Gatekeeper's management mantra

S Balakrishnan *

The Dravidian temples have images of dwarapalaks (gatekeepers) guarding the temple entrances (Dwara = entrance, palak = who maintains). Pairs of dwara palaks flank right from the first tower to the successive doorways, ultimately leading to the sanctum sanctorum, keeping an eye on all those who enter. It is female dwarapalakis for the shrines of Goddesses.

The Vaishnavaite temples have soft-natured pair of gatekeepers dressed in traditional dhoti and adorned with sacred symbols associated with Vaishnavism. They invariably hold a mace in one of the four hands, while Conch and Chakra are held in two other hands; the remaining fourth hand either indicates the sanctum sanctorum or, with the index finger, the mightiest in the sanctum.

On the other side, the Saivaite temple pair of gatekeeperscould be a frightening one with authoritarian manners; after all, aren’t they guarding the temple of Rudra, Lord Shiva the Destroyer! Hence their manly pose only reminds me of the bouncers of pubs and bars. For sure, I have never ever visited one such but only seen in our movies.

While entering the shrine, devotees are expected to humbly seek the permission of dwara palaks whose duty it is to filter the bad elements from entering the shrine. These images are actually the representative images of the original dwarapalaks guarding the Vaikunta lok of Lord Vishnu and the Shiv lok of Lord Shiva.Of the Trimurtys, only Lord Brahma doesn’t seem to own a Lok of his own despite He being the Creator!

Why this injustice? The Hindu temples of Nepal are usually guarded by a pair of Lion at the main entrance, as much as in Odisha where it could also be Lion-on-Elephant motif. This is mostly at the main eastern entrance which is, therefore, called the Singh Dwara (Lion Entrance) of the shrine.

In north Indian shrines, as we proceed further, figures representing the sacred rivers of Ganga and Yamuna can be seen flanking the innermost sanctum’s doorway, standing on makara and tortoise, respectively.

I was recently in for a surprise. During a conducted trip, I noticed gatekeeper statues in Tamil Jain shrines, very much resembling those at Vishnu temples. The trip was part of Madras Day celebrations. It was a shocking surprise to see a good number of native Tamils who are Jains for generations together! It is an entirely different story.

It was then that I noticed at these Jain shrines dwara palak images - 1000s of years old as well as modern -that very much resembled those at Vishnu temples. One modern and opulent shrine of North Indian Jains even had statues of gun-toting uniformed security guards at the doorway.

The Brihadisvara Temple (Big Temple) in Thanjavur, dedicated to Lord Shiva, has many pairs of dwarapalaks guarding the successive towers and doorways. As its name itself suggests, the Big Temple is a massive architectural marvel.

Befitting its size, it has very huge gatekeepers to match the enormous Shivling in the inner shrine. Everything is huge and big in this Temple. And why not! After all, it is not for nothing that this is appropriately called the Big Temple.

Now, coming to the crux of the story, among the numerous pairs of dwara palaks at the Big Temple, one pair caught my camera eye for its uniqueness and subtle message. Once you are addicted to photography, you can’t help looking at things from a different angle; this could be a boon and a bane at the same time. The dwarapalak rests his right foot on a pedestal where we find a snake swallowing an elephant.

You can imagine how big the snake ought to be to swallow an adult elephant with tusks! Nearby is also seen a crawling crocodile, again much bigger in size than the tusker itself!A roaring lion is also sculpted between the muscular legs of the dwarapalak.

The dwarapalak massively towers above these miniscule figures, showing how huge and powerful he is; he,however, humblysays that he is not that mighty. ‘Behind me (he indicates one of his left arms, bent slightly backwards, towards the sanctum sanctorum) is the Biggest of All, the Mightiest of all, the One and the Only One (he indicates this with his right index finger) in the sanctum’, he seems to say nonchalantly.

That is the cool message of the big and ferocious dwarapalak with two protruding teeth. Hewn out of a single rock, this pair is about 15 ft. tall and yet carved with minute details. The drapery and ornaments have been executed with finer details, right from the anklets to the crown.

The Big Temple of Thanjavur was raised more than 1,000 years ago by the Chola King Rajaraja - I in 1009-1010. Thanjavur is some 300 kms. down south of Chennai and is easily accessible by road and rail. The nearest airport at Trichy is 40 kms. away.

UNESCO has inscribed this Brihadisvara Temple as a World Heritage Monument; it has been grouped under the Great Living Chola Temples along with two other shrines built by the Chola Kings. Because these temples are under worship as per the prescribed religious rites since then to this day, continually for more than 1000 years! So, the Dwara palak could be right after all in hinting that the Mightiest is enshrined in the Big Temple.

The sublime message of this massive yet marvellous pair of dwara palaks seems to be that‘there is always someone above you who is also mightier than you’. So, for a smooth sailing not only in this world but also in the other world, always remember this humble gatekeeper’s simple management mantra.