Tanjore - Cover Story

8/3/2019 Tanjore - Cover Story

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Cover Story1000 Years Of TraditionBy Chitra Sivakumar

Tamil Culture, being one among theoldest cultures of the World, flourishedin the land of Tamil Nadu, has immenserepository of ancient cultural artifacts.Thanjavur, nicknamed 'The Granaryof the South India' due to its locationalong the coast of River Cauvery,capital of the Cholas (10th - 12thcentury), Nayakas (16th century), andMarathas (17th - 18thcentury), has over90 temples, acting as a representativeof Tamil culture and arts.Tamil Culture is reflected inBrihadeeswarar Temple of Thanjavur,

gaikonda Choleeswarar Temple of Gangai Konda Cholapurarn,ravateeswarar Temple of Darasuram,mbahareswarar temple of Tribhuvanam,avur Painting, Saraswathi Mahal Library,Museum and many more.

efl I visited Brihadeeswarar Temple ofr, t was awe struck with its grandeur.

temple is different from all other templesn Gopuram (tower) soaring sky highaller Gopurams around. The main4 storey hrgh and rises to 216 feet above the ground, making

temple the tallest temple in South India. It is also tfter,o".-nn..o:.... granite .te~e.


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The Brihadeeswarar Temple, alsocalled Rajarajesvaram temple, BigTemple, Peruvudaiyar Kovil, ThanjaiPeriya Kovil, stands testimony to thegreat ruler's contribution. 1.:!':ll~"tl~'X'i"!~C""~T;;o.~

The Brihadeeswarar temple is a symbol ofgreatness of the Chola Empire under its founder,Emperor Rajaraja (985-1012.A.D.). The templewas built from 1003 to 1010 inside the SivagangaFort, encircled by moat on the east and west,the Grand Anaicut Channel on the south andby the Sivaganga Garden on the north. Theinscriptions on the temple walls reveal thegreatness of the Emperor. The 1000th Birthdayof the Temple was grandly celebrated on25th September, 2010.

We were excited to hear that it was not only the place of worship,but had taken care of many people in and around that place. Thelist includes dancing girls, dance masters, musicians, drummers,flute-players, accountants, bearers, lamp-lighters, sprinklers of water,potters, washermen, bearers, astrologers, tailors, jewel-stitchers,

,.....,-----.razier-lighters, carpenters, goldsmiths, cooks,gardeners, flower gatherers, garland-makers, woodcarvers, sculpturers, painters etc., totalling morethan six hundred persons. All these people were~!!~:ii~~~~~ given grants from the temple for their comfortable

~ living.The temple exhibits pure form of the Dravidiantemple architecture, Chola Empire ideology, Tamilcivilization, the excellence in art of sculpture,painting and bronze castinq.


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Based on the in sc r ipt lo ns runningthroughout the plinth, it was told thatthe King Rajaraja, on the two hundredand seventy-fifth day of the twenty-fifthyear of his reign (1010 A. D) presented agold-covered finial to be planted on the topof the Vimanam of the temple.The temple has the big rectangular surrounding wall where we have toleave our footwear. We went to the temple at noon. So we had to run bare

foot to go around the temple. There is a vast innercourtyard, well paved with brick and stone withcloister all around. They had intricate carvings andidols.

Cloister

A colossal monolith Nandi, the sacred bull, vehicleof Lord Shiva welcomes us at the entrance ofthe central shrine. It is really a massive monolith

---~ighing about 25 tons and is around 12feet high. It is housed within elaboratelyWOr~E!aNayak Mandapam. The roof of the

ndapam has wonderful paintings.

courtyard had the 60m high Vimanam._..,......~- Towering Vimanam of Central Shrinecalled "Dakshina Meru". We were

~Yr[.A~iea to hear that the Shikharam ofVimanam rests on a single block of

weighing 81 tons.we entered the Shrine, we were a

retiel/ed. It was very cool inside. The_ _ e : surrounding the sanctum of the_",n..,-J..'(:.I,nt!::Iin,orl. important specimens ofn you Visit the temple,

out the ..yarrings of_~;,;w:iPI eJj3h-aratha Natyatn,


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The temple has a Shrine of Sri Subramanya, Devi, Sri Chandeeswara,Ganapathy, Nataraja and Karuvurar around the courtyard.

the classical Indian dance, mimed by Shiva in person in the sanctumCentral shrine. The main deity is a 13-feet high Siva Linga. This lingacalled Adavallan, "One who can dance well" and Dakshina Meru VitankanAfter worshipping the huge Lord Shiva, we started to go around the temple

The frescos painting within thecircumambulatory corridor of AradhanaMandapam gives feast to our eyes withChola and Nayak period paintings.Thanjavur has other interesting placestoo. Saraswathi Mahal, the most remarkable library of India, has the mostimportant oriental manuscript collections in India. Established around 1700AD, the library contains a collection of over 44,000 palm leaves, papermanuscripts in Indian and European languages. Over eighty percent of its

unique manuscripts are in Sanskrit, many onpalm leaves. The Tamil work includes treatiseson medicine, and commentaries on worksfrom the Sangam period.You will get a chanceto see the 24 thousand slokas of ValmikiRamayana in 3"x9"palm leaf manuscripts,each side of these

leaves containing thirty line in miniature granthaletters, lmposslble to read with the naked eyes.You can also see decorated Thanjavur paintingson wood, glass, canvass, many folios of illustratedmanuscripts, paintings on paper, drawings, maps,alJa~s, metal engravings etc.....~,_ Dlace~T interest would be the Royal Museum

allery lth a representativeMA't_1II'i .Jl_IRO.De s ulpture from the F..allava,


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Chola, Pandya and Nayaka periods, a gallerycontaining samples of the characteristic glasspaintings of Thanjavur and a gallery of finestbronze sculpture collection.Make your trip memorable by buying aThanjavur painting as a memorabilia. Thesepaintings originated during the Marathaperiod in the 16th century and are known fortheir surface richness, vivid colors, compactcomposition and breathtaking beauty.They have normal, antique and embossedfinishings. The cost varies as paintings weredone on materials like wood, glass, mica,

exotic media such as ivory, murals and manuscripts. A typical Thanjavurnting would consist of one main figure, a Hindu deity or saint, with a

II:WF!H-rOI nded body and oval shaped eyes. This figure would be housed inenclosure created by means of an arch, curtains, etc. The paintings are

._"V"rated by gilded and gem-set technique, a technique where 22 caratleaves and sparkling Thanjavur stones are used to highlight certain

.sDe'CISof the painting like ornaments, dresses etc. They say that earlygs were embedded with real diamonds, rubies and other precious

we consider the Big Temple as an ancient landmark of Thanjavur, theUniversity in Thanjavur, a Temple of learning can be considered as

lnuoorn sister that was established. U engages in research and

.-neea study in Tamil.visit Thanjavur, you can

_el yourself with more thanof Tamil tradition, Culture

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