Continued from Kanyakumari – I
Back at Kanyakumari, getting to Vivekananda Rock Memorial is an effort. I am not the only one headed that way; there is an army of pilgrims waiting to get to the place where the highly revered monk meditated. There is a queue to get tickets for the boat, another to get into the boat, yet another to buy tickets to get into the island once you alight from the boat. The boat itself is packed tightly. Sitting inside, I feel like chickens transported in their cramped cells. The contractors who run the boats, who prefer to call themselves as a ‘Shipping Company’, enforce the passengers into wearing life jackets, but it is a pointless effort. It is impossible even to get out of the boat in case of an accident: on the top is a metaled roof which prevents your exit, and seating and the thick crowd of people around you prevent you from rushing out through the passage. The island is bustling with tourists and it is hard to get a quiet moment. Surrounded by the sea, it is a beautiful place where I wished to spend the whole day, but changed my mind quickly and returned to mainland.
The rock memorial blends well with its surrounding, but the Thiruvalluvar statue in the neighbouring rock doesn’t. Unlike the structure of the memorial which merges smoothly with the rock, the statue feels out of place, rising suddenly and steeply from its base. It’s built by binding many pieces of rock into one, and their ugly joints are visible from as far as the mainland. The rock is littered with broken boulders, and silvery metal pillars installed at its base to provide lighting add to the ugliness. I am surprised to see a seemingly half cooked product from the same person – Eknath Ranade – who elaborately planned and worked for the Vivekananda Memorial.
That afternoon, I take a stroll in the leafy environs of Vivekananda Kendra. The Kendra is a spiritual center setup by Eknath Ranade, the person who worked on establishing the Vivekananda Memorial. The large 100-acre campus has a small forest where I spot a few peacocks running around. The campus adjoins a quiet sandy beach, which I could have all for myself for a long time. Its peaceful environs were motivation enough, the next morning I checked out from my hotel, and moved into the campus.
View Kanyakumari in a larger map
Map of Kanyakumari with places to see
I spent most of my remaining time wandering within the town, not missing sunrise and sunset everyday, looking for peacocks in Vivekananda Kendra or having moments of solitudes at the beach. The sunrise, sunset, pleasing breeze on the shore and the superb greenery kept me in Kanyakumari for longer than I initially planned. I kept postponing my return for a couple of days, but eventually had to leave and make a long journey back home.
Kanyakumari Information
Needless to say, Kanyakumari is the southern tip of mainland India. It is also the confluence of three seas – Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. On the southernmost tip is the Kanyakumari Temple. Said to be 1000 year old, it is a popular pilgrimage destination. Vivekananda Rock, a large boulder jutting out of the sea, is the place where Swami Vivekananda meditated during later part of 19th century. The memorial for the monk built on the rock attracts pilgrims in drones. Vivekananda Center near Kanyakumari Temple, a museum that has frames portraying the life of Vivekananda with pictures and stories is ignored by most visitors but is worth visiting.
Being a cape at the southern edge, you can witness both sunrise and sunset over the sea. Both are not to be missed, especially in winter days when you can see colorful sunsets.
Padmanabhapuram Palace, once the abode of Travancore Kings is an hour by bus from Kanyakumari. Take the frequently available bus from Kanyakumari to Thuckalay, from where the palace is 3km ride on auto-rickshaw. On the way is Shuchindram, 15 minutes by bus from Kanyakumari, which has a Shiva temple with a tall gopura, adjoining a large tank.
The Vivekananda Kendra, located in a 100-acre leafy campus conducts multi-day meditation courses. Call them to find out the dates and book ahead.
Accommodation is in plenty in Kanyakumari, but can often get booked out with pilgrims arriving in large groups. TTDC Hotel is worth staying it, so is the quiet Vivekananda Kendra.
My bus dropped me at Thanjavur’s old bus stand on an overcast morning in the first week of March. It had rained all night and the day was pleasant. Getting out of the bus stand, I looked around for someone who can tell me the directions to the temple. I need not have bothered; Brihadisvara temple is the only high-rise building in the town rising up by fourteen stories and 216 feet. It is called Brihadisvara or The Big Temple for nothing! A short 5 minutes walk from the bus stop and I was already in front of the temple.
The Gopuras of Thanjavur Temple. See how far away is the third and tallest thirteen story tower
The first impression of the temple is entirely dominated by its three gopuras. Rising steeply beyond a wide enclosure, the brownish sandstone structures of the tallest tower stands up distinctly with its uncommon, pyramidal shape. The temple is almost like a fort. Its outer wall is a good 10 feet high and stands behind a trench built along the wall. The entrance to the temple, which is tall on its own but dwarfed by the main tower, is marked by a gopura embellished with various gods. Surprisingly, the ubiquitous market lanes outside the temple of such size, selling pooja paraphernalia is missing completely and is substituted by just a couple of flower vendors.
Entering through the main door leads to a wide-open area covered with green grass that is typical of places managed by the Archeological Society of India. I left my footwear at the Chappal stand, bought a booklet on Thanjavur and started my explorations. A search for guides who could show me around and explain was not successful but the booklet I had bought made up for it with its detailed explanation of architecture and history.
Beyond the main entrance is another high wall separating the inner courtyard. The sandstone wall is decorated with small statues of Nandi at uniform intervals along the perimeter, adding up to a few hundreds of them. I walked along the wall marveling at the high rise of the temple and the enormous effort that would have been spent to build it. Behind the temple is a peaceful tamarind grove that is completely isolated from rest of the world by the large temple enclosure, and gives a feeling of calmness and seclusion. I picked a few fallen fruits of tamarind and chewed the sweet and sour fruit in pleasure. The leafy trees are haunted by a few parakeets that burst into a ruckus every now and then.
I was enchanted by the atmosphere and loathed to move on and into the temple’s inner courtyard. But the greed to see more overcame the indulgence of the moment, and I pulled myself forward. The huge inner courtyard has a few smaller shrines situated around the main temple. There is a giant Nandi guarding the shrine, said to be the third largest Nandi statue in the country. I presume that obviously translate to third largest in the world; can we expect a super-sized Nandi statue anywhere else but in India? The roof of the Nandi Mantapa has brightly colored frescoes of floral patterns giving me a glimpse of Thanjavur’s famous frescoes. None of the structures in the temple stand anywhere close in size to the main gopura. The tower has a crown of 80 tonne stone and there have been speculations on how it was lifted all the way up. The lingam in sanctum stands high like the tower it is under, and measures 13 feet.
The insides of the main temple is said to have sections with frescoes that are now closed for visitors to prevent possible damages. Inner walls of the temple courtyard have a few paintings that are in various stages of decay and it looks like ASI has given up on these. Only few of these are in reasonable condition but plaster on the wall has peeled off from most of the paintings, and shockingly, many paintings have been ruined by mindless graffiti. The roof of Amman temple has painted murals but there seems to be some repainting attempts done by untrained hands in the recent years, which has only helped in degenerating them.
Most of the temple’s visitors are tourists and busloads of children on school trips. They usually walk around the temple quickly and head out. Fortunately, despite the oversized temple, Thanjavur is not a well-known pilgrimage center. It is not associated with any mythological incidences that so often binds our temples and nor has it any special significance that would attract devout people in hoards. That means the temple is generally quiet, devoid of any major pooja activity, events or the otherwise ever-present loudspeakers, allowing one to explore the place in peace.
Brihadisvara temple was built by Raja Raja Chola during early years of the eleventh century AD, in the heydays of his kingdom. Later rulers made further additions to the main shrine with contributions from the Nayaks and Marathas post 16th century. Now the temple complex includes an Amman temple next to the Nandi, and a Murugan temple and Ganapathi temple to either sides of the main shrine. The famous Thanjavur style paintings were inscribed inside the temple by the Cholas and enhanced by Nayak rulers.
I spotted the young and active temple elephant as I was heading out. I watched the charming elephant accept donations and bless a few devotees and could not help approaching her myself. Picking up a dozen Bananas, I offered them to the pachyderm, which swallowed them all in seconds as I patted her trunk. As I was about to retreat, the Mahout asked me to bow in front and receive its blessings, to which I obliged. It graciously lifted its trunk and gently rested the tip of it on my head, splattering a few drops of saliva on me! I prodded its trunk and wondered on how strong and tough are the trunks that actually appear soft and agile.
My next stop was the Thanjavur palace which is a fifteen minute walk from the temple. The palace was built by Nayak rulers in 16th century and subsequent additions were made by the Marathas. While the Brihadisvara temple is in a good condition and is well managed, the palace is in shambles. A part of the palace complex is converted into a school. As I walked towards the palace, a few kids bumped into me struck a friendly conversation and posed for pictures. There is some digging and construction activity within the palace courtyard, and there are no signs or information to help visitors about where to go. The interiors are dusty, poorly maintained and cry from neglect.
Thanjavur Palace
Despite all this, the palace has its treasures worth seeing. The Maratha Darbar hall, an open-air auditorium that now has weeds growing all around, has some impressively painted designs worth looking at. Saraswathi Mahal Library inside the palace has a collection of precious ancient books which were once a personal collection of Maratha king Sarfoji. Though the books aren’t accessible to visitors, a few books and some paintings are exhibited in glass casing that makes the visit worthy. Beautiful miniature paintin
gs of Ramayana and picture books on Mahabharata are some of the exhibits worth looking into.
Maratha Darbar Hall
The structure of the palace is unique and doesn’t seem to have any kind of precedence. A seven-story bell tower at the palace entrance almost looks like a modern multi-storied building. Sections of the palace complex now house museums showcasing artifacts from the time of Cholas to the Marathas.
My day in the town ended with the wanderings in the palace. Like the Brihadisvara temple, the palace also has a few structures that are fairly big. Also big is also the impression that Thanjavur leaves with its visitor.
See the first part of this article – Madurai Meenakshi Temple – I
The surroundings of Sundareshwarar temple have a feel very different from that of Meenakshi temple. Open spaces and well lit veranda give way to long and dark passages with shafts of light peeping in from the corners. The main entrance leads me to a mantapa with a Nandi in its middle, facing the main deity. The pillars of the mantapa are covered with carvings of Shiva in his varied forms – Nataraja, Bhairava and Ardhanareeshwara. Continuing the temple’s love with garish metallic structures that disturb the harmony of its surroundings, in the middle of the mantapa is a gleaming yellow pillar that stands apart from its environment.
Devotees come and go in quick successions in the hall surrounding the mantapa, circumambulating the gods adorning the pillars of the edifice. A mural of Hanuman covered in kumkum and decorated with a hanging lamp sees visitors like no other. Wick lamps lit, flowers offered and a pradakshina made, they move on after applying kumkum on their foreheads, in a mood that is visibly contented. As I stand in a corner and watch people go by, their numbers in the hall keeps changing quickly between a few handful to many a dozen, but never disturbing the silence and calmness of the environs.
Along the corridors, the outer walls have been a subject of creativity of the artists. Unstructured, yet beautiful and colourful murals crowd the walls – there are warring people, priests, women churning butter, common people – representing life in the times of their creators. Inside, the sanctum is guarded by life-sized murals of elephants on each side of its door, with their trunks raised up. Flickering orange lamps burning along the door frame provide a brilliant, lively decor to the dark interior. The linga rests in the sanctum on a platform, under the shade of a serpent(adishesha?). The impressions of the modern days are visible here too, in the form of granite flooring that contradicts the beauty of dark stone structures surrounding it.
In front of the complex of Sundareshwarar shrine is a small market selling trinkets, arty materials, small statues and images of all kind of gods. The statues are painted in brightest possible yellow that can make the most willing buyer to reconsider. A door adjoining these shops leads to the gigantic thousand pillar hall, inside of which is crowded with thick stone pillars in every direction. The hall is now a museum that serves no purpose but of a store room for haphazardly installed statues that are in a desperate state, which only disturb the beauty of uniform array of pillars.
In the few days that I spent wandering the temple and its surroundings, the brightly lit Potramarai Kulam and its painted surroundings kept pulling me back to its environs. I cherished the morning hours sitting on the steps leading to the tank, spent watching the pigeons flying in and out of the water, admiring the view of the towers that aim for the sky, and sometimes lost, with the complex labyrinth of thoughts in mind melting away into nothingness in the calm moments.
As I moved on from Madurai and its temples, the scale of its structures and the intent of its creators remained as an enigma. Was it a wish to show-off their prosperity to their people and rest of the world? An icon of their moments of celebration? Or was it truly a show of their utmost belief and devotion of the supreme power? I am yet to understand.