Kapaleeshwara temple in Mylapore, Chennai

Every resident of Chennai has visited (or at least seen) the famous Mylapore temple. It’s hard to walk or drive past the fanciful and colorful gopuram (or gateway towers at the two main entrances) and not stare in awe of them. Like many things in India, the story of how the temple was constructed is unclear – there is the mythological version and the historical, and to most, it’s one and the same.

Mythological: The temple is actually called the “Kapaleeshwara” Temple, “Mylapore” is actually the area in Chennai where it is located. The story is that Brahma (God of Creation) did not pay proper respects to Shiva (God of Destruction… why mess with anybody who has that title?) and his wife Parvathi when he met them at Mount Kailash. Shiva got very upset and plucked off one of Brahma’s heads to teach him a lesson (who needs more than one head?). That told Brahma he should repent for his dinner-party-esqe mistake so he returned home and installed a Siva Lingam (a sculptural representation, usually in stone, to represent Lord Shiva) for Shiva’s forgiveness. Brahma started repenting by doing tapas – the word tapas translated literally in Sankrit means “heat” but figuratively used in Hinduism to denote spiritual suffering or burning off all unwanted karma. (And all this time you thought it was a coincidence that the Spanish tapas tend to involve a whole lot of repenting the next morning? Serves you right for drinking all that sangria to wash it down!) The word “kapalam” refers to one of Brahma’s heads and “eeshwara” is another name for Lord Shiva – hence the Siva Lingam here came to be called “Kapaleeshwara”.

Historical: The temple is believed to have been originally built by the Pallavas, a dynasty that reigned in south India during the 2nd to 9th century CE. However, Wikipedia tells me that the architecture of the temple appears to only be 300-400 years old. Scholars believe that the Portuguese perhaps destroyed the original temple and the Vijaynagar Empire that reigned during the 16th century rebuilt the temple that currently exists. History is a bit hazy around here as there are inscriptions dating back to 12th century inside the temple. What we do know for sure however is that the beautiful 120 feet gopurams (or gateway towers, for those of you didn’t catch that in the beginning and are skimming this article) with the stucco figures adorning it were built in 1906.

The architectural style of this temple is what we call “Dravidian style” of architecture that emerged in the Southern part of India thousands of years ago. The primary pyramid shaped structures, which are adorned by deities, warriors, kings, dancers and the like. The state of Tamilnadu is famous for this kind of architecture but it  can also be found in many parts of Southeast Asia – think Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

A typical Dravidian style construction comprises of the following parts:

a. Vimana (one or more stories of pyramidal roof). The vimana is composed of tiers of horizontal bands that recede in width as they go upwards, and are richly decorated with sculpture.

b. Mantapams (porches)

c. Chowltries (pillard halls)

d. Gopurams (as discussed), or large towers mark the entrances. The stucco sculptures that decorate these gopurams are usually colorful representations of gods, dancers and animals. They are incredibly detailed and ornate – almost signaling people from far the temple’s location.

Hinduism is such an intricate religion with so many different variations of gods, goddesses, myths and customs – and I don’t believe you have to be Hindu to understand the preparation, anticipation and experience of being in a Hindu temple. You can imagine the smell of incense awaken you as you enter a temple and how you will start your penance. Though I am not particularly religious, I love going to the Mylapore temple. I enjoy buying a plate of two coconuts, a beetle leaf and some flowers to hand over to the priest – who then uses the items I’ve presented to the god or goddess. As he circles his plate of camphor-lit-fire around the deity and adorns the statue with the flowers I have presented, I always feel a tingle run down my spine. A reminder that I am being protected and taken care off by some powers much beyond me.

Roma Bakshani