Brihadeswara Temple, Thanjavur

Thanjavur owes a lot to the Chola Dynasty. It was under the Chola king Raja Raja I that the town became a bastion of Tamil culture. The Cholas constructed over 70 temples in the city and the most impressive of these temples is the Brihadeswara Temple. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Brihadeswara Temple turned a thousand years old in 2010 and symbolized the might of the dynasty. Dedicated to Shiva, this is also one of the oldest Shiva temples in the country. The temple that is built out of stone boasts of a dome that rises to almost 200 ft.

Spread over a massive 40 acres, the Thillai Natarajah Temple in Chidambaram is dedicated to Shiva and has influenced worship, architecture and sculpture for over 2,000 years. Of the nine gateways four (facing each of the major directions, north, east, south and west) have seven-storyed gopurams. The one facing the east has 108 Bharathanatyam postures sculpted on it. Chidambaram’s Thillai Nataraja Temple also has five halls or sabhais, of which the Raja Sabhai has a thousand pillars that symbolize the yogic chakra of thousand pillared lotus, Sahasraram.