THE TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT : HEIGHT OF AMBITION
(By Subbaram Danda)
It is a 3,500 year-old temple with distinctively different features. It was constructed by Hatshepsut, an overambitious but highly celebrated lady pharaoh of ancient Egypt. As was the practice, she dedicated the temple primarily to herself but ensured that it was unique in size, design and execution. During her lifetime it was planned to showcase her royal achievements and after her death it was intended to encourage people to worship her along with a few other Egyptian gods of the time.
Situated on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings, the temple is a three-storeyed horizontally-oriented structure rising to a height of about 100 feet buttressed by overhanging mountain cliffs at the rear. The façade of each level is marked by long rows of huge square columns. In front of each floor, there is vast open space. It is regarded as “one of the incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt.”
Frontage of Temple of Hatshepsut
As visitors step out of their vehicles in the parking lot and head for the monument, they find themselves flanked by shops selling mementoes, T-shirts, muslin, papyrus wall hangings and a host of others. Hawkers display their wares on their outstretched arms and chase the tourists trying to speak in their language. Fortunately, infliction by the shops and the vendors would be over in a few minutes. A well-laid out broad road with gleaming sand on both the sides leads the people to the sprawling edifice after a solid 10-minute walk in bright sun. For the weary, a shuttle service of a chain of golden yellow midget cars is available from the parking point to the monument.
Stately statues
Straight ahead the visitors are greeted by the three bewitching colonnaded storeys of the monument stretching to full length from left to right. At the centre there is an easy-to-move wide ramp leading to the middle tier from the ground. Further ahead lies another ramp to the top floor.
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| Statue of Hatshepsut |
It was under interesting circumstances that Hatshepsut became a pharaoh. She was the daughter of King Tutmose I and royal queen Ahmose born supposedly through divine intervention. When the king died, he did not have any royal prince to succeed him. It was a time when tradition did not allow women to rule the country and even the title of pharaoh was a man’s exclusive prerogative. Consequently, a son born to another wife of the king acquired the crown and came to be known as Tutmose II. Hatshepsut married this man, her own step brother. This sounds outrageous today, but in those days it was a well-established norm adopted to sustain royal lineage. Strangely, the couple had no male issues but only a daughter. The king did not live long creating a succession problem once again. However, a son born to a concubine became the heir to the throne, Tutmose III. As he was very young, Hatshepsut functioned as the new pharaoh’s regent. But, she was not happy in that role. Just after a few years she boldly threw all conventions to winds and proclaimed herself Egypt’s ruling “king and pharaoh.”
Smart strategy
Hatshepsut’s rule was marked by clever moves and strategies. To provide a stamp of legitimacy to her ascendancy she launched a campaign asserting her divine descent and claiming heavenly consent for her new status. She cited King of Gods Amun, whom she regarded as her real father, as declaring, “My sweet daughter…..thou art the king.” She dressed like a male ruler sporting the time-honoured Egyptian imperial regalia. These steps were supplemented by many deeds aimed at promoting the welfare of her subjects. And the people came to accept her as their saviour.
Hatshepsut, meaning “Foremost of Noble Ladies,” remained in power for 22 years. During her regime the country enjoyed peace and prosperity. Its economy and society flourished. She established excellent trading relations with neighbouring countries and built magnificent temples all over to propitiate gods. At the same time, she promoted herself in innumerable ways. She commissioned hundreds of statues of herself and left accounts of her lineage, titles, and history everywhere.
The temple of Hatshepsut reflects and echoes these exploits and expeditions. Relief sculptures tell the tale of her “divine birth.” The “will of the gods” to leave the reins of power in her hands are graphically illustrated. Pictorials and texts on the walls speak of a voyage to the “Land of the Punt,” an exotic country of those days on the Red Sea coast. The temple has several shrines, including those for Amun, Goddess of Love Hathor and God of Death Anubis.
Operation obliteration
Hatshepsut died when she was only about 50 years. On her demise, Tutmose III ascended the throne and unleashed forces of destruction to wipe out whatever the lady pharaoh had done, in revenge for her usurpation of his royal power. Her statues were uprooted or damaged. Paintings and reliefs on the walls were defaced. A long avenue flanked by sphinx statues each with the head of the queen leading to the temple -- a magnificent sight -- was obliterated.
For all the pompous life Hatshepsut had led, it was a quirk of fate that her mummified body lay almost discarded without even a coffin in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, evading the unstinted efforts of experts for years to discover it. Recently, a team of Egyptologists found that the mummy had an empty socket in its jaw. In another tomb, there was a box, which had the name of Hatshepsut inscribed on it, carrying a single molar tooth along with other body parts that came loose at the time of mummification. The tooth fitted exactly into the socket, leading to the identification of Hatshepsut’s body.
Hatshepsut’s temple, also known as her funerary temple in view of rituals to be performed in it after her death when she would supposedly attain full divinity, has not lost its splendour despite vandalism, plunder and ravages of time. It remains an “incredible expression” of the reign of a highly ambitious lady pharaoh in Egyptian history.
October 29, 2011 (1,110 words)
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