Brihadisvara Temple

The Brihadisvara Temple, named Rajarajesvaram by its founder and called the Big Temple of Thanjavur, stands on the south bank of the Cauvery. It was the supreme monument of Chola architecture, praised as the Dakshina Meru, the Meru mountain of the south.

The Chola emperor Rajaraja I built it of granite between 1003 and 1010, raising a towering vimana above a sanctum holding one of India's largest lingams. Its walls carry Chola frescoes and the bronze Nataraja, Shiva as lord of the dance, first cast for this shrine.

After the Chola age the temple suffered in wars between the sultans of Madurai and the Hindu rulers of Thanjavur. The Nayakas of the 16th and 17th centuries added the Parvati, Murugan and Nandi shrines and fort-like walls; the Maratha kings of Thanjavur later kept the temple in repair.