temple chariots

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• Part 7
• temple chariots

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• Apparently describing a city in the Tamil plains,
  Sapir wrote
• Outside before the gate of the city stand
  great wooden wheels (galgalim), of the height of
  three men, and they have small wheels (ofanim),
  and upon them were all kinds of images. All the
  graven images of the likeness of these circled
  round and round the wheels and the smaller
  wheels.
• What was Sapir describing? What did this look
  like?
• Was he describing only the wheels, or the entire
  vehicle (ratha), a sacred wagon used for
  transporting deities around a city during certain
  festivals?

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The two temple chariots of Meenakshi Temple were
kept in two sheds located about a mile from the
temple.
The wheels were plain, decorated only with
concentric circles.
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But the sides of the vehicles themselves had
elaborately carved figures, suggestive
of Sapirs phrase, all kinds of images.
(wheel)
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Wheels of other sacred chariots (from internet)
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Konark, 13th c. Sun Gods chariot, with images
Hampi, 16th century Garudas chariot
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• great wooden wheels (galgalim), of the height of
  three men, and they have small wheels (ofanim)
• Did Sapir mean that the chariots had both large
  and small wheels, like the chariot of Velluvar?

chariot shrine at Velluvar
Or did Sapir mean that the large wheels had
smaller concentric wheels inside them?
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• On the days of their festivals all the people
  of the city gather together and lift them on
  their shoulders, because they are an exhausting
  burden? ?even for hundreds of men, and they ?move
  it ?around the city in every road, with a great
  tumultuous voice, songs, and dances.
• What (they, them) do the people lift?
• What (it) do they move around the city?

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(No Transcript)
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Madurai chariots being pulled on city streets,
Chitirai festival
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• From Two Citra Festivals in Madurai, by Dennis
  Hudson
• The men, numbering several hundred, picked up
  the heavy ropes at a certain signal, pulled
  together at another signal, and continued pulling
  until they received another signal to stop. As
  the procession moved, firecrackers announced its
  coming. The motion of these cars is
  awe-inspiring they sway from side to side, rush
  quickly forward and then

suddenly stop, shaking at times as if they are
about to fall apart. Turning a corner is
especially startling.