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The Brihadisvara temple is a symbol of greatness of the Chola Empire under its founder, Emperor Rajaraja(985-1012.A.D.), whose splendor it reflects. The long series of epigraphs incised in elegant letters on the plinth all round the gigantic edifice reveals the personality of the Emperor. The Brihadisvara temple is a monument dedicated to Siva, and he named lord as Rajarajesvaram-udayar after himself. As we gather from the inscriptions running throughout the plinth, the king, on the two hundred and seventy-fifth day of the twenty-fifth year of the reign (1010 A.D) presented a gold-covered finial to be planted on the top of the Vimana of the temple. |
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.
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