I had never visited any
tomb or monument [courtesy: my parents who barely ever made trips], as a child.
So when I finally took off as a solo traveller to Coorg, I decided I should go
see one. An hour’s drive from the Coorg O Farm Homestay in Chembebeloor later, I
landed my big feet at the Gaddige Fort (Raja’s Tomb) in Mahadevpet.
I really hadn’t seen
any other tombs to compare this nondescript place with. The old, yet, kind of
pretty yellow buildings were rather common place, although I did note that they
were built in the Indo-Saracenic or Hindu-Gothic style. Well, they certainly
looked gothic, alright; I could almost hear Nagavalli’s haunting anklets to the
male vocalist’s tha-jum-tha-jum beats,
from the famed Ra Ra track of the Kannada film, Apthamithra.
Wondering where to start,
I just walked on and found the main building (I figured that out because that
was the only one with open doors; the others seemed locked away for good). Leaving
my slippers outside, I walked up the few stairs and into the sanctum of ‘Raja’s
Tomb’.
A black granite stone tablet lay resting against the wall, next to an
archway leading to the heart of the tomb that lay in darkness and abandon; it contained
the history of the tomb – nothing of much interest though. It just said that the
19th century King Doddveerarajendra lay buried there, as bones and
dust, along with his wife (unnamed; shows the lack of importance and respect
placed on women, back then), and his son, Chikkaveerarajendra. The two other
buildings, that were on either side of this one, held the mortal remains of the
king’s royal priest, Rudrappa, and the royal official Biddanda Bopu, who had
died fighting Tipu Sultan, and Biddanda’s son, Biddanda Somiah.
The “tomb” was merely a
concrete floor with an ornate lamp hanging over it from the ceiling. And that
was it. That was the tomb. I realised that my mind playing the Ra ra, sarasaku ra ra track was more
interesting than these “royal” remains. But when I got out of the building, I
noticed a symbol etched at the top of the doorway. It was the Kannada letter for
‘v’. Apparently, this happened to be the King’s signature, something he had had
inscribed on all the royal properties to mark his rule – an ancient logo, if
you will.
The carvings made on
this building were more interesting than the King’s royal remains. These certainly
weren’t as refined as the famous temple carvings we have known, but they were
kind of fantasy-oriented. Whether or not they depicted some mythical story, I
do not know, but they sure got the attention of
the crazy fantasy fiction fan
in me.
Of all the things I
have seen and done (and I’m quite a boring person, really), this “royal” tomb,
perhaps, deserves “the most boring” crown. As for the haunting danseuse, Nagavalli…
she didn’t stop dancing in my mind that whole day…
I think I have visited a tomb in Agra. For history lovers visiting tombs and monuments is like opening a treasure chest and finding hidden gems.
ReplyDeleteReads like a walk-through story, Anu. It felt like I was there too. Kinda funny, kinda eerie :)
ReplyDelete