Temple Trails | Airavateswara Temple | Day 3

Anyway there was no cyclone, so no adventure to write about, but the sights were amazing. Luckily for us,  today the whole train was almost empty.  Apne baap ki train hai wali feeling as rahi thi.. actually we were very tired because last night we had spent long time lazing at the Agni theerthaam and after coming to our room the blasting thunderstorm didn't allow us to sleep peacefully.

After one hour the next station came ie. Kumbakonam (shayad isliye kumbakaram  ki tarah hum sab soye rahe)

1.The biggest reason to visit Airavateswara temple is, that it is a UNESCO world heritage site,so naturally I was excited all the more. I felt I was destined to visit this temple perhaps that's the reason I must have overslept.

Architectural Delight

2.The Cholas built hundreds of Hindu temples across their empire. Of these four were vast complexes with all stone vimanas. The Airavatesvara temple is one of these four. The other three are the temples found in Thanjavur built by Rajaraja I, in Gangaikonda Cholapuram built by Rajendra I, and in Tribuvanam by the later era Chola king Kulottunga II. Hence Airavateshwara Temple is one of the living Chola Temple.

 

Intricate carvings

 

4.The peaceful ambiance, the musical stairs are something unique to be seen in this temple. 

Peaceful ambiance

 

5.To a photographer Airavateswara Temple offers some magnificent shots and angles.

Good Photo angles

6. 100 pillars hall with intricate carving on each of them.

8. Last but not the least its one of the Great living Chola Temple.

History:

 

The reasons for the destructions of Chola temples are unclear. According to Vasanthi, the Pandavas who defeated the Cholas during the later part of 13th century "may have raged the Gangaikonda Cholapuram to ground" to avenge their previous defeats. However, it is unclear why other temples were destroyed and this temple was spared, as well as why there are around 20 inscriptions from later Cholas, Pandyas and Vijayanagar Empire indicating various gifts and grants to this temple.

 

An alternate theory links the destruction to the raids, plunder and wars, particularly with the invasion of the capital city and the territories that were earlier a part by the Chola Empire along with Madurai by the armies of Delhi Sultanate led by the Muslim commander Malik Kafur in 1311, followed by Khusrau Khan in 1314 and Muhammad bin Tughlaq in 1327. The period that followed saw wars between the Hindu kings and the Muslim Sultans who seceded the Delhi Sultanate and carved out new polity such as the nearby Madurai Sultanate (1335–1378). The Vijayanagara Empire defeated the Madurai Sultanate in 1378 and this temple along with other Chola era temples thereafter came under Hindu kings again who repaired and restored many of them.

The most unique feature of the temple was the horses at the entrance steps. The front Mandapa known as Rajagambhiran Tirumandapam is unique as it was conceptualized as chariots with wheels. 

Elephants, Horses and Chariots

Next we come across a strange sculpture of fusion of Elephant, horse or was is something else ?

Is it an elephant or  a horse ?

moving on to the back side of the temple there is this beautiful Shiva Sculpture in black stone.

Considering that I am no historian nor I am deeply in architecture, Its quite possible that I may fall short of providing all the information on this temple. In case if you are willing to dig deep I found this website quite useful you can click here to read more.