There are several legends associated with the Brihadisvara temple. Some of them are the following:

It is said that the temple has more than 100 underground passages, some of which lead to various places like the Palace of King Raja Raja Chola I and also to other important places in and around Tanjore, including other temples. These were built for sages, and the Kings and Queens who could use them to conveniently reach the temple, especially during auspicious days such as Deepawali, Makar Sankranti, Maha Shivratri, and other such pious Hindu festivals. Few passages were interconnected to ensure free flow of fresh air. These passages were a like a maze and if people chose the wrong passage then there were possibilities of their being trapped. This also helped in providing safety to the king and the royal family against intruders who tried to get to the palace through these passages. 

Another widely held belief is that the shadow of the Cupola of the Vimana or the tower over the sanctum of the ... More

There are several legends associated with the Brihadisvara temple. Some of them are the following:

It is said that the temple has more than 100 underground passages, some of which lead to various places like the Palace of King Raja Raja Chola I and also to other important places in and around Tanjore, including other temples. These were built for sages, and the Kings and Queens who could use them to conveniently reach the temple, especially during auspicious days such as Deepawali, Makar Sankranti, Maha Shivratri, and other such pious Hindu festivals. Few passages were interconnected to ensure free flow of fresh air. These passages were a like a maze and if people chose the wrong passage then there were possibilities of their being trapped. This also helped in providing safety to the king and the royal family against intruders who tried to get to the palace through these passages. 

Another widely held belief is that the shadow of the Cupola of the Vimana or the tower over the sanctum of the temple, never falls on the ground at noon. This points to a high level of architectural knowledge of the makers of this temple. The main reason for this is that the big basement structure absorbs the shadow of the cupola on itself. However, the shadow is visible in the mornings and the evenings.

It is said that nearly 1, 30,000 tons of granite has been used for the construction id this temple but there is no granite quarry in or around Thanjavur. The nearest quarry is at a distance of 60 km at Mammalai near Tiruchirapalli. It must have been a feat to bring the huge amount of granite to the location of the temple by the means of transport available at that time.

The capstone of the temple tower or Shikhara is an 80 ton granite stone carved in one piece. It has been put on top of the hollow Vimana, which is 66 metres high. An inclined slope was created for this purpose. This ramp was four miles long, and started from a village called Sarapullam and went all the way to the top of the tower, which is at a height of 216 feet. It covered a distance of nearly 11 km. The 80-ton dome was rolled up along this ramp, perhaps by elephants, and placed on top of the Vimana where it can be seen today.

The Vimana, which has 6 stories, has been made without the use of any kind of binding material. The technology that has been used here is the interlocking of bricks. The vimana has withstood six recorded earthquakes and has not developed even a minor crack in all these years.

Unlike most of the South Indian temples, the Vimana or the tower over the sanctum-sanctorum of the temple, is taller than the gateways or the Gopuram.

Although the temple is visited by lakhs of devotees, yet it is considered inauspicious by many, especially the politicians. It is believed that wishes of the devotees are left unfulfilled and those rulers who visit this temple through its main entrance will either lose power or die due to a curse of sage Karuvuraar. The story behind this is that the sage was involved with the construction of the temple at each step, helping decide the location, important dates and auspicious timings. However, when the temple was nearing completion there arose a dispute between the king and the sage over the day the temple should be thrown open. Angry with the king the sage withdrew from overseeing the construction, built a hut in a corner of the temple complex and started meditating. When the day of placing the idol in the sanctum came, the architects were unable to fix the Shivalinga in its pedestal. After struggling for a long time, they went to the sage for help. The sage took his spittoon, spat into it, and handed it to them to place in the pedestal before installing the linga. On doing this, the idol astonishingly got fixed easily. However it had lost its power as it had been defiled. Since then it is believed that there is a curse and many misfortunes befell the Chola dynasty. Rajaraja himself is said to have committed suicide, although t historical sources do not mention this. It is also believed that due to this curse, Rajaraja Chola’s successor Rajendra Chola built another temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram.