Historical trip or religious trip, however you name it, it was simply a wonderful experience. "Temples, temples and temples again..ooh !" , my eight year old son grumbled. But what else do you expect in the cities of temples? We had been for a 3 days trip to Tanjore, Kumbakonam and Trichy. This trip was special to us as it was our first long trip in India in our new car with our new family member, our 1 year old daughter.
We set out on friday early morning around 5:30 am and thanks to GST road NH45 and my husband's great driving skills, we reached Thanjavur by 11:30 am despite a 1 hr breakfast break in Ulundurpet. If not by car, the travel would have been really longer and hectic. We checked in PL.A residency hotel, refreshed and took a quick nap, while our kids enjoyed playing in the park.
After lunch, we went to Brihadeeswarar temple, the most famous attraction in Tanjore. Built by Raja Raja Cholan in 1010 AD (approx. 1000 yrs old), the magnificient temple Gopurams speak its architectural skills. The kumbam on top of the Gopuram weighs 60 tons. One cannot miss the huge sized Nandi carved out of a single rock. No wonder, it is called the 'big temple'. The temple is unique in many aspects apart from the well known fact that the temple Gopuram does not cast a shadow. The Garpagriha gopuram which houses 'Brihadeeswar' is tall compared to the entrance one, unlike in other temples where the entrance gopuram is the tallest. The shape of the gopuram looks different with the 'meru' mountain shaped structure(dome shaped in between). There are also sculptures of western people in the gopuram, which still remains a mystery.
Murals could be seen in the walls and some places of the gopuram. As the temple is maintained by ASI, the temple gopurams and walls are not painted with colours and left as such to preserve the ancient structure and murals.
My daughter had a great time running inside the massive temple corridors. Modern temples built with marbles and tiles can never replace the granite built walls and floors of ancient temples.To engage my son, we gave him photographer's job, which he did perfectly.
One km from the big temple, there is a palace of Saroboji. Stone Sculptures and brass idols found during the 8th and 10th century AD lined the palace hall. As the palace tower is under renovation, entry was prohibited beyond the first floor. There is also an art gallery and museum which got closed by the time we came out of the palace.
Next day's trip was to Swami malai in Kumbakonam. If you are religious and like to visit more temples, Kumbakonam is the right place for you. There is a temple in every street. Being One of the six 'sthalams' of Lord Muruga, Swami Malai is a must see in Kumbakonam. As there are only few steps, our parents could easily climb to get a darshan of Lord Muruga.
As we had less time and my husband is particular fascinated to ancient architecture, we chose to visit Airavadeeswarar temple in Darasuram leaving behind the other temples in Kumbakonam. As the temple was built by Rajendra Chola's son-in-law, who was basically from Andhra, it is built in North Indian style. The temple is called 'Airavadeeswar' by the name of 'Airavata' meaning elephant who worshipped lord Shiva. The same is beautifully depicted in the detailed exquisite sculptors of the mandapam . Above the lingam, water keeps dripping from a small vessel inorder to cool the lingam. This cannot be seen in any of the South Indian Shiva temples. Spectacular engraved scupltures ornamented all the pillars of the temple. The temple is one of the example of the architectural beauty during the Chola period.
In order to take a break from temples, we planned to go to the most renowned 'Kallanai' , a dam built by the early Chola 'Karikalan'. As it was a sunny day, it was very hot when we reached there. So, we took a quick gaze of the dam and took rest in the car. It was a disppointment that there were no restaurants or parks in a tourist spot . TamilNadu, a state with vast scope for tourism should focus more on its development.
Getting back to Kallanai..It was built in the first century AD long before the concept of dams was known in western countries. It is said that the British got the idea of dams after seeing 'kallanai'. It is really amazing that our ancestors thought about preserving water during their period. But we construct buildings in lakes and canals leaving behind water scarcity to our future generation !!!
Our final spot for that day was to Srirangam temple in Trichy. One has to cross many temple Gopurams that spans across many streets before reaching the actual temple entrance. Crowd thronged this temple all through the year especially on Saturdays. We had to wait for hours for a 1 second darshan of 'Pallikonda Perumal'. Golden tower and silver chariots adorned the temple. It is said that Srirangam is the second richest next to Thirupathi.
The final day of our trip started with a visit to 'Vuchhi Pillayar' temple also known as "Malai kottai". As the name suggests, Lord Vinayaga sits on the top of the mountain here. It is a miracle how they built this temple in those days without any modern equipments and machinery. Considering the number of steps to climb and its steepness, we left behind our parents and children in our relatives house in Trichy. It was indeed a great experience and a fantastic view of Trichy from the top. One can see the Srirangam and Thiruvanaikaval gopurams from the top.
Finallly, We dropped by at Thiruvanaikaval 'Jambukeswaram Aalayam' before returning to Chennai. The temple walls is around a mile in length from which you can assume the temple size. In this temple , shiva lingam sits on water around it, which is called Appu lingam. This temple is also an evidence of ancient architecture.
India is the only country with so many ancient temples with exquisite architecture and each of these temples have a beautiful story behind them . We should be proud of our heritage and take our children to such places and tell them these stories so that they understand our Country's value, culture and heritage.
