I have personally visited Tanjore or tanjavuram two times , one at the time of college in Trichy and one with my parents . The Main Places to see in tanjore which were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list are Brihadeshwara Temple , Darasuram airavateswarar temple and gangaikonda Cholapuram temple . But rather than this there are plenty of attraction like maratha palace , schwartz church , Raghabendra Temple and dancing doll of tanjavur .This temples mostly build In the time of chola empire in between 9th and 13 th century . The most prominent structure in this area is the Brihadishwara temple (a shiva temple ) which was build by the chola king Raja Raja 1 at 1011 AD . The 80 ton solid granite at the top of the temple is really astonishing .
How to reach to tanjore :
The nearest airport of Tanjavur is trichy Airport which is 65 km from the Tanjore city and the international Airport is Madras International airport .
Train from Tanjore is available to most of the cities in Tamilnadu and the other place of India . As this is one of the most attractive UNESCO sites in India .
In Tanjore there is two bus stand , the older bus stand is near to the the bridheswara temple but most of the long distance bus leaves from the new bus stand . If you take a bus from trichy or coimbatore to tanjore , the bus will stop at the new bus stand .The distance between the old and the new bus stand is almost 5 km . Brihadishwara temple is somewhere in between.
tourist places in thanjavur :
bridheswara temple :
Bridheswara temple is one of the fascinating temple build in 1010 by the chola king Raja Raja1 of chola empire and one of the wonders in old times in India . This temple Vimana(temple tower) has been build by granite in Dravidian style . The astonishing fact is that in the top 80 tones capstone is carved from a single granite block. The vimana is 66 meter tall and made of pure granite .
This temple is dedicated to lord shiva . In front of the main gate of the temple there is monolithic Nandi which is one of the Biggest in the southern India . Nandi is the sacred bull and Vahan(vehicle) of Sankar .
Natyanjali festival which is a classical dance festival in favour of Nataraja(Lord Shiva ) is the most prominent festival of this temple premises.
The temple is opened in everyday from 6 am – 12:30 PM and 4 pm to 8:30 PM .
thanjavur maratha palace:
Tanjavur Maratha Palace was build in the 16 the century by the Nayaka ruler and Later annexed by the Maratha ruler who is the half-brother of Shivaji Maharaj in the 17 the century .
This building is divided into multiple structure like Saraswati Library (which is the oldest library of asia consisting of Sanskrit , Tamil Telugu and maratha Literature ) , Royal Palace museum (which is the collection of the bronze , stone sculptures and Painting ), Royal hall (This is the place where public gather ) , Bell Tower(this is a seven storied building used to observe the enemy’s movement) , Sangeet Mahal (this building was build to listen music and organize classical musical festivals) .
This palace has been the combination of the Dravidian , Maratha and Mughal architecture.
This palace has been opened from 9 am to 5 pm . It is just 1.5 km from the Bridheswara temple .
thanjavur maratha palace
airavateswarar temple :
Airavateswarar temple is another chola dynasty’s masterpiece build by the Raja Raja 2 in 12 th century( 1166 CE ). Main deity of this temple is Lord shiva but the name of the temple airavateswarar comes from airavata . Airavata is the white elephant of Indra who was cursed and regained his original body by worshipping Lord Shiva . Yama(the god of death ) also worshipped lord shiva to relief from his curse . The temple’s vimana is 24 meter in height .
The temple walls has been curved by the sculpture of Ramayana and Mahabharata . There were all together 80 dancers curved in the walls of the temple . This temple is also have been inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage Site .
The temple has been opened from 6am -12;30 pm and 4 pm – 8:30 pm .
gangaikonda cholapuram temple :
Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple is made by Rajendra Chola 1 in 1035 in the newly build city Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Gangoikonda become the capital of the chola empire for the next 250 years . Rajendra chola is the son of the great king Raja Raja 1 .
This is also a vimana-sized temple of Height 55 meters . After wining the kings of Ganges he build this Magnificent temple made of pure granite . In front of the temple there is a giant Nandi . In decoration this temple becomes more enriched than his father’s Brideshwara’s temple .
The Shiva Linga of this temple is biggest in whole south India . There is a sacred well inside the temple . People belive that the sacred water of ganges were kept by rajendra chola . This temple is another UNESCO inscribed site in this area .
It is situated 70 km from tanjavur temple and This temple is opened from 6:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM .
gangaikonda cholapuram temple
Schwartz Church:
Schwarts Church was build by maratha king Raja Sarfojii 2 in the memory of his spiritual german protestant master Rev. Christian Friedrich Schwarz in 1779 AD . He was one of the first christan missionary in India . It is a very rare incident that a hindu king build church for Christian . This shows the religious harmony in this place .
Inside the church there is sculpture of Christian saint . The church was build in colonial style .
Thanjavur dancing doll:
Tanjavur dancing doll is made of terracotta and Have a Geographical Indication (GI) tag . It’s different parts are connected such a way that if you shake the lower part little bit then the whole body will Dance . In tamil this dolls are called Tanjore Thalayatti Bommai .
Summary :
Tanjavur is a temple town mainly build by the Chola dynasty in between 9 th to 13 th century . Bridheswara temple , gangaikonda cholapuram temple and airavateswarar temple are the UNESCO inscribed World Heritage site in this area . Among all the temple Bridheswara Temple is the tallest , oldest and one of the wonders of the ancient Indian structure . This Chola empire has been spread from south India to farther Malay peninsula . It was one of the richest Empire of the southern India . Saraswati Library is the biggest library of ancient literature which proves that it was one of the epicentre of education at that time . Tanjavur dancing doll is a unique souvenir only found in this area .
