Big Temple & Horse Dance
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Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thanjavur is known as Tamil Nadu`s "rice bowl" and is a vibrant cultural centre.
Big temple
Today we went to see the Brihadeeswara Temple also popularly known as the 'Big Temple' in Thanjavur. Brihadeeswara Temple is an architectural wonder and built by the Chola king Rajaraja I in the 11th century, it is one of the tallest temples in the world. The Brihadeeswara Temple is the world's first complete granite temple.
The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Great Living Chola Temples". The 'Vimana' or the temple tower is 216 ft high and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. It was so designed that the Vimana never casts a shadow at noon at any magnificent temples as well as exquisite bronze sculptures part of the year. This is to avoid people walking on the shadow as per Indian culture no valuable things should be stepped by human foot.
There a single granite stone of about 80 tonnes positioned at the top of the tall tower to make it stable against all natural calamities due to its height. The temple stands amidst fortified walls that were probably added in the 16th century and there is moat on both sides. There is a big statue of Nandi (sacred bull) carved out of a single rock, at the entrance.
This temple is magnificent and it is the greatest glories of Chola architecture.
Then we visited the Royal Palace.
The Palace:
The Palace near the temple is a vast building of masonry built around 1550 AD which has been bit neglected.
The Palace has number of granite and bronze statues of the Chola period in the art gallery. In another section of the Palace is the library with over 30,000 palm leaf and paper manuscripts in India and European languages are preserved. It was all very interesting to know all the history about the rulers, art.
Horse Dance
In the evening after our Banquet dinner in hotel we watched the lady and man doing a horse dance. This is the Dummy Horse Dance where the dancer bears the dummy figure of a horse's body on his/her hips. This is made of light-weighted materials and the cloth at the side swings to and fro covering the legs of the dancer. The dancer dons wooden legs which sound like the hooves of the horse. The dancers, brandishes the sword or whip. This dance is accompanied by live Band music with drums.
This dance definitely needs lot of practise and skill. Both the dancers performed with great skill and we really enjoyed the horse dance.
