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1000 years of BigTemple


Coming of 2010 marks the 1000th anniversary of the construction of Brihadeeswarar Temple (commonly known as the Big Temple) in Thanjavur. Unlike the westerners who cherish their 100 year old monuments(!),  we Indians have a general apathy to anything related to history. Please don't brush this aside as yet another historical event.


Big Temple is an architectural masterpiece built entirely of granite. It is one of the few great Indian monuments listed in UNESCO's World Heritage list of historical sites and monuments and it needs your attention today.

There are certain things that you can do on your part to celebrate this event.
Learn more about the temple - You can start with Wikipedia to read about the temple. I've listed a few more articles which talk about the chola frescos in the temple.

There is a documentary on the big temple titled "The Lost Temples of India" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnANjdReAlY

I'll suggest a tamil book "Udayar", a six part novel written by Balakumaran, that deals entirely with the construction of the Big Temple. This novel describes every inch of the temple in vivid detail.

Spread the word  - blog, tweet and mail about this event to your friends

and finally,
Pay a Visit - If possible, pay  a visit to this marvelous place. Visiting Big Temple after reading the history will show you the temple in  a different dimension.
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Location: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India

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