Brihadeeswarar Temple (Thanjavur Periya Kovil)
Brihadeeswarar Temple (Thanjavur Periya Kovil) is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Tamilnadu. This temple was built by Raja Raja Cholan I. This Shiva temple is also called as Rajarajesvaram or Peruvudaiyar Koyil and is declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A sense of pride creeps in when you take a moment to look at these magnificent towers. I still cannot believe that this temple is more than 1000 years old!!
Me and Vinod always feel very proud about our Tamil language and Tamil culture. Tamil literature has been documented for around 2000 years. Unlike other ancient languages that are extinct, we still have more than 74 million Tamil speaking people in the world. Even though we grew up in the period when western culture started dominating South India, we had enough books to read in Tamil.
How imaginative were these artisans! The sculptures were so detailed as if they were all done with live models.
One of the famous books in Tamil is Ponniyin Selvan written by Author Kalki. Any person who reads this book will fall in love with Chola Dynasty. My Grand Parents, Parents all have read Ponniyin Selvan atleast once. I have read Ponniyin Selvan atleast 10 times. So Brihadeeswarar temple is a must visit in our family. Me and Vinod had visited Thanjai Periya Kovil so many times but never together.
Tamil Language is one of the oldest languages in the world. Unlike other ancient languages, it is still thriving. This inscription showed us how Tamil language evolved over time.
We have a long list of forests to visit, so we didn’t have any plans to visit Brihadeeswarar Temple. But after our visit to cauvery I read Ponniyin Selvan again and my desire to visit Thanjai Periya Kovil was rekindled.
Walking around the temple complex, one gets the feel of the size of the building. Its the seventh largest Hindu temple in the world.
When we visited Brihadeeswarar Temple it was very hot but cauvery was in full flow. I thought its going to be hard walking on barefoot on temple floors as it was so hot. But once we entered inside the temple the excitement took over and we forgot all these little miseries. The Big Nandi, massive towers and the sculptures are so unique that you can’t believe its 1000 years old.
The murals are again very detailed like the sculptures. Even though they were hundreds of years old, they still retained the color.
Proud Tamilars
While Western Cultures had castles, they were just for Kings and Queens. But during Tamil’s Golden Age all the Kings built temples not palaces. We can understand from the ancient temples in South India that the rulers were very pious and also very innovative.
Many murals in the temple included animals and birds. That showed us how our culture was so interrelated with the natural world.
Once we were into photography, we usually photographed wildlife only. Though we searched for owls and bats inside the temple towers, we took photos of the Brihadeeswarar Temple in all angles. We lost track of time and that delayed our visit to Gangai Konda Cholapuram. By the time we reached Gangai Konda Cholapuram, the main temple was closed. This temple is also UNESCO site, but its not much of a tourist attraction.
The massive Nandi greets you once you enter Gangai Konda Cholapuram temple. Though this temple was not as big and elaborate as Brihadeeswara temple, this place was once the centerpiece of Chola Kingdom when Gangai Konda Cholapuram was its capital.
There were many old trees inside the temple complex. We saw a flock of coppersmith barbets feeding on a fig tree. So we enjoyed both the birds and temple in Gangai Konda Cholapuram.
When we visited Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia, we saw many similarities in South Indian and Khmer architecture. While Angkor Wat is world renowned tourist attraction, those kingdoms and cultures were long gone. But Tamilnadu Culture is still surviving and we Tamils have strong attachment to our culture,language,region.
In ancient times nudity was part of culture and not much frowned upon. This Kalpavriksha carving on the Rajarajan temple tower clearly indicates that.
Even though we Tamils had lost our former glory, we are still having an unique stand in the global level. These structures like Brihadeeswarar Temple and Gangai Konda Cholapuram are very much important to reinstate our pride on Tamil Culture.
Looking up on the temple towers, you get stared down by some scary sculptures!
We were very glad that we visited Thanjai Periya Kovil when Cauvery was full. We enjoyed the full green paddy fields , the flowing cauvery and returned back.