Brihadeshwara – Temple of Tamil in Thanjavur, India

Brihadeshwara – Temple of Tamil in Thanjavur, India

• Brihadeshwara – Temple of Tamil in Thanjavur, India. It is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The amazing architecture of this temple makes it unique and stupendous.
• Brihadeshwara Temple is 1,000 years old,  located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.
• Raja Raja Chola built it between 1003 and 1010 A.D.
• The temple tower, or Gopuram as it is locally called, is 216 feet in height.
• Use of 1.3 Lakh tons  granite  to construct the temple.
• The surprising fact is that there is neither a mountain nor a rocky hill for 60kms around Thanjavur.

How did these heavy rocks come here?

• They employed  3000 elephants to bring these stones from far away.
• The architecture is based on the interlock method, also known as puzzle technique.
• No cement, stucco, plaster or adhesives used between the stones for joint them.
• One Stone is placed over another stone, to lock it. Londen’s Big Ben and the Leaning Tower of Pisa are Tilting with time but this temple stands straight even after 1,000 years.

• The reason is the base of the temple which is very wide.
• The width of the base has kept the structure straight over the year.
• The other speciality of this temple is: It was build without digging the Earth. Which means it was built on the plain land.
• The stone placed at the top of the temple tower is known as Kumbam.
• The Kumbam weighs around 81 tons and is carved out of a single rock.
• There were no cranes or power machinery to lift the stone to such a height.
  

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Wondering how they managed to place the single stone on top of the Gopuram?

To the top of the temple tower, they made a ramp of around 6 kilometres long. Elephants, horses, bulls and labourers together carried the stone.

The other fascinating thing about the place is the Nandi. Even the Nandi was carved out of a single stone. It is 13 feet in height.

1000 YEARS,

6 EARTHQUAKES,

STILL STANDING STRONG.

A TRUE ARCHITECTURAL MARVEL.