Southern India - 7 February 2012 (4)

 Rock Fort, Vinayaka Temple, Trichy

Then we returned to Trichy for our final visit of the day – to the Rock Fort and Temple.  I intended to look out for birds but fell asleep.  I woke up as we were passing some rubbish tips.   Some scavenging kites flew very low and nearly hit the bus.

We parked in the centre of town and had to walk past shops and market stalls to reach the entry point to the fort.  We knew about the 400 steps to the top, but did not know that we had to do it with bare feet!  My right thigh started going into spasm on the way up, so I was dreading the descent.  There were parties of friendly schoolchildren, who asked our names and wanted photos.

Rock Fort, Vinayaka Temple

View of Trichy from Temple

At last we reached the top, where there was the Vinayaka Temple.  Being so high up, there were some great views, but there wasn’t time for many photos because of the crowds behind us.  We did a circuit of the shrine and then had to go down.  The first flight of steps, which led to an area with a café and shops, was difficult to negotiate as they had a sideways tilt and were very uneven.  I clung to the central rail as I slowly made my way down.  By the time I was down, the others were ready to move on, having spent time chatting to and photographing the schoolchildren and their teachers.  Several members of the group either were or had been teachers, so they had a lot to talk about.

View of Trichy from Temple

I managed to negotiate the rest of the stairs, which were inside the rock, without mishap, but I wasn’t the only one of our group who desperately craved a cold shower.  We walked back through the shopping area to where we were to meet the bus.  Lukose grabbed Chris’ phone and dashed off, to return with the correct charger – for just Rs175.  If it had been less hot – and if I had been less shattered – it would have been interesting to explore the shops which must have been a real Aladdin’s cave of bargains.

Black Kite flying over Rock Fort

When at last we were back at the hotel, Jen went for a swim and I went for a shower.  I was in the bathroom when there was a power cut, but luckily it didn’t last long.  I used the big bucket in the bath to soak and then wash my filthy feet.  It felt wonderful.

Then we walked to a nearby restaurant – the Banana Leaf Restaurant, near the bus station.  We sat outside in the garden, which meant service was quite slow.  I think everyone was pleased with their meal except for me.  I had mixed veg curry, which was rather bland and had too many peas.  It wasn’t nearly as spicy as Lukose had said it would be.  Still, I wasn’t that hungry and my meal only cost Rs150 plus tip, so I couldn’t complain.  We had a power cut near the end of the meal and another one as we stood up to leave.  We went back to the hotel and I went straight to bed.

Southern India - 7 February 2012 (3)

Tanjore (continued)

Once reunited with our shoes, we returned to the bus and set off for the palace.  Lukose said that there wasn’t much to photograph and it didn’t justify the cost of the permit, so I left my camera on the bus.

The palace held three rooms of bronze statues dating back as far as the 9^th century CE, but mostly from the 10^th and 11^th centuries.  Lukose took this opportunity to show us the main gods, in particular Shiva and Vishnu, their roles and the items they carried.  Gods have at least four arms to show that they have power.  Some statues have eight or even sixteen and the most powerful have sixty-four.  I think four arms would come in very useful for all sorts of things.  The statues were so realistic and life like, with an amazing level of detail and beautiful hands, not at all like European art of the same era, with its wooden looking saints and Normans.  It was getting very hot in the rooms and I stood beside a fan, which was blowing on the lady who was keeping an eye on us.  She stood up and invited me to sit on her chair, so we started talking.  She said that she enjoyed her job and had been working there for fifteen years.  She didn’t look old enough!

It was possible to go up the tower in the palace, so most of the group made the climb.  I didn’t bother because I wouldn’t have been able to take any photos and because I felt too hot for such exertion.  I waited with Pat and Lukose and asked if I could go ahead and look at the library museum.

I was so glad that I did this because Pat and I only just got in before the museum closed for lunch.  We had a quick look round at the books.  Most were in display cabinets and left open at important pictures.  One corner had paintings which tried to show how various types of human face morphed from different animals.  Another corner had pictures of Chinese tortures, so I didn’t look in that direction to avoid any nightmares.  I liked the prints of places in both India and London which were on the walls.

A thali meal

When we were thrown out, we rejoined the group and went for lunch at the Star Residency.  Lunch was a traditional thali.  This was a large round dish, covered in banana leaves, with small pots containing a variety of dishes round the outside and a piece of naan in the centre.  Later they brought a curry and rice as well.  Nearly all the dishes were really tasty, though they did include some desert which was a surprise when I inadvertently started to eat it with the main course.  The meal and soft drinks like my lime soda were included, so only the beer drinkers had to pay anything.

After lunch, the queue for the single ladies toilet was holding up Lukose’s schedule, so he asked them to open up a hotel room so some of us could us the bathroom.  The room looked very nice and the bathroom was very clean, so I was impressed.

Before and After Bronze Statues

Next stop was to a place where they made bronze statues in the traditional way.  We walked through a shop and met our guide at the back.  He introduced us to his uncle, a master statue maker, who was sitting on the floor of a small rickety outhouse, busily tending a fire.  It was a hot day anyway, but the fire made things almost unbearable.  The guide explained the manufacturing process: the wax model, the clay mould, pouring the liquid metal and the final filing, smoothing and polishing of the statues.

Pouring the Metal

Statue Fresh from Mould

Then came the drama.  The uncle got a crucible out of the fire and poured the red hot molten metal into a mould just behind where I had been standing.  It seemed so dangerous and the uncle looked so frail.  Our guide said that he had several scars himself from burns from the molten metal.  He then broke a mould of a statue which they had poured earlier to reveal a rather scruffy, dull statue.  He showed us the range of files he would use to turn it into the final polished article.

Then we headed into the shop for the usual hard sell.  The statues were lovely, especially the elephants, but they were so heavy and expensive that I managed to resist temptation.  Two couples in our group ended up buying items, but the second couple only did so because he ran after them onto the bus with the statue and made a much-reduced offer they couldn’t refuse.

Southern India - 7 February 2012 (2)

Brihadeeswara Temple

Gopuram Brihadeeswara Temple

Vimana Brihadeeswara Temple

Eventually we crossed a bridge over the River Kauveri and got our first view of Brihadeeswara Temple.  Yesterday’s temple in Mylapore was dominated by two very tall gopurams at the entrances.  This temple was dominated by a very tall central vimana above the Inner Sanctum or Holy of Holies at the centre of the temple.  Lukose said that the high gopurams and vimanas date back to when temples had to be visible from a great distance, so people could find them.  Brihadeeswara temple is made of sandstone.  Like Kapaleeswarar Temple, the temple was covered in intricate carvings.  Unlike Kapaleeswarar Temple, the carvings were not painted.

Elephant in Temple Entrance

The bus found a parking area and we had to risk life and limb crossing the busy road to the temple.  As we went through the first gate, I found myself saying "Wow!" because the carvings were so impressive.  We had to remove our shoes before proceeding through the second gate.  As we waited for everyone to get ready, we watched an elephant, which stood just inside the first gate.  His job was to give blessings by rubbing his trunk on people’s heads.  One lady held her young son up for a blessing but he didn’t enjoy it at all.  People were gathered round to have their photo taken with the elephant as well as queuing for their blessing.  It was sad that the elephant was shackled.

Temple Carving Detail

Temple Carving Ganesh

Many of the carvings on the temple were of plump voluptuous figures and there were Nandi bulls on the inner wall.  The courtyard inside the temple was huge and mostly empty space, some of which was covered in grass.  The first structure housed a large Nandi bull which was being dressed ready for a celebration.  His much smaller brother was in a tiny shrine nearby.

Small Nandi Bull

Large Nandi Bull Dressed-Up

While I was climbing the steps to the central platform, an elderly lady came up to me and congratulated me on how smart I looked.  This stunned me because I was a long way from feeling smart.  I never aimed to look smart, often wearing t-shirts which would be discarded en route because I would never wear them at home.  My skirts were also not the sort I would wear at home, being very long to hide my legs and not offend anyone.  Perhaps her comment was because I was probably the only European woman wearing a skirt.

Gopurams Brihadeeswara Tem

Shrine Brihadeeswara Temple

After the Nandi bull we went into one of the shrines and then into the Inner Sanctum.  In most temples, non-Hindus are not allowed to proceed this far, but this was an exception.  Inside the first shrine, which was dedicated to a female god, a man gave blessings by marking people’s foreheads.

Family in Temple

Throughout our visit, we could hear chanting.  When we emerged from the Inner Sanctum, the chanting sounded like a very young child.  I walked around the back to find a very welcome breeze.  I walked on towards a pavilion and, when I got close, I realised that this was the source of the chanting.  A lot of people were gathered inside and there was a stage with a microphone.  Two young children had the microphone and their chanting was obviously well received judging by the applause when they finished.

Male Worshippers in Temple

As we walked around the temple, we were frequently accosted by people who wanted us to take their photo or who wanted to take ours.  The last was a group of bare-chested men wearing turquoise sarongs.  I had noticed them when we first entered the temple and assumed they were there for an important ritual.  Whatever the reason for their all being dressed the same way, they were very happy to pose for our photos.  Reg, Pam, Steve and I even joined them for a group shot.

Parrot and Nandi Bull

As well as the chanting, I had heard a squawking parrot nearby.  I was pleased to spot one on a dead tree just outside the wall.  As I stood in the courtyard, trying to zoom in on him to take a photo, I realised that my feet were starting to burn on the hot red bricks.  I made sure to keep to the granite paths on the way back to the gopuram as these were not so hot.

Southern India - 7 February 2012 (1)

Journey to Tanjore

I slept well, except when I had to pull the blanket on halfway through the night as the air-conditioning did its job.   The alarm surprised me and made me decide to sleep with it in bed with me to muffle the sound so as not to wake Jen up.  I managed to get the water a bit warmer in the shower by turning the third tap.  I had wondered what it was for.

When Jen got up, I went down to breakfast.  Only Lukose was there.  He very politely sat with me, waiting for me to finish, but I could see that he was busy so told him to go.  After that, I joined Pam and Reg who had materialised.  Breakfast was not as exciting as the day before, but there was sambar curry.

Lukose had changed the schedule from what was published in our itinerary and we set off for Tanjore at 0830.

Indian Roller

Once we were in the countryside, we saw more species of bird: rollers, drongos, storks, kingfishers, egrets and herons.  I tried to keep an eye on the telegraph wires to spot them.

Lukose sat with us and gave us a talk on Hinduism, arranged marriages and women’s rights.  He said that the government were trying hard to improve things: they were building new infrastructure, providing free schools and creating work for the poor (including building the new infrastructure and clearing rubbish).  The benefits of rubbish clearing could already be seen, but it was still early days and a lot of rubbish was still lying around, especially plastics which do not degrade.  At the same time, they were promoting local businesses by preventing large stores from opening and shutting down small shops as had happened in the UK.

Kingfisher

He said that, as people grew more educated, so the birthrate fell.  Many couples were sticking at two children as they could see the financial advantages of a small family.  On the downside, he said that individualism was increasing at the expense of a community spirit.  He was in favour of arranged marriages because he said that life was much easier when both families are supporting you.  As for women’s rights, election posters for a female candidate were everywhere.

I had expected the land to be very dry, because the monsoon was due in a couple of months.  It was a pleasant surprise to find that everywhere was lush and green.  There was a lot of water about, with flooded fields, irrigation channels and a couple of rivers.  We saw one field which was covered in purple water hyacinths.  Lukose said that these were a real problem as they were clogging up the irrigation channels.