Carved sandstone spires and figure sculpture on a temple at Khajuraho.
A carved stone chariot wheel on the plinth of the Sun Temple at Konark.
The Taj Mahal in white marble, reflected in its watercourse at dawn.
Temple ruins among granite boulders in the landscape at Hampi.
Rock-cut monuments on the shore at Mahabalipuram.
Carved sandstone spires and figure sculpture on a temple at Khajuraho.
A carved stone chariot wheel on the plinth of the Sun Temple at Konark.
The Taj Mahal in white marble, reflected in its watercourse at dawn.
Temple ruins among granite boulders in the landscape at Hampi.
Rock-cut monuments on the shore at Mahabalipuram.

Great Living Chola Temples

Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram, Tamil Nadu

Inscribed
1987
Period
11th–12th century
Property
Cultural
The towering vimana of the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur.
Original: Rainer Halama Derivative work: UnpetitproleX · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons

The property covers three temples: Brihadisvara at Thanjavur, Brihadisvara at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, and Airavatesvara at Darasuram. All three are Shaiva, all three are in continuous ritual use, and together they record the Chola dynasty's temple architecture across its peak and its refinement.

History

Rajaraja I completed the Thanjavur temple in 1010, financing it partly from campaign revenue and recording the endowments in inscriptions cut into the temple itself. His son Rajendra I built a new capital at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and a temple there around 1035. Airavatesvara at Darasuram followed under Rajaraja II in the twelfth century. Thanjavur was inscribed in 1987; the other two were added as an extension in 2004.

Architecture

Thanjavur's vimana — the tower over the sanctum — rises about sixty metres in thirteen diminishing storeys, capped by a single large stone. The temple is built in granite, which is not local to the immediate area and had to be brought in. Gangaikonda Cholapuram's tower is lower and its profile more curved. Airavatesvara is smaller and the most ornate of the three, with a stone chariot-form mandapa and finely cut miniature friezes.

Significance

The temples are simultaneously religious buildings, dynastic statements and archives: their walls carry inscriptions recording land grants, wages, temple staff and irrigation arrangements, which makes them one of the richest sources for how a medieval South Indian state actually operated.

UNESCO recognition

Inscribed in 1987, extended 2004, under criteria (i), (ii) and (iii) as outstanding creative achievements of Chola architecture and testimony to its civilisation.

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