Gangaikonda Cholapuram Brihadeeswarar Temple

Deity

Brihadeeswarar with Periya Nayaki

Where

Jayankondam, Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu · 11.21N 79.45E

Usual hours

6.30 am – 12 pm, 5 pm – 8 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Suriyan

Visited for

Rajendra Chola’s temple, built to mark the march to the Ganga, with the lion well. Quiet even on Sivaratri; visited for confidence and for a father’s health.

Rajendra Chola I built this temple at the capital he founded after his campaign to the north, and the name of the city — the Chola who took the Ganga — is the claim it was built to carry. Water brought back from the Ganga is said to have been poured into the great tank, the Chola Gangam, beside it.

It is one of the three Great Living Chola Temples on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The city itself has gone; the temple stands almost alone in fields, which is why it is so quiet compared with Thanjavur.

The vimana is a little lower than Thanjavur’s and its profile curves inward rather than rising straight, which is the clearest difference between the two.

A large Nandi faces the sanctum from the east. The sculpture on the outer walls is among the finest Chola work anywhere: the panel of Chandesa receiving a garland from Sivan, and the Saraswathi and Durga niches, are the ones usually pointed out.

A stepped well in the courtyard has a lion carved at its head and is known as the lion well. The Chola Gangam tank lies a short distance away.

Maha Sivaratri is the largest day. The temple keeps a daily pooja but has no great festival crowd, and on most days of the year it is close to empty.

Also called

Gangaikondacholeeswaram, Brihadeeswarar Temple

Period

Chola, built under Rajendra I in the eleventh century

Reaching it

Gangaikonda Cholapuram is near Jayankondam in Ariyalur district, about 35 km north of Kumbakonam and roughly 70 km from Thanjavur. Kumbakonam and Ariyalur are the nearest railway stations.

• Kanjanur Agneeswarar Temple 21.2 km · Saiva
• Bhu Varaha Swamy Temple, Srimushnam 21.6 km · Vaishnava
• Vaitheeswaran Koil 23 km · Saiva
• Suryanar Koil 23.4 km · Saiva
• Thiruvidaimarudur Mahalingaswamy Temple 24.5 km · Saiva
• Thirunageswaram Naganathaswamy Temple 25.7 km · Saiva

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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