UPSC Mains 2024 GS1 Q11: model answer

The imperial Cholas, from Vijayalaya (mid-9th century) to the 13th century, built one of South India's largest empires. Their temples still stand as living places of worship.

Temple architecture

• Mature Dravida style: tall vimana, garbhagriha, mandapas, enclosure walls.
• Brihadeeswara temple, Thanjavur (Rajaraja I, completed c. 1010): vimana about 66 metres high with a massive granite capstone.
• Gangaikondacholapuram (Rajendra I), built after his campaign to the Ganga.
• Airavatesvara temple, Darasuram (Rajaraja II), with chariot-shaped mandapa.
• Together they form the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Great Living Chola Temples'.
• Later gopurams began to grow taller than vimanas.

Sculpture and bronzes

• Lost-wax bronzes; the Nataraja shows the cosmic dance of creation and destruction, admired worldwide.
• Figures of saints, Parvati and Rama groups.

Painting

• Frescoes in the Brihadeeswara corridors.

Not art alone

• Local self-government: the Uttaramerur inscriptions (Parantaka I) describe election of village committees by lot.
• Naval power: Rajendra I's expedition to Srivijaya (1025).
• Irrigation tanks and temples as economic centres.
• Tamil literature: Kamban's Ramayana under the later Cholas.

The statement is largely true: the temples and bronzes keep the Chola name alive. But their memory also rests on administration, seafaring and culture, of which art was the visible crown.