Chola Temples (India) Transitional Phase Toward Its Close
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of the high Chola period, Darasuram represents the Chola Temples (India) transitional phase toward its close. The Brihadisvara temple complex is situated within the Sivaganga Little Fort in the residential area of the town of No 250 bis Thanjavur, located on the southern bank of the river Vadavaru, at the south-west limit of the Cauvery delta. From the time of Rajaraja I, this town became the royal temple town. Today, from the Chola period, there remain 1. BASIC DATA mainly the temple and its surroundings. The Fort, built in State Party: India brick, which encloses the temple complex, is surrounded by a moat in the west, north and east, and the Grand Name of property: The Great Living Chola Temples Anaicut Canal in the south. The area of the Fort is (1. The Brihadisvara temple complex, ca 18 ha, of which the temple complex covers 2.85 ha. Thanjavur; Inside the Fort there is now a municipal park, and it also 2. The Brihadisvara temple complex, contains a large water tank, the Sivaganga tank, and some Gangaikondacholapuram; modern buildings. 3. The Airavatesvara temple complex, Darasuram) The temple was mainly built in granite-gneiss, from 1003 to 1010, and dedicated to Siva. It is approached from the Location: Tamil Nadu state: Thanjavur and east, and entered through a succession of three gateways. Perambalur districts The plan of the temple enclosure has a ratio of 1:2, Date received: 29 January 2003 ca 240 m east-west and 120 m north-south, conceived with great precision. The most visible part of the temple is its Category of property: Vimana, the 65 m tall sanctum tower (Garbhagriha), In terms of the categories of cultural property set out in which is hollow and square in plan (30 x 30 m), centred in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this the western section of the enclosure surrounding the consists of three monuments. It is a serial nomination, temple. The Vimana has 13 tiers, richly sculpted in proposed as an extension to the existing World Heritage architectural and figurative forms. The lower part (Bhumi) site: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, inscribed in 1987 is 13m high, and has large niches of icons and Puranic under criteria ii and iv. The property is now presented (related to ancient mythology) or human figures. The together with other two temple sites, all proposed under tower is crowned by the Shikhara. criteria i, ii, iii, and iv. The temple is built on a podium, and the different elements Brief description: of the construction are positioned along the east-west axis in linear succession, consisting of large pillared cult halls The three great Chola Temples include the Brihadisvara (mukhamandapa, mahamandapa, ardhamandapa), before temples of Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholisvaram, and arriving to the main sanctum. The temple enclosure is the Airatesvara temple at Darasuram. The temples date entered from the east through three gateways, each of them from the 11th and 12th centuries. The first of them was built towered with a sculpted Gopura. The perimeter of the by King Rajaraja, founder of the Chola Empire which enclosure is defined by a prakara, a low two-storied stretched over all of South India and the neighbouring cloistered structure against the outer wall. The inner islands. The others were built by his successors. prakara is enclosed by another surrounding wall. Inside Surrounded by rectangular enclosures, the Brihadisvara the enclosure there are several small sub-shrines. The (the centre feature, built mainly from blocks of granite) is Chandesvara shrine, oriented north-south, and close to the crowned with a pyramidal tower, the high-rising vimana main vimana, is coeval with the main temple. The others topped with a bulb-shaped monolith. The walls of the are built later, from the 13th to 18th centuries. temples are covered with rich sculptural decoration. In the centre of the sanctum is the colossal linga statue, associated with deities. Within the dark circumambulatory passage around the sanctum are three colossal sculptures 2. THE PROPERTY of Siva. Narrative wall paintings of the Chola period of Description Rajaraja I once covered the walls at the ground level, now over-painted by those of the Nayaks of the seventeenth The three Chola Temples are situated in the south of India, century. Fragments of the fine, highly stylised Chola in the State of Tamil Nadu, close to the Indian Ocean. The paintings in subtle earth colours are still discernible in Brihadisvara temple complex at Thanjavur is already portions, contrasting sharply with the comparatively crude inscribed on the World Heritage List. It was built by ones of the later period. Rajaja I (985-1014), the ruler who created the Chola Empire. The Brihadisvara temple at The second Brihadisvara temple complex was built by Gangaikondacholisvaram was built by his son, Rajendra I Rajendra I at Gangaikondacholisvaram, a new capital of (1012-1044). The Airavatesvara temple complex, instead, the empire, ca 85 km north-east of Thanjavur, at the north was built a century later by Rajaraja II (1143-1173). The edge of the Cauvery delta. The name of the town means temples represent the cosmic view of the Cholas, a ‘the city of the conqueror of the Ganges’, after the king’s restatement of the perennial principle as Dakshinameru, successful expedition to the Gangetic plane. The town the cosmic mountain, the abode of the Lord Siva. While remained a major administrative centre of the Cholas till the Brihadisvara at Thanjavur marks the grand beginning mid 13th century. Today, it is a rural settlement. The temple complex is surrounded by small houses of mixed 55 uses on north and east sides, while agricultural land consolidated by Rajaraja I and his son as a royal cult. This extends to the south and west. The temple construction period saw the culmination of dravida architecture, and was completed in 1035, and its design followed the main high, refined attainment in sculpture, painting and bronze characteristics of the Thanjavur temple by Rajaraja I. Its casting. The origins of the dravida architecture go back to Vimana is 53 m high, and has nine receding tiers, over a the Gupta period, and were the common based for temple two-tiered structure (sandhara prasada), all standing on a design from the 7th to 18th centuries. Stone building high terrace. Here, the Vimana has recessed corners and techniques had been developed in the Pallava period, but graceful upward curving movement, in contrast to the the Cholas developed this tradition, concentrating mostly straight and severe pyramidal tower of the temple at on temples, where it reached its culmination. These Thanjavur. The superstructure of the entrance gate temples are distinguished from earlier and later structures (gopura) has collapsed. The sculptures are less numerous by their more restraint forms, and the dominance of the than in Thanjavur, but of the same nature. There are six central shrine over the rest of the ensemble. From the pairs of massive, monolithic dvarapalas guarding the Chola period, however, there is little or no trace of palaces, entrances to the main temple. There are a few bronzes of houses or other types of civil architecture, although their remarkable beauty preserved in the temple. existence is known from inscriptions. The Airavatesvara temple complex at Darasuram, built by Rajaraja II, is located 40 km to the east of Thanjavur in the region of Palaiyarai. This town was the residential Management regime stronghold of the Cholas from the 8th and 9th centuries, and Legal provision: continued this function even later. The age of Rajaraja II marked the ascendancy of Saivism, the patronage of The proposed properties are all listed as monuments of architecture and sculpture, and the encouragement of national importance, under the protection of the Central literature. While his grandfather and father had preferred to Government. They are subject to the Ancient Monuments embellish existing temples, Rajaraja II built several new and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR ones. The most important of these, the third in line of the 1958), and the corresponding rules (AMASR 1959 Rules). great stone vimanas, was the temple at Darasuram. Here, The Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur has been protected there are two complexes: the Airavatesvara temple from 1922, the Gangaikondacholapuram temple complex complex and the Deivanayaki Amman shrine. from 1946, and the Airavatesvara temple complex from 1954. - The Airavatesvara temple complex is enclosed within a compound wall (105 x 67 m), oriented east-west, like the The three temples are ‘live’ in the sense that traditional other temple complexes. Here, the main temple takes most religious rituals continue being performed there through an of the space within the enclosure. The vimana is 24 m active participation of the general public. The properties high, and it has five tiers. In the west part there is a shrine are thus also subject to the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious attached to the south wall, enclosing a stone image of Siva and Charitable Endowments Act (1959). as Sarabhamurti. The Sarabha cult represents a phase of The areas that are not specifically covered by the the dominance of Saivism over Vaishnavism. notifications issued by the Central Government, but which - The Deivanayaki Amman shrine is in close proximity, to are part of the proposed core or buffer zones, are covered the north of the previous, and it is slightly later in date. It under the Madras Ancient and Historical Monuments and is similar in plan and oriented in the same way, but is Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (1966). smaller, 70 x 30 m. Its vimana has two tiers, and there are Management structure: Devi images in the niches. The shrine is a separate vimana with a sala shikhara dedicated to Devi as the divine The Brihadisvara temple complex as well as of the consort of the presiding deity in the main vimana.