Brihadeeswarar Temple

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Brihadeeswarar Temple
Name
Other names:	Peruvudaiyaar Temple
Proper name:	Brihadeeswarar Temple
Location
Country:	India
State:	Tamil Nadu
Location:	Thanjavur
Architecture and culture
Architectural styles:	Dravidian Architecture
History
Date built:	11th century AD
Creator:	Raja Raja Chola

The Peruvudaiyar Kovil or Brihadeeswarar Temple (Tamil: பெருவுடையார் கோவில், peruvuḍaiyār kōvil ^?), also known as Rajarajeswaram,^[1] at Thanjavur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world's first complete granite temple^[2] and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas kingdom Vishwakarmas in temple architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one of the greatest glories of Indian architecture.^[3] The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples".
This temple is one of India's most prized architectural sites. The temple stands amidst fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th century. The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high ^[4][5] and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. The Kalash or 'Chikharam' (apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is not carved out of a single stone as widely believed. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high.^[6] The entire temple structure is made out of hard granite stones, a material sparsely available currently in Thanjavur area where the temple is located.
Built in 1010 AD by Raja Raja Chola in Thanjavur, Brihadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years in 2010

Contents 1 History 2 Temple complex 2.1 Main temple 2.2 Adjoining structures 2.3 Origin of idea 2.4 Other 2.5 Features 3 Travel information 4 Millennium celebrations 4.1 Bharathanatyam Yajna 4.2 Commemorative stamp and coin 5 Brihadeeswarar Temple in historic novels 6 Picture gallery 7 External links 8 Footnotes

History

The temple had its foundations laid out by the Tamil emperor Arulmozhivarman, popularly called Rajaraja Chola I,(Tamil: இராஜராஜ சோழன், Rājarāja Choļan ^?) in 1002 CE , as the first of the great Tamil Chola building projects.^[7] The temple was built by Rajaraja Chola, one of the greatest Tamil emperors to grace the throne of the Chola empire in compliance of a command given to him in his dream.^{[8] [6]} The scale and grandeur is in the Chola tradition. An axial and symmetrical geometry rules the temple layout.^[9] Temples from this period and the following two centuries are an expression of the Tamils (Chola) wealth, power and artistic expertise. The emergence of such features as the multifaceted columns with projecting square capitals signal the arrival of the new Chola style.^[10]
The Brihadeeswarar Temple was built to be the royal temple to display the emperor's vision of his power and his relationship to the universal order. The temple was the site of the major royal ceremonies such as anointed the emperor and linking him with its deity, Shiva, and the daily rituals of the deities were mirrored by those of the king. The temple maintained a staff of 600 people in various capacities^{[citation needed]}. Besides the Brahmins priest, these included record-keepers, musicians, scholars, and craftsman of every type as well as housekeeping staff.In those days the temple remained a hub of business activities for the flower merchants,milk vendors, oil merchants, ghee merchants, all of whom made a regular supply of their respective goods for the temple for its pujas and during festival seasons.Moreover as evidenced by the inscriptions that found in the compound wall of this temple, the temple had always been serving as a platform for the dancers who excelled in the traditional dance form of Bharatha Natyam. Even today, the Brihadeeswarar Temple remains India's largest.^[11]
The temple is also an architectural exemplar showcasing the pure form of the Dravida type of temple architecture and representative of the Chola Empire ideology and the Tamil civilisation in Southern India. The temples "testify to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting".^[12] Built in 1010 AD by Raja Raja Chola in Thanjavur, Brahadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years.

Temple complex

The full view of the temple

The temple complex sits on the banks of a river that was channeled to make a moat around the complex's outer walls, the walls being built like a fortress. The complex is made up of many structures that are aligned axially. The complex can be entered either on one axis through a five-story gopuram or with a second access directly to the huge main quadrangle through a smaller free-standing gopuram. The massive size of the main sikhara (although it is hollow on the inside and not meant to be occupied), is 63 meters in height, with 16 severely articulated stories, and dominates the main quadrangle. Pilaster, piers, and attached columns are placed rhythmically covering every surface of the shikhara.^[11]

Main temple

The apex of the tower is the octagonal single stone granite piece of 81.25 tons ^[10]

Temple gateway

The main temple is in the center of the spacious quadrangle composed of a sanctuary, a Nandi, a pillared hall and an assembly hall (mandapas), and many sub-shrines. The most important part of the temple is the inner mandapa which is surrounded by massive walls that are divided into different levels by sharply cut sculptures and pilasters providing deep bays and recesses. Each side of the sanctuary has a bay emphasizing the principle cult icons.^[9] The karuvarai, a Tamil word meaning the interior of the sanctum sanctorum, is the inner most sanctum and focus of the temple where an image of the primary deity, Shiva, resides. Inside is a huge stone linga Literally the word Karuvarai means "womb chamber" from Tamil word Karu for foetus. Only priests are allowed to enter this inner most chamber.^[13] In the Dravida style, the Karuvarai takes the form of a miniature vimana with other features exclusive to southern Indian temple architecture such as the inner wall together with the outer wall creating a pradakshina around the garbhagriha for circumambulation (pradakshina). The entrance is highly decorated. The inside chamber housing the image of the god is the sanctum sanctorum, the garbhagriha.^[10] The garbhagriha is square and sits on a plinth, its location calculated to be a point of total equilibrium and harmony as it is representative of a microcosm of the universe. In the center is placed the image of the deity.^[9] The royal bathing-hall where Rajaraja the great gave gifts is located to the east of the hall of Irumudi-Soran.
The circumambulation winds around the massive lingam in the garbhagriha and is repeated in an upper story, presenting the idea that Chola Empire freely offered access to the gods.^[11]
The inner mandapa leads out to a rectangular mandapa and then to a twenty-columned porch with three staircases leading down. Sharing the same stone plinth is a small open mandapa dedicated to Nandi, Shiva's sacred bull mount.^[9]

Adjoining structures

Shrine of Ganapathy

Surrounding the main temple are two walled enclosures. The outer wall is high, defining the temple complex area. Here is the massive gopuram or gateway mentioned above. Within this a portico, a barrel vaulted gorpuram with over 400 pillars, is enclosed by a high wall interspersed with huge gopurams axially lined up to the main temple.

Origin of idea

The wish to build a mammoth temple like this is said to have occurred to Raja Raja while he stayed at Ealam (ஈழம்) (today's Sri Lanka) as a emperor.

Other

Not only the temple and the "moolavar", (prime deity, Shiva) but all other deities (Koshta Moorthigal) like Dakshinamurthy, Suriyan (Sun), Chandran (Moon) are very huge sized. Especially, Brahadeeswar temple is one of the rare temples which has statues for "Ashta dik paalakas" (Lords of all Eight Directions) [Indra, Varuna, Agni, Eesana, Vayu, Niruthi, Yama, Kubera], each of which is a life like status i.e. approximately 6 feet tall.

Features

The temple is made up of 130,000 tons of granite. The 60-metre tall vimana is still the tallest extant in South India. A European-like figure is carved on the vimana, probably a warning of the arrival of the British,but later investigations and archealogy denied it may a hoax created later.And the most important feature of the building is that its believed, at no time of the day the shadow of the gopuram will fall on the ground. ^{[14] [15][16]}

Travel information

Thanjavur can be reached easily by road, rail and air. Tamil Nadu State Government runs frequent public buses from nearby Trichy, Chennai, Kumbakonam, Pudukkottai, Pattukkottai, Tirunelveli, Karur, Nagapattinam, Coimbatore and many other cities in the state.In fact from the State capital Chennai, a National Highway (NH 45-A) linking Chennai with Chidambaram,Mayavaram,Kumbakonam, Tanjore, and Nagappatinam runs across, which is the proper route for the Foreigners, who come to visit Tanjore and the adjoining towns.There are equal number of buses operated by the private bus operators too.
Rail services are run by Indian Railways from many cities across India including the nearby Chennai, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Madurai and Nagore. "Tanjore Junction" is the name of the train station.
The nearest airport located 65 KM away is Tiruchirapalli Airport, Trichy.

Millennium celebrations

Built in the year 1010 AD by Raja Raja Chola in Thanjavur, Brahadishwara Temple also popularly known as the ‘Big Temple’ has turned 1000 years and to mark the 1000th year of existence of the grand structure, the state government and the town is all set to hold many cultural events. It was on the 275th day of his 25th regal year (1010 A.D) that Raja Raja Chola (who ruled during 985-1014 A.D) 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) of the temple.^[17][18][19]

[edit] Bharathanatyam Yajna

To mark the occasion, the state government has organised a Bharathanatyam Yajna, classical dance show under noted danseuse Padma Subramaniam. It is being jointly organised by the Association of Bharatanatyam Artistes of India (ABHAI) and the Brhan Natyanjali Trust, Thanjavur. To mark the 1000th year anniversary of the building, 1000 dancers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Tamilnadu, Andhrapradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Singapore, Malaysia and the U.S will dance in concert for the recorded 11 verses of divine Music Thiruvichaippa (ninth of Thirumurai) composed by Karuvur Thevar (the guru of Raja Raja Chola) called Tiruvisaippa. The small town will turn into a cultural hub for two days starting September 26, 2010 as street performers and dancers will be performing all over the town.^[20][21]

Commemorative stamp and coin

A 5 Special Commemorative coin released by Reserve Bank of India to mark the Millennium year celebrations of the famous Brihadeeswarar Temple built by the great Chola ruler Raja Raja Chola I

On 26 September 2010 (Big Temple’s fifth day of millennium Celebrations), as an dignification to Big Temple’s contribution to the country’s Cultural, Architectural, Epigraphical history, a Special 5 Postage Stamp of the 216-feet tall giant Raja Gopuram was released by India Post as well as a special commemorative 5 coin with the model of temple embossed on it was released by the Reserve Bank of India.^[22][23] A Raja, Cabinet Minister of Communications and Information Technology released the esteemed Brihadeeswarar Temple Special stamp and the first of which was received by G K Vasan, Cabinet Minister of Shipping.

1000 Currency note released by Reserve Bank of India on 01 April, 1954 to honor the historic Brahadeeswarar Temple, a UNESCO World heritage site

Already on 1 April 1954, Reserve Bank of India has released a 1000 currency note featuring a panoramic view of the Brihadeeswara Temple to mark the cultural and heritage significance of the temple. In the year 1975, the then government lead by Prime Minister Late Indira Gandhi has demonetized all the 1,000 notes to cease the Black money.^[24]
The Tamilnadu Chief Minister, M.Karunanidthi also renamed Semmai Paddy, a special type of high productivity paddy variant, as Raja Rajan-1000 to mark 1000 year celebration of the Big Temple’s Builder, Raja Raja Cholan.^[25]

Brihadeeswarar Temple in historic novels

1. Balakumaran has written the story Udaiyar based on the life of Raja Raja Chola I and the building activities around Brihadeeswarar temple

Picture gallery

Temple at sunset	Entrance to Dakshinamoorthi temple	Detail of Gopuram	Another deity in Gopuram
The Shrine of Sri Subramanya	Detail of steps of the Shrine of Sri Subramanya	One of many stone deities found in the pillared cloister surrounding the courtyard	Several of the Lingam found in the pillared cloister
Example of the many frescos found in the pillared cloister	Nandi, looking peaceful.	Raja Raja Cholan