The Living Chola Temple - Brihadeeswarar Temple
The Living Chola Temple - Brihadeeswarar Temple
Have
you heard of the Living Chola Temples? Temples that have no shadows? Or have
been built with material that was not native to the place? Or have dozens of
underground secret passages? Well, these are just some facts of one of the
oldest temples, the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur. The temple is indeed a
sight to behold and is more than just a religious stop. It is a destination of
mysteries and spellbinding architecture.
The
Brihadeeswarar temple features a stunning architecture demonstrating the
excellence achieved by the Cholas in temple construction, sculpture, fresco
painting and metallurgy. It was built using the whole of a granite stone
brought from far off places and is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
For
long I had been waiting to visit the Brihadeeswarar temple until I finally
visited it last year. When I saw the big
statue of the Nandi carved out of a single rock at the entrance, I was taken
aback. Following the gaze of the
faithful Nandi, I made my way across an elaborate courtyard to the main shrine –
the Sri Vimana. Unlike other temples where
the gates (gopurams) are taller than the main temple tower (vimana), it is
exactly the opposite in the Brihadeeswarar temple.
Words
couldn’t defy me when a priest in the temple told me that the Vimana, built of
a single rock, was hollow and was made by simply interlocking bricks without
the use of any binding material. I was further astonished when I got to know
that the structural design of the Vimana was so unique that it wouldn’t cast a shadow
at noon at any season. It was also fascinating to know that the temple was
surrounded by a moat unlike any there temple where it was believed that a
number of crocodiles live and guard the temple.
Standing
at the entrance of the temple, I could see the magnificent Shiva Linga. I don’t remember much about the work inside the
temple as I was focused on the glistening Shiva Linga and also because it was
dark inside. On exiting the shrine, there were different splendors to
experience. The entire outer façade was covered with scenes and characters from
the Hindu Mythology. The Vimana was intricately carved in terms of script and
character depiction from animals to human beings. One could also spot a foreigner
with a hat on the carving and the temple walls had various inscription mainly
in the Tamil language which were surrounded by a thousand Shiva Lingams of
various kinds.
There
were also a number of other shrines in the temple such as the Ganesha shrine,
Subramanya shrine and Amman Shrine that I had left unseen. The Brihadeeswarar
temple is in fact one destination where one visit is definitely not enough to
go through the various places.
I’m
eagerly waiting to plan my second visit and hoping to finish having a look of
the entire temple !
good!
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