Thanjavur Things to Do

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This large tank is located to the north of the Brihadishwara Temple and is said to be renowned for its sweet water. It was excavated by Rajaraja I and later renovated to provide drinking water for the city. There's some kind of small cable car that can take you down from the side to the little island but this wasn't working when I was there.

The quadrangular Shivaganga Fort just north of the Brihadishwara Temple was built by the Nayaka ruler, Sevappa Nayaka in the mid-16th century. It enclosed an area of 35 acres and was partly surrounded by a moat.

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This church was built in 1779 by Raja Serfoji to honour Rev. Frederik Christian Schwartz of Denmark and is located just to the north of the Brihadishwara Temple in the Shivaganga Park. When Schwartz died in 1798, the Maratha ruler donated a striking marble tablet to the church.

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The whole temple complex is surrounded by a pillared cloister containing more lingas and some wonderful frescoes. The frescoes were discovered when the 17th century Maratha paintings covering them began to disintegrate. Some of the frescoes have been moved to the Archaeological Museum located in the southern side of the cloister.

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There is a small museum located in the southern side of the temples cloister that houses an interesting collection of sculptures and photographs that give an idea about the ancient temple before and after restoration.

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This is the showpiece of the temple complex. The 'Vimana' - or the temple tower - is 216 ft (66 m) high and is among the tallest of its kind in the world. The Kalash or 'Shikhara' (apex or the bulbous structure on the top) of the temple is of monolithic granite weighing 81.25 tons that was hauled into place along a 4km earthwork ramp in a manner similar to that used for the Egyptian pyramids. The Vimana has 13 storeys (all temple towers in India have an odd number of storeys) and is beautifully decorated with carved figures of Shiva and other gods.

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The decorated Nandi Pavilion dates from the 16th century. Most Shiva temples and shrines have an associated sculpture of Nandi, Shiva's mount, who faces the linga enshrined within. This huge Nandi bull is carved out of a single piece of granite, measuring about 20 feet long and 13 feet high and weighing around 25 tonnes.

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The temple complex is entered through under two massive five-storey gopurams (towers) which are about 63 meters in height. Unlike the later practice in Southern India, these gopuras are smaller than the shrine tower. The inner, and to my mind more impressive (although smaller), of the two gopuras is flanked by two very large dvarapalas (doorkeepers); the carvings below represent various Shiva legends.