Astonishing factors - Page 4

Brihadeeswarar temple (Big Temple)

This temple is in thanjavur built by Raja Raja chola I and is part of UNESCO world heritage site. The main deity is Lord Shiv in Linga roop. Much information is available in internet and books about this temple. There are 6feet idols of ashta-dikpaalakas. In the left side of the temple entrance there is a Varahi shrine separately which is first worshipped before Nandi. The Nandidev in the top left of the picture is the huge one which is in front of the Linga shrine whereas the second left picture was supposed to be built first before this huge nandi. Apart from this two there is one more nandi inside the main Shiv linga shrine.

The third left picture shows the beautiful linga on top of the gopuram. The shadow was not seen on the ground (I can't paste the photo as it includes our family members). The centre picture is the temple view from the entrance, the two pictures above and below this represents the different scriptures narrating the dance drama (many such scriptures are seen around the main temple). People can see the Lord Ganesha on the left side while entering the main shrine which is told to be the first idol placed before nandi and linga. The lord Ganesh, Murugan and Periyanayaki amman are in different subshrines around this main linga shrine.

The right side of the picture shows the family tree of cholas and their coins. The second picture on right shows the water bath made of stone used by Raja Raja chola to have holy bath before entering the main shrine. There are two such stone made water baths- one place near the Amman shrine and another shown in picture near the varahi shrine.

There exist help centers on the left corner of varahi shrine where people can get additional info. I don't know whether they stay there always or only for some time period. I heard that the stones from the compound wall of Gangaikondacholapuram temple (which is few Kms away from Big temple built by the the son of Rajarajachola I named Rajendra Chola I) was taken by british to strength the Anaikkarai brigde.

Native people told that there was an herb, the essence of which cut the stone along the drawn straight line path including granites. I don't have the proof for this belief. If I come to know about the herb, surely I will get the patent for it. Another belief was w.r.t politics. If the ruler visits the temple they have to go by another exit and not by the same entrance gate. People here told both the former prime minsters Mrs. Indra Gandhi and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi didn't use the other exit path and were assassinated after their visit. I don't know the exact date of their visit, again no authenticity.

Thanks for the info on Brihadeeswarar temple . Ramya one query on this temple. Does a belief exists that you should not enter through the front entrance. I mean I had read something like that when the 1000 year celebrations was going on. Do you know anything about it.

Originally posted by: shruthiravi

Thanks for the info on Brihadeeswarar temple . Ramya one query on this temple. Does a belief exists that you should not enter through the front entrance. I mean I had read something like that when the 1000 year celebrations was going on. Do you know anything about it.

Welcome shruthi.
No, all people can enter the temple through the front entrance. But people say the ruler/leader should not leave the temple via the front entrance while the others can do so. Similar to thiruvidaimarudur temple, here too people say the brahmahathi is on the front entrance and the dhosam will be for rulers only if he/she leave through the front path. Though they say this with e.g of Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and MGR. I didnt know how far its true.

Thanks Ramya for the clarification.

Stunning Facts About Mysterious Kailash Temple of Ellora

The Kailash (, Kailasa, Kailasha, Kailasanatha) temple is the unmatched structure in the world situated in Ellora. This is designed to recall Mount Kailash, the abode of Bhagwan Shiv - stands tall, enclosed within a big manmade crater, surrounded by rock. It is world's oldest single rock carved, multi-storeyed temple complex. West archaeologists were awestruck and compared to notice that it is double the size of Parthenon in Athens. After being closely monitored, several experts also found that initially the temple was entirely covered with white plaster to increasingly resemble the snow covered Mount Kailash.

Sculpting The Entire Rock to Realize Divine Imagination Into Massive Kailash Temple

The Kailash temple is not built. All is cut and carved from one gigantic piece of rock, hewn out of the Charanandri hills of the Sahyadri range of the Deccan Plateau at a village, which once was called Elapura, (later renamed as Ellora by british), 30 km northwest of Sambhajinagar (aurangabad). The Kailash temple was cut from the top down in a U-shape form, about 50 Meters deep in the back and sliding to lower levels on the sides to the front where there is an entry gate. From where the cutting was started is not known, definitely it could be from the Ganesh Dwar (every Hindu temple has a place that is dedicated to Bhagwan Ganesh, Son of Bhagwan Shiv), but later were the de-pilings done simultaneously or step by step - nothing is clear even after deep research conducted by several experts.

@Manas: Thank u. Its so nice to know.

After deeply analyzing the amount of man-hours and efforts involved, experts summarized that the scale at which the work was undertaken is enormous. It covers twice the area of the Parthenon in Athens and is 1.5 times high (and bigger than all ancient temples of the world), and it entailed removing 200,000 tonnes of rock. It is believed to have taken 7,000 labourers and 150 years to complete the project.

Practically speaking with modern technology, given the space and plan around the Kailash temple, it is almost impossible to implement Ten 10-ton JCB machines to remove the rock pieces, as movement of each machine would require space and such huge machines can muffle up lot of space around them, their function is very complicated and when the ground is hollow the machine cannot operate and pose problem in itself.

Hypothetically, If the scale of work was carried today, it would have required at least 10 largest ever 10-ton JCB machines to excavate the pieces of rock of 20,000 tonnes by each machine. Each machine is able to excavate 100 tons of rock pieces in phased manner so even removal of 1000 tonnes each day would have taken more than 6 months i.e. 200 days of continous work !

some more Pics to give you an idea of the enormity