A Living Evolving Temple

While the Brihadishwara Temple has withstood the test of time amazingly well for over 1000 years, it has gone through a number of enhancements, as well as repair and restoration work. Even today, there is ongoing preservation work in small areas of the temple, undertaken so that devotees and admirers may continue to worship and view this architectural marvel for many millennia to come.

The Brihadishwara Temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, in recognition of its outstanding universal value and cultural significance.

Evolution of the Temple Structures

The Brihadishwara temple complex evolved over 900 years with several dynasties adding shrines and other structures to the original Chola buildings and renovating others.

Cholas (granite construction)

• Chandikeskwara shrine

• Main Vimana and Garbagriha (sanctum sanctorum), front Mandapams (Antrala, and Maha Mandapam) – built on a single base platform

• Keralathanka Thiruvayil and Rajaraja thiruvayil (two inner gateways) 

• Thiruchutra Maligai (Outer colonnaded cloister)

Nayakas (granite and limestone construction)

• Mukha Mandapam (first hall leading to the main sanctum)

• Amman Shrine

• Subrahmanya Shrine

• Nandi Mandapam with monolithic Nandi statue

Marathas (brick, plaster and mortar, and granite construction)

• Maratha Thiruvayil (outermost gateway)

• Karuvur Siddhar Mandapam

• Ganapathi Shrine (original structure was damaged by the British in 1771-1798, rebuilt by Marathas)

• Vaulted roofed building on the southern side of the temple complex (presently Interpretation Center/museum)

• Nataraja Mandapam

French Military

• Defensive outer wall with gun emplacements

Repair and Restoration

The Brihadishwara Temple has suffered damage over centuries from wars, natural elements like lightning, and general wear. 

•Wars between Muslim and Hindu Raids and wars between Muslim Sultans and Hindu kings caused damage to parts of the temple that were rebuilt or repaired by subsequent Hindu dynasties that gained control over Thanjavur.

• The French troops misused the temple by turning it into an arsenal and military fort, stationing troops inside around 1756 and adding high defensive walls with gun-holes, damaging its outer structures. The British East India Company further damaged the temple in 1800 by using it as a fortress and encampment with target practice, leaving bullet holes visible today.  In 1836, they dismantled parts of the outer walls and mandapams (pavilions) to build the Lower Anaicut dam, destroying many inscriptions.

• A lightning strike in 2010 damaged the kalasam (finial) on the Rajarajan Thiruvayil entrance gopuram, breaking brick and lime mortar.

• Over centuries, natural wear caused unevenness in the brick flooring, leading to recent repair works by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2024.

It should be noted that none of the repair or restoration efforts have compromised or changed the basic construction of the main temple. The temple including the vimana are still exactly as built by the Cholas and no structural enhancements have been made to these 1000-year-old structures or its foundation.

Conservation

The temple, as it stands today, has been preserved due to restoration work undertaken by the Nayakas and the Marathas and the current stewards of the temple, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Ongoing conservation by ASI involves careful restoration using traditional methods and materials, minimizing impediments to public access to the temple and daily worship. In addition, ASI continuously works on repairs, like the 2024 project to replace eroded bricks in the flooring with new bricks and lime mortar.

Conservation ethics emphasize that it may be necessary to leave certain damaged areas untouched if repair or restoration work risks damaging original material. This principle has been followed in conserving or restoring the Brihadishwara temple, as seen with work done to preserve delicate paintings.

Looting and Theft

The Brihadishwara Temple has a long history of being subjected to looting and theft of idols across various historical periods.

• The upper-most sections of the temple's  (tower) were once gold-plated, but this gold was reportedly looted during the invasion by Malik Kafur in the 14th century.

• In more recent history, numerous valuable bronze idols have been stolen from the temple complex and other nearby temples in the Thanjavur district, often ending up in international art markets. A famous example is the , stolen in 2006 and later sold to the National Gallery of Australia. This idol was eventually returned to India in 2014 after a complex international effort. Idol smuggling rings, involving art dealers like Subhash Kapoor, have been implicated in the theft of these ancient artifacts. 

Maharani Kamakshi Bai’s Efforts to Preserve Thanjavur History

Note must be made here of the incredible efforts made by Maharani Kamakshi Bai, wife of the last Thanjavur Maratha king. 

Kamakshi Bai filed a case in the British courts against British East India company to prevent the looting of the Thanjavur Saraswathi Mahal library and other private properties belonging to the late Maharajah. She won the case and secured possession of immovable properties. Unfortunately, some movable property (jewels and artifacts) were not returned by the British East India company who claimed that these treasures were gifted to Queen Victoria and therefore not returnable. Even so, this was a significant victory for not only Maharani Kamakshi Bai, but for all of Thanjavur, as the Saraswathi Mahal Library is one of the oldest libraries in India with a collection of over 49,000 volumes of palm leaf and paper manuscripts written in Tamil and Sanskrit. These rare and precious documents provide a unique and important view of the history of the Brihadishwara temple among other significant events of the time.