Brihadeswara

Today I visited Brihadeswara temple in Thanjavur. Brihadeswara was built in the 10th century by the father of the king who built the temple I visited yesterday, Airavatesvara. His name was Raja Raja. Brihadeswara is detailed, but not nearly as intricately adorned as Airavatesvara. But what it lacks in detail it makes up for with SIZE.(if this was the first Chola temple I had seen I would still be impressed by the detail, btw!) Brihadeswara is all about size. There are columns of solid stone 10 meters high, a GIANT solid stone Nandi (The second largest in all of India) and a cap stone so large it required a ramp 2 kilometers long to to install. 2 kilometers! Another interesting little fact is that none of the stone is "local" it was all brought in from over 60km away from the site. The work was done with help of elephants.


Like every other temple I've visited so far, Brihadeswara is a working Hindu temple.

Notice the way that stone is being used to emulate wood construction on the eves. Each "beam" on the eves is actually part of a larger stone that fits together with it's neighboring stones perfectly.


A tank carved from a single block of stone:


Here we can see some unfinished stones on the side of the temple. The stones were actually fit together first and then carved smooth. Another detail worth noting is that there is no mortar in used anywhere. The stones are all carved to fit together perfectly. The lack of mortar is one of the reasons the temple is so well reserved. Mortar usually fails long before the stones in a masonry structure.


Today, I had a particularly good guide. He took the time to explain to me some of the more confusing (for a westerner) details of Hinduism. For example, take the Lingam. From a westerners perspective, it doesn't look like much:

I could not help but ask what the pillar statue was all about. I'd seen in in other temples but this temple had a massive collection of them. It turns out the Lingam statue is one of the most advanced visualizations of God in Hinduism. You see, despite what most westerners think, in the most advanced interpretation of Hinduism there is only one God. The Lingam, being the most abstract avatar for God is still just a stepping stone to the MOST advanced understanding. It actually represents Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma all at once as well as male, female, creation and eternity. From what the guide told me, "God" is actually most represented by the space above the Lingam. In other words, there is no avatar for that level of understanding of God. No-God, I guess you could say. (or at least an understanding of God not requiring an avatar to comprehend) God is literally represented by nothing but empty space. Taking the concept a step further, there is the Akasha Lingam, or Sky Lingam, as found in the Chidambaram Temple. It's an empty space in the inner shrine of the temple. There is no statue representing the presiding deity at that temple.

OK, so it all still sounds very complicated. Maybe it is. Hinduism is the amalgamation and synthesis of thousands of years of regional religions. The interpretations he gave me were either his or those of scholars he was repeating. So, maybe you could say it is complex, but at least a few people have figured it out. One other thing he related was, in his opinion at least, Hinduism works for any level of understanding in the devotee. Children are started out with simple images and story's. As their understanding grows they can move on to more advanced concepts. (Assuming they care to)

Like most religions, there are many flavors of Hinduism, for example, devotion to Shiva or Vishnu... the guide described it as similar to Protestantism vs Catholicism.

There is a lot more. But I found the all the above details very interesting.

On a practical note, I'll add to the list of injuries I've sustained in India. I'm not sure if it was the hot stones at the temple yesterday, my sandals, walking around bare foot so much, or all of the above. I've developed a blister on my right foot. It's not some kind of parasite or anything. It's a friction blister, or a second degree burn. My feet have had a month to harden up. I've been walking around in Auroville bare foot most of the time. I really think it was walking around on hot stones. It was BLAZING hot at Chidambaram Temple. I just hope the blister doesn't cripple me the rest of the trip. I'd built up a nice layer of callous but now it looks like I might lose it to the blister. :-( My motorcycle burn only took about a week to heal up. But a week is a long time when your are only touring for two weeks. The most bothersome thing is that this is the first friction/foot blister I've ever had in my entire life. (Well, the first bad one!) This coming from a former boy scout who still gets in his fare share of hiking. What a drag.

The last photo is my bell-hop. He's the first person who's actually given me contact info to send him the photo. (I'm really going to have to try and get a better photo for him but tomorrow is my last day here)