Divine Designs: Exploring the Legacy of Tamil Temple Architecture

This is the story of four friends who set aside their busy lives for a week to travel together, reconnect, and explore the magnificent architecture of Tamil temples.

This wasn’t just a trip; it was a journey I had longed to experience. For years, every vacation to India had been consumed by visits to family and friends, leaving me with little time for myself. Since last couple of years and as I get older, I decided to change that pattern for good. Aug last year was of an incredible solo road trip from Europe to Africa.

How and why Tamil Nadu?

This year was for something totally different. Four cousins (but more friends than cousins) decided to take a break to roam around the temple state of India – Tamil Nādu. We all were with our busy schedules for months and everyone needed some sort of break. Not only that Tamil Nadu offers countless temples of amazing Architecture, it also offers some of the best south Indian culinary experiences. Its traditional, authentic, economic and different.

In no time Tamil Nādu became our pick of destination. Incase if you have not realized, Tamil Nādu has some of the most amazing temple architectures not just in India but around the globe, leading back to thousands of years across several dynasties.

As I began writing about this incredible week of travel and exploring temple architecture, I found myself Googling “what makes friends friends.” What I found resonated deeply.

Good listener, Trustworthy, You can be yourself around them, Empathy, Respect, They support you, Being non-judgmental, Honesty, Loyalty, They are kindhearted, Dependability, Flexibility, Humor, Low-maintenance, Makes you smile, They make you feel wanted, list goes on.

Friendship is what truly made this trip unforgettable.

So the plan got final in no time. I flew from Amsterdam to Calicut where two of the cousins, Unni and Ramya lived, Shyam drove from Kasaragod to Calicut with his less than a year old Skoda Kushaq which is what we would be driving on for days to come.

This write up has a ton of details I copied from Wikipedia. I take no ownership of the content. Its just easy to grab the content from external sources given the magnitude of reserach needed otherwise.

Pondicherry also got added to the plan. It was French colonial settlement in India until 1954, is now a Union Territory town bounded by the southeastern Tamil Nadu state. Its French legacy is preserved in its French Quarter, with tree-lined streets, mustard-colored colonial villas and chic boutiques. It also offers some of the best beaches.

The great temples of Tamil Nadu

Below list is what is elaborated in this article. This is not all, we had no time for Madurai or for further south. We had to park them for another occasion.

• Arunachalam Arunachaleswarar Temple
• Chidambaram Thillai Natarajar Temple
• Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple (Brihadisvara Temple)
• Kumbakonam Airavatesvara Temple
• Thanjavur Brihadeeswara Temple
• Sri RanganathaSwamy Temple, Srirangam
• The Rock Fort Vinayagr temple
• Palani Murugan temple

Link to Maps with driving directions.

First destination: Tiruvannamalai

Kozhikode – Tiruvannamalai is about 500 Kms. Roads in Kerala are of low quality however Tamil Nadu has some of the best roads in India.

Temple to Visit: Arunachaleswarar Temple
Arunachaleswara Temple (also called Annamalaiyar Temple) is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Shiva, located at the base of Arunachala hill in the town of Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, India. It is significant to the Hindu sect of Shaivism as one of the temples associated with the five elements, the Panchabhoota Sthalams, and specifically the element of fire, or Agni. The temple complex covers 10 hectares, and is one of the largest in India.

The present masonry structure was built during the Chola dynasty in the 9th century, while later expansions are attributed to Vijayanagara rulers of the Sangama dynasty (1336–1485 CE), the Saluva dynasty and the Tuluva dynasty (1491–1570 CE).

Some interesting facts about Arunachaleswara Temple

• It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Shiva, located at the base of Arunachala hill
• The temple complex covers 10 hectares, and is one of the largest in India.
• Inside the doorway of the first tower and the fifth precinct, there is a thousand-pillared hall built during the late Vijayanagara period.
• Every full moon, tens of thousands of pilgrims worship Arunachalesvara by circumambulating the Arunachala hill barefoot. The circumambulation covers a distance of 14 kilometers (8.7 mi), and is referred to as Girivalam.
• It houses four gateway towers known as gopurams. The tallest is the eastern tower, with 11 stories and a height of 66 metres (217 ft), making it one of the tallest temple towers in India built by Sevappa Nayakkar (Nayakar dynasty).

Read further: Wiki

The French revolution: Pondicherry

After spending time and having a good south Indian lunch, we headed to Pondicherry for the night and the day after. Arunachalam – Pondicherry is about 115 Kms.

Place to Visit: Pondicherry
Pondicherry is a well documented tourist destination. These are the most sought after locations to visit. The official website is a good place to start.

• Eglise de Notre Dame des Anges
• The Sacred Heart Basilica
• Immaculate Conception Cathedral

• Puducherry Museum
• Arikamedu Trust
• Our Lady of Angels & the French Quarter [White Town]

• Sri Varadaraja Perumal Temple
• Arulmigu Manakula Vinayagar Devasthanam

• Auroville

• Old lighthouse
• Rock Beach
• Paradise Beach
• Promenade Beach

Let me windup Pondicherry with a few photos given the abundance of information available over internet.

As mentioned before Pondicherry has a ton of French architecture and culture around.

While most of India was ruled by British, there are a few pockets where the French, Portuguese etc has their settlements.

If you are looking for a short weekend getaway from places like Chennai or Bangalore, Pondicherry is a no brainer.

• One way road distance from Bangalore is 315 kilomters.
• Round trip from Bangalore to Pondicherry and then to Chennai and back to Bangalore is less than 900 kilometers.

Pro-tip: Fill up your fuel tanks from Pondicherry as much as you can. Fuel is marginally cheaper due to the fact that Pondicherry is a union territory which means different types of tax rules apply.

On a side note, be careful of road traffic. I was not impressed at all with how especially bikers were behaving on the road.

Not too far from Pondicherry is Auroville. Its a globally known destination. Auroville is an experimental township in Villupuram district, mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with some parts in the Union Territory of Pondicherry in India.

It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa and designed by architect Roger Anger.

Auroville has its own website that has all sorts of details before you visit.

After embracing the true idea of Auroville, we ended up making a short visit to Arikamedu which was an Indo-Roman trading city dating back about a 1000 years. It was a place where ships unloaded goods from distant lands. A massive brick structure which is supposed to be a warehouse was found at the site.

Unfortunately the roads to the location and infrastructure are of low quality. Hopefully this site gets better attention in future.

Heading to Chidambaram

Place to visit: Thillai Natarajar Temple

After a full day of grabbing whatever Pondicherry had to offer, we checked out and headed to Chidambaram, where Thillai Natarajar Temple is located.

Chidambaram is about 65 kms from Pondicherry.

Thillai Nataraja Temple, also referred as the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Nataraja, the form of Shiva as the lord of dance.

The temple wall carvings display all the 108 Karanas and these postures form a foundation of Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance derived from Sathirattam.

Some interesting facts about Chidambaram Thillai Natarajar Temple

• The present temple was built in the 10th century when Chidambaram was the capital of the Chola dynasty.
• After its 10th-century consecration by the Cholas who considered Nataraja as their family deity. The Chidambaram temple complex, for example, has the earliest known Amman or Devi temple in South India, a pre-13th-century Surya shrine with chariot, shrines for Ganesha, Murugan and Vishnu, one of the earliest known Shiva Ganga sacred pool, large mandapas for the convenience of pilgrims (choultry, ambalam or sabha) and other monuments.
• Shiva himself is presented as the Nataraja performing the Ananda Tandava (“Dance of Delight”) in the golden hall of the shrine Pon Ambalam.
• The temple has been damaged, repaired, renovated and expanded through the 2nd millennium. Most of the temple’s surviving plan, architecture and structure is from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with later additions in similar style.
• The temple as it stands had a pre-Chola existence and the architecture is a combination of Chola and Pandyan architecture with the Sanctum Sanctorum closely resembling Kerala style structures.
• The temple has nine major gopuram gateways connecting the various courtyards. Four of these are huge and colorful, visible from afar, a symbolic and convenient landmark for pilgrims. These gateway towers or gopurams each have 7 storeys facing the East, South, West and North. The first edition of the four gopuram superstructures were likely built between 1150 and 1300 CE.

Read further: Wiki

Next destination: Gangaikonda Cholapuram

Chidambaram to Gangaikonda Cholapuram is about 45 kilomters. Roads are good and there was almost no traffic. We reached in no time.

Place to visit: Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple : The Brihadisvara Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva in Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Jayankondam, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Completed in 1035 AD by Rajendra Chola I as a part of his new capital.

The Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple is smaller yet more refined than the Thanjavur Temple.

What strikes our minds was the precision of stonework across all these temples. Its mind-blowing to even imagine that these level of perfections could be achieved thousands of years ago.

Rajendra wanted to emulate the temple built by his father after his victory in a campaign across India that Chola era texts state covered Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Bengal. After his victory, he demanded that the defeated kingdoms send pots of Ganges River water and pour them into the temple’s well.

Some interesting facts about Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple

• The temple was constructed in 1035 AD by Rajendra Chola I (1012-44 CE), the son of the famous Chola king Raja Raja Chola I, who built the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur.
• Some experts believe that the temple was built during 1020, during the 6th regnal year, but inscriptions indicate the 20th regnal year, which is 1035 AD.
• The well was originally called Cholagangam as it was filled with water from Ganges.
• The main temple dedicated to Shiva is based on a square plan, but it displays other Hindu deities such as Vishnu, Durga, Surya, Harihara, Ardhanarishvara, and others.
• It opens to the sunrise and its sanctum, as well as the mandapas, are aligned on an east–west axis.
• The temple is famed for its bronze sculptures, artwork on its walls, the depiction of Nandi and the scale of its tower.
• Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple is built in Dravidian architecture with a square plan.
• The original courtyard is two squares stacked next to each other, all mandapas, the upapitham, the shrine plans, the garbha griha (sanctum) and the tower elements are all square shaped and incorporate circles and principles of geometric symmetry.
• The structural elements resemble the big Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur.
• Both include a courtyard entered through multiple gateways and a relatively small gopuram (tower).
• Inside are shrines, most of which are aligned on an east–west axis; a few are perpendicular.
• The temple complex includes Nandi Mandapa, Alankar Mandapa, Maha Mandapa, Mukha Mandapa and Ardha Mandapa.
• Some of these were added and restored by Hindu kingdoms after the 14th century or by British India art conservation.

Read further here.

Heading towards Dharasuram 

Place to visit: Sri Airavatesvara Temple: After another excellent Sounth Indian lunch, we set our navigation towards Kumbakonam to visit another marvel of architecture, the Airavatesvara Temple. Airavatesvara Temple is a Hindu temple of Chola architecture located in Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This temple, built by Chola emperor Rajaraja II in the 12th century.

The Airavateswarar temple is one among a cluster of eighteen mediaeval era large Hindu temples in the Kumbakonam area, Thanjavur District. The temple is dedicated to Shiva.

The stone temple incorporates a chariot structure, and includes major Vedic and Puranic deities such as Indra, Agni, Varuna, Vayu, Brahma, Surya, Vishnu, Saptamatrikas, Durga, Saraswati, Sri devi (Lakshmi), Ganga, Yamuna, Subrahmanya, Ganesha, Kama, Rati and others.

What a construction! The more you stay, the more you are puzzled.

As I mentioned earlier, the scale and precision of stonework is beyond imagination. One could spend hours if not days here.

It has two sun dials namely morning and evening sun dials which can be seen as wheels of the chariot.

What was also tremendously helpful was the fact that we chose Monday to Friday (regular working days) for this trip. This helped a lot in having no crowds at most of the locations.

Some interesting facts about Airavateswarar Temple

• Airavatesvara Temple is a Hindu temple of Chola architecture located in Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This temple, built by Chola emperor Rajaraja II in the 12th century CE is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Airavatesvarar temple is one among a cluster of eighteen medieval era large Hindu temples in the Kumbakonam area, Thanjavur District. The temple is dedicated to Shiva.
• It has two sun dials namely morning and evening sun dials which can be seen as wheels of the chariot.
• The Airavatesvara Shiva temple has a water tank. This tank has a connected channel that brings in Cauveri River water where Hindus gather annually to take a dip. The local mythology narrates how Airavata, or Indra’s (malla) white elephant was restored to clean, white skin after he took a dip in this tank. This legend is carved in stone in the inner shrine, and this Indra’s elephant gives this temple its name.
• This temple is a storehouse of art and architecture and has some exquisite stone carvings. Although this temple is much smaller than the Brihadeesvara Temple or the Gangaikondacholapuram Temple, it is more exquisite in detail.
• The Airavatesvara temple was much larger than it is now. It had sapta veedhis (seven streets) and seven courts, similar to the Srirangam temple, according to the inscriptions. All are gone, except the one court with the main temple that survives.

We spent a fair amount of time walking around the empty courtyards and verandahs.

That is when you realize talking over phone with friends is not same as talking to them while being with them. Another short lookback to wind up the visit to this magnificent art and we said goodbye, setting up navigation for next destination.

What makes Thanjai Periya Kovil (Big Temple) the Periya Kovil

After spending a night at Kumbakonam, we headed to the great Thanjai Periya Kovil also known as Tanjore Big temple or Brihadishwara Temple.

Brihadishwara Temple, called Rajarajeswaram (lit. ’Lord of Rajaraja’) by its builder, and known locally as Thanjai Periya Kovil (lit. ’Thanjavur Big Temple’) and Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Shaivite Hindu temple built in a Chola architectural style, located on the south bank of the Cauvery river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.

It is one of the largest Hindu temples and an exemplar of Tamil architecture. It is also called Dakshina Meru (Meru of the South).

Built by Chola emperor Rajaraja I between 1003 and 1010 CE, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Some interesting facts about Brihadishwara Temple

• One of the largest temples in India, the Brihadeeswara Temple also known as Peruvudaiyar Kovil is located in Thanjavur.
• Dedicate to Lord Shiva represented as a huge ‘Lingam’, the temple was built around 1010 AD by the Chola king Rajaraja Chola I.
• Considered as one of the three ‘Great Living Chola Temples’ along with the Gangaikondacholeeswaram Temple and Airavastesvara Temple, the complex is also listed as a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• The Peruvudaiyar temple’s plan and development utilises the axial and symmetrical geometry rules.
• It is classified as Perunkoil (also called Madakkoil), a big temple built on a higher platform of a natural or man-made mounds.
• The temple complex is a rectangle that is almost two stacked squares, covering 240.79 metres (790.0 ft) east to west, and 121.92 metres (400.0 ft) north to south.
• One of the main attractions of the temple is a big statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva.
• 13 ft high and 16 ft wide, the statue is sculpted out of a single rock.
• The main temple tower is 216 ft high and the tallest of its kind in the world. The complete structure of the temple is made out of granite.
• The main ‘Gopurams’ or gateways to the temple are splendid structures with detailed sculptures.
• The temple’s inscriptions and frescoes narrate the tale of the rise and decline of the city’s fortunes.
• The Shiva lingam or the idol is covered by the tower and is built with stones that are bonded without the use of mortar.
• Yet another wonder can be seen above – the stone at the top which weighs nearly 80 tons.
• The temple stands as a fitting example of the might and power of the Chola dynasty that once ruled over the region.
• It is believed that the construction of the massive temple complex took only 7 years for completion, which is a huge accomplishment considering the scale of the sculptures, art and the complex itself.

Wikipedia is your best friend if you are interested in reading further.

Let’s talk about Great Living Chola Temples

The Great Living Chola Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for a group of Chola dynasty era Hindu temples in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The temple at Thanjavur was added in the list in 1987, while the other two temples were added in 2004. To summarize, below are the group of temples that form the Great Living Chola Temples UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, built by Rajaraja I.
• Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, built by Rajendra Chola I.
• Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, built by Rajaraja II.

Heading to Srirangam

Place to visit: The Ranganathaswamy Temple:

The Ranganathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple was our next destination. Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world.

The Ranganathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha (a form of Vishnu) and is located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Constructed in the Dravidian architectural style, the temple is glorified by the Tamil poet-saints called the Alvars in their canon, the Naalayira Divya Prabhandam, and has the unique distinction of being the foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to the god Vishnu.

The Srirangam temple is the largest temple compound in India and is one of the largest religious complexes in the world.

As mentioned several times, the stone carvings are of another world. Its beyond our sense of any logic to believe that such skills existed thousands of years ago.

Some interesting facts about Srirangam temple

• It is among the most illustrious Vaishnava temples in India rich in legend and history.
• Beyond the ancient textual history, archaeological evidence such as inscriptions refer to this temple, and these stone inscriptions are from late 100 BCE to 100 CE.
• Hence, “making it one of the oldest surviving active temple complexes in South India”.
• The deity finds a mention in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana which is dated around 800 to 400 BCE which also pushes the existence of deity to the same era.
• The temple is enclosed by seven concentric enclosures with courtyards (termed prakarams or mathil suvar).
• Each layer has walls and gopurams, which were built or fortified in and after the 16th century.
• These walls total 32,592 feet (9,934 m) or over six miles. The temple has 17 major gopurams (towers, 21 total),[note 3] 39 pavilions, 50 shrines, nine sacred water pools, Ayiram kaal mandapam (a hall of 1000 pillars) and several small water bodies inside.

Even though we did not have it in our plan, the additional time we had at the end led us to visiting Srirangam Rockfort temple.

The climb was too steep, but its worth a visit. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of photos from the inside of the temple. The view from top is beyond one can explain!

On the way back we also made short stop at Palani Murukan temple. Palani is also a well documented location. Palani has no architectural significance like the rest, its a place of true believes and worships. Palani Temple does not allow phones or bags to be with you while being at temple premises.

Would you like to do this temple run?

Right from Auroville, all the way to Srirangam, all these locations Including Pondicherry are within about 260 kilometers. For those who are with a fewer days to spare – this sequence is a great choice for 2-3 days of exploration.

If you were to start from Bangalore, the road distance of a round loop is less than 900 kilometers. Tamil Nadu offers some of the best roads in the country, which adds a nice bonus to such a trip, so is their culinary skills.
If time permits, Madurai is a must have addition to this journey.

Note: Tamil Nadu is also very well connected by Air and Rail transports.

Winding up

It’s impossible to exhaust the topic of the magnificent temple structures crafted by our ancestors. These masterpieces are scattered not just across Tamil Nadu but throughout India, and we often fail to fully appreciate the depth of what they have left behind.

What astounds me most is that what remains today has survived thousands of years of destruction, wars, invasions, and looting. The precision, scale, complexity, and sheer grandeur of these intricate structures are beyond words.