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 Tanjore is a night's journey from
Chennai. As a tourism spot, Tanjore is visited by most
of the foreigners who come to India to learn about its culture. Raja Raja Chola during his
rule built the Tanjore Brihadeeswarar temple. Otherwise called 'Big Temple'
(Periya Koil)
the temple was built by the King on a sprawling piece of land. The greatness of this
temple is marked by the enormous Lingam - the 'Brihadeeswarar' which is the prime deity of
the shrine. The tall Lingam is reached by the Gurukkal (priests) through the stairs
leading to the top. This temple is located about one km from the bus-stand. The famous
name of the temple is RajaRajesuram and the earlier history says that the
"Naimicharanya" hermits lived in the place where the temple was erected. The
speciality of this temple is that it has been sculptured completely with stones without
having the mountain around its surroundings. The tower of this temple was previously
called as "Dhakshina Meru". This temple is facing along the East direction and
it has three main entrances namely "Keralandagam", "RajaRajan" and
"Anukkan". When we go through these three vayils, we can reach the inside of the
vayils', it measures 500 m in length and 250 m in breadth. . In these
Vayils', "
Murugan Temple, Anjaneyar Temple, Varahi Temple, Vinayagar Temple, Natarajar Temple and
Karuvurar Temple " can be seen. Inside the Karuvurar Temple, a massive Linga is
installed in a place called Avudaiyar.
Another remarkable feature is the great
Nandhi. The Nandhi that figures at the entrance is also immense in size (a popular belief
is that it is growing by the day). The Nandhi at this temple is particularly, splendid in
the shape and symmetry that it shows. Periya Nayaki is the Goddess deity here.
There
is also a Murugan sanctum and a Ganapathi sannadhi.
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The architecture of the temple is also
admirable. All the carvings were done by the kingdom's best artisans. There are even stone
figures of all the architects in the main gopuram. One noticeable figure is that of a
foreigner who was there at that time and has contributed to the work The Linga measures 9
ft in height, 23.5 ft in circumference. The Linga was brought from the shore of Narmadha
river. This Linga is also called as "Raja Rajeswara Mudaiyan " because of its
bright appearance. The total area of the temple measures 237.9m in length and 119.1m in
breadth. The height of centre Vimana is 64.8m. The top of the tetrangled vimana has been
closed with a round stone measuring 81.3 tons weight and fashioned from a single piece of
black stone. To get the stone to the top of the vimana, a
slope path was made for six km from the northern side of the Thanjavur.
 The temple is glorious in its structure
within its vast enclosure and wonderful in its design. Our Jayalalitha 'amma' has gifted
the temple an elephant - the proud mahout informed me. Visit the temple and live through
the history and the grandeur amidst your worship of Lord Shiva - The Lingam. The
gateway to the inner courtyard is guarded by an elephant and one of the largest Nandhis in
India measuring 6m long by 3m high, and fashioned from a single piece of rock. The massive
Nandhi measures 25 tons weight. This is the second biggest Nandhi in India. In all, there
are 250 lingams in the inner shrines along the outer walls. The frescoes adorning the
walls and ceilings of the inner courtyard have been dated to Chola times and were executed
using techniques similar to those used in the European way of work.
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