Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c24.22

c24.22

In the course of time, however, maturity was attained, as the two magnificent temples of Tanjore and Gangaikonda-cholapuram, erected less than a century afterwards, abundantly testify. In comparison with the temple of Koranganatha, they are as cathedrals to a parish church. Both built within the first quarter of the eleventh century, they prove that, during the intervening period, the Chola dynasty had been made aware of its vast power, and had had its character revealed to itself. The first ruler to become conscious of this sense of their own might was Rajaraja the Great (985-1018), which he proceeded to inaugurate by a superb architectural monument. It must have been a profoundly spiritual impulse which moved this ruler to commemorate the material achievements of his line in the great Siva (Brihadesvara) temple at Tanjore erected about the year 1000. (Plate LXVII). Apparently the largest, highest and most ambitious production of its kind hitherto undertaken by Indian builders, it is a landmark in the evolution of the building art in southern India. In size alone, regardless of its superb architectural treatment, its proportions are considerable, as the main structure is 180 feet long, above which rises a massive pyramidal tower 190 feet high, and from these dimensions some idea of the magnitude of the work and the courage and skill required to complete it may be realized. Except for the Great Lingaraja temple at Bhubaneswar in Orissa (Chapter XXI), which even then was a recent production, with a sikhara of 160 feet in height, few buildings had been raised of a greater height than 60 feet. As a measure of its size the vimana is equal in height to the central tower of Worcester cathedral, but the temple as a whole is only two-thirds the area of this Gothic example