Grand and beautiful - The great Temple of Lord Shiva ( Brihadeshwara Temple of Tanjavur)

If there is a beauty contest for temples, the Brihadeshwara temple in Tanjavur will win it hands down. The magnificent Chola temple which was constructed in 1010 AD is a perfect blend of what is termed as 'beauty with brains'. So while there is an amazing simplicity about the various parts of the temple: square vertical base, tall tapering body and over it all the graceful vimana (the crowning glory of the temple), the temple also has many a dazzling architectural feat to its credit. Its vimana, for instance, it is said, never casts a shadow at noon at any time of the year.

The walls of the temple are covered with beautiful sculptures of gods and goddesses and its top is capped by a monolithic cupola. In those times, moving such a massive block to the top of the temple was a remarkable achievement and legend has it that this task was accomplished by constructing a ramp 6 km long and elephants were employed to pull the stone to the top, a technique also used by the pyramid builders of Egypt.

The most dominating feature of the temple is the vimana, which is the tallest structure in the temple. This makes Brihadeshwara temple somewhat unusual, since the tallest structure in most Indian temples is the gopuram.

There is a sense of solidity about Brihadeshwara and the grace and form of the structures is amazing. At the entrance of the temple sits a huge stone bull (nandi) which is considered among the largest in the world. Legend has it that the nandi continued to grow and grow until finally a nail was driven on its back and the growth stopped.