The Temple That Was Nearly Dismantled for a River Weir

In 1836, granite from the Chola temple complex was removed for construction of the Lower Coleroon Anicut.

In 1836, work began on the Lower Coleroon Anicut across the Kollidam River in Tamil Nadu.

The project needed large quantities of stone.

Nearby stood an 800-year-old Chola temple built largely from granite.

It became a quarry.

A Capital Built in Stone

The Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikondacholapuram was built by Rajendra Chola I as the centrepiece of his new imperial capital.

Completed in 1035, its 53-metre vimana rises in a graceful curve, noticeably different from the straighter and more severe tower built by Rajendra’s father at Thanjavur. (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Completed under Rajendra Chola I in 1035, the temple’s 53-metre vimana remains the dominant surviving feature of the former Chola capital.

Eight centuries later, that carefully worked granite attracted attention for a very different reason.

It could be reused.

What the Historical Record Says

 

 Source: A Gazetteer of Southern India (1855); Ancient India by Aiyangar, S.K (Right image)

The clearest early account appeared in A Gazetteer of Southern India in 1855. It was later reproduced in The Indian Antiquary in 1875.

The account states that a large part of the temple’s granite sculptures was removed during construction of the Lower Coleroon Anicut. It also says that the stone enclosure wall was “almost wholly destroyed” to provide material for the work. (Internet Archive)

This was not simply the collection of loose stones from an abandoned ruin.

Parts of a functioning and venerated monument were deliberately dismantled.

The Local Resistance

Local residents attempted to stop the removal.

The gazetteer records that they protested against the destruction of a monument to which the colonial government could show no ownership. Their resistance failed, and some were punished for contempt.

Officials reportedly promised to replace the demolished stone enclosure with a brick wall.

According to the same account, “the promised wall was never built.” (Internet Archive)

The Temple Survived, but Not Untouched

The Archaeological Survey of India gives a shorter account of the incident.

It states that a British officer considered the temple the best source of stone for a weir across the Kollidam and ordered its demolition. The ASI also records that local opposition prevented the temple from being completely destroyed. (ASI)

The two accounts describe different parts of the same event.

The protest did not save every sculpture or the enclosure wall.

The historical record documents the removal of granite sculptures and most of the enclosure wall for a river-weir project. The central temple and its great vimana survived.

But the central temple and its great tower remained standing.

In 2004, Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram were added to the previously listed Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur. Together, the three monuments became the UNESCO World Heritage property known as the Great Living Chola Temples. (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Gangaikondacholapuram is therefore not the story of a temple that escaped destruction.

It is the story of one that survived it.

The river weir served an immediate engineering purpose. The temple paid part of the cost in sculptures and stone.

Granite can be reused.

History cannot.

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Research Note

Gangaikondacholapuram did not escape destruction. It survived it.

This article distinguishes between the documented removal of granite sculptures and enclosure-wall masonry and the uncompleted proposal to demolish the entire temple.

The principal historical evidence comes from A Gazetteer of Southern India, published in 1855, and its reproduction in The Indian Antiquary in 1875. The account is supported by the Archaeological Survey of India’s documentation of the Great Living Chola Temples.

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Sources

Pharoah and Co., A Gazetteer of Southern India, with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore (Madras, 1855). (Internet Archive)

James Burgess, ed., The Indian Antiquary, Volume IV (Bombay, 1875), p. 274. (Internet Archive)

Archaeological Survey of India, Great Living Chola Temples. (ASI)

UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Great Living Chola Temples. (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

UNESCO World Heritage Committee, 2004 decision extending the property to include Gangaikondacholapuram and Darasuram. (UNESCO World Heritage Centre)

Ariyalur District Administration, Gangaikonda Cholapuram. (Ariyalur District)