CHOLA ART AT BRIHADEESHWARA TEMPLE

The Bridhadeeshvara Temple at Tanjavur built by Rajaraja the Great and the Brihadisvara at Gangai- kondacholapuram erected by his son Rajendra I. They were visited by Saiva and Vaisnava saints.

• Hard stones of various qualities, like granite etc. went into their construction. A number of earlier brick and timber structures were renovated in stone.

• The whole temple stands on a bold ornate basement covered all over with inscriptions.

• A prominent molding divides the lower part of the vimana wall into two storeys. Pilasters and niches containing statues decorate the exterior walls of each storey.

• The famous Chola frescoes, a fine gallery with great artistic merit and iconographic interest, cover the rest of the walls.

• The upper passage contains a series of a hundred and eight sculptured panels on its inner walls, all finished with relief sculpture expect the 27.

• Besides sculpture and painting, long and well-inscribed epigraphs provide interesting information about the history of the temple.

• This is the greatest example of Chola Art, the architectural design takes precedence over lavish detailed decoration.

Artistic characteristics of Chola Art:-

• Chola art shows greater mmovement and rhythmic freedom of action within well-formed outlines.

• The human figures appear less abstract.

• The Cholas differentiate between the representation of gods and human portraits.

• The latter reveal distinctive individuality and character rather htan an idealised type asin the case of gods.

• Decorative details, however, have become more elaborate.

This temple carries on its walls the engraved evidence of the elaborate administrative and financial procedures concerning the day-to-day administration of the temple. The inscriptions give, apart from a comprehensive history of the times, a full enumeration of all the metallic images set up in the temple. Numbering about sixty-six, these icons are referred to with a description of the minutest details of size, shape and composition. This alone is a mine of information for the art historian.

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The main deity is a lingam and is a huge, set in a two storeyed sanctum, and the walls surrounding the sanctum delight visitors as a storehouse of murals and sculptures. The temple is built entirely of granite, interestingly, in a place where there is no source of granite. 

 

CHOLA FRESCO

 

Chola Fresco of Dancing girls. Brihadisvara Temple c. 1100 C.E.

These are the first Chola paintings discovered. The passage of the corridor is dark and the walls on either side are covered with two layers of paintings from floor to ceiling.

The technique used in these frescoes: A smooth batter of limestone mixture is applied over the stones, which took two to three days to set. Within that short span, such large paintings were painted with natural organic pigments.

 

  

Another fresco found in the Brihadisvara Temple

During the Nayak period, the Chola paintings were painted over. The Chola frescos lying underneath have an ardent spirit of saivism is expressed in them. They probably synchronised with the completion of the temple by Rajaraja Chola.

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