Brihadeeshwara Temple
Significance
Significance
Brihadeshwarar Temple is the first building fully built by granite and finished within 5 years[1004AD-1009AD].
The Temple "testify to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting".
The Brihadiswarar Temple is one of the rare temples which has idols for "Ashta-dikpaalakas" (Guardians of the directions).
The Temple is said to be made up of about 60,000 tons of sandstone and granite.
Only granite was used to make the entire temple structure.
It is believed that about 130,000 tons of granite was used to construct the Brihadeeswara Temple.
Brihadeshwarar Temple is the tallest in the world.
Just at the entrance of the temple, there is a large statue of Nandi.
The topmost structure of the Temple known as "Kumbam" is also carved out of a single granite stone.
The entire temple is built on the rules of axial and symmetrical geometry, displaying an engineering marvel of that time.
The Temple maintained a staff of 1000 people in various capacities with 400 being temple dancers.
Besides the Brahmin priests, these included record-keepers, musicians, scholars, and craftsman of every type as well as housekeeping staff.
In those days the temple was a hub of business activities for the flower, milk, oil, and ghee merchants.
In
April 1954, (much before the millennium celebrations in 2010), the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a 1000 rupees currency note
featuring the Brihadeeswara temple recognizing its cultural heritage,
(this note was subsequently demonetized in 1975 along with other higher
denomination currency notes).
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