Photo 212/2(7)

Inscription: Numbered '297' in the negative.

Genre: Architectural Photography

View looking (?)south-west across the Golden Lily Tank or Pottamarai Kulam, in the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, towards gopuras beyond. Lyon's 'Notes to accompany a series of photographs prepared to illustrate the ancient architecture of southern India' (Marion and Co., London, 1870), edited by James Fergusson, gives the following description of this photograph: '297 - One of the first objects shown on entering this temple is the Golden Lotus Tank. It is said to have been formed by a blow from the trident of Shiva, to gratify some deities who were worshipping the sacred Lingum. It was one of the seven things not destroyed by the great flood. It is 66 yards in length from east to west, and 48 in width from north to south. It is regarded as of very great sanctity; the popular belief being that the water is supplied by the Ganges, which passing under the sea for 1000 miles, here reappears to supply this tank. According to the legend, a pious heron, tempted by hunger to feed on some small fish which fell from the hair of a Rishi bathing in the tank, was restrained by a thought of the holiness of the place, and as a reward was taken to Kailasa. From a fear lest some of his race might be less able to withstand temptation than himself, he prayed that no living thing might thereafter be produced in the tank; from that time, if the legend be true, no living creature has ever been found in the sacred water. The origin of the name is as follows:- Beside the tank was set a bench of gold, some say of diamond; the bench was presented by Shiva, and possessed the marvellous property of discriminating the merits of candidates for a place in the collegiate synod; and so deciding for their election or rejection. This synod consisted of 48 members, Shiva himself being the 49th. When a candidate appeared, he was first questioned by the members, and if his answers were satisfactory, he was told to seat himself on the bench, which if he were really worthy of the honour, at once extended to allow him room to take his seat, but if not, it contracted its size, and the unworthy aspirant fell into the tank, a result in the present slimy, filthy state of the water, by no means pleasant. This synod is said to have been abolished about A.D. 1000, in the following manner:- The members had grown proud and neglectful, when a low-caste priest named Tiruvalavar, who, some affirm, was the god Shiva in disguise, presented himself for election with a poem he had composed. The high-caste members were most indignant at his presumption, but being ordered by the king, they were obliged to give him a trial; to their horror and astonishment he was permitted to take his seat, and so mortified were they at his success, they passed out one by one and drowned themselves in the tank. As shown in the view, the tank is surrounded on two sides by various buildings, some enclosed by lattice work, from which it is said the ladies of Trimul Nayak used to look upon the ceremony, when the god, at an annual festival, took a sail on the tank.' Another copy at Photo 1000/29(2947).