Exploring Brihadeeshwara Temple/The Big Temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

One of the largest temples in India and an exemplar of Tamil architecture, the Brihadeeswara Temple/Peruvudaiyar Kovil/Rajarajesvaram (lit. 'Lord of Rajaraja')/Thanjai Periya Kovil (lit. 'Thanjavur Big Temple') is a Shiva temple built in a Chola architectural style located on the south bank of the Cauvery river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. Dedicate to Lord Shiva, represented as a huge ‘Lingam’, the temple was built around 1010 AD by the Chola king Rajaraja Chola I. Considered as one of the three ‘Great Living Chola Temples’ along with the Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple and Airavastesvara Temple, the complex is also listed as a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
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One of the main attractions of the temple is a big statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva. 13 ft high and 16 ft wide, the statue is sculpted out of a single rock. Fortified walls rich in elaborate rock artworks surround the temple and give a grand look to the entire complex. The main temple tower is 216 ft high and the tallest of its kind in the world. The complete structure of the temple is made out of granite. The main ‘Gopurams’ or gateways to the temple are splendid structures with detailed sculptures.

The Peruvudaiyar temple's plan and development utilize the axial and symmetrical geometry rules. It is classified as Perunkoil (also called Madakkoil), a big temple built on a higher platform of natural or man-made mounds. The temple complex is a rectangle that is almost two stacked squares, covering 240.79 meters (790.0 ft) east to west and 121.92 meters (400.0 ft) north to south. In this space are five main sections: the sanctum with the towering superstructure (Sri Vimana), the Nandi hall in front (Nandi-mandapam), and in between these, the main community hall (mukhamandapam), the great gathering hall (maha mandapam) and the pavilion that connects the great hall with the sanctum (Antrala).

The temple complex integrates a large pillared and covered veranda (prakara) in its spacious courtyard, with a perimeter of about 450 meters (1,480 ft) for circumambulation. Outside this pillared veranda, there are two walls of enclosure, the outer one being defensive and added in 1777 by the French colonial forces with gun-holes with the temple serving as an arsenal. They made the outer wall high, isolating the temple complex area. On its east end is the original main gopuram or gateway that is barrel vaulted. It is less than half the size of the main temple's vimana. Additional structures were added to the original temple after the 11th century, such as a mandapa in its northeast corner and additional gopurams (gateways) on its perimeters to allow people to enter and leave from multiple locations. Some of the shrines and structures were added during the Pandya, Nayaka, Vijayanagara, and Maratha era before the colonial era started, and these builders respected the original plans and symmetry rules. Inside the original temple courtyard, along with the main sanctum and Nandi-mandapam, are two major shrines, one for Kartikeya and one for Parvati. The complex has additional smaller shrines.

The city and the temple though inland, are at the start of the Kaveri River delta, thus with access to the Bay of Bengal and through it to the Indian Ocean. Along with the temples, the Tamil people completed the first major irrigation network in the 11th century for agriculture, for movement of goods and to control the water flow through the urban center

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