{"id":343594,"date":"2025-07-28T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=343594"},"modified":"2025-07-28T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T13:16:14","slug":"gangaikonda-cholapuram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gangaikonda-cholapuram\/","title":{"rendered":"Gangaikonda Cholapuram"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News<\/strong>: Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the ancient Shiva temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Tamil Nadu.<\/p>\n<h2>About Gangaikonda Cholapuram<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_343595\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-343595\" style=\"width: 413px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-343595\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=413%2C230&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=1024%2C568&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=768%2C426&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=1536%2C853&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?resize=1568%2C870&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Source-TH.jpg?w=1571&amp;ssl=1 1571w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-343595\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; TH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> It is located in the Udayarpalayam taluk of <strong>Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Built by:<\/strong> Rajendra Chola I (regnal years 1012-1044 CE)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Name:<\/strong> The name &#8220;Gangaikonda Cholapuram&#8221; means &#8220;<strong>the city of the Chola who conquered the Ganga&#8221;<\/strong>, referring to <strong>Rajendra I&#8217;s<\/strong> <strong>military expedition to northern India<\/strong>, during which pots of <strong>Ganga water were brought back<\/strong> to the south.<\/li>\n<li><strong>As a Chola capital:<\/strong> <strong>Rajendra I<\/strong> shifted the Chola <strong>capital from Thanjavur<\/strong> to Gangaikonda Cholapuram, which remained the imperial capital for over 250 years.\n<ul>\n<li>It was built to <strong>commemorate his victory<\/strong> over the <strong>Pala Dynasty<\/strong> and the water from the river Ganga was brought to this place.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>city<\/strong> is referred to as <strong>Gangapuri<\/strong> in <strong>Kalingattuparani<\/strong>, composed by <strong>Jayankondar<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Importance: <\/strong>It was the <strong>second largest and important city<\/strong> in the 11th-12th Centuries and the centre of <strong>political, commercial and cultural activities<\/strong>, like <strong>Madurai<\/strong> in Pandyanadu and <strong>Karur<\/strong> in Cheranadu.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Architectural features<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The city was <strong>fortified<\/strong> with both <strong>inner and outer defensive walls<\/strong>, as revealed by archaeological excavations.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>outer fortification<\/strong> was made of <strong>burnt bricks<\/strong>, measuring <strong>six to eight feet in width<\/strong> and filled with <strong>sand<\/strong> between two layers of brick walls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chola Gangam Lake:<\/strong> According to <strong>Tiruvalangadu Copper Plates<\/strong>, it was dug by King Rajendra Chola I to celebrate his northern campaign.\n<ul>\n<li>It is now known as <strong>Ponneri Lake<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Temple: The Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple or the Brihadisvara Temple was built by <\/strong>Rajendra Chola I in his capital.\n<ul>\n<li>It rivals the <strong>Rajarajeswaram<\/strong> (also known as Brihadisvara Temple) built by his father in <strong>Thanjavur<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The temple is part of the <strong>&#8220;Great Living Chola Temples&#8221;, a group of UNESCO World Heritage Sites<\/strong> that also includes the <strong>Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur<\/strong> and the <strong>Airavatesvara Temple in Darasuram<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Archeological and literary evidences<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Tiruvalangadu, Esalam, and Karanthai Copper Plates<\/strong>, several inscriptions, and literary works provide the <strong>evidences of the Brihadisvara Temple<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>An elaborate <strong>description of the citadel<\/strong> comes from <strong>Muvar Ula of Ottakuttar<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rajaraja Cholan Ula<\/strong> gives an account of almost all the <strong>important places of the city<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the ancient Shiva temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram in Tamil Nadu. About Gangaikonda Cholapuram Location: It is located in the Udayarpalayam taluk of Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu. Built by: Rajendra Chola I (regnal years 1012-1044 CE) Name: The name &#8220;Gangaikonda Cholapuram&#8221; means &#8220;the city of the Chola&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/gangaikonda-cholapuram\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gangaikonda Cholapuram<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11212,12039,11211],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-343594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-history-and-art-culture-in-news","category-knolls","category-places-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}