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| Rajagopuram |
A brief post on the legendary Shiva temple. Much of the structure standing today was rebuilt by the rulers of the Vijayanagara empire after the temple had been pillaged, ransacked & looted by islamic invaders in the 13th century.
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| East Gopuram |
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| South Gopuram |
Close up of the carvings on the North Gopuram. It depicts many event. For example in the 1st picture, on the 1st tier on the right is the marriage of Shiva & Parvati with Vishnu in between doing Kanyadhana. In the 2nd pic on the 3rd tier on the right shows Krishna & the Gopikas.
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| Carvings depicting marriage between Shiva & Parvathi |
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| Krishna & gopikas on the 3rd tier |
Samudra Mantan depicted on the 3rd tier of the South Gopuram on the right side. 1st tier also has carving of marriage of Shiva-Parvati attended by Lakshmi-Vishnu & Saraswati-Brahma.
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| South Gopuram |
Carvings of goddess Kali & Lord Shiva as Urdhvatandavamurti on one of the Mantapams. By performing this one stupendous dance move, Lord Shiva establishes himself as the ultimate master of Nrithya.
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| Urdhvatandavamurti |
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| Kali & Urdhavatandavamurthi |
The glorious Brahmakamalam carved on to the ceiling of the same Mantapam. Also painted are the various sthala puranas associated with Thillai Nataraja.
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| Brahmakamalam & Stalapurana stories |
Goddess Parvati at Thillai is known as Shivakamasundari. She has a massive shrine for herself. The ceiling of the Devi mantapam is adorned with such magnificent paintings which depict the greatness of Devi over other Devas. These were originally painted during the Vijayanagara era.
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| Shivakamasundari |
