TENSING RODRIGUES
What do Baradi Cross at Velim, Goa, and Olakkannesvara Temple at Mamallapuram have in common? Both are supposed to be originally
lighthouses.
As for the latter its history is recorded; but as for the former, we know almost nothing; however, given its location and structure, the probability that it was built as a lighthouse is preponderant. It is atop a hill and rises straight up a few metres; unusually tall as a cross for public veneration. As it has visibly undergone several renovations, which have covered its lower part, it is difficult to say what the original structure was like. It is located just where the river meets the sea; and offers a commanding view of the mouth of the river. Conversely it is highly visible to a vessel entering the Betul Bay. So, it was highly appropriate as a lighthouse for a ship navigating into that bay; including the Valipattan Port.
Olakkannesvara Temple is just about one kilometre from Salavankuppam at the entrance of the Great Salt Lake (the large backwater at Mamallapuram). As we have seen earlier, Great Salt Lake bound by the Tripalur Reef formed a protected port complex in Mammalapuram. So, the structure and location of the Olakkannesvara Temple distinguish it as a lighthouse for guiding the vessels entering the port.
Baradi Cross at Velim lies at the mouth of the Sal River on whose left bank the Valipattan Port was located; before the formation of the Mobor Spit (sand bar).Therefore, to get the correct perspective of the port and the lighthouse, it is important to visualise the river before the formation of the spit. At that time, the sea must have been bathing the shore of Velim; and the River Sal must have been flowing almost east-west between Cavelossim and Velim (which was the Betul Bay then), and emptying directly into the sea. That would give sufficient draft to ocean-going vessels to enter the Betul Bay and the river beyond.
On the right bank of the river (opposite the Baradi Cross), that is in Carmona Village, there existed another temple, whose ruins (including a carved lintel piece) were found some years back on a wooded mound nearby, on a beach now called Gavonn. The temple must have been clearly visible once the vessel drew near the shore. So, any vessel entering the Valipattan Port navigated between this temple and the
lighthouse.
The site of this temple is fairly away from the present inhabitation in Carmona; and is now more or less deserted and covered with bushes; and, I was told, inhabited by groups of peacocks. Hardly anybody goes there. But there is a popular belief locally that the sound of music and anklets can be heard emanating from the site on certain nights; and burning torches can be seen. The site is called ‘kolvontancho mandd’; that is where nautch girls perform. We do not know whether the local story is connected with the temple or the proximity of the port once upon a time. The site is also called ‘Daida Moll’; ‘an open space belonging to someone by name David’ – this probably is a more contemporary appellation based on acquisition of that property in recent centuries. But no information is available.
We do not yet know what were the exact location and the configuration of the Valipattan Port. Could the port have been at the mouth of Sal River as the Pattanakudi inscription of Avsara II (988 CE) seems to suggest: “In that family there was the illustrious king Dhammiyara, who founded Balipattana, charming with the surging waves of the ocean.” [Mirashi, 1977: 180] “… charming with the surging waves of the ocean” very much evokes the scene at the beach off Gavonn; prior to formation the Mobor Spit, it could indeed be a realistic picture of the Valipattan Bay.
The Silahar background of Gavonn should also help us place it in a geographical context. The 1008 CE Kharepatana plates of Rattaraja record the grant of some villages by the king to the temple dedicated to Avvesvar on the Chandranath Hill in Paroda. “I have donated in honour of my parents and for my own spiritual welfare – on the full-moon tithi of Jyestha in the years nine hundred increased by thirty which have elapsed by the era of the Saka king, the cyclic year being Kilaka, for the worship with fivefold offerings of the holy Avvesvara, … (1) the village of Kusmandi, the boundaries of which are on the east, the prapa of Manigrama on the south, by the road to the village of Vaparavata, on the west, by the water-course of the village Sachandalakapittha, and on the north by a kshara-nadi; (2) the village of Asanavira, which has on the east Dharavahala, on the south, the river of the village Karaparni, on the west, the sea, and on the north, the river of the village Gavahana.” [Mirashi, 1977:192]
The villages mentioned in the plates seem to fit some place names in Salcete and Quepem talukas of Goa. These place names fall into two categories: the names of the villages close to the port and capital Valipattan – Asanavira, Karaparni, and Gavahana, and places close to the shrine/temple of Avvesvar – Kusmandi, Manigrama, Vaparavata and Sachandalakapittha. Kusmandi could be Kusmanem near Quepem town; Manigrama could be Amonem/Amona; Kshara-nadi could be River Sal (kshara = khar = salty); Asanavira could be Asolnem / Assolna; Karaparni could be Karmanem / Carmona; Gavahana could be Gavna, the ward of Carmona village where the temple ruins have been found. As you must have noticed, the Kharepatana plates mention Karaparni (Carmona) and Gavahana (Gavonn) separately, indicating that the two had an independent existence in Silahar geography; they were independent villages. But this does not give us any clue to the reason for the importance of Gavonn.
But we still do not have any clue on the temple ruins we have found. Of course, excavation will provide a lot of information. But that is a massive endeavour, requiring resources and statutory initiative. Till it happens, we can create the justification for it to happen.
Let us first try to answer a pertinent question; at least tentatively: why a temple on a relatively desolate beach in a sparsely populated village like Gavonn? I shall pick an idea put forth by Himanshu Prabha Ray, a historian, and marine archaeologist; former chairperson of the National Monuments Authority, Ministry of Culture, and former professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
“Monumental architecture along the coasts served dual functions; in addition to its usual purpose, these were also used as major orientation points by watercraft while approaching land. Several examples may be mentioned, such as the Narsimha temple at Bhemunipatnam on the Andhra coast and the Konarak temple in Orissa. Perhaps the most relevant example for this chapter is the Budddhist monastery at Nagapattinam, popularly known as the Chinese Pagoda.” [Ray, ‘Ethnographies of Sailing, in Cobb (Ed.) 2018: The Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity – from the Red Sea to the Bay of Bengal in Antiquity’, 165]
Could the temple at Gavonn have been an ‘orientation point’ for boats while approaching the Betul Bay that is the mouth of River Sal? Particularly if they were coming down the west coast or from Red Sea, Gulf of Aden or Gulf of Oman; Valipattan was the southernmost port before the ‘pepper country’ on the Aden – Indian Ocean circuit. Who built the temple? It is possible that the temple was built by one or more traders or the ‘nauvitak’ (ship owners) who used the port; that is what happened often. “At the port of Balipattana in 1084 CE were active members of a sreshthi (very rich merchant) family over three generations, whose vessels operated in the Konkan sector.” [Chakravarti, 2012: ‘Merchants, Merchandise and Merchantmen in the Western Seaboard of India: A Maritime Profile (500 BCE–1500 CE)’, in Trading World of the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, 96.] We find these families now in Assolna.
