Travel Temple Miracles: Brihadisvara Temple

at the start of the Kaveri River delta, thus with access to the Bay of Bengal and through it to the Indian Ocean. Along with the temples, the Tamil people completed

the first major irrigation network in the

11th century for agriculture, for movement

of goods and to control the water flow

through the urban centre.

History

Statue of Chola emperor Rajaraja I who built the temple over 1003-1010 CE.

A spectrum of Hindu temple styles

continued to develop from the fifth to the

ninth century over the Chalukya era rule as evidenced in Aihole, Badami and

Pattadakal, and then with the Pallava era

as witnessed at Mamallapuram and other monuments. Thereafter, between 850 and

1280, Cholas emerged as the dominant

dynasty. The early Chola period saw a

greater emphasis on securing their

geopolitical boundaries and less emphasis

on architecture. In the tenth century, within

the Chola empire emerged features such

as the multifaceted columns with

projecting square capitals. This, states George Michell, signalled the start of the

new Chola style. [note 1] This South Indian

style is most fully realized both in scale

and detail in the Brihadeshwara temple

built between 1003 and 1010 by the Chola

king Rajaraja I.

Additions, renovations and repairs

The main temple along with its gopurams

is from the early 11th century. The temple

also saw additions, renovations, and

repairs over the next 1,000 years. The raids

and wars, particularly between Muslim

Sultans who controlled Madurai and Hindu kings who controlled Thanjavur caused

damage. [note 2] These were repaired by

Hindu dynasties that regained control. In

In some cases, the rulers attempted to

renovate the temple with faded paintings,

by ordering new murals on top of the older

ones. In other cases, they sponsored the

addition of shrines. The significant shrines

of Kartikeya (Murugan), Parvati (Amman)

and Nandi is from the 16th and 17th-century Nayaka era. Similarly the

Dakshinamurti shrine was built later. It was well maintained by Marathas of

Tanjore.

Description

Architecture

The Peruvudaiyar temple's plan and

the development utilizes the axial and

symmetrical geometry rules. It is

classified as Perunkoil (also called

Madakkoil), a big temple built on a higher

the platform of a natural or man-made

mounds. The temple complex is a

the rectangle that is almost two stacked

squares, covering 240.79 metres (790.0 ft)

east to west, and 121.92 metres (400.0 ft)

north to south. In this space are five main

sections: the sanctum with the towering

superstructure ( sri vimana) The Nandhi In Front

( Nandi-mandapam) and in between these the main community hall

( mukhamandapam), the great gathering

hall ( maha mandapam) and the pavilion

that connects the great hall with the

sanctum (Australia).

The temple complex integrates a large

pillared and covered veranda ( prakara) in

its spacious courtyard, with a perimeter of

about 450 metres (1,480 ft) for

circumambulation. Outside this pillared

veranda there are two walls of the enclosure,

the outer one being defensive and added

in 1777 by the French colonial forces with

gun holes with the temple serving as an

arsenal. They made the outer wall high,

isolating the temple complex area. On its

the east end is the original main gopuram or

a gateway that is barrel-vaulted. It is less than half the size of the main temple's

vimana. Additional structures were added

to the original temple after the 11th

century, such as a mandapa in its

northeast corner and additional gopurams

(gateways) on its perimeters to allow

people to enter and leave from multiple

locations. Some of the shrines and

structures were added during the Pandya,

Nayaka, Vijayanagara and Maratha era,

before the colonial era started, and these

builders respected the original plans and

symmetry rules. Inside the original temple

courtyard, along with the main sanctum

and Nandi-mandapam are two major

shrines, one for Kartikeya and one for Parvati.

The complex has additional smaller

shrines.

The Peruvudaiyar temple continued the

Hindu temple traditions of South India by

adopting architectural and decorative

elements, but its scale significantly

exceeded the temples constructed before

the 11th century. The Chola-era architects

and artisans innovated the expertise to

scale up and build, particularly with heavy

stone and to accomplish the 63.4 metres

(208 ft) high towering vimana.

Nandi mandapam and the entrance

Another view of the

gopurams, northeast view from the courtyard.

entrance.

The temple faces east, and once had a

water moat around it. This has been filled

up. The fortified wall now runs around this

moat. The two walls have ornate gateways

called the gopurams. These are made

from stone and display entablature. The

main gateways are on the east side. The

The first, one is called the Keralantakan

Truvada, which means the "sacred gate of

the Keralantakan". The word Keralantakan

was the surname of king Rajaraja who

built it. About 100 metres (330 ft) ahead

is the inner courtyard gopuram called the

Rajarajan Truvada. This is more decorated

than the Keralantakan tiruvasal, such as

with its adhishthanam relief work narrating

scenes from the Puranas and other Hindu

texts. The inner eastern gopuram leads

to a vast courtyard, in which the shrines

are all signed to east-west and north-west

cardinal directions. The complex can be

entered either on one axis through a five-

story gopuram or with second access directly to the huge main quadrangle

through a smaller free-standing gopuram.

The gopuram of the main entrance is 30 m high, smaller than the vimana. The main

temple-related monuments and the great

the tower is in the middle of this courtyard.

Around the main temple that is dedicated

to Shiva, are smaller shrines, most of

which are aligned axially. These are

dedicated to his consort Parvati, his sons

Murugan and Ganesha, Nandi, Varahi, Karuvur deva (the guru of Rajaraja Chola), Chandeshvara and Nataraja. The Nandi

mandapam has a monolithic seated bull

facing the sanctum. In between them are

stairs leading to a columned porch and

community gathering hall, then an inner

mandapa connecting to the pradakshina

path, or circumambulation path. The

Nandi (bull) facing the much-mandapam weighs about 25 tonnes. It is made of a

a single stone and is about 2 m in height, 6

m in length and 2.5 m in width. The image

of Nandi is a monolithic one and is one of

the largest in the country.

Preservation & Restoration

As a world heritage monument, the temple

and the premises comes under the

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which

falls under the Ministry of Culture of the

Government of India, to ensure safety,

preservation and restoration. The

surrounding facilities have been upgraded

to create an ambience worthy of the

the grandeur of this ancient marvel with

lighting, signage and facilities for devotees

and visitors. The lighting of the monument

is designed to enhance the natural colour of

the stone along with the sculptural forms

adorning all corners of the temple. The

restoration has been undertaken by the

Archaeological Survey of India that

commissioned Sheila Sri Prakash Indian

architect and designer to lead the design

Brihadeeswara Temple Gopuram at Night

Sanctum and the Sri-vimana

Different views of the Sri-vimana.

The sanctum is at the centre of the

western square. It is surrounded by

massive walls that are divided into levels

by sharply cut sculptures and pilasters

providing deep bays and recesses. Each

side of the sanctuary has a bay with

iconography. The interior of the

sanctum sanctorum hosts an image of the primary deity, Shiva, in the form of a huge

stone linga. It is called Karuvarai, a Tamil

the word that means "womb chamber". This

space is called garbha griha in other parts

of India. Only priests are allowed to enter

this inner-most chamber.

In the Tamizhan style, the sanctum takes the form of a miniature vimana. It has the

inner wall together with the outer wall

creating a path around the sanctum for

circumambulation (pradakshina). The entrance is highly decorated. The inside

the chamber is the sanctum sanctorum, which

houses the bread linga.

The main Vimana (Shikhara) is a massive 16 storeys tower of which 13 are tapering

squares. It dominates the main

quadrangle. It sits above a 30.18 metres

(99.0 ft) sided square. The tower is

elaborately articulated with Pilaster, piers(a raised structure), and attached

columns which are placed rhythmically covering every surface of the vimana. [41]

Deities and Natya Sastra dance mudras

The bronze Nataraja design of Thanjavur found in many museums was commissioned for this temple's sanctum.

The temple is dedicated to Shiva in the

form of a huge linga, his abstract aniconic representation. It is 8.7 m (29 ft) high,

occupying two storeys of the

sanctum. it is one of the largest

monolithic linga sculptures in India.

Sculptures on the maha-mandapam walls

Northside

Southside

Bhairava (Shiva)

Mahishasuramardini

The shikhara, a cupola dome (25 tons), is octagonal and rests on a single block of granite, weighing 80 tons.

The Shaivism temple celebrates all major

Hindu traditions by including the primary

deities of Vaishnavism and Shaktism

tradition in the great mandapa of the main

Temple. The distribution of the deities is

generally symmetric, except for the east

entrance side which provides for the door

and walkway. In addition to the main

deities, each side provides for dvarapalas

(guardians), and various other sculptures.

The vestibule has three stone sculptures

that is intricately carved, and mural

paintings. The ground floor level

sanctum walls have the following

sculpture

East wall: Lingodbhava, standing Shiva, Pashupata-murti, plus two dvarapalas

flanking the pathway from Ardha-

mandapam

South wall: Bhikshatana, Virabhadra, Dakshinamurti, Karnataka,

Nataraja[note 3] plus two dvarapalas

West wall: Harihara (half Shiva, half Vishnu), Lingodbhava, Chandrashekhara

without prabhavali, Chandrashekhara

with prabhavali, plus two dvarapalas

North wall: Ardhanarishvara (half Shiva, half Parvati), Gangadhara without

Parvati, Pashupata-murti, Shiva-

Telangana-murti, plus two dvarapalas

One of the 81 dance positions is carved on the outer wall of the upper-storey corridor wall.

On the second floor, Shiva s Tripurantaka

form in different postures is depicted

corresponding to these sculptures. Above

these floors, the sri-vimana towers above

in thirteen storeys ( talas). Above these

the storey is a single square block of granite

weight 80 tons, and 7.77 metres (25.5 ft)

side. On top of this block, at its corners are

Nandi pairs each about 1.98 metres (6 ft

6 in) by 1.68 metres (5 ft 6 in) in

dimension. Above the centre of this

granite block rises the griva, the sikhara

and the final ( stupid) of the Tamil Hindu temple

architecture. This stupid is 3.81 metres

(12.5 ft) in height, and was originally

covered with gold (no longer). The share

at the top is cupola-shaped and weighs 25

tons. Each storey of this tower is

decorated with kurtas and sales. The

shrinking squares tower architecture of

this temple differs from the tower at the

Chola temple at Gangaikondasolisvaram,

because this is straight in contrast to the

latter which is curvilinear. The temple's sri-

vimana magnitude has made it a towering

landmark for the city. The upper storey

corridor wall of the Aditya is carved with

81 of the 108 dance karana s – postures of

Natya Sastra. This text is the basis of the

Bharatanatyam is the classical dance of Tamil Nadu. The 27 unrepresented katanas

are blank blocks of stone, and it is unclear

why these were not carved. The 81

postures carved suggest the significance

of this classical Indian dance form by early

11th century.

The garbhagriha is square and sits on a

plinth. This is moulded and 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in) thick. It consists of upapitham

and adhishthanam, respectively 140 cm

and 360 cm thick.

Mandapa

The two mandapa, namely maha-mandapa

and mukha-mandapa, are square plan

structures axially aligned between the

sanctum and the Nandi mandapa. The

maha-mandapa has six pillars on each

side. This too has artwork. The Vitankar

and Rajaraja I bronze are here, but these

were added much later. The maha-

mandapa is flanked by two giant stone

dvarapalas. It is linked to the Mukha-

mandapa by stairs. The entrance of the

mukha-mandapa also has dvarapalas. With

the mandapa are eight small shrines for

dikpalas, or guardian deities of each direction such as Agni, Indra, Varuna,

Kubera and others. These were installed during the rule of Chola king Rajendra I.

Inscriptions indicate that this area also

had another iconography from a major Hindu

traditions during the Chola era, but these

are now missing. The original eight shrines

included those for Surya (the sun god),

Saptamatrikas (seven mothers), Ganesha,

Murugan, Jyeshtha , Chandra (the moon

god), Chandeshvara and Bhairava.

Similarly, in the western wall cella was a

massive granite Ganesha built during

Rajaraja I era, but who is now found in the

tiruch-churru-maligai (southern veranda).

Of the Shaktism tradition's seven mothers,

only Varahi survives in a broken form. Her remnants are now found in a small

modern era brick "Varahi shrine" in the

the southern side of the courtyard. The

the original version of the others along with

their original Chola shrines are missing.

Murals

A mural of Rajaraja Nayaka era ceiling mural in the I and his guru.

Nandi shrine.

The temple has an underneath layer of

Chola frescoes on the sanctum walls

along the circumambulatory pathway.

These frescoes cover the floor to

the ceiling was discovered in 1931 by S. K.

Govindasami of the Annamalai

University. The painters used natural

pigments and infused them into the wet

limestone layer as it was set in. The

Chola frescoes were large of Shaivism

themes. These were restored in the

The 2000s. The total Chola fresco area is

about 670 square metres (7,200 sq ft), of

which is about 112 square metres

(1,210 sq ft) had been uncovered as of

2010 in a method that preserves both

paintings, a technique developed by

Archaeological Survey of India. The

frescoes narrate Hindu mythology.

According to Balasubrahmanyam, most

frescoes are related to Shiva, but the 11th

century Chola frescoes also show Vishnu,

Durga and others, as well as scenes of

Chola royalty, courtly and common life.

Murals in the ceiling of Nandi mandapa, Brihadeeswara temple

The later constructions, additions and

modifications to the temple curtailed the

amount of natural light inside the temple.

The frescoes were thus photographed in a

limited way and interpreted. According to

Sriraman, complete imaging with better

photographic equipment suggests that

these historic interpretations were

incorrect. For example, a fresco that

was previously interpreted as

Dakshinamurti Shiva is a secular

scene of a royal guru meditating under a banyan tree. The tree is shown

peacocks, birds, monkeys, squirrels and

owls, plus a cobra. The animals and birds

are shown as worried about the cobra, the

one's closer to the snake is shown to be

more worried.Other parts of the panel

similarly, show a court listening to a saint.

Other show women in different dresses in

different dance mudra.

Some of the paintings in the sanctum

sanctorum and the walls in the passage

had been damaged because of the soot

that had deposited on them once upon a

time. Owing to the continuous exposure to

smoke and soot from the lamps and

burning of camphor in the sanctum

sanctorum over centuries

certain parts of the Chola paintings on the

circumambulatory passage walls had been

badly damaged. The Archaeological

Survey of India, for the first time in the

the world used its unique de-stucco process

to restore 16 Nayak paintings, which were

superimposed on 1000-year-old Chola

frescoes. These 400-year-old paintings

have been mounted on fibreglass boards,

displayed at a separate pavilion.

Inscriptions

Tamil Inscriptions in Thanjavur Brahadeeshwara Temple written 1000 years ago

The temple walls have numerous

inscriptions in Tamil and Grantha scripts.

Many of these begin with customary

Sanskrit and Tamil language historical

introduction to the king who authorized it,

and a predominant number of them discuss

gifts to the temple or temple personnel, in

some cases residents of the city. The

the temple complex has sixty-four inscriptions

of Rajaraja Chola I, twenty-nine

inscriptions of Rajendra Chola I, one each

of Vikrama Chola, Kulottunga I and

Rajamahendra (Rajendra II), three of a probable Pandyan king, two of Nayaka

rulers namely, Achyutappa Nayaka and

Mallapa Nayaka.

வ த

்

ெப ந ல

ேக ரிைம

கா த

த மக ேபால

ெச வ

டைம

சாைல

ெப ந ல

தன ேக ரிைம

மன ெகாள

களம

த ளி

ேவ ைக

உைடயா

ராஜராஜ

ேசாழ

Excerpts of Rajaraja's inscription from Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur (first line in every image)

The Brihadishwara Temple has Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions from the 11th century.

Temple personnel

An inscription on the north wall of

enclosure, dated 1011 CE, gives a detailed

accounts of people employed and

supported by the temple. The inscription

gives their wages, roles and names. It

includes over 600 names including those

of priests, lamp lighters, washermen,

tailors, jewellers, potters, carpenters, sacred parasol bearers, dance gurus,

dancing girls, singers, male and female

musicians, superintendents of

performance artists, accountants among

others. Their wages were in parcels of land,

so their temple employment was likely

part-time.

The temple employed devadasis who were dancers and singers of devotional hymns.

Among its numerous inscriptions are

frequent gifts that state, "to provide for

worship, for food to the assembly of

sannyasis (monks or ascetics) and for

repairs". According to George Michell, the

The Thanjavur temple was a major charity

an institution in its history. It provides free

meal for pilgrims, devotees and wayfarers

daily. On the days of Hindu

festivals, these meals were elaborate and

when brahmins were particularly invited and fed.

Millennium commemoration

1,000-year-old Thanjavur Brihadeeshwara Temple - view at sunrise.

Dancers gathered at Brihadishwara Temple to commemorate it.

Built in the year 1010 CE by the Chola emperor

Rajaraja I in Thanjavur, the temple is

popularly known as the Big Temple. It

turned 1000 years old in September 2010.

To celebrate the 1000th year of the grand

structure, the state government and the

the town held many cultural events. It was to

recall the 275th day of his 25th regal year

(1010 CE) when Rajaraja I (985–1014 CE)

handed over a gold-plated kalasam

(copper pot or finial) for the final consecration to crown the vimana, the 59.82-metre tall tower above the

sanctum.

Bharathanatyam Yajna

To mark the occasion, the state

government organised a Bharathanatyam

Yajna is a classical dance show under noted dancer Padma Subramaniam. It was jointly organised by the Association of

Bharatanatyam Artistes of India (ABHAI)

and the Brian Natyanjali Trust, Thanjavur.

To mark the 1000th anniversary of the

building, 1000 dancers from New Delhi,

Mumbai , Pune, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Singapore, Malaysia and the US danced in concert to

the recorded 11 verses of divine music

Thiruvisaippa (ninth volume of Thirumurai)

composed by Karuvur deva (the guru of

Rajaraja ). The small town turned into a

a cultural hub for two days beginning 26

September 2010 as street performers and

dancers performed throughout the

town.

Commemorative stamps and coins

On 26 September 2010 (Big Temple's fifth

day of millennium celebrations), as a

recognition of Big Temple's contribution to

the country's cultural, architectural,

epigraphical history, a special ₹ 5 postage

stamp featuring the 216-feet tall giant Raja

Gopuram was released by India Post.

The Reserve Bank of India commemorated the event by releasing a ₹ 5 coin with the

model of temple embossed on it. [58][59] A

Raja, Cabinet Minister of Communications

and Information Technology released the

esteemed Brihadeeswarar temple special

stamp, the first of which was received by G

K Vasan, Cabinet Minister of Shipping.

Mumbai Mint issued Rs 1000

Commemorative Coin with the same

picture as on the Rs 5 coin. It was the first

1000 Rupees coin to be released in the

Republic of India coinage. This coin was a

Non-Circulative Legal Tender (NCLT). [60]

On 1 April 1954, the Reserve Bank of India

released a ₹ 1000 currency note featuring

a panoramic view of the Brihadeeswar

temple marking its cultural heritage and

significance. In 1975, the then government

led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

demonetised all ₹ 1,000 currency notes to curtail black money. These

notes are now popular among

collectors.

In 2010, the then-Tamil Nadu chief

Minister, M Karunanidhi renamed Semmai

Rice, a type of high-productivity paddy variant, such as Raja Rajan-1000 marks the

millennial year of the constructor of the

temple, Rajaraja Chola].[62]

Reception

The temple "testifies to the brilliant

achievements of the Chola in architecture,

sculpture, painting and bronze casting. "[63]

The temple finds mention in many of the

contemporary works of the period like

Muvar Ula and Kalingathuparani. According

to Chatterjee, the Dravidian architecture

attained its supreme form of expression in

the temple and its successor, the

Brihadeeswarar Temple, Gangaikonda

Cholapuram.[64] The temple has been

declared as a heritage monument by the

Government of India and administered by

the Archaeological Survey of India as a protected monument. The temple is one of

the most visited tourist attractions in Tamil

Nada.

The temple was declared a World

Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the

Brihadeeswara Temple at

Gangaikondacholapuram and

Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram that

are referred to as the Great Living Chola

Temples.[9] These three temples have

similarities, but each has a unique design

and sculptural elements. [65] All the three

temples were built by the Cholas between

the 10th and 12th centuries CE and they

have continued to be supported and used

by Hindus. The temples are classified as

"Great Living" as the temples are active in

cultural, pilgrimage and worship practises

in modern times.[66]

Cultural events

Temple festival procession, 2015

The Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur is

the site of annual dance festivals around

February, around the Mahashivratri. Major

classical Indian dance form artists, as well

as regional teams, perform their repertoire

at this Brahan Natyanjali festival over 10

days.

Car festival

The Temple car was rolled out on its trial run from opposite Sri Ramar temple on

20 April 2015 witnessed by a large number

of people.[68] Nine days later, the maiden

procession of the temple car was held.

This was the first such procession in this

temple held in the past hundred years,

according to news reports.

Novels

Kalki Krishnamurthy, a renowned Tamil novelist, has written a historical novel

named Ponniyin Selvan, based on the life

of Rajaraja. [70] Balakumaran, another Tamil author has written a novel named Udaiyar

themed on the life of Rajaraja I and the

construction of the temple.

Administration

The temple is currently administered and

managed by Babaji Bhonsle, the head of

the Thanjavur Maratha royal family. He serves as the hereditary trustee of the

palace Devasthanam which continues to

manage 88 Chola temples including the

Brihadeeswara temple. Tamil groups have

been unsuccessfully petitioning the Tamil

Nadu government to revoke these rights

as he is not of Chola or Tamil lineage.

According to one of the protesters, who

also happens to be the coordinator of the

Big Temple Rights Retrieval Committee,

Babaji Bhonsle is also not the legal heir of

the Maratha kings of Thanjavur.

Gallery

The temple features many sculptures,

reliefs and murals:

Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu,

India

An elephant relief on the Brihadisvara

Temple, Thanjavur

Shiva with a begging bowl as a saddhu

(monk, Bhikshatana)

Ardhanarishvara (half Shiva, half Parvati) symbolizes that the male and female

principles are inseparable.

Ganesha is depicted both in the main temple and a separate shrine.

Separate Ganesha shrine with temple

corridor in the back.

Subrahmanyar shrine in the northern part of the

courtyard. Also called Murugan, Kartikeya or

Skanda.

Chandeshvara shrine. On right is the wall of the main temple and in the back the eastern gopuram.

Chandeshvara is a meditating yogi and

Nayanmar Bhakti movement saint.

Narasimha avatar of Vishnu kills the demon who persecutes people for their

religious beliefs.

Lakshmi statue, a Vaishnava sculpture reverentially displayed.

Gaja-Lakshmi mural, another Vaishnavism

themed artwork.

Vishnu sculpture at the Shaivism temple.

A yoga and meditation relief; the temple portrays numerous secular and saint scenes.

Krishna playing a prank on gopikas by hiding

on the tree, with their clothes.

Nandi shrine

Sculpture

Vimana outer wall detail

Reliefs adorning the stairs

Relief detail

Entrance

Vimana view

Left profile view

The view at night

Early hours at Tanjore Periya Koil

A yoga and meditation relief

Tamil inscriptions at Brihadisvara Temple See also

India

Thanjavur Chariot festival

Raja Raja Chola I

Chola Dynasty

List of largest monoliths

List of tallest structures built before the

20th century

Great Living Chola Temples

Travel Temple Miracles

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Brihadisvara Temple

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