The Chola heartland — the Brihadeeswarar Temple's 1,000-year-old granite tower, Tanjore paintings, and a musical tradition that makes this city the birthplace of Bharatanatyam dance
Thanjavur (Tanjore, pop. 220,000) in the Cauvery River delta is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu — the seat of the imperial Chola dynasty at its height (10th–12th centuries CE) and the source of many of South India's defining artistic traditions: Tanjore paintings (gold-leaf devotional paintings on wood), bronze casting (the Dancing Shiva/Nataraja figure was perfected here), Bharatanatyam classical dance (systematized in the 19th century from Tanjore court tradition), and Carnatic classical music. The Brihadeeswarar Temple — built by Raja Raja Chola I in 1010 CE, a UNESCO World Heritage Sit…
The Chola Empire that centered on Thanjavur was one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history — the dynasty existed (in various forms) from approximately 300 BCE until 1279 CE, nearly 1,600 years. Its imperial phase (850–1279 CE) was when the Cholas became a maritime power of extraordinary reach: under Raja Raja Chola I (985–1014) and his son Rajendra Chola I (1014–1044), the empire expanded to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and launched a naval expedition to the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra — the only South Indian empire ever to establish a military presence in Southeast Asia. The Brihadeesw…