Gangaikondacholapuran

Temple town in the eastern part of Tamil
Nadu, about forty-five miles north and
east of the city of Tanjore. This was one
of the temples in the Tanjore region built
by the Chola kings during their era of
preeminence between the ninth and
thirteenth centuries. The temple at
Gangaikondacholapuran was built in
1025 by King Rajendra I (r. 1014–1042)
to commemorate his march to the
Ganges in 1023 after vanquishing the
king of Bengal. One of the images outside the temple door shows the kneeling
Rajendra being garlanded by the god
Shiva and his wife Parvati, doubtless
intended to give Rajendra divine support for his entitlement to rule. See also
Chola dynasty.