September 2022
Took a road trip from Bangalore to above mentioned cities. Sharing my notes and images captured during the trip.
Visited Aardhanareeshwar temple on a hillock before reaching Namakkal. Claimed to be a temple from Chola times. Some of the shikars in pictures from Aardhanareeshwar temple you can see Sagar manthan story, Shiva Parvathi marriage depiction. Few images from there below.
Next to Namakkal city. Large poultry industry in the city. Few images from eighth century Narasimha temple built be Pandya kings below. Idol is life size, about 6 feet tall. Steep cliff behind the temple is about five times the height of the temple. The temple itself is about 30 feet in height. In images, you can see the Namakkal fort on top of the cliff. At Narasimha temple, lotus flower and Tulsi leaves garland was the customary offerings by devotees.
There was a Hanuman temple in front of the Narasimha temple. The Hanuman Idol is about 15 feet high. “Pan” garlands being offered in Hanuman temple. I was not aware of this custom. Images below.
In contrast to Karnataka temples, these were both live temples, in use and two of the three temples had relatively long both temples had ridiculous darshan line arrangements. They had closed the main approach for darshan put barricades to organize queues by the side. Fortunately, today being a week-day, we escaped the crowd.
First to Brahmapureeswarar temple, on the way to Tiruchirapalli (Trichi) from Namakkal. A temple is Shiva temple and there is a Brahma shrine too in the temple. Very interesting legend which you can search on the web. It is a 9th century temple and original construction was done by the Cholas. Maintenance work ongoing at the temple. Images below.
Visited the Pundarikashan temple next. A 1200 + year old Vishnu temple built by Pallavas. Impressive front facade, with all Vishnu avatar shrines in there. Some temples seem to have a gopuram of different type, like a fortress gate. This was one such temple. One of the multiple garbhagruhas in the temple complex, had a black stone Vishnu and his 54 swaroops on the front side, and Narasimha swaroop in yoga pose on the other side of the stone. This was unique, not seen before.
In image with pilers, you can see the reconstructed piler on the left and the original on the right. You can make out through diff in color in the image.
Next 2 temples amazed me in terms of size in all dimensions. The area on ground and the ceiling height. The min height (except for area where main shrine was, a fully grown elephant, could easily stroll across the complex covered areas.
First is the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple of Srirangam. This temple is part of a trilogy of temples, the first one in Sriragapatna, the second in Shivanasamudra and the third one in Srirangam. A Vishnu temple where there are shrines for all of his avatars and Lakshmi.
Vishnu swaroop, sleeping on Sheshnag with Lakshmi near his feet is common across all these three temples and common for more Ranganathaswamy temples.
We could not get darshan of the main deity because of visit time. We have been to the Srirangapatna temple, so decided to visit another temple and not wait for the next darshan slot. About 1100+ year old temple. It supposedly is largest temple ( area wise) . Outer walls are like walls of a fort… About 15-20+ feet high. Pictures below including pictures of Dwarpals.
Another unique feature is that it has a large area covered under thousand piler mandapam. Distance between 2 pilers could be 5 meters., area covered 25000 sq meters. Captured a stone elephant figure next to the mandapam to give idea about size of the mandapam. Pictures below.
Next to Jambukeshwarar temple .. a Shiva temple. Construction time similar to the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple. Size of the temple could be similar to Sri Ranganathaswamy temple. Seven gates/gopurams before one reaches the main shrine.
Rare temple where one is allowed to go inside the grabhagruha. The area is about 8ft X 8ft in size entrance about 4ft X 2ft and dark, lit only by the oil diyas. Only about 10-12 people allowed inside at a time. A unique feature is that garbhagruha entrance is orthogonal to the seven gopurams. Regret not being able to capture the images inside the temple complex to share, but they have been itched in my mind forever. I will most certainly recommend all to view the images on browser.
Next to Thanjavur. I was unaware of the history and now understand that Thanjavur was ruled by Marathas for quite some time before independence. The ruler was Ekojirao (Shivaji’s half brother) and his descendants. Sarfoji Bhosale being the most popular. Bhosale’s are still like kings here… similar to Gaikwads of Vadodara and Wodeyar’s of Mysore.
Few pictures from the Darbar Hall and the adjoining museum and bell tower, shared below.
The Brihadeeshwara Temple… am image etched in most minds through school history books. Massive size. I was in awe of temples seen in Trichy, but this is larger. It appears, all old popular temples in Tamil Nadu are large in size.
First gate and outer compound wall built by Marathas during their rule. Two more gates before reaching the main temple compound. See below, Dwarpals of Shiva temples different from the ones in Vishnu temples.
I was able to click few pics of pilers inside the temple. Next 3 of the temple itself. The pictures do not do justice to the view. You can see the height of the temple. Also, the huge Nandi in front of the temple and the ceiling where Nandi is placed. The Shivalingam itself is massive…could see clear 7 feet height but could be taller. Claims are that it is 3 meters in height.
The Brihadeeshwara temple was first of the three large temples built by Cholas. Will be visiting the other two tomorrow.
Next visited the 800+ years old temple called Gangaikonda Cholapuram, built by Rajendra Chola, a descendent of Rajaraja Chola I, who built the Brihadeeshwara temple. Temple is smaller is size as compared to the Brihadeeshwara temple. Few images below. Noticed Nandis missing on the compound wall. Not normal for a Chola temple.
The third and the last one of the famous three Shiva temples built by Cholas. The Airavateshwara temple. Built by Rajaraja Chola II. Few things that stood out for me. A running elephant carving, charriot carving (probably inspiration for other stone chariots in temples). The mythical animal called Yali… Very popular in temples in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. A tribal Shiva bhakta with a bow and designer foot-ware. Paintings done by nayakas on the wall an enhancement during their rule. You can also see rings in the stone. The custom is to pour water in these stone shapes and put lit diyas in the middle. The reflection of diya is seen in water and lights up the area.
Each successive temple of the trilogy, smaller than the earlier one.
Few common things in these temples. All built with a fort like outer wall, with multiple Nandi statues on the walls. Raised platform inside along the outer wall that has shade, for devotees to res or take shelter during heavy rains, heat or cold. Multiple deities inside the temples… Central one being Shiva in Linga swaroop. Nandi, Ganapati, Kartikayaswamy, Parvati…all have a place in the temples.
Temples partially destroyed by Pandaya’s, avenging the defeats in their fights with Cholas, Malik Kafur raids ..and later locals too.
Couple of pics from Thillai Nataraja temple in Chidambaram. Only place I know fully dedicated to Shiva in Nataraja swaroop. Lots more in the temple, but pics not allowed.
Although the trip was focused on temple visits, never a dull moment in the trip.
Incidentally after our trip, Ponniyin Selvan I was released, and these places became popular.
Few other tidbits. I bought a few cigars from Tiruchirappalli, famous enough for Winston Churchill to use. Look for brass items in Thanjavur, Kumbakonam.
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