The word Brihadishvara is a compound word from Sanskrit. Brihat means very big, high, huge, and Ishwar means the God who is the supreme being, supreme soul etc. - infinite real - shape - formless with all infinite qualities, Akshaya, invincible, Lord Shiva is his temple. The Brihadisvarar Temple is also known as the Brihadisvarar Temple and the Rajarajeshvara Temple.
The Brihadisvara Temple is situated on the southern bank of the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu. It is an architectural wonder and an example of technical art. This is one of the largest Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu and Tamil architecture is included in this temple. It is also called the Meru of the South. Built by the Chola emperor Rajaraja I, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples", along with the Chola-era Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple and the Airavatesvara Temple, which are located to its northeast respectively. There are about 70 kms and 40 kms.
Built using granite, the temple has a huge pillared corridor and houses one of the largest Shiva lingas in India. It is also famous for the quality of its sculpture, as well as being the site of the 11th-century installation of the bronze Nataraja, Shiva as the god of dance. The complex includes the shrines of Nandi, Parvati, Murugan, Vinayagar, Sabhapati, Dakshinamoorthy, Chandikeshwara, Varahi, Tyagarajar of Tiruvarur, Siddhara Karuvurar and others. The coming and going of devotees remains here throughout the year.
There is a storehouse of sculpture, iconography, painting, dance, music, jewelery and engraving in architecture, stone and copper. This temple is an excellent example of engraved Sanskrit and Tamil epigraphic calligraphy. One of the specialties of the construction art of this temple is that the shadow of its dome does not fall on the earth. The gold urn is situated on the summit. The stone on which this urn is situated weighs approximately 88 tonnes and is made of a single stone. The name Vrihadeshwar seems appropriate as soon as one sees the huge, grand Shivling installed in the temple.
On entering the temple, there is a square pavilion inside the gopuram. Nandi ji is sitting there on the platform. This statue of Nandi ji is about 19 feet long, 8 feet wide and 12 feet high. This is the second largest statue of Nandi ji made of a single stone in India. It is also wonderful to see the inscriptions of this temple. The Sanskrit and Tamil writings inscribed in the inscriptions are excellent examples of calligraphy. A long series of inscriptions written by carvings in beautiful characters can be seen around this temple.
Some interesting facts about the temple:
1 - The temple height is about 66 meters. It is worth noting that such a huge and grand temple has been built without any foundation construction.
2 - The temple is made of granite stones weighing about 1.3 lakhs, while granite is not found anywhere in the areas hundreds of kilometers away from this temple. This is the first temple in the world, which is made only of granite stones. One wonders what technique would have been used to bring the stones and erect such a huge high sanctum. Probably it must have been accomplished by the power of Lord Shiva.
3-No shadow is formed on the peak (head) of the temple. This Shikhar (Kalash) weighs about 88 tonnes, on which a golden Kalash of about 12 feet is placed. It is worth noting that the shadow of this temple is not visible in the ground in the sunlight and in the light of the moon.
4 - The huge Shivling in this temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is also amazing, on which a huge five-faced snake sits to cast a shadow. There are thick walls on both sides at a distance of 6-6 feet. The larger figure on the outer wall is called the 'vimana', while the main vimana is called the Dakshina Meru. It is worth noting that the weight of the stone on its peak is 80,000 kg, it is made by cutting a single stone. How the stone weighing 80 tonnes would have been carried to the top of the temple remains a mystery till date.
5 - Inside the square pavilion built in the Gopuram of the temple, there is a 6 meter long, 2.6 meter wide and 3.7 meter high Nandi statue on a giant platform, which is carved out of a single stone. It is worth noting that the construction of the temple 1,30,000 tonnes of stone has been used. It took only 7 years to build the huge and grand temple. It compels one to think how developed the architecture would have been.
6 - In the year 1987, UNESCO has included the temple in its world heritage sites. This temple has beautiful inscriptions written in Sanskrit and Tamil languages, in which detailed information about the ornaments has been given. This shows that the gold science of India was developed and refined at that time. Information about 23 types of pearls, about 11 types of diamonds and rubies is available in rock articles.
7 - It is worth noting that granite rocks are so hard that special diamond-tipped tools have to be used to cut and pierce them. In that period, such an architecture that artistic sculptures and the entire temple would have been built by cutting rocks.
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Astrologer S S Rawat
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