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In today's episode, we will reveal the technology
that helped place an approximately 80 tons heavy capstone
on the top of this historic temple.
I am heading from Trichy to the Brihadeeswara Temple,
which is approximately 56 kilometres away from here.
In today's episode of History Hunter,
there will be a hunt for something very heavy,
the weight of which this temple has been bearing for centuries.
Friends, doing a history hunt is not an easy task.
You keep hunting, and before you know it,
your hair turns white and then disappears.
One wouldn't even realise! Well, so far, so good.
Anyway, let's show the green flag to today's hunt.
Let's begin today's hunt on History Hunter.
I'm heading to the great living Chola temple,
inside Brihadeeswara.
Oh, guys!
I totally forgot to tell you about my new car.
I mean, it is such a fun drive, guys.
It is powerful, it has good mileage,
full of tech with India's largest screen
and luxurious interiors.
This is the MG Hector Diesel.
A temple built during the Chola dynasty era
and continues to be surrounded by numerous secrets to this day.
At that time, it was probably the tallest structure in India.
It is piled up in the proper manner or proper geometry.
Let's say, like the pyramids of Egypt.
At the top of the temple's spire, standing at around 216 feet,
rests an 80-tonne heavy granite capstone,
also known as the stupi.
Eighty tonnes, which is approximately 80,000 kg,
is roughly equivalent to the weight of nearly 20 Indian male elephants.
The temple is a bit of a mystery.
How was the magnificent Brihadeeswara Temple
of Thanjavur constructed?
We will find out in today's episode of History Hunter.
The Brihadeeswara Temple is situated
in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu.
Its height stands at approximately 216 feet,
which is around two-and-a-half times taller
than Mumbai's Gateway of India.
It was built in the 10th century by Rajaraja Chola,
who was a powerful and undefeated king,
as well as a devout follower of Lord Shiva.
Just out of curiosity,
what was the reason behind our kings
building such grand temples in history?
And how were they built?
Where did the idea to construct the Brihadeeswara Temple come from?
The first reason is largely political,
because by that time, God equalled the king.
Temple equalled the palace.
It had become very clear
that religion and politics had to work together
to serve each other's mutual benefit.
Rajaraja Chola followed Shaivism,
and his family deity was Chidambaram Nataraja,
so building a Shiva temple was inevitable.
But the big question is,
how was such a magnificent temple constructed?
By totting up the inscriptions of the number of people mentioned.
At least 830 people were employed directly by the king in the temple.
Of the 460, 67 of them were women dancers mostly.
It is not only the height of the temple,
it is the capstone, which nearly weighs around 80 tons.
Lifting a capstone at an era
where there were no modern engineering tools present
and there were no sophisticated resources available.
To build such a massive temple,
numerous resources would have been required,
meaning a significant amount of money.
The funding for this temple came
because of the wealth of the Kaveri River
and the agricultural produce,
and, of course, Rajaraja's conquests mostly in Kerala.
We have references to at least 369 different places
mentioned in the temple records from where funds
or something had to come to the temple.
The architect of Brihadeeswara Temple
was one of the highest-paid in the Chola court.
The highest-paid and renowned architect
was Rajaraja Perunthachan.
He was hired by Rajaraja Chola
to design one of the masterpieces of history.
Now, Rajaraja Chola
was like the Ambani or Jeff Bezos of his time.
However, the challenge was to build a temple
that would stand for thousands of years.
But my question is,
where did the inspiration to build this colossal temple come from?
When Rajaraja built it,
he wanted it to look like a mountain,
or in the case of Indian tradition you have something
known as the Meru Mountain.
The Meru mountain is considered as the centre of the universe.
This temple was the first of its kind,
consider it the Burj Khalifa of its era.
So, the question arises, when did the work commence?
How much time might it have taken to complete it?
What kind of technology was utilised to construct this amazing temple?
The compound measures 791 by 397 feet,
and if you actually draw it and see an aerial view,
it is almost exactly a perfect rectangle of two equal squares.
And if you plot the Shivalinga in the main square,
it sits exactly at the centre of the second square.
The Nandi is almost at the centre of the first square.
Achieving such precise placement without the assistance
of helicopters or drones is unbelievable.
And to mount the approximately 80 ton capstone up there,
which is equivalent to the weight of about 20 elephants,
seems unthinkable to me.
But I will hunt down the truth.
The vimana of the Brihadeeswara Temple,
standing at approximately 216 feet tall,
is one of the tallest temple towers in India.
Inside the temple's sanctum sanctorum resides a Shivling,
which is approximately three metres high,
but the entrance to go inside is very small.
The main idol, or the "mula-sthanam,"
is positioned based on the density of the Earth's magnetic field.
Wherever the Earth's magnetic fields are dense,
that's where we place our idol.
It's not the temple that is built first.
It's the idol that is placed first
and a temple is constructed around it.
Around 27,000 cubic metres of granite were used
in constructing the entire temple.
It is said that to create the Sri Vimana,
which stands about 216 feet tall,
approximately 17,000 cubic meter of granite was specifically used.
However, granite was not available in Thanjavur!
Why did Rajaraja Chola choose this stone
if it was not available there?
Granite is definitely a durable material.
There are theories based on this specific aspect of granite stating
that kingship is associated with it, as it is one of the hardest stones,
and only the most powerful individuals can build structures
using this hard material.
So stone was considered as an object of permanence.
All right, the importance of shortlisting granite is understood,
but where was it obtained from?
That's the big question.
We know that the Chola region, particularly the Thanjavur region,
does not have granite due to its alluvial soil
from the Kaveri River and its many tributaries.
The closest place is about 75 kilometres away in Pudukkottai.
During Kulottunga Chola's era,
there are one or two inscriptions mentioning,
"Selai Kunda vand inged Pitha,"
which means, "We got stone from there
and built a temple here."
So we know that the stone came from there.
Just imagine, our ancient builders
must have faced numerous challenges.
On top of that, their client was the great King Rajaraja Chola.
They located the 27,000 m3 of granite,
but transporting it to the construction site
was also quite a task.
The Cholas were capable of doing it because the shipping
and navy of the Chola's was very, very powerful.
They went all the way to Indonesia or even Bengal,
all those areas, the transportation was very much there.
During Rajaraja's time,
they were actually controlling the cities
or the port cities of South India.
I believe that for this project, Rajaraja Chola must have hired
the best craftsmen and sculptors from all over India
because such results cannot be achieved even by machines,
and I mean it.
Here, sculptures of the 108 Karanas of Bharatnatyam
have been flawlessly carved.
The Gopurams, Nandi, Shiva Bronze statue,
Vimana, Garbhagriha, and even the Shivling
highlight the amazing skills of these craftsmen.
But my real hunt is this mysterious capstone,
weighing approximately 80 tonnes,
how did it reach the top of the temple?
And what was the reason behind placing it there?
It's largely,
because the top stones are aligned and assigned in such a way
that it holds the centre of gravity to the middle
and the entire structure stands stable.
So the architect must have also been very, very thorough in geometry,
because the angle is in such a way
that the tower doesn't collapse inwards.
To make this structure,
no binding material was used to join the stones.
On top of that,
the heavy capstone exerts pressure on the structure from the top.
But even after thousands of years,
how has this magnificent temple stood tall?
It's not only in Brihadeeswara, in many such temple architectures,
you'll see the use of interlocking stones as a concept
for construction of the temple.
This tradition of joining stones
like, this isn't unique only to the Cholas.
You can find similar construction techniques
in the Inca civilisation and Machu Picchu.
You find these stones so tightly enjoined together
that you can't even slide some paper through it.
When you have interlocking or dry stone machinery,
what it does is, it not only provides stability to the structure
by evenly distributing the load,
but also allows for some movement against external forces
like, earthquakes.
Interlocking stone technique.
So, is it this interlocking technique
that is balancing the capstone?
Or is it the heavy capstone itself that is balancing the structure?
First, let's understand the interlocking stone technique.
They used the technique of creating
male and female joints onto the stone,
which means that one stone will have a projection,
the other stone will have a matching recess,
and they will be joined together.
Even today,
on the Chandikeswarar Temple side of the temple,
you can see some of the stones still having those sockets.
Guys, in 2010,
the Brihadeeswar temple completed a millennium,
and to mark this significant occasion,
the RBI released a coin worth a thousand rupees.
I'm giving a thousand salutes to the makers of this temple.
Today, we're uncovering the biggest mystery
of the Brihadeeswara Temple.
How did that nearly 80-ton capstone reach such a height?
And how is the temple structure withstanding its weight?
This 80-ton capstone, which we call a stupi,
is followed by the kalasha on top.
This 80-ton block,
it's very difficult to imagine how they must've kept it.
The stone masons or the individuals
who went up to the top are absolutely categorical
that the capstone or the stupi
is not made out of one block of stone.
It looks like one block of stone because it is covered with stucco
and very beautifully embellished with carvings and sculptures.
What?
That means the nearly 80 ton capstone is not monolith,
but made by joining several stones together.
Hey, Brihadeeswara, before I become enveloped
in the mystery of this colossal capstone,
please help me discover the history of this mystery, please!
Whether the capstone was one piece or in many pieces,
the fact is that such a heavy stone sits atop the temple's spire,
so somehow it must have been transported there
by our ancient engineers.
Did they use scaffolding or ramps to achieve this?
In Orissa, when the Sun Temple was being built,
there is a text called the "Baya Cakada,"
and in that there is a mention of how scaffolding was done.
How there was a group of artisans from Tamil Nadu
who went at the request of the Pandya King.
Using scaffolding around the temple would have possibly been the answer
to haul up these stones.
The ramp theory was quite common during that era.
If you look at the pyramids of Egypt,
there also ramps were used to lift heavier stones or something similar.
This involved an earthen ramp or a temporary embankment
that is made out of soil.
It's very likely that he had a lot of trade connections
with Burma, Malaysia, Cambodia, and various other places.
He could have got Burmese teak,
and those teak trees in those days would have been solid logs.
Today, when we talk about scaffolding,
we think of bamboo poles and smaller things.
While Dr. Partha Das believes that a ramp was used,
Pradeep Chakravarthy claims that scaffolding was built.
But can a scaffolding withstand such weight?
Assuming elephants were used to assist
in the task of transporting such a heavy capstone to the top,
their additional weight would also have been a concern.
Is it even possible to move elephants on scaffolding?
Sadly, we don't have any documents, or any stories,
about how they built the scaffolding.
Nothing.
It's difficult to say
whether the scaffolding could bear such a load,
but is the ramp theory practical?
Basically, we needed some parameters
like the angle of internal friction of the soil
and the cohesive properties of the soil.
So, we took reference of the available literature
that studied the soil of Thanjavur.
So for my simulation,
all these values were incorporated, and then when I simulate my slope,
interestingly, under different conditions the slope was stable.
The moment has arrived
where we are about to unfold the biggest mystery
of the Brihadeeswara Temple.
How the nearly 80-ton capstone reached that height.
I'm joined by Professor Partha Das,
who will unravel this mystery with his expertise.
Sir, thank you so much for taking the time.
What an incredible model you have created,
please tell me more about it.
So when this capstone
- was being raised. - Yes.
This extension part of the temple
- that you see here. - Yes, yes.
- This wasn't there. - Okay.
Because if this was there,
it would have made it slightly difficult
- to raise and transport it. - Absolutely!
So, I would suggest removing
- this a bit. - Yes, please. Come.
- How was this raised? - Yes.
Let's try to understand this through the ramp theory.
- Ramp theory, okay. - Yes.
Wow, sir, a ramp is set up.
- Are you saying it was made of soil? - Yes!
I believe that locally available soil
- must have been used. - Yes.
Because our literature suggests
that it started approximately 9.7 km away.
9.7 km, sir--
Sir, if it's 9.7 km, then it must have entered the city?
Yes, it must have gone beyond the city.
Now, the second part is, to stabilise this main slope...
- Yes. - ...there must have been
a side slope to support it
because, you see, to bring this capstone to this point,
numerous elephants and many people,
along with cables would have been required.
It must have taken many months to bring all of them.
Elephants that were used
- would also need a resting period. - Right.
Because it's not like you start and then complete...
- Correct. - ...the task straight.
So, the point is that the engineers or the king
who supervised the construction of this temple,
which saw such an engineered principle.
So perhaps, this specific theory might not have seemed practical.
I also feel this theory might not be very viable.
- According to you... - Yes.
- ...this theory is not viable? - Yes.
So, besides this theory,
what theory do you think might be more plausible?
Okay, apart from this theory,
to explain the theory that seems more practical to me,
I would like you to remove this.
- Okay! Please. - And bring a new model.
Yes, sir, please tell us now!
What we have done here with the slope,
we have maintained the same slope
- as used in a straight ramp. - Okay, you used
- the same slope, all right! - The same slope,
the same angle of the side slope.
- And the main thing is... - Yes.
...look at the soil,
it has some internal strength parameters.
- Yes. - Such as cohesive force
and angle of internal friction,
which helps when any load comes on any section.
We analysed it and found that this slope is stable.
- Great job, sir! - There wasn't a resting place
for the elephants on the straight ramp.
But if it's a spiral,
you can see we have used benches here.
- Correct, they are here too. - Yes, here and here.
So, up to a certain point, elephants will come up
- and find a resting place. - Okay!
And they can easily manoeuvre through this.
Wow, sir! Looking at this, I'm also finding it a bit practical.
- Yes. - In the previous model you showed,
I was wondering where so much soil would come from
and how it would directly go into the city.
- Yes. - So, I think, according to you,
- this theory seems more successful? - Absolutely!
- I'd like to mention one more thing. - Yes.
When the elephants were manoeuvring, when they were lifting the capstone,
even if it rained during that time, even if an earthquake occurred,
our analysis indicates that this slope would have remained stable.
Thank you so much, sir!
Finally, you've cleared my confusion
about how this 80-ton capstone reached such a height.
Thank you very much.
So possibly, this is how that large and heavy capstone on the top
of the Brihadeeswara Temple was transported.
It remains intact today
and continues to lend strength to the temple's structure.
The concept was so robust
that it remained unaffected by natural calamities
and even after over a thousand years,
this temple stands proudly.
I hope you enjoyed this hunt
because, for me, it was the hunt of a lifetime.
This is Maniesh Paul signing off.
I'll be back soon to unravel another mystery of history.
Only on History Hunter.
And remember, remember, don't be a troublemaker,
be a History Hunter.
Subtitle Caption by ZestCorp