Tanjavoor Brihadeeshwara Temple or the Big Temple dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva @ Tanjavoor, Tamil Nadu State, India.
Volumes have been written, innumerable scholars have published books on this iconic temple, millions of photographs have been put out and yet there seems to no justice done to the magnificence of this temple which is an architectural and an engineering marvel constructed during the reign of the mighty Chola King Raja Raja - 985 - 1014 CE. One of the finest creation of the Cholas, this temple stands tall and majestic even today despite the vandalism that was suffered in the hands of the Moghul invaders. This temple has many engineering statistics to its credit.
To have conceived a gigantic temple of this proportion, constructed with cautious designing so that beauty was not sacrificed in favour of size and to have built the entire temple complex in granite sourced from considerble distance from the location of construction is a matter of great credit that goes to Raja Raja and his teams of architects, artisans and everyone who toiled for years to construct this temple. The construction of the temple was completed in six years - 1004 to 1010 CE.
The temple complex is a rectangle that is almost two stacked squares, covering 240.79 metres (790.0 ft) east to west, and 121.92 metres (400.0 ft) north to south. In this space 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 Vimana i.e. the structure over the main sanctum is estimated to be 216 feet over which sits a kalash or dome which is estimated to weigh about 80 tonnes.
There is a huge Nandi or Nadikeshwara who sits facing the temple. This Nandi is monolithic i.e. carved out a single stone and estimated to weigh about 25 tonnes. I have photographed some of the gigangtic Nandis and will share these photographs later.
I was waiting or an opportunity to photograph this temple against a settimg Sun. The setting Sun literally paints the Vimana in rich golden colour which is dazzling. This is what I have been waiting for during many of my visits. On this day the setting was just perfect. I got the shot.
This is west facing view showing the:
Ganapathy shrine,
Main temple/Vimana,
Nandi Mandapam and
the two entrance towers.
