Well, it is breath taking to see the Tanjore temple which is also called theBrihadisvara Temple. It is also breath taking to know the fact that these templeswere built in the age when the rest of the world was still sleeping in the field of architecture, engineering or even human culture. The temple built by Raja Raja Chola, also called as Arulmozhivarman, for the Lord Shiva is a treat to watch. They are two more temples which will make you speechless. The Great Living Chola Temples were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of South India and the neighboring islands. The site includes three great 11th- and 12th-century Temples: the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Brihadisvara Temple atGangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram. The Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram, built by Rajendra I, was completed in 1035. Its 53-m vimana (sanctum tower) has recessed corners and a graceful upward curving movement, contrasting with the straight and severe tower at Thanjavur. The Airavatesvara temple complex, built by Rajaraja II, at Darasuram features a 24-m vimana and a stone image of Shiva. The temples testify to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting. The moment you enter the temple, the first thought which comes to your mind is how on earth did these people construct a building of this might in the time of 1000 AD. It baffled me too. As you see the temple is constructed of only granites which are one of the hardest rocks you can find on the surface of earth. To chisel out sculptures out of this is a herculean task. Raja Raja Chola was the first Emperor from the south to undertake a mission like this. Even today, seeing the structure, most of the engineers are astonished as to how, at an early age of civilization, people constructed this temple with so much of accuracy in engineering and architecture.
The granites used for the temple were not brought from any nearby places but were brought from a distance of 50 miles from the site of the temple construction. Carrying the stones from that distance was really a big task but that is where giant elephants were used. By keeping wooden rollers beneath the stones and using the elephants to push it they stones were brought to the construction site. But you can imagine how long it wud have taken for the stones to arrive. Another wonder of the temple is that the apex of the tower is an octagonal single stone granite piece of 81.25 tonnes. Carving out a single stone needs decades to finish as they used only light metals to chisel the stones. Now arises another question. How did they cut these stones? Well, in today’s technology, it takes hours to cut through a giant granite, then imagine how it was possible back then. The trick is, after choosing the stone, they chiseled out holes on the top of the stone, hit a large wood into it, poured water and kept it aside. After days and months, these stones used to crack out and they were separated. That is one brilliant idea that you should be proud of, given the fact that, no other civilisation in the world was as organised or cultured as India was. Unlike these days, getting ideas was not at all simple. Now, all we do is search on Google and you get tons of ideas.
When you have a closer look at the temple, you can see that the shrine holds two massive granite stones, each weighing 40 tonnes and to get those stones hundreds of feet in the air in 1010 AD is no joke. Well, for this too, you should appreciate Raja Raja Chola’s engineers, who found that building a ramp could solve the issue. Thus, a ramp was built 10 miles from the temple and stones were rolled from there to the top of the temple with the help of elephants. Having elephants walk on the ramp with 40 tonnes of granite stones is itself a great engineering work in those times.
