{"id":57222,"date":"2026-10-18T14:16:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T08:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=57222"},"modified":"2026-10-18T15:26:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T09:56:36","slug":"brihadisvara-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/brihadisvara-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"Brihadiswara Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Brihadiswara Temple Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) recently launched conservation works on the upper rampart of Brihadiswara Temple in Thanjavur. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Brihadiswara Temple<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brihadiswara (Brihadeshwara) is a <\/span><b>Hindu temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> dedicated to <\/span><b>Lord Shiva <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">located in the city of <\/span><b>Thanjavur <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in <\/span><b>Tamil Nadu.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also known as <\/span><b>Periya Kovil, RajaRajeswara Temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>Rajarajesvaram<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>one of the largest temples<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India and is an example of <\/span><b>Dravidian architecture <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">during the <\/span><b>Chola period.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was <\/span><b>constructed <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">under the patronage of the <\/span><b>Chola emperor Rajaraja I <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">between 1003 and <\/span><b>1010 CE.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">known as the \u201c<\/span><b>Great Living Chola Temples\u201d, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with the <\/span><b>other two being the Gangaikonda Cholapuram<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Airavatesvara Temple,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> both constructed by Chola rulers and located northeast of Thanjavur.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Brihadiswara Temple <\/b><b>Architecture<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a masterpiece of<\/span><b> Dravidian architecture<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is characterized by the use of pyramid-shaped towers, pillared halls, enclosed courtyards, and sculpted walls.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The temple complex spans over 40 acres and is decorated with masses of sculptures and inscriptions that spotlight the era\u2019s devotion and craftsmanship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> entire temple<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> structure is made out of <\/span><b>granite<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The construction of the temple out of granite was done <\/span><b>without mortar.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The temple stands amidst <\/span><b>fortified walls<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that were probably added in the 16th century.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>central tower, or vimana, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>66 m high <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and is the <\/span><b>tallest in the world.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is also the most ornate and elaborate, with intricate carvings and paintings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Kumbam <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(the apex or the bulbous structure on the top) at the <\/span><b>top of vimana<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>carved out of a single rock <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and weighs around 80 tons.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a <\/span><b>big statue of Nandi <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(sacred bull), <\/span><b>carved out of a single rock <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">measuring about 4.9 m long and 4.0 m high at the entrance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>temple complex <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is <\/span><b>surrounded <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by <\/span><b>two concentric rectangular enclosures <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(<\/span><b>prakarams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) with massive walls.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These <\/span><b>enclosures are entered <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">through <\/span><b>ornate gateways known as gopurams.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Unlike later Tamil temples<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where the gopurams are taller than the central vimana, at Brihadeeswara, the <\/span><b>vimana remains the tallest structure,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> emphasizing the primacy of the main shrine.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/cities\/Tiruchirapalli\/asi-launches-conservation-works-on-upper-rampart-of-big-temple\/article71596290.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brihadeeswarar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. Read more about Brihadisvara Temple, Location, Histroy, Key Features, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":74788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10968],"class_list":["post-57222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-brihadiswara-temple","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129536,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57222\/revisions\/129536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}