Paradise India: Thanjavur or Tanjore

This year beginning, I had visited Thanjavur (Tanjore) just to see the beauty of the Peruvudaiyar temple or Brihadeeswarar temple. I had been to this temple even before but now my visit was little different, it is because this time when I went to this temple I have already finished reading the novel Ponniyin selvan by Kalki. The novel narrates the beauty of thanjavur and about great king Raja Raja Cholan. The novel portraits the king, the kingdom and the beauty of the places, every episode takes us to great mood. After reading this novel, I had planned to go Thanjavur, thinking how the great king Raja Raja Cholan could manage to built such a great temple with huge Bull, the huge lingam (Form of Lord shiva being worshipped in Tamilnadu, India) and the huge raja gopura. The temple itself tells us how the Chola’s were powerful in wealth and in architecture.

The entrance of the temple has the great view of two gopura’s. It is a very good science, when you enter in to the Gopura, you would feel the Air breeze which is very pleasant. Around the temple there is a huge wall, like you see in other forts and a water cannel. It is been said that the water in the cannel was filled with crocodiles in olden times to prevent the anonymous people entering in to the temple premises. The first two gopura which in general people used to enter the temple has the five storied structure. After you cross these you could see the great view of the temple, the Nandi (Bull) and along with those small shrines here and there around the temple. The raja gopura is hallowing in the center and around gopura you could see the stories depicted in stone sculptures about Lord Shiva (Siva). You can also see the writings in the temple tell about the real life incidents during the Chola’s period. The temple itself has a great ambiance inside and the recent maintenance of the park and the rework of the damaged sculptures happening daily to keep the temple’s look beauty. There were so many other country (foreigners) visitors who visit the temple and the museum near by.