Travel guide to Brihadeeswara Temple
Brihadeeswara Temple a living legendary monument situated in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu is an ultimate place of tourist attraction not only within the country but from every corner of the world! If you would like to know about the history of this amazing monument you would find this article useful!!
The Legendary Monument
Popularly known as Brihadeeswara Temple and originally named to be the Pervudaiyar Temple is a gigantic monument which attracts tourists with their architecture apart from serving as a Pilgrim place of the deity Lord Shiva!
Raja Raja Chola whose kingdom was wide spread til kalinga [current Orissa] to almost half of Srilanka in the south. This historical monument symbolizes the mighty power of the king as well as his passion towards the development of literature, culture and religion. Major Attributes
The Peruvudaiyar Temple was built on the 11th Century AD and its architecture is a landmark for the people of the Dravidian Community.The temple is build entirely of Granite stone in a place where the prevalence of granite is rare. The temple stands high peaking at 66m making it the largest temple in India and it strongly serves as a historical monument for the country without which it couldn't have been mentioned as UNESCO's World Heritage Site . The Peruvdaiyar Temple has a fortified wall surrounding the wall the temple is protected by branching the river Vaigai, Just as similar as a fort! The temple can be accessed through two ways, One is through a high five story gopuram and the other is throug a small usual gopuram.
The main temple which is 63m high dominates all other structures in the temple. Its hollow inside after going through which the "Karuvarai" , [which means mother's womb in tamil] but here contextually it symbolizes the place of deity Shiva can be accessed. The major highlight of the temple is that it has its separate shrines for all other deities and each statue of the shrine is lively 6 Feet tall!! The Nandhi
This marvelous monument don't just give importance for the deity Shiva but also for its Vehicle called as "Sri Nandhi Bahavan" traditionally is a bull. The temple has a giant Nandhi right at the center carved from a single rock which is 13m high.
Apart from all these the temple is so artistically carved and designed to perfection which can be viewed even today. The Vimana of the temple is high as 60m which is believed to be carved from a single rock. The temple has beautiful sculptures sculpted everywhere. Honors Offered To The Temple
This Mega structure is constructed of a 130,000 tons of pure granite. There are halls where the kings used to conduct various cultural events and its even being conducted occasionally by the government. The government of India has released Postage stamps showing the Gopurams of Peruvudaiyar Temple as well as the first evolved 1000 rupee notes during the time of Indra Gandhi had this temple's portrait on its back but due to some political reasons 1000 rupee notes that time were invalidated. conclusion
By now many of you would definitely wish to visit the temple at least once in your lifetime. The temple can be accessed by both bus and rail routes. buses are plying to Tanjore from Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai and also from many other districts of the state. If you are planning to visit by train you would have to get down at the Tanjore Junction from there on you can use local sources such as autos, taxies and buses to visit the temple. For more details you may contact Tamil Nadu State Tourism Department.
The temple by the year 2010 has completed 1000 years signifying the cultural , traditional and artistic prosperity of Tamilnadu and there by India. Therefore its right to "Hail" this historic dravidian monument as an Epic Beyond Mellinium
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