Posted on: 30 September 2010

Rama in Durbar - The coronation of Shree Ramah after his conquest over Ravana - 1801

Pen and ink drawing depicting the coronation of Rama after his defeat of Ravana, from the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple in Madurai, from an 'Album of 51 drawings (57 folios) of buildings, sculpture and paintings in the temple and choultry of Tirumala Nayyak at Madura. c.1801-05', by an anonymous artist working in the South India/Madurai style, c. 1801-1805. Each picture is inscribed with a title and a number in ink.

The Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple complex contains two main shrines; one dedicated to Shiva and one to his consort Minakshi, an ancient local divinity. Each shrine is set within its own walled complex containing several subsidiary shrines, mandapams (assembly halls) and artificial pools. The construction of this temple-town was made possible by the wealth and power of Tirumala Nayak (1623-1659). He was the most prolific builder of a long line of Nayaka kings, a dynasty who ruled a large portion of Tamil country in the 16th and 17th centuries. Rama is the hero of the Ramayana, a Hindu epic. In seven books, the story narrates the exile of Rama to the forest with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, the subsequent abduction of Sita by Ravana (the demon-king of Lanka) and the rescue of Sita with the help of Sugriva the king of the monkey tribe and his minister Hanuman. After a fierce battle the city of Lanka was taken, Ravana was killed and Sita was rescued. The carved scene depicted in this drawing represents Rama, reunited with Sita, solemnly crowned to begin his glorious reign of Ayodhya.

Source : British Library


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one more evidence?

@ Rudhran ji, to the believers no evidence is necessary....to the non-believers.....no amount of evidence is enough !! JAI SHRI RAM.

@RM- i am a believer and i do believe in evidence.

RKR : The whole point is beleif and evidence dont necessarily go together....and absence of the latter need not rescind the former. On the measure of evidence every religion is pure fantasy...we all know that. So lets move on folks....

let us move on with the understanding that fantasy is indeed useful- though not for reality

kuto na rAmaH bhagavaan? yadi bhavAn viSNau vishvasiti tarhi ramo.api pUrNAvarAra eva...

MSS : Translation for us sanskrit-illiterates ?

You see above my last statement there is a man called Krishnas Tu Bhagavan swayam = Krishna is of course God Himself". To that "person" I had just asked," Why not Rama? If you should have faith in Lord ViShNu, then you must know that Shri Rama's was also a Full Descent of the Lord!!" Well, I didn't get any answer from our friend called himself "Krishnas Tu Bhagavan swayam"

Thank you : )

One negative aspect of the HC ruling re Ayodhya is that it has admitted faith as evidence. I have yet to see the actual wording of judgment as what we are seeing is just the operating part put out by the court clerk and paraphrasing done by journalists.

On the contrary, I feel the judgement is wise and pragmatic. Whatever may be our personal inclinations, we have to understand that faith is what lifts, moves and sustains the masses. This fact should be kept in mind by those who are entrusted with the burden of taking a decision of such a magnitude.

@Shekhar----when the entire Ayodhya conundrum is between the Hindus and Muslims on religious parameters--'faith" and "faith ' alone is the nodal point of the judgement---in this case there was a TEMPLE-dtg to the 10th century--AND A MOSQUE BUILT ON IT--like in countless places worldwide---Spain---Turkey---Jerusalem- Judgement is not only wise --but pragmatic

But to return to the original post---as early as 1750s---the French had recorded the Thousand Pillared Hall in the compound of the Minaksi-Sundaresvara Temple In the 1780s--Adam Blackader--a Company servant supervised the preparation of an extensive series of drawings of the Tirumala Nayak's "mandapa"(choultry)of which 143 paintings survive and are in the V @ A IN lONDON

Mahadev Sarma's question is still unanswered. Why the numerosity of faiths? As many faiths, as many people. Each Vyakti has her own prakriti. Why the poor mundane courts be the arbiters of faith? The Supreme court, though mundane, will eventually rule on this in another hundred years. At least, the ink sketch has an author (albeit without a copyright!).