Brihadishvara Temple is a Shiv Temple built in a Chola architectural style located on the south bank of the Cavery River in Thanjavur District in Tamilnadu. It is one of the largest Hindu temples and an exemple of Tamil architecture. It is built by between 1003 and 1010 CE and the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The temple has a massive corridor and one of the largest Shiv ling in India. It is also famous for the quality of its sculpture, as well as being the location that commissioned the brass Nataraja, Shiva as the lord of dance, in the 11th century.
The mysterious fact about this temple is that it has several underground passages which connected several temples in Chola period.
Interesting fact about the Brihadishshvara temple is it’s shadow. It is said that this temple doesn’t cast a shadow on the ground. It is not something magical. Rather it is the way the stones cascade in the structure of this temple, it creates an illusion that the shadow of the temple never reaches the ground.
The tall tower had a huge, beautifully carved dome with symmetrical images on all four sides, weighing about 80 tons. It is placed on the temple by making a 6 km low angle long ramp and pushing and pulling with the help of men and elephants.
Temple also acted as a platform for the performances of talented dancers. Here, carvings of Bharata Natyam dancers are seen performing eighty-one dance steps those are listed in the Natya Shastra.
