About Brihadisvara Temple:
- It is also known as Peruvudaiyar Kovil is located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
- It is dedicated to Lord Shiva represented as a huge ‘Lingam’.
- The temple was built around 1010 AD by the Chola king Rajaraja Chola I.
- It is revered as one of the three 'Great Living Chola Temples,' alongside the Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple and Airavatesvara Temple, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- It has been regarded as a ‘landmark in the evolution of building art in south India’ and its vimana as a ‘touchstone of Indian architecture as a whole’.
- Key features of Brihadisvara Temple
- It is a Dravidian architecture styled temple.
- The temple’s pyramidal vimanastands more than 200 feet (60 meters) high and represents Mount Meru, the mythical mountain at the center of the universe in Hindu cosmology.
- The sikhara, a cupolic dome, is octagonal and rests on a single block of granite, a square of 7.8 m weighing 80 tons.
- One of the temple's most captivating features is the grand statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva.
- Its inscriptions and frescoes narrate the tale of the rise and decline of the city’s fortunes.
