Seeing the biggest lingam in India
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2006
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18
42
Trip End
Aug 29, 2006
Thanjavur,
India
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Thanjavur (also known as Tanjore) boasts one of a few World Heritage temples, The Brihadishwara temple and it is truly a unique one, as it is built in a distinctive art style, which is usually a combination of raised and painted surfaces. Thanjavur was the ancient capital of the Chola kings, whose origins go back to the beginning of the Christian era.
It was also the first temple where we saw some real extensive restoration work being done. The main tower (Vimanam) was 13 storeys high and contained the biggest lingam in India with a massive 7m diameter. Around the complex were more than 250 linga strategically placed, and we saw for the first time a corridor completeley decorated by frescos that had been painted over during the later dynasties, but have been restored to their former glory
Thanjavur, Brihadishwara temple_1
.Another impressive sight was the biggest Nandi bull : this is a statue of Shiva's Bull that has been cut out of a single piece of stone, in this particularly case a 6 meter high rock.
The dome to the temple was carved out of a single piece of granite and weighed 80 (eighty)tonnes and was brought from a place 4 km away. There are some theories how 1000 years ago people could transport a 80 tonnes granite block and put it on top of a 13 storey-high building. Most likely they used a ramp like the Egyptian pyramid builders. Or else aliens dropped them from their flying saucers, that's also very possible :)
Afterwards we took a look at Thanjavur's Royal Palace, a collection of art galleries, towers, palaces, museums and shrines.
- Durbar Hall -> this is the place where the king held his audiences. Normally you have to pay an entrance fee, but we showed up and the guard let us in for half the price. If anybody from the Indian Tourism Office is reading this : you have a naughty employ in your team...we'll give you a tip, he was wearing a moustache
Thanjavur, Brihadishwara temple_2
. Oh yeah, we forgot, ALL your employees have moustaches, don't they?- Raja Serfoji Memorial Hall : a collection of memorabilia from the King's quarters, and the beginning of a 6km long secret tunnel
- Art gallery : very nice collection of bronze statues. People looking for cheeky figures from the Kamasutra will be disappointed, as we haven't seen any. I guess it's more a North Indian thing (or even a Western Tourist fantasy).
- Bell Tower : this was a nice climb and quite difficult to find the exits and entries to the next level... I felt like in one of those Tomb Raider video games. Oh, and they have a nice view AND a skeleton of a whale. I'm still puzzled how they got that up there.
- Saraswati Mahal Library : has a collection of palm-leaf manuscripts and explicit pictures on Chinese torture. We were especially impressed for the punishment for bad translations, it involved something very painful with a bamboo stick and the translator's ankles.
We spend all day looking for a place where we could have something to eat, but last year's Lonely Planet is outdated. Finally we found a place where there were some French people playing cards.
In the evening we went back to Kumbakonam and found a restaurant where we could sit upstairs in an A/C room with only two tables, a bit like an aquarium. The waiter stayed at our table for the entire meal. If you want to give it a try, it's called Meenakshi Bhavan.
