No spinning heads, no ricochet of last night music in the
eardrums, dehydrated body, or waking up with severe headaches and dizziness –
this year’s first day was all sober and peaceful with family members in the
sylvan surrounding of Kanchipuram, which is also referred to as “Varanasi of
the south”. This ancient city ruled by one of the greatest patrons of arts,
Pallavas and Cholas, is the holiest place in whole of southern India.
Kanchipuram is just an hour and a half drive from Chennai (~80
km). Anyone can easily get a cab from Chennai; we booked
Fastrack cabs which are pretty common in Chennai. Kanchipuram is basically
divided into 2 parts – north Kanchi having all the Shiva temples and south
Kanchi having all the Vishnu temples. It is usually advisable to visit north
first, and then head to south to visit all the Vishnu temples. The point which
should be kept in mind is that (nearly) all the temples are closed between
12.30 PM -4 PM in Kanchipuram. This is a very strategic information for the
tourists who, like us, are on 1 day’s trip. So, we decided to cover north
Kanchi before 12.30 PM and south Kanchi after 4 PM.
Part 1 – Before 12.30 PM
1. Kamakshi Amman Temple – It is supposed to
be one of the most divine shrines for Goddess Amman in whole of India. The
temple complex is huge but poorly maintained.
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| In the backyard of Kamakshi Amman Temple, taking blessing from an elephant |
2. Ekambaranathar temple - Here Goddess Parvati
made a Shiva linga of mud and she embraced the linga to prevent it from
dissolving by water of neighboring Vegavati River. Since it’s made of hand from
mud, the lingam also looks a bit conical/Tapered at the top. The most interesting
thing for me, however, was the 3500 years old Stala Vriksham (a bark of wood).
There is a mango tree as well there, but I am not pretty sure if that is also
3500 old or not. The articles on internet are not very definitive in this
regard. Besides, there is also a thousand pillar hallway which looks majestic,
although a bit gloomy because of improper maintenance. This one is the largest
temple in the city.
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| Beautiful facade of Ekambaranathar Temple |
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| Gopuram of Ekambaranathar Temple |
3. Kailasanathar temple – This ASI protected
site is absolute beauty. Up until now, the temples were so-so, but after coming
here I got a taste of what I was really looking for – intricate rock carvings,
majestic rock cut sculptures and utterly divine Pallava architecture in its
full glory. One can easily see the tales of Lord Shiva being depicted via
sculptures and carvings here. Besides, it’s also a great spot for photo enthusiasts.
Part 2-
Between 12.30 PM to 4 PM
It seems clicking and more importantly posing for photos is
a very taxing job J;
we were as hungry as a bear. We went to Sarvana Bhawan where I hogged
delicious dosas like an esurient vulture devour their prey. Food was a tad bit
costlier, but if you sitting in an A/C section of a country-wide popular chain
of restaurants, you should not complain.
Kanchipuram is world famous for its kanjivaram silk sarees,
and is “the” destination for silk aficionados. A Kanchipuram/kanjivaram saree
is hand woven by the weavers and has distinct shimmer. Owing to this,
Kanchipuram is also called “Silken paradise”. We did a bit of shopping from
some local factory outlets which sell sarees at comparatively lower rates from
markets. However, I must mention, the sarees from even the factory outlet are
not dirt-cheap, the cost of hand weaving the sarees is substantial; the sarees
I bought cost me around 4000/- each. I had the curiosity of visiting the silk
factory and see how it is prepared. So I requested the owner of the place where
we bought the sarees from, to show me the manufacturing unit. When I saw their
so-called factory, I was surprised – a small room with 3 weavers working
meticulously on their weaving machines, that’s it. The type of saree which one
of the guy was working on would take around 15-20 days to complete if he were
to work for almost 8 hours a day. This small bunch of people nestled in small claustrophobic
room and similar settlements spread across the city is the production house of
the sarees which grace the body Indian females and exalts their sartorial
elegance to newer heights.
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| A simple weaving machine |
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| A kanjivaram saree in progress ... |
Part 3 – After 4 PM
1. Vardharaja perumal temple – This is the
most popular and divine shrine of Vishnu temple in Kanchipuram. According to a
source on internet, the original figure of Varadharaja is in the form of Fig
(Atthi) and is kept in the bed of temple tank. It is taken out once in 40
years. Next time it will be taken out in 2019. There is a beautiful
architectural 100 pillar hall near the temple tank.
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| The tank in the Vardharaja Perumal Temple courtyard |
2. Pandava Thoodar temple – Thoodar means
messenger, i.e. messenger of Pandavas or Lord Krishna. The belief is that
Krishna saw through Duryodhan's guile when Duryodhan presented Pandavas with a
throne made of straw which had thorns underneath. Krishna took the vishwaroop
form and sat on the throne. There is a huge 28 feet statue of Lord Krishna
inside the sanctum sanctorum.
There were many places which were yet to be covered but all of us were pretty tired. So, we paid our last respects to Kanchipuram at around 7 PM and
embarked on our return journey to Chennai. It was a good 1 day trip with family
members after a very long time. For people who have interest in Indian history and architecture along with a little bit of devotion, Kanchipuram is a great escape from hot-n-humid ennui.
