The Chayala Someshwara temple
Barely 100 kms away from the high tech city of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh is an obscure village called Panagal which really deserves to be better known. For, Panagal is home to two extraordinary Shiva temples that are uncommon masterpieces in their own right. The elaborate and detailed panel carvings found there are like a crash course in Hindu mythology - every myth of significance has been depicted. Of the two temples, the Chayala Someshwara temple is initially the less impressive but it has one extraordinary feature that immediately makes it unique. The Shiva lingam is, while daylight is present, straddled by a permanent shadow like that of a pillar yet there is no discernable cause for such a shadow to fall across it! Insofar as my knowledge goes, this is unique in all India and perhaps even in the world. The temple also has one of the earliest representations of Dattatreya, a composite god with the mingled qualities of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma.

Panagal village looks comatose today, but at one time it was the capital of the Kakatiya rulers of Andhra Pradesh. One thousand years ago these temples were erected for the greater glory of the ruler's favorite god, Shiva. The Chayala Someshwara temple is about a kilometer away from the village itself, set in the middle of a plain it dominates, and backed by what was once a royal garden or park but is now reverting to agricultural land. The temple is clearly visible some distance away, in the pyramidical form favored by Hindu architects to represent the abode of Shiva, the mountains of the Himalayas. The stone gateway which leads to the garden is now in some slight disrepair but given the soft nature of the stone available, the temple is in good shape.

Yet another unusual feature of the temple is that the Astha Digha Palikas, the Guardians of the Eight Directions, do not have a separate space allotted to them as is common in South India, but are carved directly into the roof above the sacrificial fire altar. This is rather peculiar as it would mean that they would receive the first tendrils of smoke from the sacrifice. This smoke was Agni, god of fire, conveying the prayers of mankind to the gods, and this path is a unique detour. Typically for Hindus, a temple built to exalt one god also has a shrine that proclaims all gods are but variations upon the formless. The Dattatreya shrine is one of the earliest known and is also strange in being very far away from the normal areas of Dattatreya worship. It is completely incongruous but Hindu temples are happiest when managing contradictions! There is also a broken Stone tablet which represents the doubly-twined snakes of the Kundalini Energy, just as they twine on the Caduceus, the Staff of Hermes. They represent the rising of the Kundalini along the spine, and could imply a Tantric-Yogic tinge to the beliefs of the temple builders.

The pillars of the temple are decorated in great detail with relief sculpture which tend to get somewhat repetitive. They are basically episodes from the two great Epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Rama chasing the golden deer seems to be a favorite because of its dynamic possibilities. Vali and Sugriva wrestling is another theme. Some of the work is purely ornamental with decorative patterns, birds, warriors and musicians being liberally represented. The doorways to all shrines have a typical feature of Kakatiya art, a series of griffins standing on each others backs, but they are sadly damaged. The Kakatiya sculptors loved elephants for they are carved everywhere in Andhra Pradesh. Elephants also represent royal power so their presence on the walls of royal shrines is normal. The bases of the pillars are usually represented with Apsaras, nymphs of heaven and fertility symbols, an act of sympathetic magic to keep the vitality of the dynasty fecund and active. An incomplete shrine to the side of the main temple shows that such magic did not always work.

Undoubtedly the spiritual significance of the temple comes from that astonishing shadow. Chayala Someshwara means "Shadow Shiva" and the weird pillar shadow is meant to evoke the great myth of Shiva taking on the form of an endless, infinite pillar which neither Brahma nor Vishnu could span, forcing them to concede his superiority. Since Shiva is the personification of Pure Consciousness which is eternal and infinite, naturally none of the other gods could find a beginning or end. The pillar is the Yupa Sthamba, the Cosmic Pillar, (axis mundi) around which creation itself revolves. Consciousness, i.e. Shiva, is therefore the Axis Mundi. Every human being carries within him or her this Yupa Sthamba, for man is the only animal with a pillar-like erect spine and Awareness of Consciousness, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Man the doubly wise, the doubly aware - i.e. man is the only animal which can access the Shiva, the pure consciousness that pervades and sustains all. The shadow is also Jungian in a sense as Shiva was always the great Outsider God, never quite visible except by the trick- playing moonlight, never quite predictable as to rages or blessings, an aesthetic genius who lives like a hermit or madman. Shiva was as unpredictable as life itself, and the only way to navigate it safely was shown by his vehicle (or vahana), the bull Nandi, who is eternally, unswervingly concentrated in his gaze upon the source of Pure Consciousness, Shiva - the Auspicious One.

Nandi is the dark side, the instinctual, animal side to one's nature which espouses a philosophy of entitlement and hedonism. As long as Consciousness has not been awakened and centered such is inevitable. Recognition of that trait and focusing on Pure Consciousness, the ultimate bedrock of all creation, is what rescues man from his purely animal side. The dark side is potentially infinite but awakened consciousness instantly transforms that into virtue. It is a remarkable concept and an even more remarkable feat of architecture, for there is no protuberance of any sort within, around or above the shrine to cause that Shadow.

To the corner of the temple is the inevitable Yaksha Spot, the original place of power which temple architects look for when they choose to build. The Yakshas are the Genius Loci, the 'Spirit of Place', the ancient chthonic power which gave a spot its peculiar spiritual strength. All genuine temples leave the Yaksha Spot untouched. In this case it has an anthill growing above it and the locals evidently keep up the worship through sheer instinct. A large head of Kirtimukha grins amusedly at you in front of the Yaksha Spot. Kirtimukha is a threshold guardian, a warden of liminal places/spaces of transformation, an in-betweener, neither human nor fully divine, but catalyzing awareness to Consciousness. That is why he is called Kirtimukha - The Face of Glory. Not surprisingly, he is found carved all over the walls of temples. The opportunity it gave artists to let their imaginations run wild is also not to be discounted!

Kirtimukha is fun even when he is grotesque and terrible. He is a warning that humans engage with the gods at their own peril, but he is also an encouragement that the rewards of so doing are incalculable. Kirtimukha is the spirit of Verditas, the Greening Power, Life Unfolding - Life Transforming, and the cascades of vegetation that flow from his head promise to make fruitful your life, if it does not choke you for your unawareness. Kirtimukha has no body, only a head, a boon from Shiva, and he represents the shift in consciousness that will occur in sacred places of power. If you are not ready, not aware, it could shatter you. "Pilgrim beware - Pilgrim Be Aware!" Kirtimukha is so important a concept in Indian spirituality that this Yaksha was appropriated by all the ancient faiths of India and his grinning, fecund face is found on Buddhist, Jain and Hindu temple walls for over two millennia. The Face of Glory is too vital to be ignored on sectarian grounds.