THE BIG TEMPLE: CHAPTER 1

                 

NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: This story is based on Author’s fiction. It doesn’t apply to any historical references or real-life incidents.

We all know, there are so many amazing sculptures and inscriptions are there in our country. But since it is all in an ancient language, we do not understand what the inscription is saying. But our historical features, life ethics and medical tips of our forefathers everything was carved in that only. So to bring out our history, the British Government in our India introduced a new Department called Epigraphy in the archeology department in 1886.

In that, many researchers were newly appointed. And in that, the head officer Eugen Julius from Germany was also appointed. What is their job means, to collect the inscriptions from the ancient languages, and to research that. So they went to every place, and found the inscriptions there and started researching. And when it is like this, once the team came to Tamil Nadu.

DECEMBER 1887

TAMILNADU

When they came to Tamil Nadu, they started to research all the temples. On December, 1887, that team went to a temple for research. When the team went there, they were very surprised by the sculptures, painting and architecture of that temple. They are not only surprised, but their head Eugene, thought that, how they built this temple in that time. And everything he saw at that temple, induced his interest. So Eugene wished to learn more about this temple.

Now what he did is, he asked the priest in that temple, “Who built this temple Iyer sir?” He started inquired about it. The priest said: “Sir. This temple was built by Karikalacholan.” When the priest was saying like that, the man who stood nearby said that, this temple was built by Paranthaka Cholan. And another one said that this temple was not built by both of them, it was Sundara Cholan who built this temple. Like this everyone started saying some names. Eugene was fully confused in this, and he really wanted to know who built this temple.

“So if we read the inscription in the temple, we may find out who built this temple.” He thought. When he looked at those inscriptions, it was written in a very old Tamil language. He and his team could not understand it. So, they started searching whether anyone in the village who knows how to read that language? But no one in that town couldn’t read that old Tamil.

When it was like this, Eugene came to know about Dr. Subramaniya Shastri Venkatesa Pillai in that town. So Eugene went and told Subramaniya Sastri everything that happened and asked for his help to read that old Tamil. Subramaniya Sastri who agreed to that, went to that temple with Eugene and started reading the temple inscriptions.

When he was reading all the inscriptions, they came to know about a lot of things. But, the name of the person who built this temple remained unknown. So without losing hope, they continued their research. Then Eugene saw an inscription, and when Subramaniya Shastri read that inscription, they came to know that all the previous said names are wrong. Why because, the one who built the great temple, is the only who ruled Tamil Nadu perfectly, and remained in the hearts of people forever. It was Rajaraja Chola of Thanjavur.

(As soon as I said Raja Raja Cholan, you would have known about what temple I was talking about. Yes, today we are going to see about the temple, which has withstood rain, storm and everything, and even today it gives a royal look. We are going to see about the Thanjai Peruvudayar Temple. Now, this story is from the views of Subramaniya Sastri.)  

985 C.E.

985 C.E, Arunmozhivarman(Raja Raja Chola’s other name) who was the king of Tanjore, has conquered many countries during his reign. He was excellent in bravery and wisdom from such a young age. How excellent means, after all these years, if we thing about the Cholas, the first one to come in mind is Rajaraja Cholan. Rajaraja Cholan was extremely devoted to Lord Shiva. When it was like this, One day Rajaraja Cholan went to Kailasanathar Temple in Kanchi which was built by Rajasemmanal. After going there, he was amazed by the architecture of the temple.

He thought of building a bigger temple to Lord Shiva, who is reason for all his victories. How means, to the extent that no one has seen until now, and he also decided that it should be very big. When he was thinking deeply about this, he went to his sister Kundavai, and said that he went to that temple and the idea he is having in his heart. You may think that, to give advice to Rajaraja Cholan, when there are many sages and counselors, why is he telling Kundavai about this.

But during the Chola’s rule, in both bravery and knowledge, Kundavai was an intelligent women who was strong enough to defeat men. Advisory, ruling ethics, foresight, on spot decision making, fast and wise, like this she has all the skills. That’s why Rajaraja Cholan said Kundavai about his decision to build a huge temple.

Now both Rajaraja Cholan and Kundavai started having a conversation. Now Rajaraja Cholan said everything that he has in mind about how to build this temple to Kundavai. So many talented architects were brought from different parts of the country. And one among them is Kunjaramallan Rajaraja Perundhachan. Rajaraja Cholan trusted Kunjaramallan Rajaraja Perundhachan’s ability above all the others. So he decided that he was the correct person to build the temple.

As Rajaraja Cholan said, “Perundhachan prepared a plan for the construction of the temple. That is, he prepared something like a blue print.” Now after the blueprint is ready, they thought of the necessary materials for building the temple. Why because, no one has built such a temple until now, and thought that, here after also no one should build like this. So they started searching everything for it.

First the important material for building the temple is the stones. But have you ever thought? There is not even a single hill around Tanjore. So from where all the stones used to build such a big temple would have been taken from. Even if they brought it, how did they brought such a heavy weight. Tanjore temple was full of big rocks. They used big granite stones to build it. Not only that, the matter of stones was unknown to anyone for many years.

After many years, with a inscription they found about it. Until then it was a mystery to the people. All those stones were taken from Mamalai near Trichy worth of 1,30,000 tons of granite stones from a single mountain and travelled 50 kilometers and brought it with 1000 elephants. And some stones were brought from Thirukovilur which is next to it. After all the necessary ingredients were ready, Raja Raja Cholan started building the Tanjore Temple in 1005 C.E. Before building the temple, after completing all the pujas, he kept the first stone to build the temple.

Generally, when we build our house, we usually put a basement foundation of 8 to 10 feet. So, how much foundation they might have put to build a 216 feet temple, 50 feet? 100 feet? But they have put only about five feet basement foundation. We may think that how the temple is so strong by putting five feet basement.

It is here we should be proud of our ancestor’s knowledge. Why because, when they built this temple, between each rock, they left a thread-sized gap between each rock. It was called as rope technique in ancient days. How the rope is loose when the rope is spun, but when you lay on the rope, it will be tightened and becomes strong. Similarly, all the stones used to build this temple are heavy.

So when building the temple, every stone is kept from the bottom at a distance of one thread. The stones will begin to harden because of it’s weight. So it starts to become very strong. During the construction of this temple, the people in that country, because of the devotion on Rajaraja Cholan, and because of the devotion on Lord Shiva, they started giving money and jewelry to build that temple. Seeing the love of his countrymen on him and Lord Shiva, Rajaraja Cholan was very moved. 

When the people of that country are giving what they can afford to build that temple, Rajaraja Cholan saw an old women giving free buttermilk to every workers. When he inquired about the old woman, he came to know that, “Since she is very old, she cannot go to any work. Hence, she does not have any money or jewelry to give to the temple.”

Even though, she couldn’t give anything for the temple like others, she helped those people who were working to build the temple as much as she could, and said that: “She did this to satisfy herself as her service for Lord Shiva.” Hearing this, Rajaraja Cholan was unspeakably happy. Why because not only him, since all the people loved Lord Shiva.

Now, what Rajaraja Cholan did is, In every inscription on the Great Temple of Tanjore, the name of everyone who worked for that temple. That is women who danced in the temple, people who cleaned the temple, the elephant and horse herders, people who donated to the temple, those who did the laundry and without even leaving a single name who worked for the temple, he thought that everyone’s name should be included in the temple inscription.

And for that old granny’s service, he ordered that the old lady’s name should be engraved in the tower casket on top. Then after the walls of the temple were built, to bring the tower casket to the top, they poured the sand around the temple like a mountain. Like how we climb the mountains, like that they made a way, and brought the stones of that tower casket to the top. As Rajaraja Cholan said, “Every object in this temple has a very special shape with a reason.” Why because, the statue of Lord Shiva in Tanjore Big Temple is 12 feet. It is the count of our Tamil vowels.

Like Shivalinga Peedam is 18 feet and that is the count of Tamil consonants. And the height of the tower is 216 feet. It is the count of Tamil Vowel(it’s actually called as uyirmei[in Tamil language]) letters. The distance between Shiva inside the temple and Nandi outside is 247 feet. And that is the total count of Tamil letters.

The Nandi in Tanjore big temple is said to be the second largest Nandi in the world. And nothing like bricks and wood are used to build this temple. Fully it was build only with rocks and soil. And the carvings and paintings in the temple, add up extra beauty to the temple.

Not only that, how the temple was built is, when the sun rises in the morning, the sunshine will fall on the Shivalingam in the temple, and when the sun sets in the evening, through the back door of the temple, the sunlight will fall on the big Nataraja painting. What is so special about this means, when the evening sunlight, falls on the Nataraja painting, it will feel like Nataraja was seen in multiple forms of colors. Because they used many herbs to paint that Nataraja painting.

When the sunlight fall on that colors, it will spark very brightly. And in the hands of Dwarabalagar in that temple, among the four hands, one hand will be facing down. There a big snake comes out of it’s hole and a big elephant. The meaning of that is, the elephant is so big. Then the snake eating that elephant should be lot more bigger than the elephant. The meaning of the second hand is, if that snake is too big, then how big I am, the third hand means, I can be big. But, there is a big man above says the fourth hand facing upwards. They beautifully said that, “Go and look at the idol of Shiva inside the temple.”

Not only that, the British did not come to our country 1000 years ago. So people are still wondering how a statue of an Englishman was in the tower of the Tanjore temple.

PRESENT

Eugene at present, becomes amused upon hearing the history of Tanjore Big Temple. He questioned Subramania Sastri, “Sastri. If you are not there here, then we might have not known about the truth of this temple.”

Sastri nodded his head. Relaxing for five minutes, he said to Eugene: “Sir. Under this temple, there are more than 100 tunnels which you can’t even imagine. Each tunnel is designed for a different reason.”

“Why?” asked Eugene to which, Subramaniya Sastri replied: “Since there were many enemies around Rajaraja Cholan at that time, there was no security on the way from his fort to the temple. So, he built a tunnel from the temple to the fort.” Pausing his reply for a while, Subramaniya Sastri continued telling him: “Not only that. There are many tunnels to go from this temple to the surrounding temples.”

“Why can’t we take a visit to those tunnels?” Eugene asked.

“Sorry sir. All those tunnels have been closed because there is no safety.” Subramaniya Sastri said. Meanwhile, Sastri continued reading another sculpture which states the following:

“Many people worked hard and the big temple of Thanjavur was completed in 1010 AD. Just as this temple has many features, there are also many mysteries about this temple. Rajaraja Cholan built this temple for many years, was one among them.”

EPILOGUE

A fine example of Chola’s architecture, Tanjore Great Temple is announced as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1987 and is still being protected by them. And thousands of people visit this temple everyday and the archeological department of India was preserving it. Think about it, a German man said that, “Rajaraja Cholan only built the big temple in Tanjore.” If he had not researched about this temple, we might not have known the truth about this temple.

Whoever died during the construction of this temple, was buried in the temple premises itself. So that their body won’t be decomposed, like this a rumor is going on. But, there’s no proof of how true this is. The mysteries of The Big Temple, would be revealed in Chapter 2 of this series.