En Manadhai Vendra Gangaikonda Chozhapuram.

Gangaikonda Chozhapuram is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. For some reason, I loved this place as much or probably a little more than how much I loved the Big Temple.

This temple is located approximately 72Km from Thanjavur. This city was erected as the capital of the Chozha Kingdom when Rajendra Chozhan triumphed over the Pala Dynasty. Hence the name Gangaikonda Chozhapuram which translates to 'the town of the Chozha who won Ganga (water from the Ganga)'. This city served as the capital of the Chozhas for almost 250 years.

The reason why I think I love this place more than the Big Temple is because this temple is located in the middle of the town and when I went to the upper deck (restricted access), I could totally imagine how it would have back during the Chozha rule, bustling with men, women and children in colorful clothes and fine jewelry, soldiers guarding the temple and the people, decked up elephants and horses, shopkeepers selling their wares, grand chariots and the King passing by. Sigh.

This temple is believed to be the feminine counterpart of the Big Temple in Thanjavur and there are quite a few similarities that you spot in terms of the architecture, design, etc.

Everything from the huge Nandi statue as you enter the temple to the massive Dwarapalakas erected at every entrance from where you can enter the temple are magnificent. Other than these are the various other statues that are carved so perfectly that the sheer beauty of it would make you tear up. 
One other beautiful thing that you wouldn't miss in this temple is the Simhakeni, well in a Simha (Lion) structure. 

Leaving you with some pictures from the most beautiful Gangaikonda Chozhapuram.

 

1. The massive Nandi at the entrance of the temple.

2. The Simhakeni. (a well housed in a Lion's structure)

3. One of the sculptures at the upper deck of the temple.

4. The Kailashanatha Temple.

5. The huge Dwarapalaka right outside the inner Sanctum. What's absolutely mind-blowing about this is that it was carved out of a single stone. How they erected it and the support required for it to not fall leaves ones baffled.

 6. View of the hollow Vimanam from inside. It rises to a height of 55m (~182 ft). 

7. The most beautiful sculpture, in my opinion. Believed to be the sculpture of the coronation of Rajendra Chozha by Lord Shiva and Parvati. 

8. Another beautiful sculpture. Gnana Saraswati. Saraswati without the Veena. 

With this, my Thanjavur tour posts come to an end. I can't wait for my next trip. What are the places that you think are must-visits? Let me know. 

And, for a very beautiful 360* view of the temple, please check this site.

PS: For people who do not understand Tamil, the title means 'The place that stole my heart - Gangaikonda Chozhapuram'.

Darasuram - The Chozha Storehouse of Art.

Our second day of the Thanjavur trip began at another beautiful UNESCO Heritage site. Located at ~40 km from Thanjavur, Darsuram is a place that you definitely should not miss.
The Airavateshvara temple here has some of the best sculptures and carvings in the country. It is often compared to the Ajanta and Ellora caves.

The temple is called so as this was the place where Airavat, Lord Indra's white elephant worshipped Lord Shiva. It is also believed that Yama took a dip in the sacred tank here after being cursed by a Rishi and got rid of the burning sensation he was feeling due to the curse.

The sculptures in this temple are so beautiful that you will never want to leave this place. The main mandapam inthe temple has 100 pillars and no two pillars are carved the same way.This manadapam looks like it is erected on a chariot drawn by elephants. The pillars in this mandapam have carvings and sculptures depicting stories from Shiva Purana, Lord Murugan's wedding to Valli & Deivanai, various forms of Lord Ganesha and Ravana carrying mount Kailasa, to name a few.

The intricacy of these carvings are more than sufficient to prove just how talented the Chola sculptors were. In spite of not being a very huge temple, the level of detailing involved in each and every sculpture and carving in this place, leaves you gaping.

Though the temple has now been put back in shape and is being maintained by the Archeology Department of Tamil Nadu, what is really depressing is that a lot of sculptures in this temple are not in the best of shape due to no maintenance and erosion in the past. I cannot bring myself to imagine how beautiful this temple would have been when it was constructed considering it is so magnificent right now even after all these years.

What I loved the most was a sculpture of goddess Annapurni in the main Mandapam of this temple that made the 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni' sound when tapped at different areas. A stone sculpture that made sounded differently when tapped at different places, just how mind-boggling is that? Sadly, I could not take a picture of it due to how dark the place was. But please ensure you see it when you visit the temple. For those who are curious, here is a link to a picture of the sculpture i found online. 

And, here are some pictures from the trip.

 The Gopuram at the entrance of the temple. 

 Gymnastics, way back then. 

Kudimi pudi sanda. Roughly translated, it means a fight where people pull their hair apart. Have a better explanation, anyone? Please leave a comment. 

 A view of one side of the temple.

This wheel was almost damaged when the Archaeology Dept of TN started cleaning up the place. This was then put together by them and the cracks are obvious due to the chemical treatment they are put through every once in a while. 

What you see above is  a woman beautifying herself. As the guide said 'paarunga, appove make-up laam pannika aaramichutaanga (meaning they used make up even back then).

One of the elephants that draws the chariot that the temple is built on. Again, the cracks here are visible due to chemical cleaning process it is put through for maintenance   

When it rains, the rain water falls out of the gargoyle on to a little pond below.  

This is one of the sculptures that stands out in the temple. It represents two women helping a pregnant lady while the woman on the extreme left is getting the necessary medicines and the women next to her is thinking of the next course of action. 

The above sculpture represents the fight between Bali and Sugreev at Kishkinda with Lord Rama aiming an arrow towards Bali. 

A view of the temple tower. 

The above sculpture represents an elephant and a bull. You cover the right side of the picture and you see a bull, and when the left side is covered, you can see the elephant. Marvelous, don't you think?

 A sculpture of Ardhanareshwarar with the face of Brahma. Do note the half male and half female structure. 

This sculpture really saddened me. I don't remember the story behind it, but it's one of a lion destroying a baby elephant. 

For an absolutely stunning view of the entire temple, please check out the below link. Stumbled upon this a few days back and i think it's crazy beautiful. 

Darsuram - 360* view.

Ponniyin Selvanin Selvam.

Thanjavur, one of the most popular temple towns of Tamil Nadu, has always fascinated me. I still remember how when i was Class IV, I had worked on a school project about Thanjavur and had pestered Appa and Thatha for information about the city.

The eagerness to visit the place increased manifold after I finished reading Ponniyin Selvan, a year and a half back. And when my parents suggested we go there for the weekend, I was thrilled beyond words.

And so began a magical journey that I'm unable to recover from even though it has been almost a week since I got back now.

The weekend was so much fun not just because it was a trip with the family after ages, but also because we had two absolutely delightful people from the TN Archaeology Dept who gave us a guided tour of the town and all the other places that we visited nearby. In  my next few posts, I will cover each one of the temples that we visited over the weekend. 

Every little temple in this town has an interesting history and some truly marvelous architecture involved. The sheer size of some of these structures leave you awestruck.  

The Peruvudaiyar Kovil, more famously known as the Brihadeshwara temple is proof enough for the magnificent Chozha architecture. It was built by Emperor Arulmozhi Varman aka RajaRaja Chozhan as instructed by Lord Shiva in one of his dreams. 

Just how they managed to erect such a mammoth structure within five years when there was no complicated or advanced tools or machinery like what we have today is beyond me. To add to this is the fact that there were/are no rocky mountains near Thanjavur and every single piece of Granite used to build this temple was sourced from a place called Mammalai near Trichy. 

The moment I set foot at the temple, all i could think was 'now I will die in peace'. I'm yet to get over the magnificence that is this temple. Almost every rock and every pillar is carved or painted. Various forms of Lord Shiva, stories from the Shiva Purana and the Karanas codified in Natyasashtra are some of the things depicted by way of sculptures and paintings. The scriptures on  the temple walls, tell the story of how everything was done during the Chozha rule. Right from how the administration was run to the contribution made by various people towards this temple, everything is captured on the walls of surrounding the main temple. Our guide read out a few lines for us from here and there and it was a delight to hear the stories that way, to say the least. If you are able to read ancient Tamil literature (which you can apparently master in 3 months with proper practice) the  entire journey becomes even more enjoyable, said our guide.

What made the trip more magical (if there is even such a thing) was that we got to visit the areas of the temple which is restricted to general public. If i was stunned earlier, the little more I saw left me thunderstruck, almost literally. The view of the hollow temple tower from inside was one to behold. How incredibly talented and intelligent the Master Engineer should have been to bring life to such a massive structure and the kind of rapport he must have shared with the Emperor to understand exactly what he wanted and to execute the same is one more than that leaves your mind reeling. And absolutely no mortar or cement was used. A technique called Bolt & Socket is what holds the entire structure in place.  

My writing would never do justice to the beauty that is this temple. Hence leaving you with a few pictures hoping they do more justice. 

Looks like the elephant is smiling, no? :)

Few of the paintings that were retrieved

I see a lizard, do you?

Photo 1 courtesy Ramkumar Ramachandran Photography. Everything else is from my phone.