Why Tamil Nadu’s Brihadishwara Temple Has Statues Of A Foreigner And A Demon – News18

Tamil Nadu’s Brihadishwara Temple, located in Thanjavur, on the south bank of the Cauvery River, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This magnificent temple, which was once a Chola seat of power, was built in 1010 AD by the great Chola emperor Raja Rajan I. The number of tourists to this enormous temple is growing daily since it outshines other Indian temples in terms of architectural brilliance, beautiful stone carvings; and most importantly, hidden mysteries that will stump curious minds. Selvam, a retired teacher from Thanjavur, guides tourists to this magnificent temple, providing them with the information they need to know about the historical significance of this place. News18 visited the Brihadishwara Temple and interacted with Selvam, inquiring about some of the mysteries surrounding the temple.

The first mind-boggler in the temple is the statue of a foreigner with Western clothing and a hat. It seems to be an unusual sight in a Tamil country, and does not fit in the period when the temple was constructed. In the northern part of the main temple, there is a statue of Lord Shiva holding a bow, and above that there is this statue of a man wearing a hat. Selvam explains that the most widely-believed reasoning is that it is a statue of the Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo, who passed through South India on his way back home from 1288-93 AD. The likeness of Marco Polo might have been added by monarchs as a tribute to him. Englishmen used to wear different sorts of hats, not the one seen in the stone sculpture, therefore the Bowler hat in the statue shows that it was not theirs.

Just above the figure believed to be Marco Polo, there is a Keerti Mukha, a talisman of a demon’s head. When asked about it, Selvam says that it can be found atop many Shiva temples across India. The legend around it is that Lord Shiva was once being bothered by a yogi; in a state of fury, Lord Shiva conjured a demon named Keertimukha to eat the yogi. But once the yogi fell at Shiva’s feet and asked for forgiveness. Shiva asked the demon to not eat him.

However, the demon whose sole existence was to eat flesh asked Shiva what to do instead. Shiva casually said ‘Eat yourself up’ and the demon took it seriously and completely ate up his own body, including flesh and bones. Only the face remained. Shiva was moved by the demon’s act and realised that it had risen above space and time by this selfless act and in a way, risen above the gods. Hence, Shiva said that Keertimukha, the demon’s image, would be on the top of all temples dedicated to him.