At every temple in South India, the aarti for the deity is performed by burning a piece of camphor on a platter. Who knew that this blessed, fragrant tree product found its way to the region via trade ...

The Cholas were a powerful south Indian dynasty known for military conquests, grand temples and shaping global trade and culture.

and Coromandel Coast (from Chola Mandalam or Chola circle) to Tamil temple architecture and economic systems that made Indian textiles world-famous, the Chola dynasty gave the world many things ...

And not for nothing is its monumental shrine to Brihadishwara called a Great Living Chola Temple. Built by Raja Raja Chola I in 1011 to commemorate the victory of the Chola dynasty, this ...

These developments in urbanism and architecture were paralleled in art and literature. Medieval Tamil metalwork, produced for Chola-period temples, is perhaps the finest ever made by human hand ...

The Brihadishvara temple, built in the 11th Century by King Rajaraja Chola, is a Unesco World Heritage site It's 1000 CE - the heart of the Middle Ages. Europe is in flux. The powerful nations we ...

It's 1000 CE - the heart of the Middle Ages. Europe is in flux. The powerful nations we know today - like Norman-ruled England and the fragmented territories that will go on to become France - do ...

The Brihadishvara temple, built in the 11th Century by King Rajaraja Chola, is a Unesco World Heritage site [Getty Images] ...