MY FAVOURITE TOURIST PLACE

                                                            -By Shreenidhi R.M

There are many incredible and mind blowing
historical places in TamilNadu. But the
Brihadeeswara Temple of Thanjavur is the
most beautiful of all. It looks as though the
whole world of architecture has been
constituted into a temple. As a family, we
visited the Brihadeeswara temple during the
last summer vacation. The vision cast a spell
over me.
 How could man build such an incredible temple
without any modern technology?
It stands in unique majesty. The entrance has
four gigantic towers which attracts tourists
from all directions. The grassy path at the
entrance, leads to a huge statue of Nandi which
has been carved out of a single rock. On top of
the Nandi, there are gorgeous flower designs
with matching colours.
 I took snaps of it from all possible angles. In
the next 247 feet (number of Tamil vowels) the
sanctum was found. My joy knew no bounds
when I saw the lingam. The place is completely
divine and bewitching. I was able to feel the
spiritual energy surrounding me. Later we
came to the temple’s beautiful garden and
rested under an enormous tree that had
branches spread across the sky. The luscious
tufts of grass and the green shoots made us
cool as a cucumber.
 The temple tower is jaw dropping and
extremely tall. I observed different statutes
such as Ashtadikpaalakas and minute carvings
that depict nearly 81 different bharatanatyam
styles.
 My mother asserted that the stones used for
the construction of this temple are granite
stones and the most amazing thing with this
temple lies here. In Thanjavur, there are no
granite stones available! My father further
stated that this temple has more than hundred
underground passages that connect to various
other places. Sadly, most of the passages are
sealed now.
 This temple is a 1000 year old wonder, in the
heart of Tamil Nadu. It still stands strong,
despite all the natural calamities that it has
faced through a millennium. Another
interesting fact that still breaks my head is that
the tower above the sanctum, does not cast a
shadow at noon!  I realised, this was not just a
temple but the origin of miracles. The time
passed by in a wink of an eye and we had to go
back home.
In a nutshell, this Temple is the sign of power,
wealth and artistic skills of the Cholas. And I
consider this temple as the best tourist place
forever!!

Shreenidhi RM
Grade VIII
Lalaji Memorial Omega International School