Tamil Nadu - Madurai, Tiruvannamalai, Pondicherry

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May 13th 2010

Published: May 13th 2010

well, we are doing a somewhat whirlwind tour of Tamil Nadu, been to several places since last updated blog so plenty to tell!

we left Kumily on Monday, on a four hour bus journey to Madurai in Tamil Nadu. seems like all bus journeys round here last four hours. or maybe we are just making decisions based on four hours being about the maximum time it is possible to spend on an indian bus without going mad.

so, we initially picked Madurai a bit randomly, as it seemed well connected to the rest of tamil nadu, then we checked the Bible (lonely planet) and also asked some local people and found out Madurai has one of the biggest, oldest, most important hindu temples in india! handy.

Tamil Nadu is, so i have been told and understand, the most devoutly hindu state. people here do not speak hindi as they consider it a modern not really indian language. i think this area was least affected by muslim influences historically. it seems like it's the most indian place in india! certainly on arrival in Madurai, after the calm, natural beauty of Kerala, it was like "welcome back to india!". traffic, noise, pollution.....

in every decent size town or city the traffic is chaos. it's a case of let people know you are approaching by enthusiastic use of horn, and every man for himself! however, you generally get the impression that if you do get in the way, they will stop or swerve to avoid running you over. in Madurai i got the distinct impression that, actually, they might not stop, and might just mow you down if you hesitated too long! don't worry, i am pretty good at traffic (top tip, if in doubt crossing a road, follow a local....). anyway, i am still in one piece.

we got a hotel really near the temple and went in the evening to have a look. it's quite amazing. it's huge, i forget how big. please do your own research on wikipedia if you so desire. can't remember actual name of temple, as usual, sri meenakshi something, but i am sure if you search madurai, temple it will come up.

so anyway, the little information i did glean. it was built between 6th century and 12th century and took that long. there are many, many gods in hinduism, and many stories about them, it's all very complicated and people take it very literally. the temple is celebrating the marriage of shiva, a key character, and his wive who is known in tamil as meenakshi, but she has different name in different areas. Shiva is generally depicted in blue, in this temple his wife is green, and apparantly, in the inner sanctum (open only to hindus) is an emerald statue (idol) of her.

there is a hall of 1000 pillars (there are only about 980 though) each one with statues of gods carved out huge stone blocks.

it was really atmospheric. we haven't done a lot temples, or really got into anything very spiritual (or transcendental) so far, so i was quite inspired to find out more. we hired a guide to show us around the next morning.

he explained some of the significance and rituals. hinduism basically (and please forgive my ignorance, this is for entertainment purposes only) has many, many gods, and the status, shrines etc are idols which are worshipped as if they really embody the gods. people make offerings to the gods of flowers, incense, fruit, money. the statues are often dressed in nice sari's and decorated with beautiful jasmine flower garlands, which can be purchased from many stalls around the temple areas. (a much more worthwhile use of these, which many ladies do, is wear them in the hair. it's a great idea, as the smell follows you around all day, particularly handy in smelly cities, or when it's so hot you are sweating all day!).

different gods represent different things, and a small initially slightly insignificant looking one was extremely popular amongst many young women as pleasing this god guarantees easy delivery of a baby if you are pregnant.

there was a statue of Nandi (Shiva's pet bull) with a hole in it's ear, if you whispered into it your message would definately be heard by Shiva himself.

i had a quiet word with Shiva via Nandi and offered ganesh a garland of jasmine. (Ganesh is the half elephant, half baby child of Shiva and his wife (i think)).

most temples have a resident elephant. elephants are sacred of course. and of course, the elephant would bless anyone who approached with a couple of rupees by placing his trunk on your head. it was very nice. although i think i got a bit elephant snot in my hair.

anyway, we haven't got long, as we have a plane to catch from chennai on 20th may, so on tuesday we moved on to Tiruvannamalai.

this was six hours by train. trains are much more comfortable than buses, as they have a toilet, and you can to some extent get up and move about. however, this train journey started what was to become to hottest day and night i can ever remember. in kumliy we were in the mountains and it was relatively cooler. much of tamil Nadu is plains and it just got hotter and hotter. there were loads of fans in the train, and the windows and doors all open, but the air was so hot it just had the effect of making us feel as though we were in a fan-assisted oven instead of just an oven.

the train didn't go direct to Tiruvannamalai (here after known as t.v.malai) and we were supposed to get a bus from Villupuram. however, we were pretty tired and decided to get a taxi. it seemed really convenient as we agreed with the driver he could take us around several different hotels when we got there to find one we liked.

we arrived at t.v.malai as it was dark, and if maduria seemed like 'hardcore india' t.v. malai takes the biscuit. practically every street seemed to be being dug up, whole sections of road missing, piles of bricks and rubble all over, endless, even more ruthless traffic, a smog of dust. we wondered where on earth we had come to.

we came as there is another important temple, the town is at the base of extinct volcano, and it's is believed to be an 'elemental city' of Shiva. according to the mythology Shiva appeared here as a 'lingam" of fire. a 'lingam' in case you don't know, is a, ahem, phallus shaped structure, normally stone. it is exactly that which is represented, the hindu gods could certainly be very horny.

pilgrims come to walk around the base of the mountain (14km). walking around something sacred is also a hindu ritual. the city certainly seemed like it was representing fire, the hottest place we have been so far.

we went around several hotels with our strict list of requirements.... "double room, AC, window, western toilet...."

now, i don't know if it's the pre-monsoon heat building tension, or if it's the tamil nature, but we have had practically no trouble or disputes with indian people on our whole trip.

however, the driver stared to get really stroppy about taking us to several hotels. we said it was what we had originally asked him to do but he was just being moody.

eventually a hotel showed us a large room with AC for a good price. so we told the taxi driver we were done and sent him on his way, still sulking somewhat.

we brought our bags back into the hotel, and a different guy took us to our a room... except it was a different room, small with no AC... erm... "oh no!" the 'manager' explained, "the price i gave you was for this room, not the one the boy showed you....that room is already booked....." arg.... the thing is, indian's don't seem to lose their temper, but they won't give in, and they won't apologise. the manager had given us a price without knowing which room his employee had shown us! he said "it's not my fault, it was his fault"!!!

anyway, much negotiating later we had a decent room for a fair price and set out for some food.

as i have mentioned before, the only thing i am fussy about food wise is breakfast, i don't find it easy to have spicy veg and chapatis for brekkie. we quickly realised we were not going to get lovely fruit salad or brown bread in this town.

however, we found a basic local restaurant downstairs from the hotel, and they agreed to get in bananas and curd specially for us for the morning! we bought some honey from the pharmacy (honey is considered medicine it seems) and slept knowing at least we had lovely breakfast lined up. we remembered that nearly always indians are actually extremely accommodating and helpful.

the room we had agreed on in the end was not AC, and since boarding the train the previous morning we did not stop sweating....

however, the breakfast was delicious and the place had really nice coffee.

so anyway, the temple is nice, but not as nice as madurai's, but there were plenty of sadhu's around, i been reading a book about sadhu's, and depending on your view point / the sadhu, they are basically either homeless bums, or revered holy men. they are 'renunciants', people who give up their wordly possessions, family, jobs etc to wander the country, being spiritual and so on. a 'true' sadhu wouldn't actually be a beggar, but they do rely on donations from generous people to eat and occassionally have places to stay. they hang out around temples and ashrams especially.

they can often be observed smoking huge 'chillums' (big clay pipes) of cannabis, and although drug laws are strict in india, it's actually perfectly legal for a sadhu or holy person to use cannabis.

we spotted a friendly looking group, and bought them some chai and sat down with them, in the hope of obtaining a few words of wisdom. however, they didn't really speak any english, so it was hard to define which group they fitted into (they weren't smoking chillums however). anyway, they appreciated the tea.

we also visited another ashram. they are plenty of ashrams in t.v.malai.

this one is dedicated to a guru who had a moment of self-realisation when he imagined his own death at age sixteen. he then spent 50 years in contemplation, eventually achieving the state 'samadhi'. this is where hinduism gets even more complicated. it's not just all about these exciting stories with all the characterful gods, it's a deep philosophy about the nature of consciousness, and that god is in everything, and everything is a god, and everything is just one big energy vibration (vibes... maaaan). all fairly new age hippy really. lots of meditation involved. anyway, this guy Sri Ramana or something, is worshipped in basically the same way as all the other gods are. just like Amma in the other ashram, expect this guy has been dead since 1950.

there were a few westerners in the ashram, middle aged, middle class women wearing their white saris. they all looked quite miserable actually.

and then today, to top off our spiritual journey (ahem) we did a tour of the base of the mountain (by rickshaw, it is 14kmand very hot!), visiting on the way, eight important lingams. they were small temples each containing the cylindrical black stones, dressed in flowers, surrounded by incense and candles etc. in each one we paid (i mean offered) around 10rupees to watch a priest do a bit of chanting, wave some candles in the front of the lingam, and put a bit ash on our foreheads.

by the end we definately had lingam fatigue and i do not feel appreciably more blessed than before.

hope i don't sound to cycnical. it's all really interesting and nice actually.

so anyway. i really shouldn't've left it so long to update the blog i have got so much to catch up on........

we have come this afternoon (thursday) to Pondicherry. i don't why but i always wanted to come to pondicherry. i think i just like the name. anyway, in colonial times it was run by the french, and still maintains a somewhat continental air.

it's only 2 and a half hours by bus (surprisingly) from t.v.malai but it feels like a different world! there are quiet shady streets running along side canals (if you don't notice the canals have hardly any water and lots of litter), a pleasant promenade along the seaside, and french cafes, serving chocolate croissants and excellent coffee. tres bon!

i am sure i have missed loads out, time seems to be rushing away now, i think i might be over halfway into my india trip (came on 18th feb, visa expires 27jul???). but having the plane booked, and having to be more aware of how long we spend in each place, seems to make us feel more rushed, and make the days go so quick. anyway, we really like pondy, as it is affectionally known, so we might stay a few nights. there are some rock temples we want to see in mamallapuram on the way to chennai, and then we will back up north.

it's so hard to describe how it is here really, i am writing what we are doing but it's so hard to explain what it's like, the atmosphere of places, how each place has plenty in common but is also so different. i have taken loads of photos recently, but that just means it's harder to upload as it's take longer to look at them and pick which ones.

so sorry about that but i haven't got time now.

bonsoir pour now!

Tamil Nadu - Madurai, Tiruvannamalai, Pondicherry

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