In the small village town of Thanjavur, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, stands the great Brihadeshwara or Rajarajeshwara Temple. It is the earliest granite temple in the world. It was built by Chola Emperor Rajaraja I between 1003 and 1010 AD. The vimana tower above the sanctum sanctorum is one of the tallest in South India at 216ft. This temple is one of the greatest specimen of Chola architecture.
The temple complex is a rectanglular in shape. There are five main sections: the sanctum with the towering superstructure (sri vimana), the Nandi hall in front (Nandi-mandapam) and in between these the main community hall (mukhamandapam), the great gathering hall (mahamandapam) and the pavilion that connects the great hall with the sanctum (ardhamandapam).
The complex initially had a water moat around it but it is now been filled up. There are two fortified walls around the temple with ornate gateways called Gopurams. These Gopurams are huge structures and are richly decorated with carvings. The outer gopuram is called Keralantakan thiruvasal or "sacred gate of Keralantakan". Keralantakan was the surname of Rajaraja Chola. The inner gopuram is called Rajarajan Thiruvasal. It is more decorated than the first and contains relief work depicting stories from various Hindu sacred texts. The inner gopuram opens in a large courtyard, which has pillared and covered veranda or Prakara along its entire perimeter, and is meant for circumambulation. The main shrine is in the middle of this courtyard. Along with the main shrine, there is a Nandi Mandapam, and two shrine one for Kartikeys and another for Parvati.The main Nandi is made up of a massive monolithic stone, 13 feet in height and 16 feet in length. It is believed that the Nandi and the Nandi mandapam were erected during the Nayaka period.
The sanctum is surrounded by massive walls with entricate sculptured surface. The garbha griha called Karuvarai in Tamil, contains a huge stone Shivalinga. 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. In the Dravida style, the sanctum takes the form of a smaller 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 main Vimana (Shikhara) is a massive 16 storeys tower of which 13 are tapering squares. 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. On top of the Vimana there is a cap stone of single piece granite weighing 80 tons and 7.77 metres (25.5 ft) side. At the four 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 center of this granite block rises the griva, the sikhara and the finial (stupi) of Tamil Hindu temple architecture. This stupi is 3.81 metres (12.5 ft) in height, and was originally covered with gold.Even the modern day architects find it difficult to explain how this massive cap stone was lifted and placed on top of the hollow vimana measuring 216 ft (66 metres)!
The upper storey corridor wall of the aditala is carved with 81 of the 108 dance karanas – postures of Natya Sastra. This text is the basis of the Bharathanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu. The 27 unrepresented karanas 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 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 predominant number of them discuss gifts to the temple or temple personnel, in some cases residents of the city.
History says there is no granite quarry for about 50 kms around the temple and therefore the massive sized stones employed in the temple construction should have been brought from far off places. The fact that Chola architects chiseled granite - one of the hardest stones, with primitive tools, 1000 years back, to build this massive temple, is really astonishing. The temple has ably survived the extremities of weather, six major earthquakes and a major fire accident. In recognition of its incredible architecture, UNESCO has declared the temple as a World Heritage Monument.
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