The Lost Temple Of India (Image Heavy!)
When people think of India they think of the Taj Mahal, Shāh Jahān’s Eternal memorial dedicated to his wife Mumtāz Mahal.
But there is a more ancient and secret India hidden deep in its tropical jungles with one of the greatest building efforts in the Human History produced Thousands of strange and mysterious temples, today they are lost and forgotten. This is India's Deep South the land of emerald green Rice fields and Immense Palm Forests where every few miles temples sour towards the heavens in the country side.
Here over a thousand year ago, 985 AD to be exact Rajaraja Cholan became King of the Chola Dynasty, His Original name was Arunmozhivarman and his title was Rajakesari Varman or Mummudi-Sola-Deva, he was the second son of the Parantaka Cholan II.
His capital was the city of Thanjavur. Thanjavur was the royal city of the Cholas, Nayaks and the Mahrattas. Thanjavur derives its name from Tanjan-an asura (giant), who according to local legend devastated the neighbourhood and was killed by Sri Anandavalli Amman and the God Vishnu.
He was one of the greatest kings of India and in the south he embarked on one of the largest building plans in the history of Mankind that still continues till this day, He and his successor’s moved more Stone then the great pyramid of Giza.
This temple is so large that over 200 Taj Mahal’s can fit into its Temple Grounds.
You might ask why he built all these temples, well it was the same motive that build Europe's Cathedrals, Egypts Pyramids He was moved by the power of faith. You have to understand one thing about India this is a land with almost as many gods as people, and it believes all life to be sacred even a humble ant has its place. Gods are worshiped differently here then in Europe for example During Festivals the Gods are Taken from their shrines and paraded around in the temple grounds, their costumes are changed at the end of the day and they are put to bed for a few hours rest in the night.
Generally its believed that if these, and other Rituals are performed perfectly then its going to be more beneficial for you, so that's why Rituals are taken very seriously and they are memorized rigorously by priests , and these Rituals hardly if ever change with the passage of time. For any Religion, anywhere in the world including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism etc etc... To flourish it helps to have friends in High places like Kings or very wealthy benefactors but for Hinduism with its vast temples and 1000's of priest’s its absolutely essential and Rajaraja was one of the greatest Patron of Arts and Religion in India's Long History.
And this was his Start the great temple of Bragatheeswarar.
Its one of the most amazing building in India, its 10 times taller then anything build before it and not only its huge but its made of Granite one of the hardest stone in the world. The inner shrine under the large tower contains a large Phallus shaped stone actually its called a Ling and it represents the God Shiva one of the most powerful and popular god and also one of the 3 gods of the Holy Trinity that began, Run and ultimately End This Universe only to start all over again. This Phallus is 12ft in Height and 5ft in diameter. Every day the priests dress Shiva wash him with milk This has been going on since the creation of the temple and it still goes on today in an unbroken chain for the past 1000 years.
To build Temple's like these required Huge Amounts of Money, and the Easiest way to get it is by attacking your weaker neighbors and Rajaraja began his career with the conquest of the Chera country. He defeated Chera King Bhaskara Ravivarman, whose fleet he destroyed in the port of Kandalur. He also seized Pandya Amara Bhujanga and captured the port of Vilinam. By his campaign against the Singhalees he annexed northern Ceylon (Modern Day Sri Lanka), building a number of stone temple in the Ceylonese capital Polonnaruva, of which one now stands to Shiva. It was at about the 14th year of his reign (AD 998-999) that most of his triumphs were achieved. Having already overcome the Chera, Rajaraja assumed the title "Mummudi Cholan".Through his son Rajendra Cholan. Chola also simultaneously directed his arms against Ceylon. Rajaraja moved the capital from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruva. With Rajaraja, the Chola culture and Shiva religion permeated the whole of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Rajarajan having thus realized his cherished military glories, in or about 1003 AD has sheathed his sword, and turned his thoughts towards a life of peace. It was about this time, that the Chidambaram temple authorities bestowed on him the title of "Sri Rajarajan".
Indian is a huge country and it has a very diverse climate, Eastern India Is a Desert the Western part receives the Highest Rainfall in the world, central India is a Huge Plateau covering 4 Modern day State's, and Warfare in India is also a very different affair with each Climatic Regions having and specializing in different type of warfare, but the 1 thing common through out Indian warfare are the War Elephants.
And in the jungles of South India, Rajaraja had an ample supply of elephants for his war effort. Now Wild Elephants might seem the right candidates to become War Elephants but they are actually very docile and only attack when provoked, only the biggest, fiercest and fittest tusked males can be used as War Elephants, so what the Ancient Elephant Trainers or Mahout’s (They are Still called by this name even in today’s age) did was they made a stockade and drove elephant herds into a funnel that led into the stockade and once the elephants were inside the doors were shut and the training process began, as recently as the 1960's the same method was used to capture elephants as in Rajaraja's day except they are used for labor instead of War nowadays, the Ancient Mahout’s picked the strongest bulls among the heads to be trained for the battlefield’s the rest became the working elephants used for heavy lifting and transporting heavy objects for construction projects, The Mahout’s Controlled the War Elephants by getting them drunk on Fermented Rice liquor or Makar, before every battle. The elephants could literally Slice their way through a battlefield with Razor Sharp blades attached to their trunks, From top of the elephants Spear Throwers, Generals, Archers could rain down death on the people below but despite all this Elephants are very hard to control they instinctively aren’t meant to kill people en mass and Only the Legendary skill of the Mahout’s or elephant trainers/Riders could make them do so. It is interesting to note just like the Roman Legions we know the names of the Regiments that distinguished them self’s in battle there are over 70 regiments whose names are inscribed in the Temples like the
Ilaiya-Rajaraja-terinda-Valangai-Velaikkarar, Parivarameykappargal (A Regiment of Personal bodyguards), Mummadi- Chola-terinda-Anaippagar (A Regiment of the Elephant Corps) the surnames or titles of the king or of his son is usually prefixed before the Regiment’s named, possibly as a sign of attachment after the Regiment they had distinguished themselves in a Battle or other engagement. It would be considerably honorable and prestigious to be in the Kings own regiment.
After Rajaraja secured a good supply of money he started construction on his Temple of Bragatheeswarar. The quarry that supplied the granite, one of the hardest stones in the world, was over 50 miles away from the temple site. Most of the Stones were moved over Boats but some much heavier ones like the Cap stones which summit the top of the tower weight 40 ton's each, were moved with the combination of a Ramp and Elephants. The original Ramp's remains still exist today after over a 1000 years and its calculated to be at a Gentle 6degree slope pointing towards the Temple Top and is situated 1 mile from the temple. After calculations, a Ramp with a 6degree slope and 1 mile away would intersect the tower's top exactly 216ft in the air which is also the height of the temple tower. To Move the Stones from the Quarry to the Ramp and up on the Ramp, Elephants were used by using wooden Rollers beneath the Stones so they could be rolled into place much like how the Ancient Egyptians made the Pyramid.
You’d think Rajaraja was crazy going to so much trouble to make just a Temple, but let me explain Rajaraja was a very Religious man and he was caught between a Rock and a hard place, on one hand His Religion Forbade him to kill and on the other hand to be a successful king he had to make war on his neighbors for his people's sake otherwise his kingdom would be weak and easily overrun and so he was responsible for the deaths of Hundred’s of Thousands of his enemy's. He firmly believed as do all Hindu’s today in Rebirth & Reincarnation, that your actions in this life will determine your Lot in the next one, given the blood on Rajaraja's hand he might comeback as a worm or something even worse. So he spent fabulous amounts of money on his temple's for example its written in an inscription that it took 4,000 cows 7,000 Goats and 30 buffalos just to supply the butter required for the Lamps that were lit in the temple & temple grounds, all this to light just 1 temple and Rajaraja provided for 100's of temples that he created just to insure that he kept his karma in good standing because of his generosity he hoped that gods would overlook his transgressions and be persuaded to reincarnate him as something better then a worm.
Indian Religion during Rajaraja's time also spread across other lands, that’s why in the steaming jungles of Cambodia the Temples of Angkor wat don’t depict Cambodian Gods but the Gods of India. Not only did religion spread Art also spread when Europe was languishing in the Dark Age the Artist’s in the Chola Empire were making bronze statues like the famous Nathraja show below.
This is Shiva who appears as Nathraja the Lord of the dance simultaneously crushing the dwarf of ignorance under his foot, beating the drum of creation, unleashing the fires of destruction and finally raising 1 hand in assurance telling us to fear not. Infact near Thanjavur people still create bronzes as they did in Rajaraja's time by placing mud from the Kavari River on a hand carved wax statue and creating a hallow mold. After that they pour molten Bronze or Gold into the Mold and let it cool to take the shape of the statue.
Some Examples of Indian Art
When Rajaraja died in 1014 he left behind him a shining legacy that made him one of the greatest patrons of art and religion in India.
The Chola Dynasty ended with King Rajendra Chola III the last Chola King , The last recorded date of Rajendra III is 1279 A.D. There is no evidence that Rajendra was followed immediately by another Chola prince. The Chola empire was completely overshadowed by the Pandyan empire, though many small chieftains continued to claim the title "Chola" well into fifteenth century C.E.
This is A Murual Showing Rajaraja it was draw druing his Reign, it shows him in Red standing Behind His Guru, if you have seen a picture of the god shiva you might find similarity's with the hair style of Rajaraja. It must be noted that some archeologists dispute whether this is actually Rajaraja or not.
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