narasimhavarman II in the 8th century, and in an Ikshvaku inscription at Nagarjunakonda describing Tondaimandalam as Damila country.
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They also established temple tanks to maintain groundwater levels. The green revolution was possible here due to the foresight of the Pallavas who made a rain-dependent district produce three harvests and beat the famine of the 1960s. The Tirayans and Pallavas dug over 90 rainwater harvesting lakes or eris around Kanchi, clearing forests to promote agriculture. Ilan Tirayan (3rd–4th century CE) built the Tirayaneri, the earliest man-made lake, which is still in use. Ahanaanooru calls it the crown jewel of Tondaimandalam (Northern Tamil Nadu), ruled by the Tirayans, the ancient seafarers. The Sangam text Perumpaaaarruppadai refers to Kanchi as a beautiful walled city. It was an ancient ghatika or university for princes and students from all over India. But the stupa is gone and while the traces of Jina Kanchi remain, Buddhism has disappeared. The first Tamil Brahmi inscription is found at Mamandur, very close to Kanchi. Parameshvaravarman Pallava refers to Ashokavarman, the ancient king of Kanchi, while Xuanzang visited the city in the 7th–8th century CE to see the 100 feet tall stupa built here by Ashoka. The city was the southern end of Ashoka’s empire. In 200 BCE, Patanjali refers to the Kanchipuraka or one who is from Kanchi.
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It is a Shakti peetha and the confluence of every sect- Shaiva, Vaishnava, Buddhist and Jain-and one of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism. Kalidasa described it as the city of cities-“Nagareshu Kanchi”. The temples, sculptures and paintings represent every dynasty and creed.
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It is a living testimony to Tamil Nadu’s art history. Kanchi alone has an uninterrupted history and monuments covering over 2,000 years, not to mention even earlier archaeological artefacts. Thanjavur was created by the Cholas with little before and a few Maratha monuments after. Why Kanchi? Why not Madurai or Thanjavur? The original Madurai was destroyed by Malik Kafur, Alauddin Khilji’s general, and rebuilt by the Nayaks around the 17th century.