Brihadisvara Temple

The most enduring aspect of the four-century rule of the Cholas was the extensive temple building they undertook, creating a sacred circuit of 108 Shiva temples in the Kaveri Delta. The most celebrated Saiva temple of all, appropriately called Brihadisvara and Daksinameru, is the grandest creation of the Chola emperor Rajaraja (AD 985-1012). It was inaugurated by the king himself in his 19th regal year (AD 1009-10) and named it after himself as "Rajesvara Peruvudaiyar".

Chola Tribute To Lord Shiva - Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur
Architecturally, it is the most ambitious structural temple built of granite. Brihadisvara Temple is within a spacious inner Prakara of 240.90 m long (east-west) and 122m broad (north-south), with a Gopura at the east and three other ordinary 'Torana' entrances one at each lateral sides and the third at rear. The Prakara is surrounded by a double-storeyed 'Malika' with 'Parivaralayas'.

The Sikhara, a cupolic dome, is octagonal and rests on a single block of granite, a square of 7.8 m weighing 80 tons. The majestic 'Upapitha' and 'Adhishthana' are common to all the axially placed entities like the 'Ardhamaha' and 'Mukha-Mandapas' and linked to the main sanctum but approached through a north-south transept across the 'Ardha-Mandapa', which is marked by lofty 'Sopanas'.

The moulded plinth is extensively engraved with inscriptions by its royal builder who refers to his many endowments, pious acts and organisational events connected to Brihadisvara Temple. The Brihad-Linga within the sanctum is 8.7 m high. Life-size iconographic representations on the wall niches and inner passage include Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Bhikshatana, Virabhadra Kalantaka, Natesa, Ardhanarishvara and Alingana forms of Shiva. The mural paintings on the walls of the lower ambulatory inside are finest examples of Chola and later periods.

Sarfoji, a local Maratha ruler, rebuilt the Ganapati shrine. The celebrated Thanjavur school of paintings of the Nayakas are largely superimposed over the Chola murals.