Bruhadeeswara temple, Thanjavur

The  Lingam (Lord Bruhadeeswara) -meaning the big Easwara has  a great statistics. It is the biggest single stone lingam in India measuring 23 feet on a base ( Avudai) having a perimeter of 54 feet. The tower above the lingam is about 200feet in height, which is a double walled construction. On the top of it sits an octoganal shikaram piece weighing about 81 tons. The whole of Thanjavur district is cauvery delta region with no hills nearby. It is really an engineering wonder that such a big temple with a huge stone lifted to 200 feet was constructed 1000 years ago. There is  a record saying that the stone was moved on an inclined plane whose base was located at a village (sarapallam) about 8kms away. Another interesting feature in this temple is that there are frescos of all dancing poses and mudras inside the walls of the tower. One has to get special permission to see this.

The temple is laid on a huge ground measuring approx 7.5 acres.There is a dias round the huge Nandi, in which 1000 dancers performed Bharata Natyam recently to commomerate the 1000 years of the temple. This should give the idea of the size of the temple. The temple stands within a fort with a dried moat.

Main Entrance

When we went to the temple, Mrs.Suganda helped us in having darshan without standing in the long queue( There were about 300 people). She got us the permission to see the frescos , but the officer-in-charge told that it would not be possible at that time ( 12 noon) because of hot sun. So we did not see the frescos. After having darshan of Bruhan Nayaki, we had the excellent lunch served by Mrs.Suganda and then proceeded to our next destination