Temple town and
sacred site (tirtha) in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, about 170 miles
south and west of Madras.
Thiruvaiyaru's main temple is dedicated to the god Shiva,
but the site is best known for being the birthplace of the
late-eighteenth-century saint and musician Tyagaraja.
Tanjore is a city and district in the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu, which is bordered on the east by the Bay of Bengal.
The Tanjore district is located in the Cauvery River delta,
south of the river's main channel; this exceptionally fertile region continues
to produce a significant portion of India's rice.
The Chola dynasty's fundamental base was this area, and the
land's agricultural fecundity was the underlying source of the dynasty's
dominance, which spanned much of southern India and even Malaysia at one time.
The Chola dynasty utilized its riches and influence to construct
massive temples throughout Tamil Nadu, particularly in the Tanjore area and
Tanjore city, which served as their capital.
King Raja Raja (r. 985–1014 C.E. ), who constructed
Tanjore's Brhadeshvar temple, and his son Rajendra (r. 1014–1042 C.E. ), whose
finest building is the temple at Gangaikondacholapuran, brought the Chola
dynasty to its pinnacle.
The Brhadeshvar temple is devoted to Shiva as the
"Great Lord," and the Cholas also erected or renovated temples in
Kumbhakonam, Thiruvaiyaru, Chidambaram, and Shrirangam.
On the Bay of Bengal, at the southernmost point of the
subcontinent, is a modern Indian state.
Tamil Nadu is one of the so-called linguistic states, which
were established after India's independence in 1947 to bring together people
who spoke the same language and had a same culture under a single state administration.
As a result, Tamil Nadu was constituted from the
Tamil-speaking portions of the erstwhile Madras state.
Several regional dynasties—the Pallavas, Cholas, and
Pandyas—built a slew of temples in the distinctive Dravida architectural style,
and Tamil Nadu still maintains hundreds of temple towns, or towns centered on a
massive temple complex with stores, marketplaces, offices, and residential
space.
Modern Tamil culture is the result of this long and historic
heritage, and Tamils take pleasure in having been minimally impacted by outsiders—neither
by Hindu influences from northern India nor by Muslim culture, which had such a
strong effect in the north.
There are so many cultural sites and holy places in Tamil
Nadu that it's impossible to list them all, but the most important are Rameshvaram,
Chidambaram, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Kanchipuram, Mahabalipuram, Kumbhakonam,
Thiruvaiyaru, Tanjore, and Kanyakumari; there's also a network of six temples
dedicated to the god Murugan scattered throughout the state, which Christine
Nivin et al., India, 8th ed., Lonely Planet, 1998, is an accessible reference
for general information about Tamil Nadu and all of India's regions.
Also see Tamil language.