The lush Tanjore city was the capital of Chola Emperors, before 1000 years. Among all the architectural wonders of the Cholas, the Tanjore Brihadeeswarar temple is their masterpiece. The temple was built by the great Raja Raja Chola, who was an avid devotee of Lord Shiva and arts and architecture of Dravidians.
Although many researches had been carried out to know the facts behind the temple construction, all of them went vain.
Underground passages:
With more than hundred underground passages, leading to various spots, the Tanjore temple stands as an exemplary symbol of a capital of the Chola dynasty. These secret passages make way to the king’s palace, other temples, important places near Tanjore and many other regions. The most mysterious about these tunnels is some paths lead to dangerous spots and since the map of the tunnel is unknown, all of them are sealed. The historians consider it as a safety trap of Raja Raja Chola.
Cap stone:
The top most part of the Raja Gopuram of Brihadeeswarar temple is a single stone, weighing 80 tons. Even now the technique, which was used by the Cholans, to pull the mass stone towards the peak of the gopuram is unknown because the temple was built when the machines like cranes, rope cars and escalators were not available.
Why was the Top of the Thanjavur temple Capped ?
Some scientists say that The Garbhagriha were Shiv Lingam is placed emits huge amount of electromagnetic positive energies. The 80 tons stone was kept as a repulsive force so as to make the energy revolve around the temple perimeter and keep the place pious and divinely graceful. The flow of energy move around and within the Vedic structure giving healthily calming, soothing and mentally composing effect to the bhakts and yoghis.
No Shadow:
Another architectural marvel of the Raja Gopuram is, the shadow of the tower does not fall on the ground. The geometrical construction is perfect and it was created 1000s of years ago with perfect balance, which withstands natural and political phenomenon.
216 feet Vimana
The primary tower has a hollow shape and the stones are interlocked without any binding material, while they stand powerfully in their weight. Another miracle is the 216 ft hollow tower, without any binding material, has an ideal equilibrium and balance, despite all the natural disasters in 1000 years.
Stairs on the top
Further, there is a small staircase above the primary deity that leads to the upper part of the tower. If mantra OM is recited inside the hollow area, the divine vibration creates an immortal experience.
Granite stones
Tanjore is a fertile red soil area, where there is no trace of granite stones, yet the temple had been completely built with the strongest granites in the world. The transportation used by the ancient Cholas is still unknown. Moreover, the sculpture designs and holes on the stones are so intricate to create with copper or iron chisels, which were used during those periods.
Tanjore paintings
The extremely high quality paintings in the Tanjore big temple explicitly indicate the artistic excellence of the Chola kingdom in the Raja Raja Chola period. The colours of the paintings are still bright and healthy, even after 1000 years.
Mysterious Nandhi
The Nandhi statue, sculptured during the Raja Raja Cholan period, kept growing in the size. It could be even because of the unique weather condition and to control its growth, it was kept aside and nailed to the grounds. However, the current statue before Lord Shiva is a single stone statue and was gifted by the Maratha rulers in the 16th and 17th century.
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