Saturday, December 29, 2012

Wide Arenas of Cholan Empire

It was a long awaited trip to visit these temples of Cholan Empire and with all the logistical difficulties we somehow managed to travel to all the major temples of Cholan Empire. That it was a season of Shabarimala and the most of these temples are very much alive, there were more tourists than expected, and I barely managed to get some shots without too many people in it. Of course it took a lot of time to get some half decent shots. That the temple complexes are so big, it gave a perfect setting for me to click and stitch some panoramic shots. Here are some of them.

(click on the pictures for the enlarged view)

12th Century Airavatesvara Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II at Darasuram

Airavatesvara Temple looking North

Airavatesvara Temple looking North-East

Carvings on the Main temple complex of GangaiKonda Cholapuram

11th Century Siva temple built by Rajendra Chola I  at the Gangaikonda Cholapuram

Ruins inside the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple

The rear wall of the Siva Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram

The temple complex looking East of the Brihadeeswara Temple, Tanjavur

The wider arenas inside the temple comples of the Big Temple, Tanjavur

10th Century Brihadeeswara Temple built by Raja Raja Chola I at Tanjavur

Rear side of the Brihadeeswara Temple (looking North)
Tanjore Maratha Palace Complex built by Tanjavur Nayak Kingdom in 17th Century

(C) Srikanth Parthasarathy

3 comments:

T S said...

Super photos... It looks much better than what we saw in actual.
Great shots:)

TS

Manjunath Byadigere said...

Great photos Srik...

Soujanya said...

I agree with TS ... awesome photograpy ... :)