The authentic monuments of this eleventh-century temple had been constructed round a moat. It blanketed , the primary temple, its big tower, inscriptions, frescoes, and sculptures predominantly associated with , however additionally of Vaishnavism and traditions of Hinduism. The temple changed into broken in its records and a few art work is now missing. Additional mandapam and monuments had been brought with inside the centuries that followed. The temple now stands amidst fortified partitions that had been brought after the sixteenth century.

Built the use of granite, the vimana tower above the shrine is one of the tallest in South India.The temple has a big colonnaded prakara and one in every of the biggest Shiva lingas in India.It is likewise famed for the pleasant of its sculpture, in addition to being the place that commissioned the brass  Shiva because the lord of dance, in eleventh century. The complicated consists of shrines for Nandi, Parvati, Murugan, Vinayagar, Sabhapati, Dakshinamurti, , Varahi,  and others.The temple is one of the maximum visited traveller points of interest in Tamil Nadu.

Nomenclature
 Chola, who commissioned the temple, referred to as it  (), literally "the temple of the almighty of ". A later inscription  the  shrine calls the temple's deity Periya  , which seems to be the supply of the contemporary-day names  and  Kovil. is a Sanskrit composite phrase composed of Brihat which way "large, notable, lofty, vast, and  way “lord, Shiva, superb being, superb atman .The call way the "notable lord, large Shiva" temple.

Location
History

Statue of Chola emperor I who constructed the temple over 
A spectrum of Hindu temple patterns persevered to increase from the fifth to the ninety th century over the Chalukya technology rule as evidenced in , Badami and , after which with the Pallava technology as witnessed at  and different monuments. Thereafter, among eight hundred fifty  and thousand twenty eight, Cholas emerged because the dominant dynasty.The early Chola length noticed a more emphasis on securing their geopolitical obstacles and much less emphasis on architecture. In the 10th century, with inside the Chola empire emerged capabilities inclusive of the multifaceted columns with projecting rectangular capitals. This, states George Michell, the begin of the brand new Chola fashion.note 1 This South Indian fashion is maximum completely found out each in scale and element with inside the  temple constructed among thousand and  with the aid of using the Chola king.

Additions, renovations and upkeep
The most important temple together with its