BRIHADEESWARA TEMPLE.

Hello everyone today I am going to write a blog on Brihadeshwara Temple. As my exams got over and waiting for results.

Built by Raja Raja Chola I in 1010 AD, Brihadeshwara Temple is an ancient temple at Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The deity of the temple is Lord Shiva—in his dancing pose—who is called the Nataraj. The temple is also known as Rajeswara Temple, Rajarajeswaram and Periya Kovil. The temple was built, like a fortress on the shores of a river, by the king to grace the Chola Empire. This thousand-year-old temple is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site adding to its exceptional historical and cultural value.

The main temple is entirely built of granite. More than 130,000 tons of granite is said to have been used to build it. The cutting and carving of the granite stone is not an easy task even today. We can’t even imagine how this would have made possible in those days without any special equipment.

Temple Contains more than 100 underground passages to various places.These pasaages leads to different temples and also various places in and around Tanjore. Most of these passages were sealed and if the people choose the wrong passage then there are possibilites that it may lead to unexitable zones.

The 80 tonne stone acts a repulsive force and channels the energy to the inner areas of the temple to sustain its piousness and divinity. The positive energy radiant within in the temple structure is said to have a calming, soothing effect both mentally and physically on the devotees.

Besides the huge Shiva Linga, which is located in the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha Griha), the huge Nandi draws crowds from world over. And interestingly, the temple tower or the Gopuram or the Vimana is constructed in such a manner that its shadow disappears at noon.

This happens because the base of the Vimana is bigger than its pinnacle. Hence at noon, the shadow of the temple tower gets merged on itself and not on the ground.

Kudos to the architects of the era for building something as beautiful as the Brihadeshwara Temple—a heritage structure that dates back to ancient India.

Thank you.