Page 13 - apr-Jun 2020

VOL. 17 No. 2
GREAT LIVING CHOLA TEMPLES ACTIVITY:

LIVING TEMPLES
The Cholas established a powerful kingdom in Tamil Nadu under King Rajaraja Can you tell why
and then his son Rajendra Chola. During these years (11th – 12th centuries these are called Living
CE), they built at least 300 stone temples in the Dravidian style. Temples?
BRIHADESHWARA TEMPLE,THANJAVUR

The Brihadeshwara Temple was constructed between 1003 to
1010 CE under the patronage of King Arunmolivarman, also
known as Rajaraja. This temple is known for its monumental
size. Illustration by: Pagidipala Sreeja,
Illustration by: S. Indhuja, VII A, Karur VIII, JSM High School, Hanam
Saraswathi Vidhya Mandhirr, Karur Kund, Warangal
GOPURAMS

VIMANA The complex has three gates, POSITIVE ENERGY!
only two out of them are
The main The mahalingam (stone on top of the tower)
elaborately made.
sanctum tower is believed to have been placed on top to
which is the dispel the negative energy and to help positive
tallest (60 KARUVARAI energy to revolve around the temple.
metres) in South This is the inner-most sanctum, Bhavana Gupta, X A, DAV Public School, Sector 14, Faridabad
India. where the main image of Lord
Shiva is kept with a huge Shiva VIMANA WISDOM!
Lingam.
It is said that the tall vimana of the
temple is made out of interlocking
bricks and no binding material was
used. The vimana remains intact today.
R. Kevin Dass, VIII B, Sri Sankara Vidyashramam
Matriculation Hr. Sec. School, Chennai; Sowmya J.,
VIII A, Gitanjali Devakul, Kukatpally, Hyderabad

ELEPHANT POWER!

BASE MANDAPAM In those days, there were
This is a large elevated no cranes or sophisticated
Rectangular space equipment available. Hence,
square which holds
with twenty columned about a 1000 elephants were
the vimana.
porches. used to pull 80 ton granite stones from a distance of
50 kms away from the temple site.
GANGAIKONDACHOLAPURAM TEMPLE M.H. Samihayaramalak, VIII E, Revoor Padmanabha Chetty’s Matric Hr.
Sec. School, Kaladipet, Chennai
This temple, also called Brihadeshwara, was built by
Rajaraja’s son Rajendra Chola. He commissioned the LIVING WORLD HERITAGE!
construction of this temple after he defeated the Pala
Dynasty and marched to the Ganga. He brought a pot The Great Living Chola Temples was declared a UNESCO
of water from the River and built a reservoir named World Heritage Site. Today, it includes three temples.
‘Ponneri’ or ‘Cholaganga’. He then built a fortifi ed • Brihadeshwara Temple of Thanjavur (1987)
temple which took nine years to complete. • Brihadeshwara Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram (2004)
S. Ganesh, VII B, Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Matriculation Hr. Sec. • Airavateshvara Temple of Darasuram (2004)
School, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai

K. Kalai Yarasi, IX A, Royal Park Matric Hr. Sec. School, Salem; M. Kiruthivaasan, VII A, Riverside Public School, Kotagiri; Shifa Rahima Gani, VII A, Little Scholar’s
Matric Hr. Sec. School, Thajavur; Samvrutha A.P., VIII A, St. Jude’s Public School and Junior College, Kotagiri, Nilgiris; Kedar Manoj, VI A, The Shriram Millennium
School, Faridabad; R. Janya, XI A, Trinity Academy Sr. Sec. School, Thiruvarur; Swathi Sree I, VII C, Ganges Valley, Hyderabad

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