Back from shrI ekali~Nga shrine, I find myself with questions, answers to which I could not find.
A request to hauma hamiddha ji to share his clarity and insight in these matters. Here are the observations:
1. While gaNapati rules, kumAra is all but forgotten. totally ignored. why?
2. There is a shrine in the complex, comparatively older one, with a shivali~Nga submerged in water, and place for a vigraha behind it, although no vigraha unlike other such shrines here -- this probably removed from here. But what is surprising is that the entrance to this shrine is guarded not by usual gaNapati and bhairava, but chaturmukha-prajApati and chaturbhuja-viShNu themselves. I have not seen such arrangement before.
3. indra himself climbing on his elephant guards the shrine to the 20-bhujI, 10-mukhI chaNDI. This vigraha of indra is quite literally the same replica of another such in the bramhA temple of puShkara. In the prajApati shrine at puShkara, there are two such mUrti-s guarding the entrance. The one at left is called indra and exactly the same on the right hand side is called kubera, both riding on massive elephants. I doubt the accuracy in calling them indra/kubera? But then the exactly the same "indra" guards chaNDI's entrance...
4. Once a week, on mondays, the present royal in the seat of mewar himself performs the duty of the priest in the main shrine.
5. Temple is full of stone prashasti-edicts. While a majority of these carry the traditional seal of mewar (Cow feeding her calf under the glare of sun and moon), there are some of an older layer. I noticed two such stone edicts, almost lying in abandoned state. What was striking was the image inscibed as the seal. In one, depicted is a sexual union of a human female with a boar-like person. The female is resting on the ground with both legs and the right hand, while the boar is mounting her. In her right hand she bears a spherical object, like a ball, between the hand and the ground, while with her left hand she holds the neck of the boar. I for once speculated it to be depicting vArAha and bhU-devI, but then the image depicts the female figure as dominating and the primary person. The writing on the edict is in nAgarI but completely illegible. The other set, right next to this image appears to be slightly newer than this, and in this one, the boar image looks more like a horse, and so does the female image. There is absolutely no writing on this stone. I wished to take a picture of these, but was not allowed.
6. You had indicated that this shrine was originally a pAshupata shrine. But the coinage of bappA rAwala supports that he was actually initiated in nAtha tradition. The traditional story told about his initiation into nAthamata by a nAtha yogI, and then blessings by devI, is strikingly similar to the one about pR^ithvI nArAyaNa the founder of nepal's hindu shAhI. (Or tulajA-bhawAnI's blessings to shivAjI)
A request to hauma hamiddha ji to share his clarity and insight in these matters. Here are the observations:
1. While gaNapati rules, kumAra is all but forgotten. totally ignored. why?
2. There is a shrine in the complex, comparatively older one, with a shivali~Nga submerged in water, and place for a vigraha behind it, although no vigraha unlike other such shrines here -- this probably removed from here. But what is surprising is that the entrance to this shrine is guarded not by usual gaNapati and bhairava, but chaturmukha-prajApati and chaturbhuja-viShNu themselves. I have not seen such arrangement before.
3. indra himself climbing on his elephant guards the shrine to the 20-bhujI, 10-mukhI chaNDI. This vigraha of indra is quite literally the same replica of another such in the bramhA temple of puShkara. In the prajApati shrine at puShkara, there are two such mUrti-s guarding the entrance. The one at left is called indra and exactly the same on the right hand side is called kubera, both riding on massive elephants. I doubt the accuracy in calling them indra/kubera? But then the exactly the same "indra" guards chaNDI's entrance...
4. Once a week, on mondays, the present royal in the seat of mewar himself performs the duty of the priest in the main shrine.
5. Temple is full of stone prashasti-edicts. While a majority of these carry the traditional seal of mewar (Cow feeding her calf under the glare of sun and moon), there are some of an older layer. I noticed two such stone edicts, almost lying in abandoned state. What was striking was the image inscibed as the seal. In one, depicted is a sexual union of a human female with a boar-like person. The female is resting on the ground with both legs and the right hand, while the boar is mounting her. In her right hand she bears a spherical object, like a ball, between the hand and the ground, while with her left hand she holds the neck of the boar. I for once speculated it to be depicting vArAha and bhU-devI, but then the image depicts the female figure as dominating and the primary person. The writing on the edict is in nAgarI but completely illegible. The other set, right next to this image appears to be slightly newer than this, and in this one, the boar image looks more like a horse, and so does the female image. There is absolutely no writing on this stone. I wished to take a picture of these, but was not allowed.
6. You had indicated that this shrine was originally a pAshupata shrine. But the coinage of bappA rAwala supports that he was actually initiated in nAtha tradition. The traditional story told about his initiation into nAthamata by a nAtha yogI, and then blessings by devI, is strikingly similar to the one about pR^ithvI nArAyaNa the founder of nepal's hindu shAhI. (Or tulajA-bhawAnI's blessings to shivAjI)