Brihadiswara temple pdf

chola architecture

1. BRIHADISWARA TEMPLE
DRISYA .A
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1
st
MA HISTORY

2. Location :- thanjavur , tamil nadu
The temple is a part of the UNESCO World heritage Site
known as the "Great Living Chola Temples”.
Dravidian architecture
Deity :- lord shiva.
 Rectangle temple complex. {240.79 m (790.0 ft) east
to west, and 121.92 m (400.0 ft) north to south.}

3.  Brihadeshwara Temple in thanjavur
is one of the largest temples in India
which is built by emperor Rajendra
Chola I and completed in 1010 AD
This temple is also known as
Peruvudaiyar kovil, Periya Kovil or
Big Temple, Raja Rajeswara Temple
and Rajarajeswaram.
For the construction of the temple,
more than 130,000 tonnes of granite
was used. Surprisingly, these heavy
stones were brought down from a
place that was located 50 miles away
from the Brihadeeshwar temple.
A unique feature about the temple
is, it is the only temple wherein the
Temple tower’s (Gopuram) shadow
does not appear on the ground at
noon.

4. The king Raja Raja Cholan built the temple after his visit to Sri
Lanka. The king was inspired after witnessing the Vedic structures
built by the Hindu kings.
The temple tower is the tallest one in the world which is 216 ft
high[66m].
The temple has Fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th
century

5. vimana

Vimana is the structure
over the garbhagriha or
inner sanctum in the Hindu
temples.[temple tower]
 66 m high with 14 storey.

6. Temple built by interlocking stone and not by binding them

7.  The kumbam ( bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is
carved out of a single rock and weighs around 80 tons

8. The architect and engineer of the temple was kunjaramallan raja
raja perunthachan.
During the Cholas period the temple was called rajarajeswaram.it
was a center for all religious functions and festivals. Later, after the
nayakas and Marathas invaded it , the temple became famous as the
brihadeswara temple.
‘Gopuras’ or the two gateways are located at the eastern entrance
of the temple.
 The temple’s entrance has a large statue of Nandi (sacred bull)
that measures about 16 feet in length and 13 feet in height. This
statue has been carved out of a single stone

10. Gopuram’s of brihadeshwara temple

Gateways called the gopurams. There are 3 gates but only 2
elaborate gopurams.Gopurams are build by stone.
First gate was build marathas to defend the place
2
nd
gate is keralantakan tiruvasal
3
rd
rajarajan tiruvasal.
The main gateways are on the east side

11. Maratha gate

12. Keralanthagan Gopuram

13. “Sacred gate of the keralantakan”
Keralanthakan is the surname of king rajaraja who built it.
Meaning Destroyer of Kerala (Chera's) after his victory over Kerala
king Baskararavivarma, this gopuram is named after this title .
 This is a five stage gopuram. In the front side of the gopuram one
can see various forms of Shiva - Rudhrathandava pose (a fierce
Shiva in dancing form).
In the rear side of the gopuram -Krishna Leela, MahaVishnu,
Narasimha in one side and Hiranya Samkara on the other side. On
the top stage Shiva and Vishnu idols are seen.

14. The rajaraja tiruvasal

15. two huge 15 feet monolithic Dwarapalas on either side
of this entrance is seen.
The 15 feet huge monolithic stone sculpture of the
Dwarapala reveals the Thattva (concept) that God is
Everywhere as shown by the upper two hands and the
pose of right hand index finger denotes that God is one
and only one.

16. shiva lingam

17. Mandapa
The two mandapa, namely maha-mandapa and mukha-mandapa, are
square plan structures axially aligned between the sanctum and
the Nandi mandapa.

18. Paintings
inscription

19. The painting explain about the kingdom of chola dynasty
and also the greatness of particularly, the raja raja chola

22. THANK YOU