Run Around TamilNadu

CHENNAI

Kapaleeswarar, an ancient Shiva temple, is the biggest temple in Chennai. A masterpiece of Dravidian style and displays the architectural elements - gopurams, mandapams and a tank. There are some fragmentary inscriptions dating back to 1250 AD.

Sri Parthasarathy Temple, devoted to Lord Krishna, was originally built by the Pallavas in the 8th century and renovated in the 16th century bt the Vijayanagars. It houses the five 'avatars' of Lord Vishnu, and has a small temple shrine dedicated to Vishnu's consort, Vedavalli Ammai. It's one of the oldest surviving temple in Chennai.

The Santhome Cathedral Church built in 1504, then rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1893, this Roman Catholic Church near Kapaleeshwarar temple is said to house the remains of St. Thomas the Apostle.

St. Thomas Mount situated near the Meenambakkam airport, is the place where the apostle is said to have been killed.

St. Thomas is believed to have lived in Little Mount Shrine (a tiny cave) when he came to India around 58 A.D. Known locally as Chinnamalai, the cave is entered via the Portuguese Church that was built in 1551.

Fort St. George was built in the 1640 A.D., the first bastion of British power of India, the fort has undergone much alteration. The fort is now used by the Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly and the Secretariat office. The 46m high flagstaff at the front is actually a mast salvaged from a 17th century shipwreck.

St. Mary's Church built in 1678-80, was the first English Church in Chennai, and is the oldest surviving British Church in India. There are reminders in the Church of Clive, who was married here in 1753, and of Elihu Yale, the early Governor of Chennai who later founded the famous American University bearing his name.

The Fort Museum has a collection of objects from the tenure of the East India Company in Chennai including letters from Robert Clive. There are many contemporary paintings too.

The Snake Park with its lizards, crocodiles and turtles is more interesting. It is well maintained with generous enclosures. The Snake Park has a wide variety of reptiles. The next compound is the 'Children Park', which has a small collection of animals and birds and a big play area for children.

Kalakshetra devoted to the revival of classical arts, was founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale in 1936. Classical dance, music, traditional textile designs and weaving are taught in natural surroundings.

The Theosophical Society, is set in a tranquil spot on the banks of the Adyar river. There is a huge banyan tree, with its branches spreading over an area of 40,000 square ft, where discourses are conducted.

The Valluvar Kottam, on the corner of Kodambakkam High Rd and Village Rd, honours the acclaimed Tamil Poet, Thiruvalluvar, whose classic work - one thousand three hundred and thirty kurals (couplets) - are reputed to be about 2000 years old. Established in 1976, Valluvar Kottam replicates ancient Tamil architecture with the 1330 verse Kural inscribed on panels. The outer structure in stone is a replica of the temple car of Thiruvarur in Tamilnadu.

Birla Planetarium houses : Situated in Kotturpuram in Chennai, the B. M. Birla Planetarium houses a modern, fully computerised projector, which depicts the heavens on a hemispherical dome.

The National Art Gallery situated in Egmore were established in 1857. There are sections on geology, archaeologym anthropology, numismatics, botany, zoology and sculpture, besides a collection of armoury.

Well worth visiting, the Government Museum is on Pantheon Rd, between Egmore and Anna Salai. The buildings originally belonged to a group of eminent British citizens, known as the Pantheon Committee, who were charged with improving the social life of the British in Chennai. The main building has a fine archaeological section representing all the major south Indian periods including Chola, Vijayanagar, Hoysala and Chalukya. It also houses a good ethnology collection. The bronze gallery has a superb collection of Chola art. One of the most impressive is the bronze of Ardhanariswara, the androgynous incarnation of Shiva.

The stretch of beach known as the Marina extends for 13km. South of the pitiful aquarium is the Ice House, once used to store massive ice blocks transported by ship from North America. It later became the venue from which Vivekanand preached his ascetic philosophy

CHIDAMBARAM

This city is known as the 'city of the Cosmic Dancer'. It is 245 Kms away from Madras. The image of Nataraja (the dancing Shiva) represented by the bronze image known throughout the world as the most perfect synthesis in metal of art. The best time to visit the place is during April/ May and December / February.

Nataraja Temple : Open from 4am to noon and 16.30 to 21.00.

This temple is situated in the middle of the town. The complex of the temple covers an area of 40 acres and It is said to be the oldest complex in southern India. It surrounded by four broad "chariot" streets. The tower designed in canonical texts and built of granite upto the ceiling with the structure of seven storeys in brick and mortar. There is a 1000-pillared hall, the Nritta Sabha court carved out like a gigantic chariot.

The main image of Nataraja is within a rectangular shrine, covered with copper tiles and gold and it is called the "The Golden Hall". The 108 poses of Bharathanatyam classical dance are carved on the walls of eastern tower. The annual festival held in December/January. In February/March, leading dancers from all parts of India congregate and dance in the temple as an offering to Nataraja.

The Chitrakootam : The Chitrakootam is another shrine, situated adjacent to the Nataraja temple is dedicated to Lord Govindraja. It has five halls. The Nritta sabha, the hall of immortal dance has 56 pillars depicting dance figures. The Deva Sabha was the hall of festivals and meeting place of the administrators. The Chit sabha (Hall) houses the Akasa Lingam and Kanaka sabha houses the Nataraja image.

COONOOR

It is the second largest town of the three Nilgiri hill stations. This place is very pleasant to relax. It has an interesting market.

SIM PARK : It is the heart of Coonoor. It has been developed into a botanical garden partly in Japanese style. About 330 varieties of roses can be seen here. After the Flower Show in Ooty the fruit and vegetable show is held in May. The Pasteur Institute opposite the main entrance to Sim's Park researches into rabies and manufactures polio vaccine.

LAMB'S ROCK : This rock is situated 6 km away on high precipice. From here one can view the tea and coffee estates and plains of coimbatore.

UDHAGAMANDALAM (OOTY) : It is the 'Queen of the Blue Mountains'(nilgiri). Ooty is famous for its rolling hills which covered with pine and eucalyptus forests. It was discovered and developed as a summer retreat by British Collector John Sullivan. The British life style were developed with cottages and clubs - tennis, golf and riding.

BOTANICAL GARDENS : It is 2km east of the railway station. Opens from 0800 to 1800. 1,000 varieties of plants, trees, orchids, ferns, shrubs, medicinal plants and alpines are planted here. It has an area of 20 hectors. The small lake here which contains a fossil of a tree trunk, calculated as 20 million years old. The Annual flower show held here in the third week of May. This show is the main attraction of Ooty. The rose garden contains over 1,500 varieties of roses. It opens from 0800 to 1800.

OOTY LAKE : This was constructed between 1823 to 1825 by Collector John Sullivan as an irrigation tank. The Boats are available at the Boat House for riding on the lake.

STONE HOUSE This house was built by John Sullivan. It was occupied by the Principal of the Govt. Art College. The tribals called its name as Kalu Bangla (stone bungalow).

ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH It is the first church built in Ooty,1820. It is said that the wood for this church brought from Tipu Sultan's Lal Bagh Palace in Srirangapatnam after his final defeat. These wood had to be hauled up by the elephants from the plains. It has a clock tower, nine tubular bells and a gallery.

COIMBATORE

It is a center of rich agriculture area and is noted for its agricultural university. This university is now internationally known for its agricultural research. The seed breeding experiments center is opened here. The cotton textile mills are boomed here on the development of hydroelectricity from the Pykara Falls in 1930.

BOTANICAL GARDEN This garden is situated at the west edge of Coimbatore. It has an area of 300 hectors. It is surrounded by fields. The formal gardens includes the topiary section with casuarina groves and rose gardens, the informal area covers with wide variety of trees, including flooring trees.

The VOC Park and Zoo near the stadium has a toy train circuit.

KANCHIPURAM

It is situated 76 Kms southwest of Madras. It was successively the former capital of the ancient Pallavas, Cholas and Vijayanagar empire. This old city is known as 'the Golden city of 1,000 temples'. It is one of the seven sacred cities of India and is famous for hand-woven silk fabrics.

The kings from Pallava and Vijayanagar period built various temples. They also patronised all the arts making Kanchipuram, a great center of learning not only for Hindus but also for Jains and Buddhists. The Tamil religious and literary works flourished during this period. The teachings of Sankaracharya (spiritual teacher) is carried at the Sankaracharya Matt. The Headquarters of the 'Math' is situated at Kanchipuram.

The Ekambareswara Temple is at north western part of the town. It was constructed in the mid of 9th century by the Pallavas. It has a 200 ft gopuram with more than 10 stories of intricate sculpture. The temple is dedicated to Shiva. There is a mango tree, thought to be 3,500 years old, inside the courtyard. The four main branches is said to bear fruit with a different taste depicting the four Hindu Vedas (oldest known Hindu religious text).

The Kailasanatha (Shiva) Temple The temple is situated at Putleri street, 1.5 Km west of town centre. It was build by Pallava king Rayasimha in late 7th century. The foundation of this temple is made of granite, the superstructure was built from carved sandstones. There are sculptures of Shiva in various poses, to give a picture of different aspects of mythology.

The Vaikunthaperumal Temple (Vishnu's Paradise). This temple was built in the 8th century. It has 4-storey vimana in square with three shrines, each with a different pose of Vishnu. Its colonnade lion pillars and extensive sculptures bears historical pallava inscriptions.

The Varadaraja Temple (bestower of boons), also known as Devarajaswamy Temple is 3 Km south east of town. This temple is a place of pilgrim and is dedicated to Vishnu. Its beautifully carved 100 pillar mandapam is one of the attractions. The 100 ft high gopuram was originally built in 11th century. It was renovated by the Vijyanagar Kings after 500 years.

Tiger Cave this shady and beautiful place is four km north of Mamallapuram and signposted off to the right of the road. It's more a clump of boulders than a cave-- it's name comes from the shrine at the entrance which features a crown of carved tiger heads. It's a popular picnic spot on weekends.

Tirukkalikundram just 14 km from Mamallapuram, this popular pilgrimage centre is also known as Tirukazhukundram, which means Hill of the Holy Eagle. Its hilltop temple is famous as the place where two eagles come each day, just before noon to be fed by the priest .

Crocodile Bank this successful breeding farm was set up to augment the crocodile populations of India's wildlife sanctuaries. Visitors are welcome and you can see crocs of all sizes.

Mamallpuram, situated on the shore of the Bay of Bengal is an ancient sea-side town. The Pallava art at this place emphasises robust earthy beauty, imbibed with life. The Pallavas have created many marvelous monuments sculptural panels, caves, monolithic rathas and sculptural temple Mythological episodes, epic battles, demons, gods, animal, all vividly depicted on the wall sculptures are breathtaking real and artistic. These monumental splensours and the sunny beach attract tourists from all over the world.

Vendantangal Bird Sanctuary : About 35 km of Chengalpattu, this is one of the most spectacular water-bird breeding grounds in India. Cormarants, egrets, herons, storks, ibies, spoonbills, grebes and pelicans come here to breed and nest for about six months from October/November to March, depending on the monsoons. At the height of the breeding season , there can be up to 30,000 birds at once. The best times to visit are early morning and late afternoon. The only place to stay is the three-roomed Forest Department Rest House at Vedantangal vellage.

KANYAKUMARI

It is one of India's holiest site. It got it's name from the deity of the place, Goddess Kanya Kumari; the virgin. The memorial to Swami Vivekananda, on a rocky promontory just over 400 meters off shore. The Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea meet here together. You can see the spectacular sight of Sunrise, Sun Set and moonrise from here. The full moon in the month of April is especially unusual when you should be able to see the sun and the moon on the same horizon. The black monazite and red garnet sand deposited by water gives a different colour on sand at the beach.

Kanniyakumari Temple. The temple overlooks the shoreline. The deity, Devi Kanniyakumari is' the protector of India's shores' has an exceptionally brilliant diamond on her nose ring which is supposed to shine out to sea. The temple opens from 0430 to 1130 and from 1730 to 2030. Non-Hindus are not allowed into the sanctuary.

Gandhi Mandapam. Mahatma Gandhi's (Father of Nation) ashes were placed in 'public view', before immersion in the sea and the memorial was built in a way that the sun shine on the spot where the ashes were placed, on his birthday, the 2nd October at midday.

Vivekananda Memorial. It is about 500 meters away from mainland. This memorial stands on one of two rocks separated by about 70 meters. It opens from Wednesday to Monday. Tuesday is holiday. It opens from 0700 to 1100 and from 1400 to 1700. The Bengali religious leader and philosopher Swami Vivekananda who came here as a devotee of the Devi and found the Ramakrishna Mission in Madras. The rock over here was renamed on his name as 'Vivekananda Rock and memorial'. It was built in 1970. The design of the mandapa incorporates different styles of temple architecture from all over India. Now it houses a statue of Vivekananda. The divine foot print 'Pada Parai' of Devi is also seen here.

Mundanthurai Tiger Sanctuary : Mundanthurai is in the mountains near the border with Kerla. The closest railway station is at ambasamundram, about 25 km to the north-east, and buses run from here to Papanasam, the nearest village, from where you can catch another bus to the Forest Department rest house.

As the name implies, this is principally a tiger sanctuary though it's also noted for chital, sambar and the rare lion-tailed macaque. The best time to visit is between January and March, though it is open any time of the year. The main rainy season is between October and December. Tiger sightings are extremely infrequent and in addition the Forest Rest House is very basic.

Kuttralam ( Courtallam) : About 135 km north-west of Kanyakumari at the base of the Western Ghats, the village of Kuttralam is a popular 'health retreat' for Indian families who come to stand and wash under waterfalls believed to be rich in minerals and capable of curing almost anything. Of the nine waterfalls, the only one in the village itself is the 60 m high Main Falls, a sheer rock face is carved with old Hindu insignia that is visible only during the dry months of January and February. Other falls, mostly accessed by shuttle buses, are up to eight km away.

Nagercoil : 20 km away from Kanyakumari has the famous Nagaraja temple, Nagaraja is the presiding deity and the images of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are also enshrined here. The entrance to the temple resembles Chinese architecture of Budha Viharas and the temple contains images of Mahavir and Paraswanatha, the Jain Tirthnkaras.

MADURAI

This city is 191 Km south west of Thanjavur. It is the second largest city of Tamil Nadu. The name of this city is derived from the Tamil word for Honey.

The Meenakshi Temple is near by to the Chithirai street. Visit : Daily from 0430 to 1230 and 1600 to 2130. For photography permission is required from the main office, when the temple is open. Time from 1230 to 1600 only. There are two sanctuaries in the temple, one is to Meenakshi (the fish eyed Goddess, consort of Shiva) and the other is to Shiva in the form of Sundareswar. The gopurams have been repainted in bright colours. The high point of the temple is the 'Hall of a Thousand Pillars', was built around 1560. This hall adorned with 985 elaborately carved pillars. The Temple art museum is in the hall of a Thousand Pillars. This pillars have beautiful images. Among the mandapams, the Kambattadi Mandapam is outstanding for its excellent sculptured representations of the manifestations of Shiva on the pillars.

Tirumala Nayak Mahal is 1.5km north of Meenakshi temple. Visit to Palace: Daily from 0900 to 1300 and 1400 to 1700. It is an Indo-Saracen Palace, built by Tirumala Nayak in 1636. The Sound and Light show, shown here is excellent. Show start at 1845. This show dramatizes the Madurai's past in English

THANJAVUR

This city is 55 km east of Tiruchirappalli. It is the highly fertile delta of the Cavery River and the capital of the Cholas during their supremacy.

The Brihadiswara Temple is at W.Main Road at S.Rampart street. Visit: 0600 to noon and 1600 to 2030. This temple is dedicated to Shiva, but the sculptures on the gopuram is dedicated to Vishnu and inside there are Buddhist sculptures. The gaint Nandi bull, within a single courtyard is the second largest in India. There are 80 ton block of granite capped in the pyramidal tower, pulled to the top along an inclined plane that began in a village 6 Km away. The carefully planned and executed architecture make the temple a fine example of Dravidian artisanship.

The Raja Museum and Art Gallery is at the Nayak Durbar Hall. Visit : Thursday to Tuesday from 1000 to 1300 and 1400 to 1700. It has the magnificent collection of Chola bronzes with different interpretations of the same figure from early to late chola dynasty. The Saraswati Mahal Library has 8,000 rare palm leaf and paper manuscripts in many languages

Many of the smaller towns in the Thanjavur area are well known for their impressive Chola temples. The distances of each from Thanjavur are in brackets

Thirukandiyur (10 km) the temple here, Brahma Sirakandeshwara and Harsaba Vimochana Perumal, are noted for their fine sculptural work.

Thiruvaiyaru (13 km) the famous temple here is dedicated to Siva and is known as Panchanatheshwara. Accommodation is completely booked out every January, when an eight day music festival is held in honour of the saint, Thiagaraja.

Tiruvarur (55 km) the Thyagarajaswami Temple ar Turuvarur, between Thanjavur and Nagapattinam, boasts an 807-pillared hall and the largest temple chariot in Tamil Nadu. It's dragged through the streets during the 10 days car festival in March. There are numerous cheap places to stay around the bus stand.

Velenkanni (94 km) this is the famous Christian pilgrim centre, the site of the famous Catholic Roman Church of our Lady of Good Health, people from all religions flock to the Church, many donating gold and silver models of cured body parts. A major festival is held at the beginning of September.

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

It is 325 km south west of Madras. Tiruchirappalli was the heart of Tamil Nadu, situated at the head of the Kaveri delta. The Pallavas, Pandyas and Cholas chose this city for their feudal wars. The city is known for its temple architecture.

The Rock Fort : Open from 06.00 to 20.00

It is 272ft above the city on the banks of the river Cauvery. The rock cut into 437 steps, leads to the temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord Vinayaka (the mythical half-man, half-bird Garuda who is Vishnu's Vehicle, famous in the Epic Mahabharata). Along the way to temple there are landings and shrines. There are cave temples cut into the rocks, dedicated to Ganesh (the elephant God) and Shiva. There is an excellent view of the city from the top of this fort.

At the base of the Rock Fort, there are two temple bazaars which sell all items especially items for worship. Wood and clay toys are the traditional products of the region.

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple This temple is at Sri Rangam Island, in the middle of the Cauvery river. This temple was built by various dynasties including the cheras, Pandyas,Cholas, Hoysalas and the Vijayanagar Empire between 13th and 18th centuries. It covers an area of 2.5 sq.km and the main temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. This temple with seven concentric walls and 22 gopurams has a north to south orientation. Sri Rangam island is also known as a centre for religious philosophy and learning. The great Vaishnava acharya Ramanuja taught and wrote in the Srirangam School during the 11th century.

Sri Jambukeswara Temple. This temple is situated about 2.5 km east of the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple. It has an interior with a large central court, an excellent example of the Dravidian architecture of A D 1600. The rampant dragons, elaborate foliated brackets and royal Nayak portraits are incorporated to its courtyards pillars.

Thiruvanaikkaval It is the another shrine to Shiva, 6 Km east of Srirangam, named for a legendary elephant that worshipped the linga. It has five walls and seven gopurams with a finest Dravidian architecture work.