City of Cheese Temples

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OK, they're not really Cheese Temples. But they are Rock Fort Temples and that's close enough for me.

The two principal temples are on a great rock that's in the centre of the old town of Trichy. All the rest of the town is completely flat and then, out of nowhere, there's a massive 300 foot high rock. The first temple, about half way up the rock, is dedicated to Shiva and the other, right at the summit, is dedicated to Ganesh. There used to be a fort on the rock too, but little is left of that. There are also a few smaller cave temples, carved into the rock.

I had realised that there would be a lot of climbing up steps involved. The book refers to "437 stone-cut steps". But what it doesn't say is that these steps are on open rock and that you have to take your shoes off and deposit them at a stall before you start your climb. It was a very hot day and I arrived at the temple about 11am. The sun shining on the steps made them so hot that before I was halfway up to the first temple I was feeling like that mermaid who gives up her world of water for the love of a human and thenceforward always feels the pain of sharp sword tips piercing her soles and heels at every step she takes.

But it was worthwhile and the temple complex is a wonderful place (non-hindus are not allowed into the actual temples themselves). At the very entrance of the temples there was a temple elephant with jingling rings around its neck and auspicious signs painted onto its face and ears. It was obviously very clever and I saw a pilgrim put a coin in its trunk and it then lifted its trunk up and placed it slowly and carefull on the man's head as a sign of blessing. I did the same thing, using a five rupee coin and was blessed in my turn. I wondered if the elephant could distinguish between different coins and what it would have done if I'd given it only half a rupee.

The climb would not be a difficult one, were it not for the heat burning into your feet. But there's no other way and after a while it seems it will be easier to carry on and get the respite of shade in the outer temple bulidings. The Shiva temple is interesting inasmuchas the idol worshipped there is a shivling which is actually part of the rock itself. This temple is often visited by women who wish to become pregnant and by pregnant women who will thereby ensure a safe and quick labour. The Ganesh temple or Vinayaka temple commemorates the place where Ganesh, in his capacity as Vinayaka, prevented the brother of Ravana from retaining the holy idol of Vishnu which Lord Ram had given him. That idol itself is now said to be housed in Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.

There is a magnificent view over the whole city from the top of the temple. And then you have to walk all the way down, barefoot again. There's a large pool of water at the foot of the rock with a pavilion in its centre which is used during the temples' Boat Festivals.

Everybody calls the town Trichy, but its actual name is Tiruchirappalli. I think they've done the right thing by abbreviating it. The only small problem for me was that a town called Thiruvananthpuram in Kerala had, sensibly enough, decided to do a similar thing and had cut down their city's name to Trivy. Until I actually got here I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to Trichy or Trivy. But this is the right place, in Tamil Nadu.

Tamils like long names. There's a hill station in the Nilgiri Hills called Udhagamandalam. This has been abbreviated to Ooty, from its earlier name of Ootacamund. In the days of the Raj it was known as "Snooty Ooty".

In Keralal (and also, surprisingly enough in Goa as well) most signs along the streets or in buildings of interest were in English, sometimes exclusively so. But most of the signs here are in Tamil and are often only translated into other Indian languages. The Keralans love the Malayalam language too but I think that they are trying to achieve high literacy rates for people using English.

The buses here have amazing horns that sound just like ships' foghorns (only maybe a bit louder) so sometimes it seems as if I am in the middle of the English Channel.

On my second day here I went to see the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple where the holy Vishnu idol that Ganesh gained by his trickery is still worshipped.

Like the Rock Fort temples, and it seems, most temples in South India this temple had its temple elephant standing near the entrance. My guide told me that the elephant was pregnant. Apparently, by law, all temple elephants in India are allowed a holiday every year when they are allowed to roam freely and this particular elephant had obviously enjoyed her holiday and had come back pregnant.

The temple is enormous. It is said to be the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world (the qualification is because Angkor Wat is larger but no longer functions as a Hindu temple). The temple complex is an astonishing 156 acres in area.

There are seven concentric walls enclosing the Sanctum Sanctorum or golden temple which houses the Vishnu statue and to which non-hindus are not allowed admission. However non-hindu visitors can freely wander around the rest of the temple environs and there is a viewing site from which the golden roof of the forbidden part may be seen. It is said that Narayan (an avatar of Vishnu) actually lives in this temple.

The first thing that you see, from far away as you approach the temple, is a monumental Gopuram. This is an ornately decorated tower that temples in South India often have - and this temple has them in spades. They look like decorated step pyramids and every inch of them is full of wonderful and beautifully painted details of religious significance. The main gopuram of this temple is 200 feet high and has eleven progressively smaller tiers.

I believe that these towers symbolise the mountains on which the gods dwell. like the towers atop Angkor Wat but in Shiva temples they may also be taken to be gigantic shivlings.

A temple has stood on this site for at least two thousand years but the oldest remaining structures now date from the 13th century. There was a lot of very fine carving from this period and also up to about 1600. There is a great hall, called the Hall of the Thousand Pillars. However someone has actually counted them and there are apparently only 953. This was closed off so I couldn't count them myself but I can confirm that it does have a lot of pillars.

Instead of the normal square shaped tank or temple lake, this temple has a circular lake, said to be in the shape of the moon.

The temple is one of eight "self manifested shrines of Lord Vishnu" and is said to be the pre-eminent amongst them all.

Many pilgrims flock to this temple (causing it sometimes to be known as the Hindu Mecca) and it was very crowded and bustling when I visited.

I moved on to the nearby temple of Sri Jambukeswarar. This temple is also appraoched through a beautiful gopuram but it is dedicated to Shiva rather than to Vishnu. It is one of the five great Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, each of which reflects one of the elements - this one is water. We normally thinkabout four elements (on a pre-scientific basis) - earth, air, fire and water. The fifth Tamil Nadu Shiva temple reflects space, which is regarded as an additional element.

Whilst I was visiting the temple, its elephant was led in a procession through the halls and out into the open courtyards with musicians playing music as it went. The temple was far from deserted but, after the hustle and bustle of the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple it felt very peaceful.

The main object of worship in this temple is a shivling that is partly immersed in water - hence the water symbolism. The legend goes that Lord Shiva was once in deep meditation at his home on Mount Kalaisha and his wife, Parvati, laughed at his erect penis and brought him out of his yogic trance. He asked her to descend to earth and perform an act of puja or worship. So she came down and looked for a fitting place. She happened upon the place where the temple now stands and which was then a great forest of apple trees. She took some water from the Kaveri (Cauvery) river and turned it into the lingam that is still in the temple. Every day, so it is said, she returns from heaven to worship at this lingam in the temple.

In order to dramatise this, for the benefit of ordinary worshippers, the priest of the day dresses himself in a sari and, with a royal crown on his head, goes to the central Shiva sanctuary to worship him with all the paraphenalia of the goddess. This unique ritual does not take place elsewhere.

Although most people who live here are hindu, there are also large Christian and Moslem communities. I had seen the facade of the Our Lady of Lourdes church when visiting the Rock Fort Temples and returned to visit the church. It is said to be a copy of the Basilica at Lourdes in France and was built at the end of the ineteenth century. Outside the gothic structure is painted in cream and coffee colours and inside it is cream and pink. It feels a bit like being inside a cake. The church is well lit with the sun shining through stained glass windows and there is a magnificent altarpiece. You have to remove your shoes before going inside. Outside there is a Way of the Cross with paintings at each station with Tamil titles and explanantion. The only English I saw was on the plaques marking the deaths of people connected with the church, everything else was in Tamil.

After visiting the church I wandered around the bazaars and happened upon the town museum, which was not mentioned in the book. It looked an interesting place and I went in but unfortunately there was a power cut and the museum was closed.

Although I haven't mentioned them much, power cuts have been a constant of my stay in India. The only two states where there have not been cuts during my visits are Goa and Kerala. Everywhere else you just have to put up with it.

I went, instead, to the shrine or Durgah of Baba Nathar Vali who was a moslem sufi saint. He was buried in Trichy and the shrine was erected over his grave. This saint lived in the twelth century and is said to have been a king who gave up his worldly position so as to follow the sufi path. A tree that he planted is still standing in the durgah. Just outside the shrine a goat was stting in the back of a rickshaw, waiting for the driver to come.

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Photos

Way in to temples
You can see them perched up higher on the rock

Gopurams
Entrances into different parts of the temple