Early Giithaa sculptures

[N. Ganesan]

Thanks a bunch.
My nAlAyiram is on loan for now.

What about ThirukkaNNamangai, 108 vaiNava tirupatikaL,
or at Kanchi? Is anywhere Krishna, Arjuna, Chariot
depicted?

Inside the main sannati of Allikkeni, who are
all represented? There is a whole team, I recall.

Many thanks,
N. Ganesan

<
Krishna is depicted as a handsome man teaching
the Gita and offering solace ("mA sucaH") to his
devotees at the ancient temple of Tiruvallikkeni,
the middle of Chennai (Madras).  This temple is
at least as old as the early Alvars (6th century?),
as Pey Alvar refers to the shrine as "allikkENi"
in one of his verses.

The apotheosis of the Gita is not new, at least
among philosophers.  It has long been one
of the prasthAna-trayi (three fundamental texts)
of Vedanta, and enjoys a prestigious place among
smRiti texts.  It is quoted in the same breath
as the Upanishads by all Vedantic philosophers.

I agree that the average middle-class Indian's
obsession with the Gita (particularly in translation)
is a phenomenon of this century.
>>>


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