Brihadisvara Temple at
Thanjavur
Brihadisvara temple located in the town of
Thanjavur in the state of Tamil Nadu in India is an exemplary production in the
Dravidian style of temple architecture.
Brihadisvara temple was built by one of the
greatest emperors, king Rajaraja Chola of the Chola dynasty. The main deity of
the temple is Siva Linga. The most celebrated Saiva temple of all, appropriately
called Brihadisvara and Daksinameru, is the grandest creation of the Chola
emperor Rajaraja (AD 985-1012). It was inaugurated by the king himself in his
19th regal year (AD 1009-10) and named it after himself as "Rajesvara
Peruvudaiyar". As we gather from the inscriptions running throughout the
plinth,the king,on the 257th day of the twenty-fifth year of the reign (1010 A.D)
presented a gold-covered finial to be planted on the top of the Vimana of the
temple.
Surrounded by two rectangular enclosures,the
Brihadisvar (built from blocks of granite and,in part,from bricks) is crowned
with a pyramidal 13-storey tower,the vimana,standing 61 m high and topped with a
bulb-shaped monolith. The walls of the temple are covered with rich sculptural
decoration. The Sivalinga of Sri Brihadisvara is probably the grandest in
existence.
Architecturally,it is the most ambitious
structural temple built of granite. Brihadisvara Temple is within a spacious
inner Prakara of 240.90 m long (east-west) and 122m broad (north-south),with a
Gopura at the east and three other ordinary 'Torana' entrances one at each
lateral sides and the third at rear. The Prakara is surrounded by a double-storeyed
'Malika' with 'Parivaralayas'.
The Sikhara,a cupolic dome,is octagonal and
rests on a single block of granite,a square of 7.8 m weighing 80 tons. The
majestic 'Upapitha' and 'Adhishthana' are common to all the axially placed
entities like the 'Ardhamaha' and 'Mukha-Mandapas' and linked to the main
sanctum but approached through a north-south transept across the 'Ardha-Mandapa',which
is marked by lofty 'Sopanas'.
Fine arts were encouraged in the service of the
temple. The sculptures,the paintings in the surrounding passages of the
sanctorum and even the inscriptions in elegant Chola Grantha and Tamil letters
are a proof of the great art that flourished under Rajaraja.
Dance and music were greatly cultivated and
were equally employed to serve the temple. Every evening it was at once an
entertainment and a ritual that the towns-folk,assembled in the
mandapa,witnessed and enjoyed during the ceremony of the waving of lights and
the chanting of the Veda and Devaram hymns.
The temples of Devi near the Nandi-mandapa and
of Subramanya were later added later,the former during the time of
Konerimaikondan (a Pandya of the 13th century ) and the latter during the Nayaka
period in the 17th century. The shrine of Ganesa and the mandapa of Nataraja are
also later additions. The temple of Subramanya has exquisite carvings and is an
excellent example of South Indian temple-architecture in the late medieval
period.
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