INDIA, June 5, 2012 (The Hindu): The clunk of chisel on stone fills the air. Instructions fly around. Priests, courtiers, masons and architects confer. The Natya Karanas (dance movements) are being carved into the wall of the corridor around the garbhagruha. Landmark judgements, donations and minutiae of day-to-day administration are inscribed on the outer rock walls. On the inside, artists capture scenes from the royal court, stories from the Puranas, gods, goddesses and creatures great and small. There is a tinkle of anklets, a rustle of silk, someone singing a Thevaram, someone else tuning a musical instrument…
The Brihadeeshwara temple as it must have been a thousand years ago came alive as 12 speakers — a combination of scholars, researchers, writers and die hard history enthusiasts — spirited us away to a time of the mighty Cholas and their marvels of engineering, the temples. The focus of the two-day seminar organized by the Rotary Club of Metropolis was the heritage of the Cholas. The speakers lucidly described the temple — from its layout, vimana, garbhagruha and gopura to its symbolism, iconography, vaastu and its canons of architecture and rituals.
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