Kanchipuram

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Kanchipuram has over 100 temples. It is not a huge city like Chennai so some of the temples are close neighbours. The first temple was dedicated to Vishnu - Devarajaswami. This temple has a marriage hall with carved pillars (horses) on the left after you pass the entrance tower - gopuram. This is a C16 temple and there are Portuguese influences in the dress of some of the carvings. At the back of the marriage hall you can see the temple tank. This is used for festivals when images of the gods are floated in the tank. It is more like a small lake than a tank. The story associated with this tank is that precious images were hidden in the tank at the time of war to protect them. The temple waited 40 years to drain the tank and uncover the image, but this only lasted 48 days because of another invasion. This is now commemorated by draining the tank every 40 years. The next temple Sri Ekambaranathar has a famous mango tree.

The Kailasantha temple is unlike the other two temples because it is more a monument and less a living temple. This is from the much earlier Pallaver time like tha temples at Mallarapuram. Although this temple has been restored there are many original carvings left and traces of fresco painting.

After visiting a silk weavers the drive to Mahallapuram was not long. We arrived in time to explore. I found somewhere to eat a snack and found myself wondering why it seemed familiar. I saw the Tibetan prayer flags and pictures and found Nepalese food on the menu. Here it is easy to walk around unlike Chennai where the roads are impossible. I took a first look at some of the sights including Arjuna's penance. The late afternoon light highlighted some of the temples. More to come tomorrow. Malabar fish for dinner.

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Comments

[Barry Gower]

Your blog
Great to hear about the temples Kanchipuram, the silk weavers and Mahallapram. Have a wonderful trip.