Temples of Tamil Nadu (4): Impressions

Itinerary (1)
Chennai to Thanjavur (2)
Thanjavur to Madurai (3)

It’s interesting that I am writing an article about my impressions of travelling in Tamil Nadu given it's my own country! But at times things felt so different - the culture, the language, the people - that I felt I should write about it.

• Religion was omnipresent in Tamil Nadu, and at a different level than I am used to. Religion just felt like a very huge part of many people’s lives. And there was a lot of tourism around religion and temples. There were thousands of people dressed in similar clothes, on pilgrimage to the various temples, being driven in groups in huge pilgrim buses. And they were everywhere, in every city we visited, near all the temples. And everyone was ok waiting for hours to get darshan. I was truly impressed but also overwhelmed by it all. 

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  Gates of Brihadeshwar
  temple

  The temples and their scale of architecture was just huge and mindblowing. It was at a completely different level than the rest of the country. Some of these temples are so old, and so massive! They all have so many colourful sculptures on their gates (gopurams). And so much more artistry inside. They all looked so elegant and mesmerising. And there were so many more smaller temples everywhere, they felt omnipresent too.
• The rituals followed in the temples felt so different from North Indian temples. There were no bells ringing during prayers, no water or charnamrit given as prasad, no boondi laddoos as prasad, no coconut being offered, rarely flowers offered to the deities, the women did not cover their heads, no red tilak put on the foreheads (only ash), and so on. Everything was cleaner and there wasn't any wet or slippery stuff on the floor either. It felt like different parts of India have the same gods but a different way of workshipping them. 
• All the temples closed in the afternoon roughly between 12 and 4 pm (or some similar time) which was a big shock! What is one supposed to do in the afternoon, drive back to the hotel and sleep?
• Of course, people take off their shoes in the temples. But many of the temples do not have a proper place to keep them outside. So most people leave their shoes in their buses and just walk without shoes to the temples! Through the streets! Sometimes very far!
• We also realised that at such places it made sense to leave our shoes in the car and walk to the temple without them. Though I must say, I took some time to get comfortable with it. I don’t think I have walked barefeet in my entire life as much as I did on this trip. 
• Also, I don’t know if it's linked to this, but I saw so many people don't wear shoes, even in daily life. Our driver drove the car without shoes, and even got out and walked around without shoes! I was shocked to see it. Many shops also asked people to take off their shoes outside. It was just a lot more acceptable and common than I was used to.
• Visiting the most popular places required us to drive far as they were spread out around the state. Also not all of these places had hotels nearby, so we had to stay a bit far off and do day trips. It led to a lot of driving every day. We mostly ended up visiting only the temples, which were amazing though got a bit similar by the end. In hindsight, we could have explored nature a bit more too, but somehow didn't.
• The driving was so much better here though. Calm and cool, with limited aggression - such a contrast from the North. There was limited honking on the streets, people gave indicators while overtaking and generally followed rules. It felt like a different country altogether!
• Interestingly, Pondicherry needs a separate permit to enter the state, and all drivers who drive there have to wear white shirts when in the Union Territory! Wow!
• The food on this trip was so tasty, even in the small local restaurants we visited. And so cheap too! They all had waiting outside, but were so quick with their service that the queues were cleared quickly. Interestingly vegetarian and non-vegetarian restaurants were separate. Also, many places did not have dosa at lunch! And plain curd was also not available whenever we asked for it.
• As a culture, there was very limited showoff around. No one dresses up much. Most people dressed simply. Women in sarees in temples, a lot in cottons given the weather but some were in silks for festive occasions. Most women put at least one flower in their hair. And a lot of men were dressed in lungi. But overall, there was a lot of simplicity around. I also now understand why a lot of women wear sarees so high. And with chappal. It all helped if one had to go to the temple suddenly.
• The only thing that wasn't as simple was jewellery. It looked like wearing gold jewellery was quite popular. Also, we saw loads of huge jewellery showrooms in every city.
• Overall, I didn’t find people to be warm or welcoming generally (or at all really). I felt unwelcome at most places. It almost felt like the locals didn't want tourists to come. So many times when I asked someone a question, they would just turn their head the other way, ignoring me and not answering. Or if they answered, do it in a very clipped manner, not really being helpful. For example, I got shouted at by an attendant sitting outside one of the museums at the Thanjavur Palace, when I asked him some questions about the Palace. Who does that in tourist places? I was asking my questions in English, he shouted back rudely in Hindi. It was a really bad experience, and kind of ruined the whole trip for me. In contrast, when I travelled to Guatemala recently but didn’t know how to speak Spanish, people went out of their way, even finding someone who could speak English, to help, when they themselves couldn’t. 
• It was quite tough to get around knowing only Hindi and English. I hadn’t expected a lot of people to speak Hindi, but surprisingly even English is not that common either. I also sometimes got the feeling that there was definitely an anti North Indian feeling. It’s tough to explain but it felt real. I got this feeling by the sixth day of my trip, and it never left me. There was this whole vibe of ‘we are Tamil and different from 'India'’ which was quite off-putting. I have had this feeling for the first time in all my travels across the country. I think language is a big reason for this. And politicians campaigning against hindi is a big driver for it. I didn’t enjoy this part of the whole trip at all, this Tamil vs India vibe.

Temples of Tamil Nadu (3): Thanjavur to Madurai

Itinerary (1)
Chennai to Thanjavur (2)
Impressions (4)

Brihadeshwar temple

As we continued to drive south along the state, the scale and grandness of the temples increased. Thanjavur was a revelation, its Chola heritage on full display at the two Brihadeswar temples. And Rameswaram and Madurai temples were even grander in their splendour.


Day 5: Kumbakonam and Gangaikonda Cholapuram

Kumbeshwar temple

Our first day in Thanjavur was a temple day and we spent it in Kumbakonam, and then Gangaikonda Cholapuram. In the morning, we visited Kumbakonam, the town of temples, a 30 mins drive away. It had so many temples (in the thousands apparently), it was tough to figure out which to visit and which not. Each temple has its own followership and manyata, and most people come there annually to visit their family temple.

Mahaut at temple

We first went to the Kumbeshwar temple which was thankfully not crazy busy. It had beautiful gates on all sides. The queue for darshan was also relatively short. They even had an elephant with its mahout along the corridor, which kept the children entertained. After a quick visit, we tried to walk to the next temple but it was tough to walk without slippers.

Mahamaham tank

So we came back, wore our shoes and walked to the famous Mahamaham tank. But its temple was closed by then, as were all the other temples as it was afternoon time already. So we just walked into town to eat and drink. It seemed like a small town but still had thousands of temples.

Next we drove to Cholapuram, 60 mins away. Gangaikonda Cholapuram was the capital of the Chola kingdom in the 11th century. I wanted to explore the place for Chola history but wasn't able to. I researched where to see Chola ruins but they aren’t easily accessible. It looks like there aren't a lot of surviving monuments from the Chola period except the Brihadeshwar temple. We even tried to see if we could spend time around the historical Chola lake but there were no restaurants or even a path to walk around. We couldn't find any information on how to explore the area either. I was definitely quite disappointed with the tourism part of the experience here.

Gangaikonda temple

In the end we just drove to the temple and spent our entire afternoon there, waiting for it to open. It was a grand monument in yellow, with carvings everywhere. All around was a huge complex and the gardens were green and well maintained. There were many smaller temples within the complex too. It was full of people spending the afternoon there, and we did the same. We walked around admiring the carvings, the sculptures and architecture. 

Once the doors of the temple opened, we tried getting in for darshan, but seeing the crowds, we gave up. Later we were able to get in from a side entrance for a quick darshan. The shivling there was huge and impressive. And I felt it had some unexplainable power to it. It reminded me of the shivling at the Halebidu temple of Karnataka.

Sculptures

Other than that, we spent the whole afternoon and evening, just walking around and admiring this beautiful place. At sunset, the colours of the stone were even prettier. What an architectural marvel it is, in the middle of nowhere.

After spending a lot of time at the temple, we drove back to Thanjavur. Today, we had dinner at Ariya Bhavan, which again served tasty food and very quick service. The town felt quite simple too with some museums and historical places to see. There were many churches and mosques everywhere too.

Finding a hotel to stay in Thanjavur had been tough. There were no good 4-5 star hotels in or around Thanjavur. We found some resort kind of places on the outskirts but they were all booked out already. The other option was to stay far off in Trichy, but that would have been inconvenient. In the end, we booked the one option we found in Thanjavur, the Hyders Mahal Palace and Hotel. We were apprehensive about it but in the end the experience turned out to be interesting but fine. 

It was located in the city but on a main road. So it was easy to get to without having to drive on trafficked roads. All around it was green forested area, which was quite welcome. It also turned out to be a completely new hotel. So everything was brand new. So new that many things were still unopened. Like the mattress still had the plastic cover on it and we had to ask the guys to remove it before we could sleep on it 😆. The switches all still had plastic on it. So we did have some teething troubles.

Also, the manager and the other guys didn't know how to run the hotel - we had to ask them for everything. Cups in the room, toiletries, and so on. It was funny actually, us telling them how they need to host guests. They were very friendly and helpful except they didn't know much 😂. Either way, the quality of the hotel amenities was new and good, so it turned out fine.

Also they had a guard from Nepal who spoke Hindi. It felt like such a welcome change that someone could understand our language. As most people we interacted with till now did not speak any English either and no Hindi anyways. So communication had been tough. But it was so much easier here that we could explain what we needed. Language is such a big part of the experience travelling anywhere I think.


Day 6: Thanjavur

We took the next day easy, spending all our time in Thanjavur city itself. We saw the Brihadeshwar temple in the morning, the Thanjavur Palace in the afternoon and then went back to Brihadeshwar temple at night. It was a relaxed day, and I was very happy we spent so much time at the Brihadeshwar temple, it was just fabulous.

First view

We had seen the top of the temple a few times while driving towards our hotel, as it was close to the main road. Still seeing it up close was a different experience altogether. Nothing prepares you for what you feel when you approach it. It is majestic, it is grand, it is spectacular, it's an architectural marvel.

Brihadeshwar temple

All around the temple is a canal and a moat. And some remnants of a fort, though the temple is the main surviving structure from the Chola times. You walk in through three intricately carved gates. And are greeted by a huge statue of Nandi and then a covered platform, with the main temple behind it all. All around the complex are pillared halls. And there are many other small temples in the complex, which were built by later kings, including the Marathas who were the last rulers in Thanjavur.

Sculptures

The sculptures everywhere are just outstanding - so intricate, so fresh, so grand - most of them based on mythological stories. There are carvings everywhere and thousands of different figures all around. And there are inscriptions along the pillared halls on the sides. There are also hundreds of shivlings in those pillared halls.

It was just such a pleasure to explore it all. We spent a few hours walking around, taking it all in. The crowds there were crazy though, long queues for everything. We did manage to get a quick darshan of the deity. For me though, it was the architecture of the temple which was just outstanding. This was my favourite temple on this trip along with the Chidambaram temple.

Sculptures

Sculptures

After spending some time here, we went to Thanjavur Maratha Palace which was the home of the Maratha kings who ruled Thanjavur much after the Cholas. It had a few museums, a darbar hall, an old antiques library and housed the famous Chola bronzes. It was a great place but run down and not well maintained. The museums had barely anything - random things left behind by the kings. And they all had separate tickets to get in.

Thanjavur Palace

The Saraswati library was outstanding though, it had old palm leaf scriptures, some so small and delicately written that it was difficult to even imagine how they were made. There were a few painted books which were very old. And many other rare manuscripts from the Maratha kings’ collections. This display was really wow. I loved it. The Chola bronzes were also quite impressive. There was a room with dozens of Nataraja statues and they all looked lovely. The darbar hall was closed though which is also supposed to be impressive. There was also an AV show, showcasing Thanjavur and its cultural heritage, which was very good. 

Overall though, the palace was very badly maintained. Everything was broken. Also I realised, people fight so much here. And loudly. We saw 3 fights between the organisers and tourists that day - in the Brihadeshwar temple, at the ticket counter for the palace museums and in the restaurant when there was a long queue.

Temple at night

We went for a nap in in the afternoon, and then went to the Brihadeshwar temple again, to see it during sunset. We were expecting fewer crowds but that didn't happen! The temple looked sparkling in the lighting though, as stunning as in the morning.

Inscriptions on the walls

We went out to town in the evening. It was so quiet. We also had orange coconut water for the first time. For dinner, we went to a very different type of restaurant, the Abhirami Bhavan. The menu focused on a different variety of dosa - the ghee roast dosa. It was so spicy and yummy though heavy. It was also so cheap! Three of us ate for just Rs. 300. Interestingly, they called a person from UP who worked next door to talk to us to take our order in Hindi 😆. He used to sell Chinese food next door. 

After dinner, we decided to explore the market a bit. We saw many artificial gold jewellery shops selling very good jewellery. The designs were nice and almost felt real gold. It's the first time we got to see them, I was impressed. Other than that, we wanted to look at and buy the famous Thanjavur paintings but somehow did not get time for it. As we had a long day the next day, we called it a night soon.


Day 7: Rameswaram

Today was one of the longest days of our trip. We had not originally planned to visit Rameswaram, but later added it to our itinerary. So we drove about 6-7 hours till there, visited the temple and Dhanushkodi beach and then drove another 3 hours to reach Madurai very late at night.

We left early around 8 am and chose to drive by the sea, instead of on the new highways. That was a mistake I think. We didn't see much of the coast at all. We stopped at the Manora fort on the way which is supposed to be a scenic watch tower. The restaurant and garden next to it were closed and there was nothing to do there. It was also a bit dirty and not well maintained. 

The area on both sides of the roads was fully inhabited. There was a lot of greenery, sometimes forested and lots of time with rice fields. Sometimes we saw the sea and beaches, but mostly it felt like an inland drive. And somehow, there wasn’t a lot of beauty around.

Pamban bridge

On the way to Rameswaram, we crossed the Pamban bridge over the sea which was fun to cross. Many cars just stopped on the bridge to take a look! From there, it looked like Rameswaram island had some turquoise water beaches. We also passed by APJ Kalam’s memorial. He belonged to this island, and his home was also on the way.

Our first stop on the island was Dhanushkodi beach. But it was tough to get there as the traffic that day was a nightmare. Cars were just stuck everywhere. We somehow got through it and drove the 25 kms along the narrow stretch of the land. The whole drive was through green mangroves and backwaters or sandy beaches all around. There were a few temples on the sides too. On the way, there was a village called Dhanushkodi which had so many food shops. But it was mostly destroyed during a cyclone in the past. And now it only had kuccha huts. But there was a lot of plastic on the seaside and that spoilt the experience for me.

At the end of the road is a lighthouse. It was so crowded, we stopped early and just walked a bit along the coast. Both sides had huge boulders along the sea. And completely different seas. One side of the road was the Bay of Bengal with huge waves, the other side was the Indian Ocean which was calm. We saw the sunset there, it was nice. We then drove back and stopped at a beach on the way, which was pretty and less crowded. I wish we had enough time to swim in the water. But because of the traffic, we had wasted a lot of time already. It was so crowded everywhere, I felt there is no point visiting this place in the peak season.

Ramanathaswamy temple

We then drove back and visited the Ramanathaswamy temple in the evening. It is one of the 4 dhams of India and located right next to the sea. It had 4 gopurams all around. We did a VIP darshan, of all the deities in the temple. We saw the famed longest temple corridor of the world, with its 1212 pillars, the painted roof and columns. But somehow, the experience felt a bit underwhelming, maybe because they were VIP darshan without all the waiting which is also part of the process?

Longest temple corridor

For dinner, we stopped at a town called Ramnathpuram, at Bheemas. The rest of the drive was on highways and we didn't mind as it was at night. We reached our hotel in Madurai, Gateway Madurai very late at night, though we could already see how awesome it was. It was located on a hilltop, with bungalows in the old colonial style, surrounded by greenery all around. 



Day 8: Madurai

View of Madurai

We finally experienced our hotel in the morning and it was fabulous. From the hotel, we had a 180 degrees view of the town below, and it was so scenic. Interestingly, we could also hear everything from down below, including loudspeaker music from the temples! We could even see the Meenakshi temple gopuram from there. And the whole morning, there was fog hanging around the city which made it look almost magical.

After a lazy morning, we went for a VIP darshan to the Meenakshi temple. I loved the experience there, it felt better planned and less chaotic than the other temples. We got off from our cars a bit earlier and then walked to the temple. The area all around it was a pedestrian zone with no cars and very well managed. It was quite empty with lots of space to walk. I really liked the crowd management here.

Inside the temple, the huge sculptures on the pillars and the walls were just amazing. And there were so many of them, everywhere. We walked through all the corridors, doing all the darshans (again VIP darshan). We also saw the 1000 pillar hall, the temple tank and the museum.

There is a Shiva and Parvati shrine in side the temple, and each night the Shiva deity is taken to Parvati’s shrine. The shivling here also felt like it had some divine energy. This was the first temple where I finally felt some peace and quiet, a sense of spirituality. I really liked being here. I must commend the temple management for making it possible, given the huge crowds coming in daily. Interestingly, no phones were allowed inside which is great as there are no distractions. There was a lot of renovation going on though which hid parts of the temple. Still it was a lovely experience.

View from poolside

After the temple, we walked to one of the nearby saree shops, Pothys, and spent some time shopping there. We came back to our hotel in the afternoon and explored the hotel. It was a spread out property located on top of a hill with a view of the whole town below. It was apparently the home of the British owners of one of the mills in the area and was very luxurious. There were many bungalows for residents, all surrounded by greenery. When I was swimming, there were some 10-15 peacocks walking around the pool. And the view of the town from the poolside was stunning. We could even see a faraway lake and sunset beyond it.

In the evening, we went for dinner into town, to Sree Sabarees. It wasn't as good as the other places we had gone to. After dinner, we checked out a few more shops. We wanted to check out some local sarees in the city but did not get a chance to do that. Overall, I liked Madurai town. The traffic wasn’t chaotic and felt quite well managed. And the city felt like a slow, well planned place.


Day 9: Back to Delhi

The last day was short of course. We enjoyed the hotel as much as we could in the morning, then left for the airport. The road to the airport was quite bad and the airport was quite small, though convenient.


Looking back on the trip, I think I absolutely loved the temple architecture I experienced. It’s something I haven't seen in other parts of the country. But I did feel overwhelmed by the omnipresence of religion around. And the overall unwelcome and unfriendly behaviour for tourists dampened my overall experience.

Temples of Tamil Nadu (2): Chennai to Thanjavur

Itinerary (1)
Thanjavur to Madurai (3)
Impressions (4)

Rock cut Pallava temples

Different parts of Tamil Nadu have been ruled by different kings with their own culture and architectural styles. The Cholas were based in Thanjavur, and ruled from the 9th to the 13th century CE. The Pallavas developed Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram and their temples from the 4th to the 9th century CE. And the Pandyas built the temples of Madurai, ruling in the state on and off from 3rd century BCE to the 14th century CE.

Because of all these different empires, the temples in different regions vary somewhat. And during our travels, we got a chance to explore and appreciate some of these different temple styles.


Day 1: Chennai

On our first day, we landed at Chennai airport from Delhi. We didn’t do much touristy stuff that day though. We just went saree shopping in the city and then drove to Mahabalipuram where we were staying for the next three nights.

Chennai airport felt quite old unlike the shinier airports of Bangalore and Delhi. We found our driver in the parking lot and then we were off. We drove to Ranganathan Street in T. Nagar area, in the older part of town. There were many huge saree showrooms there. We first walked into Kumaran which had about 3-4 football sized floors displaying all kinds of sarees. However, the people there did not seem very interested in selling - there was no salesmanship and we were quite underwhelmed. So we went to RMKV and Nallis after and bought a few sarees from there.

Tamil Nadu is saree heaven! Women in the state wear sarees regularly and the state is home to many regional weaves. There are many types of cottons, like Coimbatore cotton (or silk), Kovai Cora cotton, Chettinad cotton (also known as Kandaangi), Chinnalapatti cotton, Dindigul cotton, Thousand Butta cotton and Kanchi cotton. There are many varieties of silk sarees too like Kanchipuram silk, Konrad silk (temple design from Arni), Rasipuram silk (also known as Salem silk), Thirubuvanam silk (from Kumbakonam) and Thanjavur silk. There are also some other traditional styles like the Kodalikarrupur sarees which are very rare now. And Madurai has its very own Sungudi cotton weave.

I checked out a few of these types of sarees in the shops. And I am sure, there is a lot more to see than in my list. Still, it was such a pleasure to learn about them and try to figure out the differences. There are many shops to go to. The large retail chains like Nalli, Pothys, RMKV, Kanakavalli and Chennai silks are popular. For a more premium experience, one can go to exclusive stores like Sundari silks, Tulsi silks. Hayagrivas silks, Palam silks, Srinivasa silks and Rasi silks.

After the tiring saree shopping, our driver took us to a local eating place, Geetham and we were impressed. First of all, one had to specify whether they want to go to a veg or a non-veg restaurant before going there - that was important! But either way, the food was outstanding. The dosas were so tasty, the food cheap and the service extremely quick and efficient. We enjoyed the experience. And this became the norm going forward.

The weather in Chennai didn't feel as hot as I had expected, it was quite comfortable. The city felt relaxed and slow. There was a lot of greenery around. And like other typical Indian cities, metro construction was going on 😂. There were hundreds of temples, everywhere. I also noticed that nothing was written in Hindi anywhere, at all. It felt so different to be in India and not see any Hindi. The only place I saw something written in Hindi was on the Board for Allahabad Bank, SBI and Indian Oil. It did feel weird in the beginning, but felt normal over the next few days. And the city was so disciplined! Everyone just drove calmly and properly, definitely a different experience after having just landed from Delhi. 

After the shopping, we drove towards Mahabalipuram, on the East Coast Road (ECR) which apparently runs all the way till Kanyakumari. There was construction all along the road, and we could not see the sea from there at all. Didn’t really feel like a coastal road 😂. The drive was quick and comfortable though, took us less than 2 hours.

Four Points

Our hotel - Four Points by Sheraton, Mahabalipuram - was lovely. It has small villas surrounded by trees everywhere. It had a huge pool and there were hammocks everywhere to relax. You could walk around within the huge hotel compound itself. The hotel was outside of town, in the midst of rural greenery. Everyday in the evening, there was a sea breeze which made the weather quite pleasant. As it was December, it was fully lighted up too. Overall it was very quiet and had a very relaxed resort-ey vibe to it.


Day 2: Kanchipuram

We did a day trip to Kanchipuram and was I impressed by all it had to offer! Kanchipuram was a city built by the Pallavas and was their capital from the 4th to the 9th century CE. It is known as the “City of a thousand temples”, though we got to see only three of them. And it's also famous for its stunning Kanjeevaram sarees, a true display of skill and art! The Kanchi Matha is also one of the seven sacred spots or sapta puri of Hinduism and a prestigious seat of Hindu learning. It just has so much history and culture to offer. We went to a few temples and did saree shopping. I wasn’t aware we could visit the Matha though, would have loved to go there too.

The drive from Mahabalipuram to Kanchipuram was through green areas, and took us about 2.5 hours. Kanchipuram town felt like a bustling place, after the calmness of Mahabalipuram outskirts. It felt like an old city with its narrow roads. But surprisingly, it didn't feel chaotic. While driving in the city, we passed by so many temples, I could now believe there were 1000+ temples in town. There were carved statues on the roads too. We also encountered loads of buses taking groups of pilgrims (mostly women) to temples. And many of these buses were quite colourful and loud. Seeing so many tourist buses with pilgrims was definitely a new sight for me.

Kailasanathar temple sculptures

We first went to the Kailasanathar temple, which is supposedly the oldest surviving temple from 7-8th century CE and not an active temple now. The architecture and sculptures there were quite rich, and there was a sense of quiet and calmness there. Inside the temple, there was a very narrow tunnel that one can choose to crawl through for attaining moksha. We didn’t walk through it though. We then drove to the next temple, and realised that temples in Tamil Nadu close in the afternoons! This one was closed from 1230 pm to 430 pm. That was a bit of a surprise for us as we had no clue!

As we had time now, we drove to A.S. Babu Sah, a shop someone had suggested we go to (and which was marketed all over town). When driving there, many people tried to divert us to some other shops too. At A.S. Babu, we had to leave our shoes outside before entering. And when we walked in, we were in for a shock!

It was an enormous wholesale shop with four floors, each selling a different type and range of sarees (though only from Kanchipuram). One floor for cottons, one for cotton-silk, one for silks less than Rs. 10,000 and the fourth floor for expensive silk sarees. Each floor had sales people who spoke multiple languages (hindi, english, tamil, telugu, kannada, malayalam, gujarati and more). And based on what language you spoke, a salesperson would approach you, put a bedsheet on the floor and then start showing you hundreds of sarees within your range. Till you get exhausted!

The number of designs they had were unlimited. All around, the shelves were stacked with sarees. It was also very loud and there was so much chaos all around. It was maddening. The processes were all streamlined though, working like a well oiled machine. And there were so many people, families from different states, many in big groups, buying sarees in bulk for weddings. It was lovely to see all the saree designs, but so tough to choose from! So we spent a few hours there, while waiting for the temples to open.

Ekambareswarar gate

After one burst of saree shopping, we left to visit the Ekambareswarar temple, one of the Pancha Bhoota temples of Shivji. (There are eight major shivlings in India almost in a straight line. Of which, some of the temples depict the five elements. This was one of them. And on this trip, we visited two more of them - Chidambaram and Ramanathaswamy temples). We went there at 430pm when it was about to open again, but were shocked by the number of people waiting to get in! We avoided the crowd and went in 15 mins later. It felt more normal then. Still we encountered a long queue for the darshan. You could get VIP (faster) darshan though by paying Rs. 100.

Ekambareswarar tank

I walked around the vast complex (it’s 25 acres!), admiring its many beautifully adorned gates and the hall with the 1000 pillars. There was also a water tank in the complex. The temple has multiple gopurams, whose reflections look ethereal in the waters of the pond. There is an ancient mango tree there which I could not find. I also saw some women at one side wearing the same coloured sarees (yellow and green), dancing (in a style similar to garba) and singing bhajans. My guess is they were pilgrims from the same sect and following some specific rituals. We also saw loads of women in red sarees, all coming in the pilgrim buses we had seen earlier. I think there was some traditional pilgrimage happening at that time of the year.

Kamakshi Amman temple

We then walked to another nearby temple, the Kamakshi Amman Temple which had a water tank within the complex and a stunning view at sunset. It was still closed though, as different temples have different opening and closing times! So we walked around, and seeing the queue of people sitting in line, we ate prasad, sat there for a while and then went back to saree shopping 😍. There were some more famous temples to visit in town, like the Varadharaja Perumal temple and the Vaikuntha Perumal temple but as we were short on time, we skipped those.

I was quite surprised to see how temples were different here than what had I experienced before. Most of the women wore sarees in the temples while the men mostly wore dhotis. And that the pujaris put ash on the forehead of the devotees, that was new for me.

After a few more hours spent shopping for sarees (we spent a total of 6 hours in the shop!), we finally ate food at another ‘veg restaurant’, the Adyar Anand Bhavan. While we were eating, girls wearing bharatnatyam costumes just walked in for dinner after a performance. It was nice to see girls walking around in such traditional clothes. After a tasty meal, and with our hearts (and shopping bags) full, we drove back late at night to Mahabalipuram.

The drive back was quicker, taking us just 1.5 hours. On the way, we saw lots of churches decorated for Christmas as it was close to Christmas time. The churches were gaudily decorated with flashy lights - I had never seen churches decorated so brightly before. Also, the driving felt so non-chaotic and relaxed. People even gave signals on the highways when overtaking someone! That felt so different from North India.


Day 3: Mahabalipuram

Rock cut hill faces

We spent one whole day exploring Mahabalipuram, though I must say I found it less impressive than Kanchipuram, which had a lot more to see and explore. Mahabalipuram is located next to the sea and for people from Chennai, is a kind of a weekend seaside getaway as it is cooler than the city. It was a major port from Pallava times from the 7th century AD, and also has a huge complex of rock cut temples near the sea which are quite impressive. In the morning, we explored those places, then tried to visit a nearby beach. In the afternoon, we went back to our hotel for an afternoon nap. And in the evening, we again went to the Shore temple to enjoy the Dance Festival.

Pancha Ratha

The whole Mahabalipuram temple complex is spread out near the sea and has a lot to see. There was a combined ticket for the whole area. We first drove to the Pancha Rathas, where there are five monuments named after the Pandavas and Draupadi.

The Shore Temple

Then we drove to the Shore Temple which is a historic Pallava temple surrounded by the sea on three sides. It’s a beautiful temple built in Pallava style of architecture. And in front of it, is a courtyard with hundreds of Nandi statues all around. On both sides of the temple is the beach but it wasn't very inviting. On one side, there were thousands of small shops crowded with people (I think it may have been a religious mela going on at that time) and even getting to the beach would have been tough. On the other side, it was rocky and didn’t look too clean.

Hill-top temple

From there, we walked towards the other group of temples inside the temple complex. There were just so many small and big temples, most of them within 5-10 mins walking from each other. There were hilltop temples, small shivs temples, viharas with sculpted pillars, temples cut into the hill faces and so on.

Viharas

They were all so intricately carved, so impressive. The famous lighthouse on the way also had a panoramic view of the sea and greenery around. It was raining that day though, so that tempered our experience. Also, the school holidays had started, and there were crowds everywhere. It was crazy. But overall, I loved these old magnificent temples.

Sadras beach

It was tough to get out of the complex though given all the crazy traffic on the roads. Somehow we got out and then thought of going to a local beach. We found one on Google, in Sadras village, called the Sadras beach. The beach was nice but there was nothing to do there. No facilities, no changing rooms, no place to sit, nothing. Just some fisherman with their boats going out to sea. And the ruins of a Dutch fort. There were too many waves in the water as it was a very windy day. Everything made it tough to swim there, so we didn’t. (I should have made a note to myself to not listen to Google anymore too 😜).

Dance festival

We went back to our hotel for an afternoon nap, and then came back to the Shore Temple. In the evening, there was a week long Dance Festival being held in front of the temple in the open air. We saw a few folk and bharatnatyam performances there. It was just so nice to be out in the open with the sea breeze blowing - the whole atmosphere was so pleasant. We walked to the temple again, it looked so serene, lighted up at night amid the sounds of the waves on the beaches around. It was so beautiful, we enjoyed our evening out a lot.


Day 4: Pondicherry and Chidambaram

After Mahabalipuram, our next stay was in Thanjavur, the old Chola capital. It was a long day of driving till there, at least 6 hours. So we broke up the driving by stopping at two places on the way. First was Pondicherry, which was a bit of a let down as it was too crowded for us to enjoy its serenity and calmness. The second was the famous Nataraja temple of Chidambaram, which was a dream. I loved it.

The route from Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry is also along the East Coast Road but there was no coast to see again 😂. The roads were far from the coast. We did see a lot of waterbodies and backwaters there though. And all along there was a lot of greenery, including many mango orchards. The houses around were colourful and we drove by loads of temples on the way. But overall, it wasn't really too scenic a drive.

Alamparai fort

We took one detour on the way and stopped by a random fort next to the sea. It was the Alamparai fort, located next to a fishing village, with a beautiful backwater beach next to it. It was a 17th century fort, but in ruins now. The walls were so thick and the beach there had such clean water with no waves. It was so calm, I loved it. It would be a beautiful place to host corporate events in the evenings. While driving back from there, we bought local coconut oil from a village on the way.

In Pondicherry, we first visited Auroville which was a bit of a mess to get to as Google Maps was taking us through small forest roads. We followed it for a while, through orchards and huge bungalows on both sides. But then we chickened out seeing the narrow barely there road and drove back to take the main but longer route. It was also narrow, with loads of traffic but at least there was a road. We were impressed with the number of fancy cafes on the way though.

We didn’t know the philosophy or what to expect in Auroville. Apparently it is an experimental township inspired by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and has attracted many people from India and abroad. People visit Auroville to learning more about this philosophy. And when visiting, most people visit the Matrimandir (the meditation centre).

The Matrimandir

Auroville from the inside was huge with lots of green space and had loads of activities going on. Apparently for entering the Matrimandir hall you need to register a few days before. Otherwise if you turn up on the day, you can take a walk and view Matrimandir from afar.

So we decided to walk there. And the walk was weird. The path took us through things like an artificial zoo! There were a few boards explaining the philosophy of the place. I didn’t find any of it interesting though. Even the Matrimandir, (which you can only see from far) was not that impressive. I didn't understand the concept of this place and why people visit it. We could have definitely avoided it - it felt like a total waste of time and effort.

Temples on the way

After that, we drove to Pondicherry town. It felt more like a Tamil town than an ex-French place. We had lunch at Meenakshi veg restaurant right in front of which was another temple. And enjoyed the food.

Streets of Whitetown

After that, we drove to Whitetown, the old French part of town. We mostly walked through the old streets with their pastel coloured houses, all along the sea. It had a very European feel to it, tree lined streets with two storey coloured houses around. It would have been beautiful in the past.

I walked along the Rue Dumas and Rue Romain Rolland. Then by some parks and old churches. And some cute cafes. The whole area was a pedestrian only zone and easy to walk along. But with the crazy end of year crowds, it wasn't as fun as I expected. A bit underwhelming actually. I could see the potential of its charm, but didn't feel it really.

Pondicherry Waterfront

We then walked on the waterfront, which had a rocky beach and didn't feel that inviting either. We walked past the Gandhi statue and went into a shilp mela with handicrafts from different states. It was the most interesting place we saw in Pondicherry 😂. Not really impressed, we left soon enough. Our next stop was the Chidambaram temple in the town of Chidambaram. And all along the way, we drove by loads of decorated churches.

Chidambaram city was a bit tough to get into. The roads were all clogged with traffic. We also passed by tourist buses with women dancing inside. At one point, we just got out of the car and walked to the temple. And what a majestic experience it was.

Pillars in the temple

The Chidambaram temple is a huge complex, surrounded by a huge water tank and with pillared halls and many smaller temples around. The main temple was just massive. It has four main gopurams and thousands of sculptures and pillars everywhere. It felt like such a spectacular architectural marvel built of solid rock which has stood its ground for centuries.

We walked inside with awe. There was a festival going on - the Brahmotsav - so there were hundreds of priests chanting mantras. Everything was lighted up, inside and outside. We saw the Nataraja moorti but from so far, it looked different from how I had imagined it to be. The temple is also said to be the home of bharatnatyam. Then we saw some bharatnatyam performances being done by children. It felt so different from North Indian temples - rock solid, with no bells, no water anywhere. Everywhere, there was just so much energy, it was infectious. There were also a lot of crowds inside. But somehow everything still felt spiritual. 

Chidambaram gate

On the outside too, there were people everywhere. The temple gates decorated with colourful statues stood as guardians to this stunning temple. The water tank was huge and reflected the lights from the gopurams. But I felt a strange calmness even though it was filled with thousands of people. It did have a power to it. An energy which I can’t explain.

Chidambaram temple tank

We had dinner at Adyar Anand Bhavan which was the first place we ate at, where the food was not that tasty. And then we drove to Thanjavur all the way at night. When we reached Thanjavur, it felt so empty. It also felt like a smaller town than the others. 

There were a few more places to see on this drive but we didn't have time. I was fascinated with Tranquebar, an old Danish fort along the sea. But we couldn’t go there. It had been a long day anyways, with 8 hours of driving, and 7 hours of visiting places. Also, I had been excited about Pondicherry but it was a disappointment. Maybe it had more to do with the time of the year and the crowds than the place? Maybe my experience would be different at a different time? But I loved the Chidambaram temple, totally. 

Temples of Tamil Nadu (1): Itinerary

I had lived in Tamil Nadu for a year in 1987-88 when we had toured some places around. But since then, I somehow never got a chance to revisit the place. So last year, we spent a week travelling and exploring the state. We criss-crossed across, visiting a few historical towns, doing darshan in temples, shopping for sarees and stopping at a few of the beaches. Overall, I was amazed by the outstanding temple architecture and the deeply embedded presence of religion in daily life in the state. I have somehow never experienced it so much anywhere else. I was also quite struck by the distance between north and south India, both physically and metaphorically.


Itinerary

Our overall holiday was for about 8 days and 8 nights, with stays at the following locations:
Day 1 - 3: Land in Chennai, drive to Mahabalipuram (2 hours); 3 nights stay in Mahabalipuram at Four Points by Sheraton, Mahabalipuram
Day 4 - 6: Drive to Thanjavur (via Chidambaram temple and Pondicherry, 6 hours); 3 nights stay in Thanjavur at Hyders Mahal and Hotel
Day 7 - 8: Drive to Madurai (via Rameswaram, 7-8 hours); 2 nights stay at Taj Gateway Madurai


The detailed itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: Land in Chennai, saree shopping at Ranganathan Street (in T. Nagar), drive to Mahabalipuram (2 hours) (Potential stops to add to the itinerary: visit to Kapaleeshwarar Temple (Mylapore, Chennai), classical performances at Kalakshetra or Narada Gana Sabha and visit to Chennai beach)

Day 2: Day trip to Kanchipuram (2.5 hours one way), visit to Ekambareshwarar Temple, Kailasanathar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple, and kanjeevaram saree shopping at AS Babu Sah (Other places to add to itinerary: Varadharaja Perumal temple, Vaikuntha Perumal temple, and Kanchi Matha)

Day 3: Exploring the rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram - Shore Temple and Pancha Rathas, visit to Sadras beach and dance festival at night by the Shore Temple

Day 4: Drive to Thanjavur (6 hours), visit Pondicherry and the Chidambaram Nataraja temple on the way (Other places to add to the itinerary: Tranquebar)

Day 5: Visit Kumbakonam temples (30 mins one way) (Kumbeshwarar and Mahamaham Tank) and Chola Brihadeshwar temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram (60 mins one way)

Day 6: Visit Brihadeshwar Temple and Thanjavur Maratha Palace in Thanjavur

Day 7: Drive to Madurai via Rameswaram (7-8 hours); visit Ramanathaswamy temple and Dhanushkodi beach

Day 8: Visit Meenakshi Amman Temple and saree shopping in Madurai

Day 9: Fly back to Delhi


In the end we visited about 9 temples on this trip, while one other was closed by the time we reached. Ekambareshwarar Temple, Kailasanathar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple (closed) in Kanchipuram; Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram, Chidambaram temple in Chidambaram, Kumbeshwarar temple in Kumbakonam, Brihadeshwar temple in Cholapuram, Brihadeshwar temple in Thanjavur, Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram and Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai. If someone wants, they can visit hundreds more, they just need to plan their days better as most of the temples close in the afternoon.

Other than these, there is no dearth of ancient ruins and regions to visit in Tamil Nadu. One can also visit the Chettinad region (near Karaikudi) for its heritage, haveli architecture and cuisine, Kanyakumari and Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum, and so on. If we just had the time.


Map



Itinerary (1)
Chennai to Thanjavur (2)
Thanjavur to Madurai (3)
Impressions (4)