Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

"Following his profitable conquest of Karnataka, Kerala and northern
Sri Lanka, the Tamil King Rajaraja Chola found himself with a
considerable budget surplus. With vast tracts of fertile farmland
already under year-round irrigation, he decided to build the largest
Siva temple in the world, Brihadisvara, at Thanjavur (Tanjore in
modern Tamil Nadu state), a stunning masterpiece of stonecraft
engineering. The temple, now on the United Nations World Heritage
List, was crowned in the king's vision. He capped the 216-foot main
sanctum with a single stone weighing 86 tons and set in place by
elephants' nudging it up a gentle sand ramp starting five miles
away. The great sthapati (architect and sculptor) Kunjara Mallan
Raja Raja Perunthachan was commissioned for the work.

That's a story that Dr. Vaidyanathan Ganapati Sthapati, 72, loves to
hear, for he is a lineal descendent of that same Perunthachan of a
thousand years ago. The great man's story reminds Ganapati Sthapati
today of the tradition he is commissioned by birth to uphold. and of
the indomitable spirit of his caste, the silpis, lords and and
masters of South India's hard and heavy granite.

Check out this link,

THE SCIENTIFIC EDIFIC OF BRIHADEESWARA TEMPLE, TANJORE, TAMILNADU â€"
by Dr. V.Ganapati Sthapati


http://www.vastuved.com/vastu-books.htm

This book is an unique exposition attempted effectively and
exhaustively on the science and technology of the architectural
wonder i.e. the great Brihadeeswara Temple situated at Tanjore,
designed and constructed by one of the great grandfathers of
Dr.Ganapati Sthapati, Kunjra Mallan Raja Raja Perunthachan, during
the 10th century AD under the patronage of King Raja Raja Chozhan.
The ancient Indian science of Vaastu Shastra finds fullest
expression in this magnificent edifice and Sthapati has elucidated
in as simple terms as possible the science that has gone into its
making, which makes an interested reading for seasoned readers as
wells as newly initiated aspirants.