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These three temples — built over different periods by a king, his son, and his grandson — are considered some of Tamil Nadu’s greatest architectural and engineering marvels. They are one of the two UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites in the state. We’re talking about the Great Living Chola Temples: the Brihadeshwara Temple (also called Rajarajeshwaram, Peruvudaiyar Kovil, Thanjai Periya Kovil, or simply Big Temple), Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the Airavateswara temple in Darasuram built by Rajaraja Chola, Rajendra Chola and Raja Raja II respectively.

These Shiva were built across a period of 150 years, but one thing that unites them is the construction method: they were built of granite using an interlock method, with no cement or binding material. Think of a how you build with Lego blocks. Each block has bumps and holes. You can interlock them to build a tall tower. Called a ‘carpentry joint’, dry stone masonry is used in many historical buildings rather than cement or concrete to bind the different blocks together.

This might not seem like a big deal if you are building a toy house with vertical walls. But the vimana or the tower of the Brihadeshwara temple is 216 feet high! That’s around 20 floors, and taller than the country’s first modern skyscraper; a massive feat not just by the standards of the 11th century but by even current standards. The vimana is hollow on the inside, with no cross supports or pillars. The tower starts off as a square and the layers get narrower and transform into a circle. This tapering tower with perfect geometry is made completely with interlocking blocks of granite. Some historians have called this temple an ‘audacity of architecture’.

The tower is topped by a capstone that weighs 80 tonnes. That’s more than the weight of 15 large Asian elephants! Now there were no cranes in 1010 CE. So how was this transported? We still don’t know. Some say elephants hauled the blocks through a four km-long ramp, others say a winding ramp was built around the tower. The temple has now stood for over 1000 years.

The other two temples, though not as tall, have their own specialities. Gangaikonda Cholapuram, the new capital of the Chola dynasty, had exceptional sculptures. The Darasuram temple is famous for stories that come alive through thousands of miniature carvings.