Paintings in Tanjore Big Temple

The Brihadeeswarar Temple was built to be the royal temple to display the emperor Rajaraja Chola’s vision of his power and his relationship to the universal order. In those days the temple remained a hub of business activities for the flower merchants,milk vendors, oil merchants, ghee merchants, all of whom made a regular supply of their respective goods for the temple for its pujas and during festival seasons.Moreover as evidenced by the inscriptions that found in the compound wall of this temple, the temple had always been serving as a platform for the dancers who excelled in the traditional dance form of Bharatha Natyam. Even today, the Brihadeeswarar Temple remains India’s largest.

The temple is also an architectural exemplar showcasing the pure form of the Dravida type of temple architecture and representative of the Chola Empire ideology and the Tamil civilisation in Southern India. The temples “testify to the brilliant achievements of the Chola in architecture, sculpture, painting and bronze casting”. The Temple was consecrated in the year 1010 CE by Raja Raja Chola I. The Millennial year celebrations duly happened in 2010.