Today we are going to Brihadeshwar! This is a Shiv temple, having one of the tallest Shivlingas in the world and having one of the tallest Vimana. Don't get confused in Gopuram and Vimana. Vimana is the structure over the Garbhgruh and Gopuram is the structure over the entrance. For many years, Brihadeshwar was the temple having the tallest Vimana. Now the newly built temple in Varanasi is having the tallest Vimana. There is a temple under construction in Vrindavan, which when completed, will be the temple having tallest Vimana in the world.
Where is Brihadeshwar? It is in Thanjavur city in Tamilnadu. You got it right!! It is the same Thanjavur, on the banks of Kaveri, where Ekojiraje, step brother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was ruling in 17th century and afterwards, his descendants were ruling! It is the same Thanjavur, having a library with vast collection of the rare books on various subjects. Name of the library is Saraswati Mahal Library. It is the same Thanjavur, famous for Thanjavur style painting. It is the same Thanjavur, where the famous Thanjavur Quartet, the four brothers responsible for the current form of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic Sangeet were born.
But before becoming famous for all these things, the city was famous for the Big Temple - Brihadeshwar temple. The temple was built in 1010, i.e. before exactly 1010 years!! It was built by the great king Raja Raja Chola I and so the temple is also known as Rajrajeshwar Temple. When he came in power, it was a small Chola kingdom. But then Raja Raja I built a strong army and powerful navy and converted the small kingdom into an empire. He even captured Sri Lanka and in his reign his son Rajendra I captured the Srivijaya Empire i.e. Indonesia and most of the South East Asia. We have came across references of these conquests in some of the earlier posts.
The rulers of the region after the Cholas were Pandyas, Nayaks and Marathas have also added some temples and shrines in the premises. But thankfully all these structures are constructed in keeping line with the original plan and beauty of the temple.
It is said that during the British occupation of the temple during 1772-1801, the temple was used as barracks for soldiers and was greatly damaged. Maharaja Sarfoji raje Bhosale took initiative and played a prominent role in restoring the temple in 1801. Today also, the temple is managed by the Bhosales of Thanjavur.
Here I must tell you something. When I officially started my travel blog in June, I wanted to know more about Indology. I wanted to know about the meanings of the sculptures. In the famous novel Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it is written that "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
I came across advertisement of an online course by VivekSaptahik. In that course Indraneel Bankapure of Virasat patiently and elaborately explained us about the sculptures in Indian temples. This surely created more awareness about the Indian philosophy, architecture, art and culture.
Then I came to know about Haaक which is working in these fields and when I had decided to write about Brihadeshwar in my blog, coincidently in one of the online site visits of haaक could go to Brihadeshwar with the enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker Ketaki Patwardhan. Isn't this an example of whole universe conspiring to help me!!
After this long prelude, let's come to Brihadeshwar. When you come near the temple, it is actually like getting amazed at first sight. The magnificent Vimana is visible from a distance. The pattern of the temple is geometrical and with mathematical accuracy. So when you stand at the entrance, the main entrance Gopuram, inner entrance Gopuram, Nandi mandap and main temple all are in one line. You can see this in the photograph.
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| Outside the main entrance- Gopuram |
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| Beautiful images on the Gopuram |
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| The Geometrical accuracy |
Isn't this a beautiful and magnificent piece of architecture? There are hundreds of beautiful and proportionate images carved on the entrance Gopuram. Here it self, you realize that you are going to see an exquisite piece of Chola architecture.
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| Well.. you can't stop taking photos!! |
Brihadeshwar Temple is everything the name suggests!! It's tall, large, wide, strong, powerful and what not! The area is vast, actually the Nayak kings have built a fort called Shivganga Fort surrounded by a moat and a tank around the temple.
The prakar is also huge with various temples and shrines in it. Ganesh, Kartikey i.e. Subramaniam, Devi temples are some of the temples in the prakar. How can I better tell you about the prakar? well.. let me show you a small video taken by me on 17th August 2018.
The Subramaniam temple is having highly decorated pilasters i.e. rectangular columns projecting from the wall.
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| Subramaniam Temple 📷Girish Tilak |
The Ganesh Temple is also simple but the Vimana is highly decorated and having a height of nearly 9 storied building.
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| Ganesh in Brihadeshwar 📷Girish Tilak |
The Nandi mandap occupies the Centre of the outer part of the prakar. The Nandi is huge and monolithic - carved out of a single stone. the Nandi sculpture's height is 16 feet long and 13feet tall.
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| Nandi 📷Girish Tilak |
The paintings on the roof are the additions done in later period, may be Nayaka period.
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| Nandi Mandap From other side |
Now coming to main temple, it naturally occupies the central position in the second half of the prakar.
Height of the Shivling is 2.7 meters, it's really huge. A gallery is there for performing abhisheka. Photography is not allowed inside the temple.
The temple is of Sandhara type, having square sanctum with enclosed path, gallery of pillars for pradakshina, circumambulation. There are paintings on the lower floors and on upper pradakshina path there are sculptures of 108 dance poses. We have seen earlier that Thanjavur plays a great role in development of the Bharatanatyam dance.
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| Mural of RajRaja I with his Guru 📷 Wikipedia |
The huge Vimana due to which the temple is known as Big Temple is towering 216 ft in height! It is nearly equivalent to 21 floors. It is known in the inscriptions as Dakshin Meru.
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| Beautiful Architecure |
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| Brihadeshwara Temples |
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| In front Of Bruhadeshwar Temple 📷Girish Tilak |
The prastara is divided into two levels. It has various carvings, mainly Shiv carvings on it. You can see windows in the center. Above the prastara, there are nearly 13 talas. Talas are the tiers or stories of Vimana. They gradually decrease in size, giving the Vimana a tapering shape.
Above the talas, hexagonal based round shikhara is mounted. The shikhara is hollow from inside. It is monolithic granite huge structure and the kumbham weighs 80 tons in weight. On it's top is a copper colored kalash with gold top.
There are various inscriptions on the walls of the temple ranging from various centuries.
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| Inscriptions |
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| Inscriptions |
The inscriptions provide a huge list of the offerings and gifts to the temple by the king. It also describes, types of the prayers, when and how should they be performed in the temple. This is most probably, the only temple where documentation is done. Inscriptions have 107 paragraphs!
The rain water from Vimana is carried in water spouts. that is really very interesting feature.
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| Interesting feature |
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| Brihadeshwara -- till we meet again |
Brihadeshwar is one of the most visited sites in India. The Shiv devotees, the architecture and Indology students, tourists and international scholars and tourists frequently visit Brihadeshwar. It's a paradise for photographers. You can enjoy the ambience by visiting the temple early in the morning. We were there in the temple at 6 a.m. and could capture wonderful hues of sky with the magnificent towers.
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| Simply magnificent! |
Brihadeshwar is included in UNESCO world heritage sites as Great living Chola Temples along with the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple and Airavateshwar temple, Darasuram. Living denotes that still prayers are offered in the temples.
Brihadeshwar is surely a testimony to Cholas dedication towards Shiv. It is surely a Shaivite temple, showcasing Cholas expertise in architecture, sculpture, mathematics, metal casting and paintings. It once again makes you aware about the great Indian Heritage, art and culture.
The king called himself Shivpad Shekhar - one who places his crown on the feet of Shiva and probably to show the world the omnipresent Shiva he has built a magnificent temple like Rajrajeshwar or Brihadeshwar
#TallestTempleInTheWorld #BrihdeshwarTempleFacts #TallestShivTemple #TheBigTemple
#TamilnaduTemples #HinduShivTemple #11thCenturyTemple #TallShivling
Informative blog ...
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