Pillar Four

Artwork by A. Manivelu

Top

  • NORTH FACE:
    Banana Tree

    The banana tree (Musa) is common in Hawaii and highly valued in India. Did you know the fruit is actually a berry?

  • EAST FACE:
    Bilva Leaf

    This is the three-leafed sprig plucked from the bilva or wood-apple tree, (Aegle marmelos), sacred to Lord Siva. Its leaves, picked in threes, are offered in the worship of the Sivalinga. The fruit when unripe is used medicinally.

  • SOUTH FACE:
    Tatpurusha

    Tatpurusha (“supreme soul”), the controlling Lord of Maheshvara, is the aspect of Siva that wields the power of obscuration. His direction is east, He is related to the sphere of air (vayu mandala), and His Panchakshara Mantra syllable is Va.

  • WEST FACE:
    Cloves

    Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum. They are native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice in India and around the world.

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Middle

  • NORTH FACE:
    Rishi

    A rishi is a venerated sage or seer, often a visionary who sees beyond the present time. Often refers to the sages, many of whom were householders, who codified dharma thousands of years ago in India. This rishi is wandering in the hills with his kamandalu or water pot.

  • EAST FACE:
    Vyagrapada

    Vyagrapada means “tiger feet.” He is a famous Nandinatha Sampradaya siddha (ca 200 BCE), trained under Maharishi Nandinatha and was a brother disciple of rishis Tirumular and Patanjali.

  • SOUTH FACE:
    Patanjali

    Patanjali is a Saivite Natha siddha (ca 200 BCE) who codified the ancient yoga philosophy. His great work, the Yoga Sutras, comprises some 200 aphorisms delineating ashtanga (eight-limbed), raja (kingly) or siddha (perfection) yoga. Still today it is the foremost text on meditative yoga.

  • WEST FACE:
    Tiruvalluvar

    Tiruvalluvar, literally “holy weaver,” was a Tamil weaver and householder saint (ca 200 BCE) who wrote the classic Saivite ethical scripture Tirukural. He lived with his wife Vasuki, famed for her remarkable loyalty and virtues, near modern-day Chennai.

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Bottom

  • NORTH FACE:
    Nilakantha

    Nilakantha, “the Blue Throated One,” is seen here drinking the poison to save the cosmos.

  • EAST FACE:
    Bhikshatana

    Bhikshatana (literally, “wandering about for alms”) is an aspect of Siva as the supreme mendicant or beggar.

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