The French and the Cholas leave their mark

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April 16th 2008

Published: September 17th 2008

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howard and lisa

On the road to Chidambaran

Pondicherry and Mamallapuram: Experiencing the Unexpected

We left Tanjore early since on the way to Pondicherry we wanted to make an unscheduled stop at the small town of Chidambaram to see a temple that closed at noon. We had a beautiful early morning drive through the Cauvery delta, full of bucolic, agricultural landscapes although some of the villages were clearly dirt-poor, accommodation comprising tiny mud shelters with atap roofs.

Arriving at Chidambaram we found that Narayan, our driver, had telephoned ahead for a friend of his to show us the temple. He was about 4′10″ and lacked many teeth, but he spoke impeccable clear English and was very knowledgeable.

The Nataraja Temple (dedicated to Shiva) was built starting in the 12th century by the Chola emperors although a temple may have stood on this site for a thousand years before that; the fine east gate gopuram dates from the 12th century, as does the inner sanctum. There are some superb features to the 22-acre compound including four gopurams at the cardinal points, the stunning dark colonnades of the vast inner sanctum, the gold dome at its centre, and the Sivaganga tank surrounded by peaceful and beautifully proportioned cloisters. It is

On the road to Chidambaran

apparently the only private Hindu temple in India (astonishingly, the rest are all government-run) and we were warned that the Brahmin priests were like vultures; oddly, not one even approached us, and when Lisa asked one for a photo, there was no request for money.

At noon we headed on to Pondicherry where we checked into the Hotel Le Dupleix, a splendidly renovated Mayoral house from the 18th century named after Pondy’s most famous French Governor General.

Europeans settled in Pondicherry (now Puducherry) from around 1500, the Portuguese being the first to arrive shortly after they discovered the sea route to India. The Danes and the Dutch followed them, but in 1673 the French military moved in and so began a French domination that lasted almost without interruption until 1954. It subsequently became an Indian Union Territory, a little lower down the pecking order than a full State, a status it has retained ever since.

The city of about 700,000 people is laid out on a French grid system and is divided into two parts by a canal running north to south. On the east side, running down the coast, is the old French Quarter while to the west lies what was known as (and

Temple carving, Nataraja Temple

Chidambaran

still is) Tamil Town. It really is a perfectly delightful place. Architecturally it is fascinating and very attractive. The French Quarter has long wide streets lined with colonial residences and public buildings while Tamil Town has a mashup of colonial, Tamil and Muslim styles - often within the same building. It is the cleanest and best maintained of any Indian city I have visited; quite how the municipality manages this is beyond me, but they seem to - on both sides of the canal. Even the government buildings that elsewhere in India are generally run down are here well taken care of and maintain an appearance of quiet gentility.

After a light lunch at Le Dupleix, Lisa decided to rest while I went to check the place out. In the interests of religious balance I started at the hundred-year old Gothic-style Sacred Heart Church, striking in white and ochre with brightly stained glass windows; next to the nearby Muslim quarter with its attractive, pleasingly proportioned green and white Jamai Mosque from 1928; and, later, in the French Quarter, to the vibrant Sri Manakula Vinayagar Ganesh temple that dates from before 1700.

Mostly, however, I just enjoyed strolling along the sea-front

The sivaganga (temple tank), Nataraja Temple

Chidambaran

promenade, the streets of the French Quarter and the peaceful Bharathi Park, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring the architecture. It is an enchanting city with which I easily fell in love.

In the evening, Lisa and I ate a good dinner at The Lighthouse, a restaurant on the roof of the Promenade Hotel just across from the beach and the Gandhi memorial statue. Before retiring we took a gentle walk along the beachfront, mingling with the locals out to enjoy the promenade activities and the cooling sea breeze.

I had a lovely walk just after sunrise, wandering along the Promenade and through the shady, tree-lined streets of the French Quarter. Locals were out walking, jogging, meditating, exercising their dogs, chatting on street corners, or just beginning their working day. The early morning light was very special - almost Mediterranean in its quality - and it was hard at times to believe I was not in Provence.

After a leisurely breakfast we drove to Auroville, about 8km north of the city. Founded in 1968 and sanctioned by an Indian act of parliament, this community is home to 2,000 residents, two-thirds of whom are non-Indians. It was the brainchild

French colours

Pondicherry

of “the Mother”, a French woman of Egyptian/Turkish parentage who became the shakti of Sri Aurobindo, an Indian intellectual, independence activist and - later - spiritual philosopher and leader.

Frankly, my immediate reaction would be to shake my head in derision over any place that has a founder known as “The Mother” and starts its charter with the following words: “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.” However, from what I have seen and read of Auroville, if I leave aside the spiritual aspects of its vision for a moment, its objectives, methods and the progress it has made are quite thought provoking and impressive. It has certainly attracted as members of its advisory boards and as apologists some pretty sane and switched-on individuals from around the globe.

Unfortunately, we seemed to have no time to walk around the settlement and look at some of its community buildings. In fact we spent most of our brief time in the visitor centre’s excellent shop where everything is produced within the community; the merchandise appears to be both creatively inspired and of

Pondy dog lover

very high quality indeed.

Telling ourselves we would come back for a better look at Auroville should we ever return to Pondicherry, we took off north along the excellent coastal toll road towards Mamallapuram through flat but interesting and attractive coastal countryside. Given the light traffic and the green, undeveloped surroundings this must be one of the most enjoyable roads to drive in the whole of India. In an hour and a half we were having lunch at our hotel, the GRT Temple Bay, which turned out to be a very attractive, high quality resort hotel on the beach just north of the fishing village of Mamallapuram.

In mid afternoon we met up with our local guide, Meenakshi, and set off to visit the remarkable heritage of this tiny coastal town. Our fist stop was at the Five Rathas that with the nearby Shore Temple and several groups of relief carvings constitute the Mamallapuram UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Pallava kingdom held sway in this part of India between the 4th and 9th centuries, and one of its most prolific builders was Narasimha Varman I (AD 630-638). Among his masterpieces, and the most curious of the monuments of Mamallapuram, are the Five Rathas of

The Five Rathas

Mamallapuram

the South located amid sandy dunes on the edge of town. Each of these free-standing temples was carved out of a single block of granite and the processional chariots (for that is what they were designed to resemble) are decorated with stunning bas-reliefs in typical Dravidian style. There is also a life-size elephant beautifully carved out of solid rock whose significance is unclear, but perhaps — given that the pachyderm’s backside is the same shape as the temple next to it — it was a little joke on the part of the Pallava architects.

Interestingly, the Pallavas carried both trade and religion across south-east Asia and the magnificent Hindu temples at Prambanan in Central Java that we visited in 2007 were undoubtedly built with the help of Pallava architects or - at minimum - strongly influenced by their art and technology.

The small Shore Temple stands self assuredly on a promontory just behind the village, and is beautifully proportioned. Bathed in the evening sun it rises magnificently against the unfathomable blue sky and the breakers of the Bay of Bengal. The temple consists of three shrines and was constructed from cut stone under King Narasimha Varman II (AD

Bollywood meets the Five Rathas

Mamallapuram

700-728). It is one of the oldest structural (versus rock-cut) stone temples of South India and perhaps one of the most complex. Standing on the sea’s edge for over a thousand years it is not surprising that many of the temple’s carvings have been eroded, but those that remain provide a glimpse of its original splendour.

The best example of Pallava sculpture, however, is found 500 meters inland. The stunning Penance Panel — also known as Arjuna's Penance — is a beautifully preserved, open-air bas relief carved on a huge granite boulder some 30 meters long and 12m high - said by our guide to be the largest such carving in the world. It portrays scenes from the legend of the descent of the Ganges and has an all-star cast including a cat, nagas, elephants and dwarfs.

The overall effect leaves one grasping for words to describe this tour de force.

Behind the Penance stands Krishna’s Butter Ball, a massive round boulder that sits improbably and immovably on a sloping rock; a Ganesh Ratha; and a remarkable carved cave temple dedicated to the Hindu trinity. The work involved in accomplishing this last gem is astonishing.

Back

Shore Temple

Mamallapuram

at the beach resort we spent a Pallava's fortune in the well-stocked lobby shop and retired for a relaxing evening in our room.

Waking around six the next day, I decided to take an early morning walk along the beach. There was a beautiful cloudless sky and the sun lit up the waves breaking on the sand like white neon. Fishermen were returning to the beach in their colourful boats, or waking up on the sand where they had collapsed after an earlier return. At the end of the beach, on a spit of land jutting out into the Bay of Bengal, the Shore Temple majestically watched over all the action.

Later we left for the drive to Chennai about an hour and a half north on the continuation of yesterday’s excellent road. After a brief stop at a cultural heritage centre we reached the Taj Connemara Hotel on Mount Road in time for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we went with our local guide for a drive around the city, feeling a bit too hot and templed-out to bother viewing the modest sites on foot. The museum would have been a good option but it was closed on

Arjuna's Penance

Mamallapuram

Fridays.

In the evening we re-packed, ordered dinner, and watched the inaugural match of the first Indian Premier League’s Twenty 20 cricket competition. The Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed home-team Bangalore Royal Challengers 222 for 3 against 82 all out in 15 overs! Brendan McCullen hit a magnificent 158 (an all-time Twenty 20 high score) off 73 balls, including 13 sixes and 10 fours.

For some reason this seemed to me a strangely appropriate way to draw our tour of Southern India to a close…

The next morning, after a half hour drive to Chennai Airport and a three-hour SIA flight, we were back home in Singapore. A bit tired I suppose, from the non-stop schedule over the last ten days of our trip, but exhilarated by all that we had seen.

We had easily loved Goa -- the wedding had been a huge success and most enjoyable; and chilling out at Nilaya Hermitage and getting to know the area better had been a blast.

Kochin and the Kerala Backwaters had been enjoyable in a different laid-back, peaceful sort of way, and the temple towns of Tamil Nadu had been quite stupendous. The latter all the more enjoyable

Mamallapuram beach at sunrise

for the fact that most of the temples are alive with Hindu adherents, almost free of tourists, and - as well as architecturally stimulating - a chance to see Indians enjoying their day-to-day social and religious lives. We were, incidentally, knocked out by just how friendly everybody was wherever we went.

Finally, Pondicherry and Mamallapuram had been marvellous in very different ways; Pondy, I suppose, just because it is so unexpected, and Mamallapuram because of the stunning monuments to Chola design and technology, and its lovely seashore location.

I would return to many of these places at the drop of a hat. And I would recommend without hesitation the journey we made, and all the places we visited.