Thanjavur, 1996: An entrance to the Briadeeswarar temple with a sacred elephant.

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu: the Briadeeswarar temple, or Brihadishvara temple is an ancient Hindu temple that is dedicated to deity Shiva. It includes Gopurams (temple gateway), and a particularly beautiful, decorated and massive vimana (the temple tower over the inner sanctum), by giving back a wonderful example of Tamil architecture, that dates back to the 11th century. It is moreover surrounded by fortified walls, that were constructed later. Here a quite spectacular view of an entrance across these fortified walls, with a sacred elephant in the courtyard on the other side, that is just passing in front of it, on the backgroun of people. This is the enlargement of part of the scan of a slide taken in July-August, 1996.