How does the Gopuram of Thanjavur Temple does not have shadow?

Question

There are gupurams in all temples where kalasa is installed. It is elevated above the temple and is viewable from a certain distance. As it is high when the sunlight touches it produces shadow as any other material. But the gopuram in Thanjavur Temple does not have shadow when the sun touches it despite its height. How is this possible?

Answer 1

definitely an alien structure

Answer 2

Well!!!!!!!!!! Believ it or not!!!!!!!!!! It is true.... Again, it has nothing to with Vastu!! It is purely marvellous Engineering (Great Architecture!!)! It is an engineering skill of the Chola architects who planned its construction in such a way that the shadow of the cupola never falls on the ground. But, as per physics, shadow should be formed!! How come you can not see the shadow? Now, How is a shadow formed? A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. In the temple, The shadow falls onto the a towering Vimana apex itself!! This is how the shadow less ground is achieved!!! Thus, the Cupola is designed in such a way that the shadow neither falls on the ground!!

Answer 3

It is false to say that the Thanjavur Gopuram has no shadow,when sunlight touches it.Only the shadow of the kalasam is not visible in the floor. It is only because the shadow of the Kalasam falls on the Gopuram itself. But you can see the shadow of the gopuram on the floor.

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/aymnM

Friend, The Tanjavur Brihadeeswara aalayam gopuram is really a Marvellous piece of Architecture . The main Kalasam and TOP MOST PORTION `s Shadow naturally shall fall at one time or other on earth. But the Gopuram is constructed in such a way that about from 10 feet from the Top , they have constructed on gopuram a WIDE RING ROAD LIKE CONSTRUCTION AROUND..That is so wide a LORRY CAN EASILY MAKE OUNDS ON THAT SPACE , So if at all the shadow of the TOP MOST Kalasam . or TOP MOST KUMBHA shall fall On Gopuram the ring itself only., it falls on this portion at any given time. This Ring Construction is so that its width. will not allow the shadow fall go beyond its width.So the architects calculated all these correctly and created this GOPURAM.

Answer 5

it is false to say that the Thanjavur Gopuram has no shadow,when sunlight touches it.Only the shadow of the kalasam is not visible in the floor. It is only because the shadow of the Kalasam falls on the Gopuram itself. But you can see the shadow of the gopuram on the floor.

Answer 6

When constructing the temple the geographical nature of the place taken into account and accordingly selected the area for construction of gopuram so that when the sun crosses from east to west, the shadow fall only on the gipuram area itself.

Answer 7

When laying out the design for a temple, the orientation of the site had to be established at a time when the sun was in the northern part of the sky, i.e., when it was above the cosmic ocean, and on a day when there were no sunspots disfiguring its visible surface. A pillar, the gnomon, was erected and used to cast measured shadows. At one level of meaning the gnomon represented the God Indra who "pillared apart" and therefore differentiated heaven and earth; the pillar supported the heaven and steadied the earth (Kramrisch 1991). The yupa, the sacrificial post, the lingam, the central pole of a tent used for dance, and the tree of life are other examples of sacred or ritual pillars (Vatsyayan 1983). The stalk of the lotus bearing Brahma, the four-faced creator of the universe, is another cosmogonic pillar from which creation emanates.
In the Indian gnomon we encounter the remarkable union of a technical and a ritual device (Ajitagama: Dagens 1984). It is placed in a square area, which had to be "as smooth as a mirror", checked with a water level. Around the gnomon is traced a circle with a radius equal to the height of the gnomon. In the simplest of approaches two points are marked on the circle where the shadow of the gnomon touches it at midmorning and midafternoon. These two points are joined by a straight line which is close to true east-west.
This method, often referred to as the Indian Circle method, produces an alignment to the true cardinal directions which is only approximately accurate during most of the year. Swinging between its winter and southern extremes at the solstices, the sun moves most rapidly at the equinoxes. At the time of vernal equinox, for example, since the sun moves northward between midmorning and midafternoon, the Eastern point, produced by the afternoon shadow is shifted slightly southward of the Western point. The line connecting the two points would thus be tilted south of east in the spring and north of east in the fall.
Brahmagupta (born ad 598) is credited with the first recorded recognition of this defect of the method (Yano 1986), although he did not give a formula for correction. Sripati (ad 1039) was the first who successfully versified the formula in Sanskrit, and after him the formula apparently became common knowledge among Indian architects and astronomers (Yano 1986):
s = h [sin(dec1 ) — sin(dec2 )]/cos(latitude)
where s is the distance of the tip of the shadow from the east-west line, h is the hypotenuse of the shadow, and dec1 and dec2 are the respective declinations of the sun at the time in the morning and afternoon when the shadows touch the circle. Similar to latitude of the earth which measures the angular distance from the earth’s equator, declination measures the angular distance from the celestial equator. Thus at equinox the declination of the sun is 0o and at summer solstice its declination is 23.5o.
Even on the days of equinox, the effects of the movement of the sun in declination are slight compared to the best measurement that could have been achieved before the invention of the telescope. During 6 hours from midmorning to midafternoon, the declination of the sun varies at most by 6' (1/10 of a degree), only 1/5 the angular diameter of the sun.

Answer 8

Tanjore Temple Shadow

Answer 9

The Brihadeshwar Temple is one of the tallest temples in the world and is so designed that the viman does not cast a shadow at noon during any part of the year. Like all other Chola temples, the Brihadeshwar Temple is a fully carved structure.

Answer 10

This is supposed to be one of the historical architural wonders in the world.

This is temple is build with complete vastu rules.
The shadow is supposed to fall on itself all angle and therefore even when the shadow forms it falls at the base of the temple and it is not seen outside the temple structure.

Therefore when the sunlight touches, we do not see any shadow.

Answer 11

the shadow of the kalasam is not visible in the floor. It is only because the shadow of the Kalasam falls on the Gopuram itself. But you can see the shadow of the gopuram on the floor.