Brihadeeswarar Temple- Tanjore, Tamil Nadu
Are you a history buff? Also, would you like to sail the ocean of spirituality on your voyage through time? Yes? In that case, witness the architectural marvel of the Chola Dynasty- Brihadeeswarar Temple.
Famous in history as a mystic yet mysterious destination of India, Brihadeeswarar Temple today is a renowned World Heritage Site.
It is one of those ancient temples in South India that has been carved to perfection. And we second that! Still, it is hard to believe that this humongous structure was built a thousand years ago, from a single granite rock with just primitive tools.
Fun fact: Do you know that granites aren’t found within the 60 km radius of this temple? Also, one of the temple towers (Gopuram) alone weighs like 80 tones. It was a miracle back then as it is now and even thinking about how they built this temple, gives us chills.

By B Balaji
According to popular belief, this temple was 10,000 times taller than any other structure at the time it was built. Furthermore, it does have the personality of its builder Raja Raja I stamped all over it. And as the size of the Shiva lingam in South India stood for the power and prosperity of the King at that time, this temple houses the strongest and probably the largest Shiva Lingam of history (approximately 12 feet tall and 5 feet wide).
Wait, there is more!
The temple also has hallways decked up in paintings illustrating Lord Shiva’s life. And, we strongly recommend visiting this place called Arjuna’s penance here that narrates the stories of the entire universe.
Besides all these amazing facts, the real enigma here revolves around one quiet hallway. It is here that you can meet the creator of this marvel along with his guru. But that’s only when you take this Southern India trip. So, book your tickets now!
*After reading all this you must be thinking, why mention it under lost temples category? Well, that’s because it was abandoned after the Muslim invasion, and rest is history!*
Timings: 5:30 AM – 12 PM and 4 PM – 8 PM