Brihadeeshwara temple - Part 2 !! (Hidden Underground Secrets)   

In continuation from the previous part, which in detail explains about the structural and architectural wonders of this temple, 

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2019/02/brihadeeshwara-temple-worlds-first.html

It is the World's First Complete granite temple. This 1000 years old temple was built using heavy granite stones, without using any binding material. It was built using a technique of interlocking stones that holds this temple very strong.

        The huge artistically carved cap stone placed on top of the temple is called Vimana. This Vimana weighs around 80 tonnes. 

How did they lift a heavy 80 tonnes vimana for about 200 feet? The technology that they used to lift this hefty vimana to place on top of the 200 feet structure is not yet clear. Many types of theories are being circulated by historians about the ancient Indian technology used to lift this heavy vimana.

There are many unsolved mysteries about this temple. The way that this temple was constructed is a mystery to many archaeologists. Why did the Chola kings had built such a huge temple using granite stones, which were not available in this area? 

What were the tools used to precisely carve these strong granite stones?

 Underground secrets of this temple:

         

        There are more than 100 secret underground passages beneath this temple, which connects to Kings Palace, other temples, Safe vault and many other places of Thanjavur. The underground passages were constructed like a labyrinth, meaning complicated network of paths, which makes one to find it difficult to find the correct path.

        Only those who know the correct path can get through the passage and there are many other dummy paths were made to create confusion for the trespassing enemies and unauthorised persons. The person who are secretly following the authorised person will be trapped to death in the underground by loosing the starting point, because it was made in such a way that all the paths will be looking similar.

        Here is a one such path which is from the temple complex to King's palace. This path was used by Kings, Queens and Royal family members to reach the temple and worship Lord Shiva, without disturbing the public.

    

     The underground passages were built with air shafts for fresh air to circulate, holders for lights to pass through the path and many secret / tricky doors. Some of the passages are interconnected.

The below picture is from the temple, which was painted using natural colours before 1000 years. A secret passage from this temple is somewhere near to this painting, like a secret door with a cryptic code to open it.

Safe vault:

        Local people believe that in one of these underground passages, there is a passage that leads to secret vault, which contains Chola's treasure and temple's important valuable jewellery. Many people tried to crack the secret path towards the vault but failed in vain. Because, they don't know the complete details and key to the secret path. 

For example: A dead end in the path is not actually a dead end. It was designed like that to confuse the greedy people. There is a secret way to unlock the dead end door, which will lead to the real path of the treasure.

     

          This secret treasure in the underground consists of gold ornaments, gold crowns, golden dresses for God, gold coins, many precious gem stones, diamonds, silver coins, important farming seeds, secret manuscripts, secret weapons etc. These are kept in a safe vault. More than the gold and silver, many people are keen to take the secret manuscripts which will uncover about many mysterious and secret places in India.  Many treasure hunters, historians had searched for the treasure, but were failed to get it and even some people had died as they were trapped inside the labyrinth.

In addition to that, it has some more hidden paths. These secret tunnels were built by chola kings beneath the temple complex. 

Secret Path1: This path1 leads to outskirts of the city. In those times, this path was used by spies to convey the important message to king, without any traces left behind. It is also an emergency evacuation path for the royal family members.

Secret Path2: This path connects this temple and the King's palace. This path is little wider one, such that 2 horses can be ridden in parallel and it is more of gateway route of kings during wars.

Underground Safe place: 

        This is the most interesting part. This safe place was built in an idea to stay there for some period of time. An underground tunnel, which leads to this place, was well ventilated for fresh air to come, enough lighting system was in place, also it was designed to cast shadows inside the safe place. So that time was calculated based on the shadow casted.

[Note: The below picture is just a model one, not the real underground passage of Brihadeeshawara temple. ]

        This safe place was created for special people like ministers and spies to hide for some period of time. It was also used as a secret meeting point for the kings, spy and ministers. If a King wants to create a secret weapon, then this place was used to create and to stock those weapons, so that it doesn't reach enemies knowledge. 

There are many other underground paths as well. But, those passages were destroyed either by a natural cause or the by Royal family. 

The technology used to build such a huge temple, the source of these granite stones, the advanced tools used to carve such intricate designs, science behind Quartz Shiva Linga with Chandrakanta stone beneath, the calculated distances between the temple sanctum and the Nandi, are totally mind blowing!!!

[The distance between Shiva Lingam and Nandi is 247 feet, which is equivalent to the total number of letters in Tamil]

In addition to these, the underground passages with air shaft and natural light built by Chola king Raja Rajan has made historians and archaeologists to baffle!!!

Here are some of the intricate carvings of this temple,

The below picture depicts the Kailash of Lord Shiva and Parvati with Lord Ganesha in the left side.

Ancient Tamil scripts in the temple...

Side staircase to the temple...

Ancient Indians had built great temples with abundant knowledge of arts, architecture, science and technology that stands for several thousand years without the disturbance of natural calamities. This temple was constructed even to withhold a strong earth quake...

        Instead of praising about glories of Mughals and British invaders in school history books, do include more about ancient Indian great kings, their architectures, priceless knowledge and their glory to the future generations to be proud about themselves and to be proud about our mother India !!! No where on this Earth, you can find such majestic place like this!!

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Brihadeeshwara Temple - World's first complete granite temple

Brihadeeswara Temple

              'Brihadeeswara Temple' is also called as 'Thanjai Periya kovil' and 'Peruvudaiyar kovil', located at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. This city is famous for the rice cultivation and it's also known as 'The land of fertile paddy fields'.

              This is the FIRST COMPLETE GRANITE TEMPLE in the World, it's an architectural wonder, which nobody can repeat it in today's world. Why it can't be replicated ? what's soooo special about this architecture ? Everything will be clear at the end of this topic. 

               Brihadeeswara Temple is more than 1000 years old, the Magnum Opus of King of Raja Raja Cholan I, which is not only famous for its gigantic size, structural design and sculptures there are many other additional aspects to it. It has been listed as UNESCO World heritage site under the listing of 'Great Living Chola Temples'

 

     

          The Chola king Arulmozhivarman, adored as 'Raja Raja Chola I' ruled over entire south India, Ceylon, Malaya, Maldive Islands and Indonesia. He is a big devotee of Lord Shiva, it is said that he received orders in his dreams to build a temple for Lord Shiva and then he laid foundation for this temple on 1010 A.D, naming this temple as 'Raja Rajeshwaram'.

             This temple was built in Dravidian style of architecture by the architect 'Kunjara Mallan Raja Rama Perunthachan' during the reign of king 'Raja Raja Chola I' in the year 1010 AD. The principal deity of this temple is Lord Shiva called as 'RajaRajeshwara' , later called as 'Brihadheshwara' meaning Great Lord / Lord of the world, it is one of the largest Shiva lingas in India. The king named this temple as 'Dakshina Meru', the Meru mountain of the South. It is also known as 'Periya Kovil' meaning 'Big Temple'. 

             The temple stands in the middle of vast rectangular courtyard, The prakaram (outer precincts of the temple) measures 240m by 125m, it has massive corridors. There are about 250 lingams in the entire temple compound and the outer wall of the upper storey is carved with 108 dance posters of 'Bharathanatyam', a classic dance of Tamil Nadu.

Architecture

             The architecture and the details on this gopuram are astounding !!! This temple is constructed with strong and eminent granite stones brought from various parts of South India. The Majestic Raja Gopuram (Tower of main deity) is a huge hollow structure with the height of 216 feet, the tallest granite structure in the world, which withstood all the natural extremities of weather, storms, rainfall, fire accidents and six earth quacks.
              

               Thanjavur is a fertile red soil area where there are no granite stones. But, this temple was built using around 130,000 tons of granite, the sources of granite and the transportation done in those days are still not explained. Even, there are no remains of the stone and granite cutting quarry around 50 Km radius.Some say that they have used elephants for transportation, such that granite stones are placed over the wooden logs and the elephants roll the logs to move the stones from one place to another. It's constructed in such a way that stones are interlocked to stay intact, without using any binding material. There are no 200+ feet structure built in this world with no binding materials used.  

          The temple is constructed and aligned axially in the same line such that the shadow of main Gopuram (Tower of the main deity) doesn't fall on the ground at noon. In other way, this temple design acts as a Sundial, with Raja gopuram in the middle as Gnomon. Thanjavur temple is a flawless construction with 100% accuracy in design and 0.0⁰ angle lean. Brilliant vedic architects !!! Ofcourse, they didn't do any civil engineering courses....

          

       This is the only Shallow Shiva temple which was built using interlocking granite stones without any binding materials. It's a wonder to many fine western architects who are unaware of our priceless ancient vedic science and  technology. The solid base of the temple raises 16 feet above which stone deities are placed, it raises 13 storeys high. 


Entrance of the temple
       

Two entrances (Gopuram) of the Temple

              

            A mammoth Nandi (Sacred Bull, gatekeeper of Lord Shiva) is placed at the entrance of the temple, which also the second largest statue of Nandi, carved out of single stone. The place where the Nandi is placed called  'Nandi Manadapam'. This Nandi statue is about 12 feet height, 19.5 feet long and 18.25 feet wide, weighing about 20 tons. It is said that this monolithic stone was brought from the holy river bed of Narmada.

Painting on the ceiling of Nandi Mandapa

         The Nandi (Bull) in the below picture was the originally sculptured bull during Raja Raja Chola period, which kept growing in size. The reason may be due to the weathering conditions / sculptured secret. Later, they have moved this Nandi and placed at the side of Mandapa and nailed to the ground.

Originally built Nandi, which was growing in size

Main Deity

          The main deity of this temple is Lord Shiva in the form of Lingam  and it is one of the biggest monolithic lingam in India. The Shiva lingam is 13.5 feet hight and 60 feet in circumference, made from a single stone The sanctum is 29 feet high occupying two storeys of the temple and it's called as 'Garbhagriha', where only priests are allowed to do pooja for the Lord. This place emits huge amount of electromagnetic positive energies and the energy keeps revolving around the sanctum by closing the top of the sanctum with the heavy and structural vedic Vimana. Thus the flow of energy in the temple creates healthy, soothing and divinely calming effects to the devotees.
             
            And, for this reason Men enters into the temple in bare chest to absorb the positive energy and women wear gold for the same. These are not just old traditions, there are many scientific reasons behind each, mentioned in our priceless culture.

          There is a rare stone called 'Chandrakanta stone' (Sacred Moon stone) installed under the Shiva Lingam, which makes the sanctum cool in summer and warm in winter. It is considered as a rare and sacred stone in India. 

Chandrakanta Stone

              On top of this 'Chandrakanta stone', Shiva lingam is placed which is made of Quartz, also called as 'Bana Lingam' taken from the holy river bed of Narmada and it's playing significant role in this sanctum. 
          
          Quartz - it's a precious and powerful stone used in ancient India. Quartz crystal has ability to produce and exchange energy. These crystals are superconductor of High frequency Cosmic rays, UV energy, Geo magnetic energy and conductors of visible light and IR radiation. Geo magnetic energy vibrates at 7.83 Hz, which is the resonance of our PRANAVA Mantra OM and also the planet's Schumann resonance

        Quartz resonates all forms of radio waves on electromagnetic spectrum. Bombarding quartz crystal or hammering them causes piezoelectricity. Even our human bones and DNA are having piezoelectric property. Our Pranava mantra vibrates at 7.83 Hz, by chanting OM mantra, our DNA also resonates at the same frequency.
         

            In the sanctum, daily rituals of chanting vedic mantras, performing abhishekams and poojas over the Bana lingam (Quartz Lingam) in the granite sanctum vibrates at 7.83 Hz frequency. Bana lingam amplifies the energy and creates a scalar field inside the sanctum. As it's a hollow shaped tower, created positive energy revolves inside the chamber and spread through the temple. In the temple, when praying God with our soul, these positive energies gets absorbed into our body, calms the mind, gives good spirit and divine thoughts. Our ancient Maharishis used this Quartz crystal for various reasons and also widely used in our vedic science.
        

        Also, due to the triboluminescence property of Quartz, it emits light when it is rubbed. The Shiva lingam has been placed in a way that it receives light, even when there is no light / lamps  inside the sanctum, (i.e) Sunlight falls on Nandi statue will be reflected on the Shiva Lingam every day.

Sri Vimana

              The weight of the cap stone, Vimana is 80 tones, no man made structure in this world has such a heavy cap stone on top of the tall structured building. How the Indian architects successfully placed heavy cap stone on top of this tall temple 1000 years ago ?? What's the reason for a huge cap stone over a shallow temple structure ? 

                      This huge cap stone is still mystery to many of the archaeologists and architects !!! When the archaeologists and westerners unable to decipher this divine structure, they fitted the reason as alien technology !!!! 

Sri Vimana at the top

View from bottom to top of the closed Vimana inside the sanctum

             
            This huge octagonal shaped cap stone is called as Sri Vimana, near the neck of the gopurama we can see 8 Nandis , 2 Nandis in each corner of the square neck, which is 26 feet by 26 feet in size carved out of single stone.  See the below pictures of Vimana . The reason for vimana kept above the tower is, to create a repulsive force for the divine energy emitting from the sanctum, so that cosmic energy keep revolving inside the sanctum and spreads around the temple.

Vimana / Huge stone cap on top of this temple

           On Massive 16 storey main gopuram (tower) of which 13 tapering squares (that is 99 feet tall), Sri Vimana is placted with a finishing size of 216 feet, the tallest granite temple of the world.
   
          It is one of the rare temple which has idols of 'Ashtaa - dikpaalakas' (Guardians of 8 directions) - God Indra, Agni, Yama, Vayu, Kubera, Isana, Varuna and Nirrti. 

There are more mysteries and secrets about this temple, will be continued in second part

        ......to be continued

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan