The Great Chola Temples: In Conversation with Dr Nagaswamy

Dr. R. Nagaswamy

( Dr.Nagaswamy, former director of Archaeology, Tamil Nadu, is known for his work on
temple inscriptions and the art of Tamil Nadu, and was a Consultant for the
Documentation of Cultural Property Thanjavur Brihadisvara Project with the Indira
Gandhi National Centre for the Arts)


Sahapedia: Can you explain the archaeological significance of the three great Chola
temples: Brhadisvara, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Airavatesvara?

R. Nagaswamy: Brhadisvara, which was originally called Rajarajesvara, built by the
Chola emperor, the first Raja Raja Chola, is an outstanding temple that has been
meticulously planned on a very grand scale and every aspect of the temple
architecture, sculpture, images, bronzes, inscriptions, etc has been pre-planned with the
huge linga serving as the central point. It is thus the peak of Chola architecture; you can
almost call it the Himalaya of Chola architecture.

In fact, we even have some poetic imagery of a mountain peak called Meru, which was
said to be golden with concentric circles of peaks going around, each one representing
a personification of a deity. This has influenced the architecture and formula of the main
vimana around which the enclosure and the entrance towers have been built. So this
forms almost the beginning of monumental architecture and we may say the culmination
of Chola architecture.

Now, almost 20 years later came the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple, which was built
by Rajendra Chola, the son and successor of Raja Raja. It adopted a different format,
plan and elevation, drawing from the experience of what was done in Tanjore; its
articulation is slightly different, but essentially you see a unitary approach in both
Gangaikonda Cholapuram and its predecessor Brhadisvara or Rajarajesvara temple in
Tanjore.

The Rajarajesvaram built by the second Raja Raja Chola, which later began to be
referred to as Darasuram, was built around 1150 AD or so and we have an altogether
different format, plan and elevation; also the expressions of the sculptures on its body
give it a different philosophy. This shows that there had been more ideas coming from
different parts of the country especially from the Bengal region; new philosophy,
architecture, forms of worship, etc, which is attested by inscriptions on the temple itself.
And so we see a slightly different correlation, slightly different emphasis. So in all these
three, each represents a stage in the evolution and also in representation. But nothing
can match the Brhadisvara temple at Tanjore in the planning, vastu pada vinyasa, the
layout of the ground plan originally and vastu purusa mandala, the placing of the main
deity and secondary deities around the wall of the main vimana as well as in the
secondary shrine of the enclosure.

A large number of bronzes were donated by Rajaraja, his sister, his queens and others
and even the position and direction of these bronzes in the surrounding enclosure, sub-
shrines, etc., has been pre-planned. They bear the inscriptions referring to them exactly
in the same position where it ought to have been. Unfortunately those old bronzes are
no more except one Nataraja but you can see the inscription referring to the Nataraja
shrine is exactly behind the modern Nataraja mandapa in the enclosure in the north-
eastern direction.

So the foremost aspect about the Brhadisvara temple is the layout, its orientation and
the distribution of various shrines. As far as the main vimana is concerned we have
different groups of deities represented on the walls; one of the major classical images
like Siva, what you call Chakradanamurti, or Nataraja, Bhiksasana, Ardhanarisvara,
Lingodbhava, Gangadhara and so on. This is one circle of the conventional deities
which are distributed according to the Agamic texts but in addition we have another
circle of deities which are called pancha brahma or the first manifestation of Supreme
Siva in figurative form and that is represented by Tatpurusa, Aghora, Sadyojata,
Vamadeva and Isana. These five sculptures are not found in any other temple in South
India occupying the position mentioned in the Agamic literature and thats extraordinary
because in the worship of the central image the linga is called rupa-arupa, which is both
form and formless. The pancha brahma are also represented in human form in various
niches in the temple.

Then in the upper portion you have a series of icons going all around, each holding a
bow and arrow in the upper hand and they are what are called the sata rudras or the
physical representation of the rays of the rising sun, which remain on the earth in the
intermediate space and also higher up; they are given a form and worshipped in the
circles of worship of the main deity.

Then we have further up the other images which are said to occupy the different karna,
puta, sala, bhadrasala and so on which are architectural terms and originally they
represented the little peaks that went around the Meru and deities like the directional
deities Indra, Agni, Yama, Nivrutti, Kubera, Vayu, Isana these are all in the
appropriate positions in small shrines.

So the king called this main vimana as Meru, there are two parts of Meru: one is the
northern Meru, Uttara Meru, or Vada Meru and the other one is the Dakshina Meru, the
Southern Meru. And he called this vimana as the Southern Meru, Dakshina Meru.

Sahapedia: What is Tamil for Dakshina Meru?

R. Nagaswamy: There is no Tamil name for it, you can call it Thekku but it is not used
in the inscriptional material. We have inscriptional references to both the Uttara Meru,
which is called Mahameru that was a metal image of Siva seated on top of a peak made
of bronze. Unfortunately it has not survived but other deities like Ganesa,
Subrahmanya, Nandikesvara, Surya and Candra these are all represented on the
bronze image of the mount Maha Meru.

Further, Dakshina Meru is represented in this temple by Nataraja, which was called
Adavalan and this image luckily has survived to this day, though somewhere in the
beginning of the 19
th
century it was found broken and lying in the temple without
worship. The queen of the last of the Maratha rulers, Shivaji II, named Kamakshi Beebi
Bai, repaired it and re-consecrated it in the temple and from then on it is under worship.
This information is provided by a Marathi inscription on the base of the present metal
Nataraja that is worshipped in the temple.

So one is Mahameru Vidanga and other one is called Dakshina Meruvidanga and as
this temple follows an Agama called Makutagama, according to an ancient tradition, it
means that the main image of the temple was considered the dancing form of Siva that
is Nataraja. The linga inside the garbhagrha represented the dancing form of Siva. It is
this concept that has influenced the inner enclosure of the main temple and also the
upper floor where you have 108 forms of dance, which are called Nrtya Karanas
detailed in Bharatas Natyashastra. It almost looks as if it has been carved in space,
which is akasa Sivas dance is said to take place in akasa and that is the reason
why you have these 108 dance karanas portrayed on the first floor around the main
sanctum. It begins with the karana Tala-puspa-puta at the entrance and then the
sequence as found in Bharatas Natyashastra is found here in sculptural form, which is
the earliest representation of Bharatas Natyashastra in visual form in India.

Now this representation of Sivas form coming out of its own body is described in many
Sanskrit texts. Siva creates multivarious forms out of his own body as the Supreme
God, which is like the Supreme Dance taking place in a theatre. Just as a beautiful
dancer comes whirling and then creates so many dance forms, so also this sculptural
representation gives us an idea of how they conceived the whole movement of the
cosmos as the dance of the Supreme. And this is a very, very important concept for
understanding the meaning of the temple.

The second part is a dancing sculpture at the back of sanctum in the main vimana,
which is in Chatura-tandava. This Chatura-tandava, square form of dance, is generally
called Sandhya-tandava, the evening dance. So you had the evening dance of Siva also
portrayed there from which these dance forms have actually evolved through centuries
in India and for the study of the art of dance this is the most important and valuable
information that we get here.

The temple worship consists of five circles of worship; these are called pancha
avaranas. Five circles from the main linga and then you have the pancha brahma. Then
you have what is called vidyesvaras, different forms of knowledge personified. Then the
directional deities, each direction is deified and given a form, now enshrined in
enclosures in their appropriate directions, which form a fortification for the central
palace. The last circle, the fifth one is said to be the weapons of these directional
deities. So they are worshipped in five circles and in all these, the image, the dhyana
shloka and the form of worship are all prescribed in the agama and that is how we find
the sculptures distributed in Brhadisvara temple too.

The inner circle, middle circle and extreme outer circle of deities are all in their
appropriate position showing that they conform to a particular written text that has come
down to them and they have followed it meticulously, these have all been codified. Then
we have the temple opening into four directions. You do not have the garbhagrha
opening out in the four directions in all temples. This is a particular type of architectural
representation, the Meru type of architecture. According to the inscription the emperor
says, We, the emperor, have built this temple and this is called Srivimana, the main
tower, of stone in Tanjore thus providing the foundational information about this
particular temple, when and how it was built.

The king says that we built it of stone, Kattrali kal means stone, tali means temple,
kaltali means stone temple. So it means that from base to the finial this temple was built
of stone, which is called the shuddha type of architecture, that is you use only one
material for constructing the whole vimana and in this case it was granite stone from the
base to the top. If you use other materials also along with the stone like wood or plaster,
then it is called mixed type, mishra type of temple. But the best form of temple
architecture of according to shastra is the shuddha type. So here, being a Chakravarthi,
an emperor, he has built this loftiest temple of a single material that is granite stone.

Under his orders the enclosure of this temple has been built by Krishnan Raman, alias,
Moomudi-Chola-Brahma-Marayan, who was the Commander-in-Chief and was
responsible for supervising the construction of the enclosure, which is mentioned in a
number of pillars on the enclosure. Now obviously after the main vimana has reached a
definite form and height, then the enclosure had been built and closed up. That
facilitated easy movement from outside and inside.

In temples such as these there is a prescription that you must leave enough space
between the main structure and the enclosure wall and the intermediate space is called
the marmasthana, which is essential as a prakara and also to leave the surrounding
area of the structure strong enough. Any digging in between will loosen the earth and
the strength of the surrounding area and so it is prohibited in the text and here we have
the most appropriate space that has been allotted between the central vimana and the
outer enclosure. So even that forms part of the layout; the prescription says you are not
allowed to build any structure between these two places; it is both for architectural and
ritual reasons.

There are two mandapas integrated into, which we now call the mahamandapa but in
fact there are two one very close to the sanctum and the other one in the front. These
two also have storeys, they had two storeys as the vimana and the top storey has
crumbled at some point of time and we have now only the lower part and even in this
part we have a number of niches containing images. In the front part we have what we
call the ashta-vasus, eight images of vasus, in addition to the two dvarpalas (gate
keepers), which are guarding the entrance.

The rear one was probably used for snapna, as a snapna-mandapa, where abhisheka
used to be performed and the front one, its not very clear but in all probability, was
open on three sides. But the front one has been rebuilt; the rear part of it, closer to the
sanctum, is as it was when it was built. In between the sanctum and the mahamandapa
we have an entrance mandapa, which is also called nishkramana mandapa in the text.

In all these great Chola temples you have side steps, you dont enter the temple straight
from the front but the steps are provided on both the southern and northern sides and
they are guarded by dvarpalas. The mandapa has a Mahalakshmi on the southern side
and on the northern side is a Saraswati. Generally, the front mandapa is considered the
goddess and the main vimana, is called the purusa and so images of goddesses are
prominently there in the front mandapa. So we have these mandapas now housing
Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati in the rear part of the rear mandapa, where you have
the steps leading to the sanctum.

Now as you enter from the southern side to your left on the main vimana you have the
image of Surya and on the northern side you have the image of Candra. The main
sanctum therefore is flanked by Surya (Sun) and Candra (Moon) and inside is the
Mahalinga, Mahadeva, who is of the form of fire. So you have three fires represented;
Surya and Candra, which are called the celestial fires, and the main image is the
terrestrial fire agni. It is through these three great fires that the Supreme God is
visualised as looking into the universe. As you enter his benign sight falls on the
devotee; he is Rudra, Rudrabha.

Then when we do a pradakshina (circumambulation), we have a number of small
shrines provided in the prakara, enclosure. In the north-eastern side you have the
sculpture of Isana, who holds the veena, Isana sarva vidyanam; he is the presiding
deity of all knowledge. Then right in front, by the side of the entrance, you have Indra
and in the south-eastern direction you have Agni; the Agni is still there in its position.
Then exactly in the south we have Yama, which is not there now but the shrine is there.
And then in the south-western corner, you have the digdevata, Nivrutti and in the
western side you have Varuna, in north-western side you have Vayu and in the northern
direction you have Kubera or Soma. These are the digdevatas and just as the main
sanctum was consecrated by the Rajulu, so also these digdevata shrines were also
consecrated by the Rajulu. An inscription refers to the consecration and who provided
for all these corner shrines.

There are also a number of empty shrines now which housed the bronzes. In the
southern side there were originally Saptamatas (seven mothers) and a stone image of
Kali but of these Saptamatas we have only two sculptures now remaining. One is
Varahi, which is unfortunately lying broken and is not being worshipped and then theres
the image of Koumari of the same size and that was also part of the Saptamatas on the
southern side. So you have a rectangular shrine which housed the seven images of
these goddesses, which also included a Kali image.

Then on either side of the vimanas now you have two lay temples, one is the
Subrahmanya temple on the northern side and the Ganesa temple on the southern side.
Ganesa and Subrahmanya are the two sons of Siva and Parvati and are always housed
as part of the family, so one on the south and one on the north; they are also
worshipped regularly.

The Subrahmanya temple has been built sometime in the 17
th
century during the Nayak
period and it is one of the finest Nayak structures within the temple, particularly of the
Tanjore Nayak in that region. The articulation of the base and wall and the distribution of
the sculptures are remarkable. There are some wonderful sculptures and mouldings
and on the superstructure you have various aspects of Subrahmanyas sports carved in
miniature which goes around.

Then of course there was an earlier Ganesa, what was called the Parivara-alayata-
pulayar in the inscription but it has been rebuilt by Serfoji later, those inscriptions are
also found there. And then at the present Amman shrine was a Pandya structure, which
was contributed by a Pandyan king around 1400 AD and it was originally in the prakara
at the back of the present shrine where there is an inscription. That prakara shrine
housed the original Amman image but later on the temple of, who we now call, Graha
Nayaki was built in front of it. In the Nayak period it was enlarged with two additional
mandapas in front. So that Amman shrine is also a royal consecration.

The Subrahmanya temple is probably also a Nayak royal consecration and then you
have the Nataraja mandapa now where the original bronze image of Adavalan Nataraja
is housed and worshipped, but originally it was also in the enclosure room at the back.
We have a pillar flanking the sub-shrine, which says there was the image of Patanjali
Nataraja shrines are always flanked by Patanjali and Vyaghrapada this Patanjali was
said to have been made of bronze and it was housed there, it was under worship. So
obviously in the Maratha period a separate shrine was erected for Nataraja in front of it,
which is the present mandapa, and probably had a superstructure like a small tower,
which has collapsed and it now looks like a flat mandapa.

Sahapedia: The Patanjali bronze is still there?

R. Nagaswamy: No. Then you have these two entrances, the inner one and the outer
one. The inner one is called Rajaraja Thiruvasal and the outer one is called Keralantak
Thiruvasal that is the one with the tower. Now the Keralantak Thiruvasal is very
interesting from an architectural point of view because as you go up there are a number
of storeys, up to the ceiling it is built of stone or granite and the superstructure is built of
brick and mortar. This is something that is very, very important for the history of Chola
architecture. That is during the Chola period they had the ability and knowledge to
design multi-storey buildings which could be built of brick. Here we have the original
Chola brick architecture which runs into five storeys and up to the third storey there are
steps made of granite and above that provision were made for wooden ladders to go up.
If you go inside and see it gives you an idea of how in the Chola times multi-storeyed
buildings were built, particularly the palaces were built and used. They are very well laid
out, very well articulated, well ventilated and you have excellent lighting conditions. But
later, somehow or the other, they have lost that technique now; they dont have the
same type of architectural design.

In the inner gopura, you have two extraordinary dvarpalas, outstanding dvarpalas,
flanking the main entrance and on the base you have narrative sculptures. There are
different types of sculptures that you see in this temple; some ritually required for
worship purposes and huge classical sculptures, which are also artistic productions and
were also meant for worship, daily worship and annual worship.

Some of them are pure narrative sculpture, telling some stories from the Siva Purana or
other texts. Now you have in the inner gopura at the lower level, adhisthana, you have
narrative sculptures showing Sivas marriage and so on, which are lovely sculptures.
They are smaller in size not very big. You have also some sculptures inside on the
kapot; that is the ceiling slabs.

Then one aspect that you see when you go inside the temple and stand in one corner of
the prakara is the superstructure of this great temple, perfectly planned and beautifully
going up like an absolute pyramid. At the top you have what we call the neck or griva
and then you have the shikhara topped by the stupi. This makes you feel like you are
also going towards the akash or heaven, you know, it takes you there. And if there are
clouds then you must have the feeling that you are flying with the vimana.

Now this is an essential part of the architectural design because when they do the puja,
you know they bring down the supreme power, which has no direction, no colour, no
boundaries but is made to come into existence by the tip of the stupa on top of the
vimana once you put a dot in a space with no directions then you bring into operation
these directions, 360 degrees are brought into existence on top, which we call the
bindu. Then gradually you bring it down by lovely undulating lines of architectural form,
which is called urdhva-chandas. Like poetry you bring down the supreme power from
the vast space, put the dot on top of the stupi, bring it down to the ground and thats
how the supreme comes down to the earth to bestow his blessings on the devotees and
on the Yajamana who built it. After the puja is over, during meditative dhyana, you
dissolve this process of coming down and reverse the procedure so that step-by-step
you dissolve this whole structure before you in space, and so the whole structure you
see in front of you, in meditation it goes out of existence.

So it is something of a philosophical concept that is suggested by the architectural
movement, line and also the ancients conceived it as beautiful poetry. When you look at
it you are experiencing this lovely poetry so it is kavya, it is a new creation, ever-fresh,
ever-beautiful, ever-appealing to the eye. If the measurements are not accurate, if they
are not proportional, this feeling of lovely symmetry, rhythm will be lost. So the text
emphasises that you must maintain the proportion of construction and this is taken from
the main linga inside the sanctum. The upper part of the linga is the basic unit of the
entire temple, of the inner sanctum, the entrance, the images, the space, the enclosure
and every limb of the central tower, the central mandapa, everything is proportionate to
the inner linga, which in turn was designed from the middle finger of the Yajamana that
is Rajaraja the great. So this temple is proportionate to the basic unit of measurement
drawn from the middle finger of its builder Rajaraja.

Everywhere you turn, you see there is an absolute proportion, absolute balance,
absolute rhythm that you unconsciously feel and experience. That is the greatness of
this great temple. It is not only great in architecture, the philosophy behind it, the rituals
that are conducted but the clarity with which the administration was organised by the
king for worship, daily worship, periodical festivals, annual festivals, he has made
provisions of material and men to carry these out in a most beautiful way. We have the
texts which say when you have the maximum number of men to do all these works,
within all these temples, uttouttama; it is the best among the best.

The organisation and the administration of this temple as recorded meticulously in the
inscriptions of its builder, Rajaraja, show that he was a man of great thinking, clarity and
administrative power. He has divided into one, provisions for pujas, provisions for
festivals, provisions for the great festival that used to be conducted once a year, for the
surrounding secondary deities, parivara devatas, for day-to-day maintenance, cleaning,
looking after the structural requirements and so on.

And it was not mere ritual, ritual is not confined only to offering of flowers and water and
so on, but it also consists of music and dance. It is an essential part of the daily worship
and it is called nrtta-geeta-vadya, geeta-vadyam-chaturdasam-nrttam-pancadasam-
caiva, fifteenth anga of the worship is the nrtta, that is dance, which was offered daily
both in the morning and in the evening worship with large numbers of people for which
he endowed 400 dancing girls.

He provided them with houses around the temple and he has mentioned House No. 1,
House No. 2, House No. 3 and so on, the name of the girl to whom it was allotted and
from where this girl came and in some instances what is her accomplishment or
specialisation in the field of dance. One may be an excellent dancer, nrtta, another may
be a dancer of abhinaya, expression, etc. So every aspect is meticulously documented
and they were given landed property and an annual bonus in gold as the kings gift,
these are all recorded.
We see that he gifted 400 dancing girls and more than 240 instrumentalists, he has
mentioned each and everyones names and how much they were getting annually and
he emphasises whether they are dancers or musicians, they must be duly qualified and
for those who were qualified he gave a security that their descendants would be given
the opportunity to do the same service in the temple. If for any reason they are not able
to, due to ill health or some other inconvenience, do service in the temple, they were
given the power to appoint their own as a substitute to do the service at that particular
time or for a particular period. If they are not able to do that or they have migrated from
this place to some other places then their descendants are given the opportunity to do
this.

In addition to the dancers and the large number of instrumentalists he appointed 50
musicians to sing Tamil songs called Thevaram of Thirupatigam, which is the largest so
far found. The poems of the Saiva saints, who lived between the 6
th
and 10 the century,
which are sung in every temple, he gave a great boost to them by appointing them;
those who knew the ancient traditional method of singing, which is called the Pann
system. He also appointed a superintendent for every department to look after the
functioning of the workers like vachanvaar, there were large areas, large number of
villages that were gifted for supplying paddy and other requirements for pujas. For all
this every department had ordinary workers, middle level workers and very great, care
and supervision was entrusted to commander-in-chiefs.

The organisation of administration is unparalleled in the history of India. And the minute
details with which he described every aspect, for example, when he gives a bronze
image, he describes the measurement of the bronze image from head to foot and then
how many hands it has and what was its form, what was the weight of the image, how
much money was spent in making the image and who was responsible for the
maintenance of this image within the temple premises, because every image had
someone who was attached to it, who has to look after its regular puja and safety.

So such detail, not only for the bronzes but each bronze was given large number of gold
and precious ornaments and for each ornament he speaks about the details of precious
gems, ten or hundred or thousands of pearls, coral, ruby, emerald, each one is counted,
not a single stone was left out. The total weight of gold metal that has been gifted in the
form of vessels, in the form of jewels, in the form of other material is unparalleled. Even
a small spoon which he gifted to the temple is brought under the register, entered and
given name and its weight and cost.

Such details of every aspect of the temple administration, the property, who is to look
after it, in writing is something amazing and we dont have any other temple in India or
abroad which gives so much detail as Raja Raja in every department of his
administration. So the inscriptional value is very, very great so far as this temple is
concerned.

Sahapedia: What could be the reason for these inscriptions, when no one else had
done it, what made him do it?

R. Nagaswamy: It is the responsibility felt by the king to see that everything is
accounted, everything is well-administered and everything is supervised. But that much
of clarity and involvement in the preservation not only during his lifetime but after his
lifetime and to assign the responsibility on someone to look after it, is the main reason
why he left so much of it.

I would like to mention that he never felt it was only his creation, he involved all the
people and has written the names, even a cook in his kitchen, her name is given and he
gives half of the grant and he makes her give the other half and both the names, the
name of the Chakravarthi, the emperor, and the name of the cook is written in one
document. Like that he has involved everyone in the administration and gifts and made
them feel that it is their temple and in this way he has involved the entire territory which
was under his control from northern part of Tamil Nadu to Kanyakumari and even a part
northern Sri Lanka. So he took responsibility to take all his subjects along with him,
make them feel like this is their temple and make them feel that its fame is spread and
well maintained. And that is the great temple of Tanjore.

One cannot just simply stop with that. He has beautified the whole temple with paintings
and these original paintings executed under his orders are found in the inner enclosure
around the main sanctum and on both sides of the wall. They depict both the classical
legends like Dakshinamurthi, Tripurantaka, Kalyansundara, etc, which are all narrative
paintings of exceptional merit. The moment you see them you will notice that you have
the tradition of Ajanta coming down and preserved right up to this time and so you
exclaim Oh, this is in the Ajanta tradition! in some places maybe even surpassing the
Ajanta art.

He has also given equal emphasis to the local legends, regional legends, like the life of
Saint Sundaramurthi, and the king himself visiting Chidambaram temple these are all
painted with lovely lines, subdued colours, with emphasis on bhava, the inner feeling of
each and every character that is depicted. Some of the paintings depicting the dancing
girls performing outstanding poses, they are real marvels and that shows the level to
which the art of dance rose under his command. So in the fields of painting, music,
dance, administration, planning, articulating the whole idea into visual form, the
architecture and then the care and concern to preserve it for the future in good form,
that makes this temple a unique one in the history of India.

Now, Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple has a few important points that deserve our
attention. That was part of a great capital that was established by Rajendara Chola, the
son and successor, to commemorate his outstanding victory over the Gangetic plains.
He sent his army all along the coast to go up to modern Bangladesh where they won a
signal victory and brought the water of the Ganges to this place. He dug a huge tank
almost like a lake, which was called Gangaikonda Chola Pereri, the great tank.

Then the royal palace was built inside, with two concentric fortifications, unfortunately
these were all destroyed during the later period. But as a part of that original layout of
the city, this great temple called Gangaikonda Cholapuram was built on the north-
eastern side of the palace. Rajendara was with his father during the end of his life, that
is Raja Raja, and so he had the benefit of getting those workers working there in the
great temple to come design and build this temple. But yet he had his own individuality,
he wanted to express his own idea and in this he had a great acharya, who came from
Gauda-Desa and advised him.

So though it is a temple built within twenty years of the great temple of Tanjore its form
is different, the main tower is square at the bottom, octagonal in the middle and circular
at the top, simulating the form of the great linga, which is generally square at the
bottom, octagonal in the middle and circular at the top. Even the enclosure layout is
different, it is not absolutely rectangular but a little shorter, also the height of the main
tower is slightly shorter than the great temple of Tanjore, but the sculptural quality in
some cases surpasses the beauty of the sculptures in the Tanjore temple. Almost every
major sculpture in Gangaikonda Cholapuram is a class by itself. You see the dancing
Nrtya Ganapati, Ardhanisvara, Harihara and Nataraja in stone.

There is a beautiful poem in Tamil by Saint Appar that talks of the large dancing
eyebrows dancing and the enchanting smile on the lips of the lord, and that beauty of
the poem has been captured in the sculpture. Once you are in front of that stone
sculpture of Nataraja you will feel that, you will experience that, an immortal dance, an
immortal smile. And from any angle you take a photograph its outstanding. And then at
the back you have lovely sculptures like Subrahmanya, Cakradanamurti, Lingodbhava,
etc. On the northern side, by the side of the step you have Candesaanugrahamurthy
which has captured attention of the whole artistic world by its beauty as has the
Saraswathi opposite to it and these two are the most outstanding contributions of
Rajendra.

Sahapedia: Saraswathi and Siva and Parvathi?

R. Nagaswamy: Yes, opposite on the northern side. And then this temple houses some
extraordinary bronzes which were consecrated by the king Rajendra. One is
Subrahmanya in bronze, a great beauty, which is still under worship, Somaskandan and
so on. So Gangaikonda Cholapuram shows the extent of the achievement of what has
been done in Tanjore and individually it has its own beauty in the form of sculpture.

Now when we come to Darasuram it was originally, Rajarajaisvaram and in colloquial
form it was called Daraisvaram and then it became Darasuram is of a slightly different
philosophy.

Sahapedia: Why is it called Airavetesvara?

R. Nagaswamy: Airavetesvara is quite later, thats a very colloquial name, and it has
nothing to do with it. It was actually Rajarajesvara, there are documents there and that
was the secondary capital of the Cholas. So Rajaraja the second, who built the temple,
had a capital called Rajarajapuram and an acharya, who came from Gauda-Desa, who
was influenced by the Sakta tradition where there is an emphasis on the worship of
Bhairava, Veerabhadra. And there is a lovely Tamil poem called Thakkayaraparani,
which was a dance-drama composed by a builder of Rajaraja II, obviously it was
enacted in the temple during his lifetime, which describes the building of the temple.
But it shows the influence of both the Bengal tradition and also the Vaishala tradition
from Karnataka in sculptural form particularly on the pillars.