Nayak legacy at Big Temple comes to light

CHENNAI: Going against the popular belief that the great temple of Thanjavur was built entirely by Rajaraja Chola, a group of archaeologists claim that most temples in the state were not built during one particular era but were added upon by successive dynasties and kingdoms.

They claim the temples retain only some of the basic elements of a specific era, mainly the Pallava era, while rest of the features were added by rulers of successive Chola, Pandiya, Vijayanagara and Nayak regimes. In fact, many additions made by these regimes, especially the Nayaks, has enriched the temple architecture and sculptures of the Pallavas -- the original inhabitants of Chola Mandalam or Coromandel.

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Similarly, there are examples in the Chennai region where the original temples are of the early Chola period while the mandapas, subsidiary shrines and gopuras are of later period. Good examples are the temples in Tiruvorriyur, Tiruverkadu, and those in the Pallava metropolis, Kanchipuram. "Nayakas also refined to some extent the Vijayanagar tradition in Dravidian temple architecture for almost two centuries. The Subramanya temple in Thanjavar is a good example," said C B Kamati, assistant professor in History, GI Bagewadi College, Belgaum (Karnataka).

Experts also argued that though the Pallavas introduced stone as the medium for the erection of temples, the additions made by Nayakas were equally signific