Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The Lost Temples of India : Awesome Threesome
Description:
The Great Living Chola Temples were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of South India and the neighbouring islands.
Two great Chola Temples of the 11th and 12th centuries have been added to the 11th century Brihadisvara temple of Thanjavur, inscribed in 1987. The site now includes the three great 11th and 12th century Chola Temples:
1] The Brihadisvara temple of Thanjavur,
2] The Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and
3] The Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram.
The great Temple, The Brihadisvara Temple, of Tanjore (Thanjavur) was built between 1003 and 1010 in the reign of the great King Rajaraja, founder of the Chola Empire which stretched over all of South India and the neighbouring islands. Surrounded by two rectangular enclosures, the Brihadisvar (built from blocks of granite and, in part, from bricks) is crowned with a pyramidal 13-storey tower, the vimana, standing 61 m high and topped with a bulb-shaped monolith. The walls of the temple are covered with rich sculptural decoration.
The Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram, built by Rajendra I, was completed in 1035. Its 53-m vimana (sanctum tower) has recessed corners and a graceful upward curving movement, contrasting with the straight and severe tower at Thanjavur. It has six pairs of massive, monolithic dvarapalas statues guarding the entrances and bronzes of remarkable beauty inside.
The Airavatesvara temple complex, built by Rajaraja II, at Darasuram features a 24-m vimana and a stone image of Shiva. The temples testify to the Cholas brilliant achievements in architecture, sculpture, painting, and bronze casting.
Inscription Justification:
Criterion (i): The three Chola temples of Southern India represent an outstanding creative
My Experience:
For a normal North Indian, Its a bit difficult to have interest in the temples of south India just due to the language barriers. I never considered such barriers and I always visited the architectural marvels of India, irrespective of the place & the language.
My visits range from Rajasthan, outskirts of Delhi, The Red Fort of Agra, The Tajmahal, Fatehpur Sikari, The mesmerizing Bhulbhulaiya and the Imambada of Of Lucknow and list goes on and on. I will keep letting you know about all those places in my later blogs.
But nothing impressed me as the way these lost temples, built by the founder of Chola Dynasty King Rajaraja, did. I saw a documentary film on Discovery channel of Brihadisvaara Temple, Thanjavur about six years back. At that time I took that lightly. But now a few months back somehow I came thorugh that documentary film once again and this time I had no escape. It impressed me to the deepest level and I was left with the fascination which made me restless to visit the temple. I have sincere interest rooted deep within me towards the great architectural monuments, Forts, temples etc.
We tend to appreciate the architectural structure of other countries like...Statue of Liberty, Hanging garden of Babylon, Pyramid of Giza etc..But very few people know the facts about our very own temples. I wonder how the people managed to do great work like -
Its the only one temple in world of its own kind.
* It is the 10 times taller than any other building ever constructed in India by that time.
*It can house more than 200 Tajmahals within its walls.
*It was built on Granites - the hardest stone.
*The numbers of stones used to built this temple was far more than the number of stones used
to built the Pyramid og Giza !!
*Those massive stones were brought fom a distance of more than 50 KM.
*How a one piece granite stone of 12 feet hieght and 5 feet of diameter, called VIMANA (tower),
weighing around 80 Tonnes was put on the top of the temple at a height of about 60 meters.
*I found this temple a unique delight for a various kind of scholars that includes, the Painters,
The Architects, The Nature Lovings, The Devotional persons, The Musicians and the Dancers.
I would suggest all of you to visit this place at least once. The experience of being there will always linger in your memories and you’ll force to visit the place every now and then !!
