Great Living Chola Temples

Topic: Southern Dynasties: Chalukyas, Pallavas, Cholas · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Great Living Chola Temples are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1987. The site is made up of three temples built by Chola kings in Tamil Nadu: the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur, the Brihadisvara temple at Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram [1][4]. The temples show Chola skill in building, sculpture, painting and bronze work. They also show how kings used temples to display the size of their empire. Prelims often tests which king built which temple.

Explanation

Background: from experiment to empire

• South Indian temple building grew in stages, dynasty by dynasty.
• Chalukyas (Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal): these builders were still trying out ideas. They made both rock-cut caves and free-standing temples.
• Pallavas (Mamallapuram): they made monoliths (temples carved from one single rock) and cave halls. Their five rathas worked like a stone sample book of different temple shapes.

• Cholas: they built huge free-standing temples with very tall vimanas (the tower over the sanctum, the room that holds the main image).

• The Chola temples are the high point of this line of growth.

The three temples: patron, date, style

• Brihadisvara, Thanjavur
• It was built by Rajaraja (r. AD 985–1012) [1].
• The king himself opened it in his 19th regnal year, AD 1009–10 [1]. A regnal year is counted from the year a king came to the throne, not from a calendar era.

• Its tower is straight and severe in shape [1].

• Brihadisvara, Gangaikondacholapuram

• It was built by Rajendra I and completed in 1035 [1].
• Its vimana is 53 m tall. It has recessed corners (corners stepped inwards) and a soft upward curve [1].

• The mood is graceful and curving, unlike the stern tower at Thanjavur [1].

• Airavatesvara, Darasuram

• It was built by Rajaraja II. It has a 24 m vimana and a stone image of Shiva [1].
• It was built later than the other two, probably in the 12th century.
• It is known for its battle panels, which are war scenes carved on the temple walls.

Why "Living"?

• Worship in these temples has never stopped.
• Daily, weekly and yearly rituals still go on after about a thousand years [1].
• These rituals follow the older Agamic texts [1]. The Agamas are rule books for temple worship, rituals and building.
• Many ancient monuments are now ruins or museums. These temples are still active places of worship.

Result: one package of four arts

• UNESCO's reason for listing the site names four Chola skills together: architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting [1].
• The Chola bronze Nataraja comes from this same temple-centred craft world.
• It shows Shiva as 'Lord of dance'.
• It stands for the dance of creation and destruction of the universe.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: Chola rule, 11th to 12th centuries. Thanjavur was consecrated in AD 1009–10 and Gangaikondacholapuram was completed in 1035 [1]. Darasuram comes later, under Rajaraja II.
• Region: the Kaveri delta area of Tamil Nadu.
• Key people: Rajaraja, Rajendra I and Rajaraja II [1].
• Heritage status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 1987 [1][4]. It is also listed by India's Ministry of Culture [4].
• How we know:
• The temples are still standing, so their buildings, sculptures and paintings are direct evidence.
• The consecration date is given in the king's regnal year (19th year of Rajaraja). Dating by regnal year is the usual style of Chola inscriptions.
• The UNESCO listing record [1] and the Ministry of Culture record [4] give the official details.

Don't confuse with

• Brihadisvara, Thanjavur vs Brihadisvara, Gangaikondacholapuram: both temples share the name. Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja (1009–10) and has a straight, severe tower. Gangaikondacholapuram was built by his son Rajendra I (1035) and has a curving 53 m tower [1].
• Airavatesvara (Darasuram) vs Virupaksha (Pattadakal): Airavatesvara is a Chola temple built by Rajaraja II and is known for battle panels [1]. Virupaksha is a Chalukya temple built c. 740 CE by Queen Lokamahadevi [3].
• Mamallapuram monuments: these are Pallava rock-cut works of the 7th–8th centuries, inscribed by UNESCO in 1984 [2]. They are not Chola, and they are carved from rock rather than built up from stone blocks.
• Rajaraja vs Rajaraja II: Rajaraja built Thanjavur. Rajaraja II, a much later king, built Darasuram. This is a common "which of the following" trap.

Prelims Hooks

• Great Living Chola Temples: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 1987, with three temples [1][4].
• Brihadisvara, Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja (AD 985–1012) and consecrated in his 19th regnal year, AD 1009–10 [1].
• Gangaikondacholapuram was built by Rajendra I and completed in 1035. Its vimana is 53 m tall, with recessed corners and an upward curve [1].
• Airavatesvara, Darasuram was built by Rajaraja II. Its vimana is 24 m tall, and it is famous for its battle panels [1].
• Chronological order: Thanjavur, then Gangaikondacholapuram, then Darasuram.
• UNESCO lists four Chola arts for this site: architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting [1].

Mains Points

• Temples as statements of empire.
• Rajaraja's Thanjavur temple and Rajendra I's Gangaikondacholapuram temple were built after major military and naval successes.

• Their great height and size, and the battle panels at Darasuram, turned a place of worship into a public record of royal power.

• Continuity and change in south Indian temple architecture.

• There is a clear line of growth: Chalukya experiments at Badami–Aihole–Pattadakal, then Pallava monoliths at Mamallapuram, then giant Chola vimanas.

• Change continued even within one dynasty. The tower moved from the severe Thanjavur form to the curving Gangaikondacholapuram form [1].

• Living heritage and one combined craft system.

• Agamic worship has continued without a break for a thousand years [1]. This makes the temples living heritage, not dead monuments.
• UNESCO lists architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting together [1]. This shows that the Thanjavur vimana and the Nataraja bronze came from one royal, temple-centred system of craftsmen.

Related concepts

• Chola bronzes
• Nataraja
• Swamimalai bronze icons
• Airavatesvara temple, Darasuram
• Chidambaram temple
• Gommateshwara statue
• Angkor Wat

Read more

• Art and architecture of the south