Why
India is called Incredible? It is solely because of the places of culture, our
erstwhile Kingdoms left behind for us. The architectural marvels sculptured by
the Kings of Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysala’s and Vijayanagar, stands tall as cultural
symbols of India. The Kaveri belt played a very important role in arts and
cultural advancement. Thanjur Paintings, Thygaraj Kritis and Bharathanatyam are
to name few.
So
our family decided to explore the Trichy, Thanjavur and Kumbakonam. The posts
in the picture is not of best clarity, so please pardon me for that.
It
was a 4 day trip, and it was a road trip. We started from Trivandrum by around 6am in the morning and reached
Trichy by 2:30pm after adequate breaks in for every 2 hours. The highway from
Nagercoil to Trichy, which forms part of Kanyakumari-Kolkata Highway, is rider’s
paradise. We check-in to our hotel (Hotel Ramyas) which was very near to the bus
stand.
After
taking a small nap, we headed to Rock-fort temple, a Ganesh Temple, which
stands tall at 272 FT. There is no way, rather than climbing almost 200+ steep
steps. But the climb is worth, as we reach the top of the rock, the whole of
the beautiful majestic city of Trichy can be seen on 3 sides and on the one
side it is Kaveri River and Sreerangam Temple’s tall gopuram. And I was
personally wonderstuck by the architectural beauty the rock offers, its beyond
imagination.
North Indian Lunch from Hotel Ramyas
Rockfort Temple final phase
Trichy city from top of Rock Fort
After
climbing down, we headed to Sreerangam temple, the largest temple after Angor
Wat. The Temple complex is covered in 156 acres. It hosts Asia’s biggest
gopuram. The temple is a typical Tamil temple, but the sheer size and majestic
architecture makes it one of the must visit place for all tourist. Entry is
permitted to Non-hindus upto a certain point. Sreerangam is a temple dedicated
to Lord Vishnu.
Sreerangam Temple Gopuram
Dinner from Hotel Ramyas
On the second
day of the trip we started from Trichy, the plan was to cover Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar Temple and to reach Kumbakonam
by lunch. Thanjavur is around 1 hour journey by car. Brihadeeswarar Temple is
very famous for its Chola style architecture. This temple has giant Shiv
Lingam, almost 3.7 meter tall. The temple is maintained by the Archeological
Survey of India, and hence it is open to general public. The major mystery
which revolves around this temple is how the single stone tip which weighs 20
tons was raised to the 66 meter tall gopuram. The temple is a UNSECO heritage
site.
We
reached Kumbakonam in the afternoon, we booked our stay in Indeco Swammimalai. It’s
a beautiful resort which takes us to old rustic village atmosphere. (http://www.indecohotels.com/swamimalai.html
)
On
the third day we left our resort for the famous Navagraha Temple visit. It is a
200 km round trip which stretches upto Karaikkal in Puduserry. It is advisable to take a cab from a local cab
operator as they know places better than us. The trip takes us to the beautiful
green side of Tamil Nadu which is in the Kaveri Belt. We would be witnessing
the actual rustic villages in Tamil Nadu. Very beautiful and eye-opening
journey.
On
the fourth day, we went to the Kumbakonam Adi Kumbashwar temple, Kumbakonam
Tank Darasura Temple(UNSECO Heritage Site) and Swammimalai Temple. We checked
out of our resort and left for Trichy by 11am. We checked-in with Ramyas again,
and went for Srerangam again to explore the remaining temple complex and then
for usual shopping.
On
the fifth day after breakfast, left Trichy and reached Trivandrum in the night
after having lunch at Kanyakumari. In total around 1500 kms was covered in 5
days. It was indeed a pilgrimage
journey, however all our spots where centres of our history and culture.
Thank
you for your patient reading J
