Thread by @History_Ink1008

1/1 Melakkadambur Amrithakadeswara
Though the origin of the temple goes beyond several yugas, the current stone chariot form of the temple was built by the famous Chola King Kulothunga-I in the year-1113 AD, the king’s 43rd governing year. Before that, it was a brick construction

1/2 The temple is east facing with 3 tiered rajagopuram. The main Shrine is east facing and the ambal shrine is south facing. The sanctum sanctorum in the form of Chariot driven by horses with the lefy wheel stuck into the earth as Lord Vinayaka pressed it.

1/3 Temple Architecture-:
Karakkoil:
There are nine types of Hindu temple structures. Amongst them, this temple is a Karakkoil type where the Garbagraham is in chariot like structure pulled by horses with an enchanting appearance.

1/4Adhisthana-: The Upana(base) is plain, the adhisthana(the sockle) consist of several moulding (from bottom up); a layer of lotus petals - jagati(straight) kumuda(round), kantha(neck).This is the prime temple that consist of the maximum no. of 18 distinct tier of Chola temple.

1/5 Vimana:
Nagara vimana has kirtimukha kudu on each direction and a round kalasa and stupi.
1} Brahma Sculpture in Vimana;
2} MahaVishnu with Adi-Sheshanag

1/6 Lord Aalinganmurthi & Lord Gangadhara as adjacent deities with Parvathi in two contrasting moods . With Lord Gangadha She is in an angry mood since Shiva is holding Ganga Devi in his head where as with Lord Aalinganmurthi she is seen with a pleasant smile sitting on his lap.

1/7 Lord Dakshinamurthi in the wall has a mesmerizing smile. A hole in this moorthy’s ear that extends to the next ear is a wonderful sculpting. The 3 tier vimana tower above Him depicts Is in Yoga form Dakshinamoorthy seated on a bull under a banyan tree with a flute and veena.

1/8
1} Lord Vishnu graces with a Shivalinga in his Hand with Sri Andal, Garudazhwar & Shri Anjaneya.
2} Lord Brahma is seen worshipping Lord Shiva with both Yama alongwith Chitragupt on either side .

1/9
1} Goddesses Durga sculpture in the temple wall is very beautiful with her Simha Vahana on the buffalo head holding the Chakra and Chanku i.e as Mahishasur Mardini.
2}The pleasing feature is that Lord Ardhanareeswara graces with Nandhi the bull vehicle .

1/10 In every Yuga, some Devas visited this place to worship Lord Amirthakadeswara: in Thretha yuga, Surya, Chandra, Indira and Romarishi came to worship;
in Dwapara yuga, Ashtaparvathas and Parvatharajan came to worship;
in Kaliyuga, Pathanjali came to worship this sthala.

1/11 Dasa Bhuja Rishaba Thandavamurthy
A bronze deity depicts Lord Shiva dancing on a bull with all ten hands spread and holding weapons, with all Devas surrounding his feet. Devotees can see this idol only on Pradosha days.

1/12 Place for planet Mars:
Before waging war against demon Surapadma, Lord Muruga did penance here & got the bow from His mother.  Hence, the urchava Murugar here is seen with a bow in along with his consorts Valli and Deivanai.  Planet Mars worshipped Lord Muruga here.

1/13 Besides these main figures there are countless subsidiary niches, sculptures and decorations. The temple is covered with miniatures, scrollwork, lions, dancers and musicians occupying practically every part of its surface.

1/14 The walls are completely filled with innumerable miniature freezes depicting stories from Lord Shiva, the life history of the 63 celebrated Saivite saints (Nayanmars), Ramayana, Krishna Leela. Not an inch of Goshta wall space is left without sculpting a moorthy / story.

This Thread name is Treasures_Of_South _India given by me i am very fond of South Indian Temple such a masterpiece given by our ancestors. Credit for this tweet Pic Rajendra Ganesan Sir, & information i took from various sources and the help of a brilliant Person Shanthi Raju Sir

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