Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur - interesting facts about the ''Four huge stone bulls'' atop the shikara

A World Heritage site known for its marvelous engineering dynamics and profusion of inspiring stone sculptures of all sizes , the Brihadeeswara temple (dedicated to God Shiva) is one of the popular Shiva temples in this country. Shrouded in numerous myths and mysteries, the entire temple is made of oldest granite related rocks (of Archaean group) - about 130000 tons - in a delta region of Tamil Nadu with no hard rock outcrops. The builder used 1000 plus trained elephants and equal number of horses to move the blocks of granite from quarries 40 to 50 km to the construction site. That the entire tower/ shikara (height 216 ft) with a wide base rests on a plain ground with minimum foundation work is an amazing feat. To reduce the load and downward force exerted by weight, inter-locking system was followed placing rock blocks in succession atop the others in a cascading manner, thus narrowing at upper levels. No binding material was used. The inner core of this temple above the sanctum is hollow.

Cupola atop the tower , Big temple, Thanjavur.realindia.in

Built 1010 CE by the great Chola king Rajarajan I (reign: c. 985 – c. 1014 CE), this temple is known for the second largest monolithic stone bull (nandi) weighing 20 tons and also one of the largest monolithic Shiva lingam measuring 8.7 m (29 ft) in height in this country. This temple is also famous for 81 of the 108 dance karanas – postures of Natya Sastra (the upper story corridor wall of the aditala) dating back to 11th century. This text is believed to be the the basis of the Bharathanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu. Also there are 27 unrepresented and uncarved karanas in this temple.

Above the lower and upper tower comprising 13 stories (talas) lies sri-vimana . A single massive monolith square block of granite (width 25 ft.) weighing 60 tons is laid right above the sanctum far below upon which lies 20 ton huge ornate Cupola ( Amalaka) atop the gopuram (tower).

Cupola atop the granite platform above the sanctum, Big temple,.esamskriti.com

Nandi in the prakara. a comparison.Thanjavur big temple rsteemit.com

This post is about the four pairs of Nandis - stone bulls on the platform atop the shikara - tower of the big temple. The word “Nandi” is of Sanskrit origin meaning ''Happy, Joyous or Happy Person''.

The following are the interesting facts of four pairs of stone bulls (nandi) on the tower Shikara:

01. Atop the vimana, at each of its four corners stands a pair of nandi facing outwardly and there are four pairs (a total of eight bulls), each Nandi pair is about 1.98 meters (6 ft 6 in) by 1.68 meters (5 ft 6 in) in dimension.

02. It is often said that space around the cupola is wide enough for a small truck to go round the dome.

03. Above the center of this massive granite block rises the griva, gavasca, shikhara and the finial (stupi). This stupa is 12.5 ft in height, and was originally covered with gold (no longer) !!. Each story of this tower is decorated with kutas and salas.

04. The Nandis atop the tower are similar in size and weight as that of the one in the prakara on the ground floor.

05. It is obvious tall stone nandis are huge. The puzzle is how did the builders set them at corners roughly 200 ft above the ground at a dizzy height of 200ft. It is presumed, these bulls were carved on the ground, then taken to the top of the tower and were given finishing touches. Nandis being fairly big have to remain stable on the flat floor near the dome at a great height. The assumption is for all eight stone images of Nandis, eight pits or receptacles of required dimensions with a depth of roughly 3to 4 inches were made at four corners by gentle chiseling. Later they were set in them safely in respective depressions on the tower floor and the small gaps were tightly packed with broken rock pieces using lime mortar.

06 The nandis have similar posture and are mirror images of the other, symmetrically placed at four corners. Even their protruding alert ears are similar and carved with perfection

07. In sitting posture as stone bulls in the prakara down below each nandi in the pair is facing the respective directions with a gentle tilt near the neck just away from each other's face.

08. You can hardly see a stone nandi in a Shiva temple without ornaments. A closer look will reveal the pairs of Nadis on the tower wear garlands of bells around the neck. They are perfectly carved, the bells are visible at a distance

09. In all Shiva temples Shiva's mount nandi also acts a guard or gate-keepr protecting the premises. Here at this temple the assumption has been that nandis on the shikara are guarding the temple and the surrounding place In a way they are sentinels atop the tower

10. As to the question when the nandis on the Shikara were made, it is likely that they were set on the square platform only after completion of carving work on the huge cupola - bulbous dome was over.

Thanjavur temple. steemit.com

Thanjavur big temple hollow core of the towersteemit.com

Above images: Right above the garbhagriha - sanctum, see the hollow space. This is the secret to reduce the weight of this massive tower that stands on light foundation. The ''shrinking squares tower architecture'' of this temple is in contrast to the tower at the Chola temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram (Arialur district) which is curvilinear............................