page_title: Gangaikonda Cholapuram
section_title: Royal Palace
hierarchical_section_title: Gangaikonda Cholapuram / Royal Palace
caption_attribution_description: Bas Relief in stone showing Shiva in an androgynous form; alternatively it is a fusion of Shiva and his wife Parvati, with Nandi bull. Gangaikonda Cholapuram Pragatishwara temple. Gangaikonda Cholapuram (Tamil: கங்கைகொண்ட சோழபுரம்) was the capital of the Cholas by Rajendra Chola I, the son and successor of Rajaraja Chola, the great Chola who conquered a large area in South India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sumatra, Kadaram (Kedah in Malaysia) at the beginning of the 11th century A.D. As the capital of the Cholas from about 1025 A.D. for about 250 years, the city controlled the affairs of entire southern India, from the Tungabhadra river in the north Karnataka to Ceylon in the south and other south east Asian countries. La forme androgyne de Shiva appelée Ardhanarishwara ou Ardhanari, Le temple de Pragatishwara (Sri Pragadheswarar) de Gangaikondacholapuram a été inscrit en 2004 par l'UNESCO sur la liste du patrimoine mondial dans le groupe des «&#160;Grands temples vivants Chola&#160;» pour son exceptionnelle qualité architecturale et l'abondance de ses sculptures Gangaikondacholapuram est une ancienne capitale de l'empire Chola construite par le roi Rajendra Ier vers 1025 Les grands temples Chola de l'Inde du Sud, dont fait partie le temple de Pragatishwara (appelé parfois Rajendreshvara) constituent des témoignages majeurs de l'évolution de la civilisation tamoule. Leur forme architecturale est caractéristique du style dravidien classique avec une tour pyramidale et un mandapa. Les Chola ont été la deuxième grande dynastie historique du Tamil Nadu, le pays tamoul, dont l'influence fut considérable sur l'ensemble de l'Asie du Sud-Est. Article de Wikipedia sur le temple &lt;a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangaikondacholapuram" rel="nofollow"&gt;fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangaikondacholapuram&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: Kaṅgaigoṇḍa Sōḻaburam is a village located near to Jayankondam, Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu, India. It became the capital of the Chola dynasty in c. 1025 during the reign of Rajendra Chola I, and served as the Chola capital for around 250 years.
  The town is about approximately 125 kilometres northeast of Tiruchirapalli international airport. As of 2014, the ancient city exists as a heritage town in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu, India. The great temple of Brihadeeswarar Temple at this place is next only to the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur in its monumental nature and surpasses it in sculptural quality. It has been recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO
context_section_description: The royal palace also was built of burnt brick. The ceilings were covered with flat tiles of small size, laid in a number of courses, in fine lime mortar. The pillars were probably made of polished wood, supported on granite bases; a few pillar bases have survived to this day. Iron nails and clamps have been recovered from this palace site. There is a tunnel that links the palace and the temple inner 1st prakaara(north).
  In the reign of Virarajendra Chola, Rajendra's third son, the palace at Gangaikondacholapuram is referred to as Chola-Keralan Thirumaligai (Chola Keralan palace) evidently after one of the titles of Rajendra I. The same inscription mentions a few parts of the palace as adibhumi (the ground floor), Kilaisopana (the eastern portico), and a seat named Mavali vanadhirajan. Evidently the palace was multistoried. In an inscription dated in the 49th year of Kulothunga I (1119 C.E.) reference is made to Gangaikondacholamaligai at this place. It is likely that there were more than one royals building each having their own name.
caption: Ardhanarishvara (half Shiva, half Parvati) statue in Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple
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