Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur
When the Chola king Raja Raja I completed Brihadeeswarar in 1010 CE, the Normans had not yet crossed the English Channel. The vimana, the tower above the sanctum, rises 66 metres from the ground and was, for centuries, the tallest stone structure in the Indian subcontinent. The shadow it casts at noon falls entirely within the temple complex, a feat of geometry that took planning no written record has fully explained. You walk through the eastern gopuram and the scale of the place does something to your sense of proportion. The granite used in the tower was quarried from Tiruchirappalli, hauled across the delta, and lifted without any crane technology that survives in documentation. What survives is the building itself, which is more than enough.
