Brief History :
Seebi (Sibi), is a small village, located about
20 kilometres to the north of Tumkur district in Karnataka. Seebi is 24 km
south of Sira. Seebi was the vanaprastra ashram of Shibi Chakravarthy, the
grandson of Prahlad Maharaj. Shibi Chakravarthy wanted to worship Lord Narasimha
and in return Lord Narasimha enshrined himself as Narasimha Shaligrama here.
The main deity is shaped larger than a linga, and is facing north east here. There is no
visuals of Narasimha and it is the Shaligrama that is worshipped.
Goddes Lokamba devi resides in the prakara of the temple. For unmarried boys and girls, there is a strong beleif that if a kalyanostavam is performed she bestows a spouse very fast.
Subsequently,
this Shaligrama was also worshipped by Lord Sri Rama, for begetting issues. It
is also said that Chandrahasa, the then king of Kuntala also worshipped the
Narasimha Shaligrama for removal of obstacles.
In 1797 in the erstwhile Mysore state Fauzdar Nallapa, A
brahmin Fauzdar in Mummudi KrishnaRaja Wodeyar, was intending to build a temple
in memory of his mother (Alamellamma – who practised sati) and his father
Kacheri Krishniah. Narasimhaswamy appeared in a dream to Nallappa and directed
him to build a temple and worship him in Seebi as he was not being worshipped.
The temple took 10 years to build. The temple is painted with themes of Ramayana,
Mahabharatha and Dashavatara which have eroded over time.
There is a Kalyani (Water Tank) called Gaja Pushkarini near
the temple. It is said that the Gajendra Moksha episode happened here.
Bramharatotsava is performed on Maasa Nakshatra, poorva
palguna nakshatra of Magha Maasa. A grand Jaatre-Festival is conducted 3 days
before and 3 days after the Bramharatotsava.
Annual Special Days like Brahmostava, Mahabisheka,
Kalyanostava etc :
This
is the main entrance to Seebi Narasimha Temple. The roads winds in from Sira to
Bangalore. The Seebi Temple entrance is on the left side.
According
to the British Raj
era historian and Epigraphist B. Lewis Rice:
Once a merchant carrying grain on bullocks stopped at Sibi. When a pot of
grain was boiled on a projecting rock, its color turned blood red causing the
merchant, his attendants and the buffalos to blackout. While in the unconscious
state, the god Narasimha appeared in the merchant's dream and informed him the
rock was his abode and that the merchant should build a temple for him at that
spot as compensation for damaging his abode.
A small temple was thus
built by the merchant. In more recent times, the consecration of a larger
temple over the pre-existing shrine was taken up by three wealthy brothers:
Lakshminarasappa, Puttanna and Nallappa who were the sons of Kacheri
Krishnappa, a Dewan
in the court of King Tipu Sultan of the Mysore
Kingdom.
This temple
is managed by a family of priests over the generations; they are now making an
effort restore the sculptures & paintings of the temple to its original
shape. They have roped in sculptors from Archeological Survey of India (ASI)
who have begun work of restoring the sculptures, but are yet to find quality
professionals to restore the beautiful paintings.
Murals on a temple sealing
Murals are painting or other work
of art executed directly on a wall.
Up on entering
the main temple complex of Seebi Narashima Swamy Temple, surprise waiting on
its sealing. Along with murals depicting mythologies are also those which show
Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali in the royal court.
These paintings
that date back to late 18th century in the temple now fading away with little
effort at restoration. According to the sources known, the paintings are in a
mixed style of Tanjore, Mysuru, Maratha and Vijayanagara, according to
scholars. The majority of the paintings are in a sad state of affairs some
still carry the tinge of delicacy and softness, discernible only to shrewd
eyes.
During our
visit, the visibility of the painting was very bad, upon discussion with the some
knowledgable people, the following points were learned
Paintings, which
can be called historical, are very similar to Daria Daulat Bagh paintings in
Srirangapatna.
There were painting
wall of the gateway (Mahadwara) and might have undergone some repair work a few
years ago, when a portion of the paintings got covered. There is long
inscription of which only half remains.
The panel
consists of three rows.
The first one
appears to contain some very strange depictions probably from Krishna leela.
In the second
row is seated Karnik Nallappa in the court of Krishnaraja Wodeyar
The third row depicts
the court of Haidar Ali
Accoding to some
sources, the picture of Krishnaraja Wodeyar along with those of Haidar Ali and
Tipu Sultan puts us into some confusion as to the exact date of the paintings. It is possible that the picture of Wodeyar was
incorporated later. If we take the style adopted in the religious panels we can
say that the paintings belong to early 19th century.
One very
interesting panel is on the ceiling
of the gateway. The figures depicted in this panel are skillfully drawn and
well composed when viewed separately, but do not coalesce in totality. The
figures do not have any connection with each other;
Shibi rishi
performs his austerities while Krishna plays on his flute as his shepherd
friends look on.
According to
some local historian, the paintings also describe Tipu standing in the middle
of a forest and are in the act of performing a most difficult task. With a
sword in his right hand he is attacking a tiger and with his left hand he is
stabbing a boar with a long spear. Apart from these two acts he is also
stamping with his left foot a venomous snake to death. The artist and the
person who commissioned these paintings were obviously of the opinion that Tipu
Sultan was a good-mannered and brave hunter. The identity of Tipu is unmistakable.
It is possible that he frequented this place for his favourite tiger hunting.
Surrounding this
panel are four beams of procession scenes. (Whether the procession belongs to
Tipu?).
The paintings at
Sibi also have some interesting factors worth mentioning. The temple itself is
a simple structure, but the paintings inside are abundant and in character
quite extraordinary. As they are situated on the ceiling, they have been well
protected from weather conditions and vandalism.
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