Chola

Architecture
THE DRAVIDIAN STYLE : THE TEMPLES OF THE CHOLAS (900 – 1150)

•most of them are constructed of well dressed granite blocks accurately coursed
and bonded.

•All the temples of the group show by the treatment a close affinity to those of
the more distant chalukyans than to the revival of the style of their
predecessors the pallavas.

•The resemblance of the domical finial of the shikara which has a double
flexured contour similar to that in the temples of Badami and pattadakal.
Temple of Koranganatha, Srinivasanalur, Trichinopoly:

• Built during the initial period of the cholas

• The name is due to the inhabitance of monkeys after completion and could
never be used.

• pillared hall mandapa 25 feet by 25 feet.

• sanctuary / vimana 50 feet high

• a small hall having 4 pillars comprises the interior with a vestibule and
passage beyond leading to the cella, a square chamber of 12 feet side.
• Change in the method of architectural treatment
 THE DRAVIDIAN STYLE : THE TEMPLES OF THE CHOLAS (900 – 1150)

• Cholas were centered around the area of Tanjore, south of present day Chennai

• The Cholas developed the Dravidian style and almost perfected it

• Chola cities were elaborately planned and laid out with temple as its center

• Emperor Rajaraja chola (985-1014 Ad) and his son Rajendra-first established their
empire from down south to Orissa in the east and Goa in the west

• They were great patrons of art and architecture

• Brihadeshwara temple of Tanjore can be treated as a representative Kirti-stambha of

his dynasty

• This period marks the peak of temple building activity, when numerous earlier
temples of brick and timber were renovated in stone and more were built at all
places either by the visits of Shaiva and Vaishnava saints
 THE DRAVIDIAN STYLE : THE TEMPLES OF THE CHOLAS (900 – 1150)

• Most of them are constructed of well dressed granite blocks accurately coursed and bonded

• The Cholas desired something grander in conception to immortalise their glory

• All the temples show the treatment as undertaken by Chalukyans than to the revival of the
style of their predecessors the Pallavas

• The resemblance of the domical finial of the Shikara which has a double flexure contour

• Chola architects continued not only the grand Pallavan traditions of construction but also
achieved mastery of granite constructions evolved by the Pandyas and others

• Mastery over the materials lead to the greater ambition and with increasing size went some
elaboration, emulating later Pallavan architectural practice in softer materials, sometimes even
at the expense of geometry but never at the cost of order
THE DRAVIDIAN STYLE : THE TEMPLES OF THE CHOLAS (900 – 1150)

•The cholas continued the tradition of temple building, with many improvements in
the technique, use of hard stones, more embellished sculpture which became
bolder and still later became round

•The cholas conceived like giants and finished like jewelers

•Cholas initiated a new development in temple architecture with the provision of

Gopuram in the overall temple complex
Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore or
RajarajeshvaraTemple ,Tanjore

•The Chola king Rajaraja, commissioned the temple

• The size alone of which was a gigantic step forward in the evolution of temple
architecture in the south

•Until now, even after 500 years of building experience ,no tower higher than
18.2m had been attempted by the Hindu craftsmen of India

•An ambitious superstructure required that the cellas be proportionately enlarged

in plan

•In plan, it became a massive square of 24.6m

side, containing within it a pradakshinapath,running all the way around the cella

•The cube of the garbhagriha was carried vertically up to a height of 15m

•Thereafter, the familiar pyramidical tower soared another 39.6m into the sky,
capped by a single enormous domical stone weighing more than 80 tons
Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

•Two flat roofed mandapas infront of the vimana are placed as always along the
central axis, the largeness of their size in keeping with the proportions of the
vimana

•The portico housing the sculpture of the holy Nandi (bull) is situated along the
same axis but is detached from the main temple

•The entire complex stands in the middle of a quadrangle defined by a peripheral

veranda of the two rows of columns

•The 60.8 m (200ft) high stone tower which rises impressively over the sea of
courtyards around, is a gigantic reproduction of the familiar Dravidian vimana

•However, the horizontal tiers of its thirteen storeys have been suppressed to
accentuate the soaring verticality of the converging lines of the truncated pyramid

•The vimana, has withstood the ravages of over 900 years, literally without a dent

•Greater understanding of structural principles, in choosing the simpler and more

stable form of the pyramid was on safer grounds
Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore 1.Garbhagriha,
2.Pradakshina,3.Mahamandapa
and 4.Nandi
 Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

Basic pattern The layout of the sanctum

The mandala of the Brihadeshwara, or Rajarajeshvara,Temple

A mandala much favoured in southern India, the padmagarbha, governs the

layout of the garbha griha
 Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

•The formidable granite tower is the most

impressive achievements

•Pyramidal shikhara, built in the eleventh

century

•Above the two storeys of its façade rise

the multiple storeys of its pyramidal roof,
which is nearly 70m high

•At the summit is a domed monolithic stupi;

how it was placed there is still a mystery
 Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

The over 60-metre high vimana of

the 10th century Brihedeswara
capped by a single-piece domical
stone weighing over 80 tonnes
 Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

The vimana of the great temple

at Tanjore over the courtyards
around
Great Brihedeswara Temple ,Tanjore

•Access to the garbhagriha of the temple

•At the base of the shikhara of the temple, larger than life statues of the divinities
set in aedicule's flank a double flight of stairs
•The magisterial entrance is typical of the impressive monumentality of a temple in
which the architecture of the Cholas attained its highest point
Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Kumbakonam:

•Chola’s had passionate desire to build new cities that would be an

appropriate architectural symbol of their expanding empire

•Rajendra I’s decision to challenge the glory of Thanjavur by shifting his seat
of power to Gangaikondacholapuram (28 km from modern Kumbhakonam)

• The most dominant edifice of the new city was a monumental temple

•The greatness of an Indian city of the middle ages was measured by the
magnificence of the temple housing the presiding deity

•The city temple, though reduced to ruins, is a flamboyant reminder

•Essence of design as well as scale

•Some refreshing innovations

•The main vimana was even larger than that at Tanjore

• vimana – fluid lines

Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Kumbakonam:
The fluid lines of the vimana of the Gangaikonda
Cholapuram, Kumbakonam (AD 1025)
Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Kumbakonam:

1.Garbhagriha,2.Mahamandapa,
3.Mandapa and 4.Nandi
Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Kumbakonam:

•Vimana 150 feet from ground, the entire structure is built on a high platform

•Mandapa is a huge flat roofed hall of 22.8m x 59.4 m

•Main entrance from the east into the mandapa of 150 pillars, closely spaced, slender
columns (14 feet high) with a central passage carried all through the hall

•First of its kind, this hall influenced all the temple complexes of the later date

•Between the pillared hall and the sanctuary is the vestibule, running at perpendicular
to the axis of the building