The Brihadeeswarar temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu is a UNESCO recognized world heritage site and was built by the son of great Chola ruler of Thanjavur Sri Rajaraja Chola. King Rajendra Chola 1 is believed to have built the temple in 1035 AD using the ''Thanjai Periya Kovil'' as a model
Dedicated to Lord Shiva in the form of a lingam, the temple houses one of the largest monolithic lingams -18 feet wide and 13 1/2 feet tall in he country. Unlike many Shiva temple here the large stone Nandi (bull) is out side the temple facing the main shrine. No mantap or hall is built up over the lord's vahana, In sitting posture, it is a well-made Nandi. This ancient temple has stone inscriptions, paintings and stone and bronze sculptures.
In addition to regular annual temple festivals at this temple for several years the festival of Annabhishekam has been conducted in the Tamil month of Aippasi- Mid-October to Mid-November.
What is special about it is the huge stone idol of linga in the sanctum - garbagiha is covered with cooked rice on this day. On completion of other rituals and puja protocols the cooked rice is given to devotees in large numbers as offering or prasad. Normally more tha 1000 devotees attend the Annabhishekam ritual..
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| G.K.Cholapuram shiva temple, TN, thehindu.com |
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| G.K.Cholapuram shiva temple, TN, large lingam.in.pinterest.com |
This year on the 7th of November the ‘annabhishekam’ was performed to Siva Lingam at the famous Sri Brihadeeswarar temple in Gangaikondacholapuram in on the ‘Aippasi Pournami day on Monday. It was grand ceremony attended by a large number of devotees not only from the local towns, but also from other neighboring places. For the annual ‘Annabhishekam’ more than one hundred bags of rice were cooked and the ritual lasted almost whole day from 9am till 5pm. The ‘Mahadeeparadhana’ a daily ritual and the devotees offered worship to the deity.
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| Huge nandi, G.K.Cholapuram, TN. ommons.wikimedia.org |
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| Gangaikonda Cholapuram, TN chidambaravilas.com |
On completion of this ritual there was distribution of ''annam'' - cooked food (prasadam) to the devotees
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| Simhakeni(Lion-well) in Gangaikondacholapuram temple indianpanorama.in |
The annual event was organized by Sri Annabishekam Committee of Kanchi Sankara Mutt. The Annabishekam ceremony was initiated way back in 1986 at the instigation of Kanchi Mahaperiva who recalled that when Rajendra Chola consecrated the huge linga in the Karvarai - sanctum, he had Ganga water brought from the north and successfully completed the installation.
