My Travelogue

Avudaiyar Koil (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-23T10:09:00.000+05:30

The best way to depict the awesomeness of Avudaiyar Koil are the words in the ancient contract signed by any Vishwakarma Acharya who begins to build a temple.

Any temple can be built with any detailing except

"The Pillars of Tharamangalam

The Granite Grills of Thiruvalanjuzhi

The Tiled Terracotta Roof simulation of Avudaiyar Temple"

Its amazing how they built this temple. No where near the locality of this temple, was any granite hillock. So the granite must have been brought all the way from Pudukkottai!

The Lord Shiva here is Athmanabhar and his consort here is Yogambikai. However there is no actual granite representation of Lingam or Ambal, and that is why this temple is called the Avudaiyar Koil. Avudaiyar is only the base of the Shiva Lingam!!! The Lord here is an Aroopan - Formless!!! Behind the Aavudaiyar are 3 lights depicting Sun, Moon & Fire!!! The offering to God here is cooked boiled rice!!! This temple was built in 3 different periods with the latest being about 16th C in the Nayak Period.

As soon as we entered right atop were these Kodungaigal - Tiled Terracotta Roof simulation. The planks, the nuts, the bolts, the wooden logs, everything is sculpted of rock!

A bit above that is a relief of a Monitor Lizard and a Monkey!

As soon as we enter, just to the right and left are 2 pillars which together make 1000 mini pillars making this as Ayiram Kaal Mandapam.

Just next to these pillars are the Akora Veerabadhrar with a Spear and 8 hands and Rana Veerabadhrar with a Knife and 10 hands to the left and right.

Apart from these are 7 huge soldiers on horses of about 10 feet high, each styled in a different way - 1 in Tamil Style, 1 in Greek, 1 in Malayali, 1 in Marati etc. Each of these fighters are wearing unique outfits as well, about which I would be writing a separate post. Each of these sculptures are made of 1 whole rock!!! Astonishing - isn't it? The detailing is just mind blowing. Their nails, veins are all depicted, so realistically!!!

The whole of the ceiling has Vijaya Nagara Paintings all over. At one part it was like a saree design. At another part was Lord Nataraja painted on a relief sculpture.

At another part was this Ganda Perunda Pakshi, a mythological creature with 2 heads, 2 tails, and 6 elephants in its 4 wings!!! Apart from these a complete section was painted with several murals in the 19th C under Thiruvavadithurai Aatheenam.

In some locations these Vijaya Nagara paintings were done over inscriptions of the previous era!!!

The pillars had an assortment of several relief sculptures including Krishna Leela, Saniyai Adakkiya Anchaneya, Kannappa Nayanar, a wolf with 3 heads, single headed wolf with 3 bodies etc.

Another important relief sculpture if of a tribal man & woman. They are actually Lord Shiva & Parvati who took part in this form at the Somasimarar Holy Pyre.
The terracotta styled roof was everywhere. At a particular point, there were a couple of holes in it. It was made by the English during the British rule when they doubted if it was actually stone sculpture, and shot it with the gun. If it was not, the gun shot would have shattered the roof. But it was, so just a couple of holes were made!!!
From there we ventured to Idumbanadu, built by Paranthaka Chola, as per the Sundara Pandyan's inscriptions. It was pretty late by the time we reached there, that's after sunset. At a secluded temple with no lighting, it was pretty difficult to enjoy the architecture & sculpture here! Hard luck!!!
Continuing with more on Pudukottai....

To Reach Pudukkottai:
From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy
Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.
Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.
From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.
From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur
From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Avudaiyar Koil is located 50 km from Pudukottai on the SH26.

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Thirumayam (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-20T10:06:00.000+05:30

Continuing with Thirumayam in the Pudukottai Trip. This name is derived from Thiru Meiyyam. Thirumayam temple complex has 2 temples - one of Lord Shiva and another of Lord Vishnu.

We first ventured to the Vishnu Temple.

First, right inside, the huuuuuuuuuuge reclining Vishnu, its amazing... Thanks to Ashok Krishnaswamy for letting me use this pic shot & edited by him. In real, its a 3 walls scene with 2 pillars in between. Ashok's fabulous editing has made what you're seeing now, possible! This is the most unusual, exquisite and complicated Vishnu I've ever seen in 15 ft length! Vishnu was reclining on a 2 tiered Adhiseshan the snake. The Adhiseshan here is the most furious, I've seen so far. 3 of its 5 heads, have their mouths open and fire is flying from its mouth to Madhu, Kaidaba who are at the extreme right. Vishnu's right hand is on Adhiseshan trying to calm it down. His consorts Sridevi and Bhoodevi are on his head and foot. Brahma, Ayudha Purusha-s, Celestials, Naradha, Tumburu, Surya, Chandra are all seen atop. Garuda is at the extreme left. This cave temple is age old - most probably of 7th - 8th C. However the rest of the temple was constructed later on in bits. The Gopuram is very much of the Late Pandya style.

Purusha Mirugam spotted.. Ever since came to know of Raja Dikshathar's
research on this, I manage to spot one everywhere...

The Maha Mandapam has several huge, larger-than-life sculptures protruding from pillars of the Nayak Style (16th C). There were Manmatha, Rathi, Kuravan, Kurathi, Man on Horse etc etc etc... The best part is that each sculpture is of just 1 stone on the whole!!! Apart from these there are separate shrines of Chakrathazhvar, Andal, Krishna, Lakshmi Narasimha etc.

The separate shrine for Sathyamoorthy Perumal is present which was also built during the Late Pandya era. However anything that was supposedly built by late Pandyas, also has a little controversy that says it was built by Mutharaiyars. An old inscription says that 'It was renovated by Perumpirugu Mutharaiyar'. However, what he renovated and where is unknown. The imp. things to be noted here are of the pillars. A particular pillar infact reminded me of a lamp-post? Doesn't it!!!

However no confusion about the Pillars. Its all Nayak Era - thanks to the epitome of the Naga Bandham on the Pillars!

From there, our next target was the Shiva Temple located in the same area, just a few metres away. That's Sathya Girishwarar. Here again the exquisiteness of the Dwarapala should not be missed. It cannot be missed, even otherwise, its so prominent and compelling!

Here, the Dwarapala-s have 2 hands unlike the later depictions with 4 hands. They do not have vampire teeth too. The club in their hand has a python twisted on it. So this must have been sculpted before Raja Raja Chola's era, thanks to the iconography, that's must be 7th or 8th C.

The sanctum sanctorum had a Shiva Lingam which was sculpted from the rock of the cave itself, so its practically attached to the cave and not separately kept. The ceiling has a beautiful carpet design which is now almost gone. On the right is fabulous relief sculpture of Lingothbhavar. He unusally has the hair which is generally not shown in the later depictions. Here he also doesn't have the swan and boar shown later on, as well. This must have been sculpted before the legend came up. Legend is that Brahma and Vishnu took the shape of Boar and Swan to search the feet and hair of Lord Shiva, as he's considered endless!!! Here again the front Gopuram is of Late Pandya era.

Out of the sactum santorum to the left was this narrow passage. In that was the inscription of major importance - 'Parivadhinitha' sculpted in a bordered rectange!

There are just 3 musical inscriptions and 1 dance inscription in the whole of Tamil Nadu, and all the 3 are in Pudukottai. In all these 3, is this rectangular heading called 'Parivadhinitha'. What does it mean? Could be a musical instrument! Or it could be a heading! Or Lord Shiva's another name is Parivadhini, so this could be something that denotes something Given by Lord Shiva! Or this could be the style of the music that evolved here!

But the sad part is that the inscription was scrapped off during 13th C, as they did not understand it then, and they deleted it to inscribe a judgement that tells that two-fifth of the fund goes to the Vishnu temple and three-fifth must go to Shiva temple, during the Pallava-Hoysala unrest.

Saw something like Mahab's Krishna's Butter Ball

The whole hill houses a fort, the Thirumayam Fort. This was originally built in 1687 by Ragunatha Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram.

Pudukottai wil continue...

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Thirumayam is located 20km from Pudukottai towards Thirupathur.

Photography of the Reclining Vishnu by Ashok Krishnaswamy and the rest by yours Bhushavali...

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Ezhadipattam - Navachunai (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-16T10:15:00.000+05:30

The ticket counter at Ezhadipattam would close by 5 PM. So from Sittannavasal, some of us sprinted to Ezhadipattam, our next target. Many opted out of it, thanks to the flight of several stairs. I did not count, might have been about 600... Safety rails have been put on the slope side of the hill. The climb up made me breathless and the view from atop was breath taking!!!!!

This again like Arnattan Malai and Alurutti Malai, was a Jain Cavern with Jain Beds and inscriptions, but this one was much more devastated with the ravages of humans! But no more, its caged by Archaeological Survey of India.

The Jain beds here belong to the 2nd C BC. Ancient Tamil Inscriptions are around these beds. Much higher than the other Jain Bed spots, this one has 17 beds!!! Around one of these beds is the inscription that says 'Erumi Naatu Kumuzhuur Pirantha Kavuti Eethendru Sithuppovil Ilaiyaar Seitha Adhittanam'. This informs that the beds were carved by Ilayaar of Thenku Sithuppovil.

A few of us tried to walk further atop from Ezhadipattam, in search of Navachunai. Nava-ch-chunai, like Talai-Aruvi-Singam Sunai in Narttamalai, is another cave temple located beneath the eternal spring and can be seen only if the whole of water is pumped out. See that claver shaped Jamun tree? The eternal spring is beside this and the temple is in it. Ofcoure, our dreams of trying to reach there were shattered at that point of time. But then, its not actually inaccessible. But if I reached there by 3 or so and had a few hours in hand, this place could also have been covered!!! That too, with an retd. Army Major in the team, definitely possible!!!!!

The temple inside was built in Late Pandya period (13th C). This too has only a Sanctum Sanctorum with a single Shiva Lingam inside. Locally this is called Jambunathar Cave.

From here, we trekked back down and by the time, sun had started to set. A water in a distant pond was glistening with the setting sunrays!!!

Continuing with more on Pudukottai...

P.S: Click here for my Pudukottai outfit post.

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Sittannavasal & Ezhadipattam are located about 16km from Pudukkottai in the Kulithalai - Manapparai Road towards Annavasal.

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Sittannavasal (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-13T10:13:00.000+05:30

I have this partiality towards Frescoes. Frescoes are wall painting, murals done in a particular technique. Here it is Fresco Buono, not Fresco secco. A well known eg. is Da Vinci's Last Supper. Here in India, I'm kinda dying to see Ajanta Frescoes. Hard luck on that yet, but as I walked towards Sittannavasal, considered the next best to Ajanta, I could feel my heart go 'Yippeee!!!'. I could write 4 to 5 posts just about Sittannavasal, but I'm restricting myself to write just 1 post...

Sittannavasal has 3 important places to be visited. The Arivar Koil which is the face of Sittannavasal, and Ezhadipattam and Navachunai about which we'll see in the next post.

Arivar Koil is located atop the hill, its ofcourse a cave temple. Inside are 3 thirthankaras in the sanctum sanctorum and in the ardha mandapa are 2 people on either sides - a thirthankara and a aasiriyar (teacher) - all relief sculptures. Its not the sculptures that's celebrated here - the paintings, the frescoes, belonging to the 7th-9th C. A 17 line , 9th C inscription here says that the paintings were done by Ilan Gauthaman, a Jain Acharya, under the reign of Pandya King Sriraman Srivillabhan aka Avanipasekhara.

As we entered on either sides are 2 pillars with 2 dancing women on them. Today only till their torso is seen, rest are gone. On the right pillar is another important painting of a Pandya King with his wife, under whom this place was constructed.

The cornice of the pillars and the space between them are very beautifully decorated with floral designs, swans, other patterns, lotuses at different stages of blooming etc.

In the ardha mandapam atop the 2 relief sculptures are a floral carpet design. The whole centre portion is where my heart lies! I lied down on the floor to stare at this. I could just be there for atleast half a day, but time constraints... Ok, that's where the huge scene of Samavasarana is depicted. So, what's this Samavasarana? Its an important step in the sainthood of Jainism. There are 5 steps for a Jain to undergo before becoming a monk and in that the 4th step is First Sermon for which the would-be monks (bhavya) pass through a pond filled with all animals & birds & flowers called Ghatika Bhumi. That is what is depicted here.

It shows 3 Bhavya's collecting lotuses & lillies. There are lotuses everywhere on lotus leaves and lotus stalks fills the background completely. There are elephants, bulls, fishes, swans, that fill the whole space. In Samavasarana, the complete pond and the leaves are seen in a top angle, the flowers and animals in profile, and in every individual unit in a different size scale - You thought cubism belongs to the 19th C? Sorry, you're a millenium late (or make it two as such cubist treatment is also seen in Ajanta)!!!!!

Inside atop the 3 thirthankara, is another carpet design of intertwined ribbon design with minute line drawings inside each compartment. One was of Dharma Chakra and diagonally opp. was of a cross with 2 humans and 2 lions on its 4 sections. This kept on repeated.
I am so so tempted, right now to explain about each and every painting in detail, but that would make this post more art history class-like. So period.....
Will come back with Navachunai & Ezhadipattam.

P.S. 1: All the images in this blogpost were shot by and copyrighted to Ashok Krishnaswamy

P.S. 2: If you like the frescoes of Sittannavasal so very much, why not have it at your home. No, am not asking you to do anything illegal... Here's a much simpler way - Ashok has come up with a 2012 calender with the reproductions of 6 paintings from Sittannavasal. Here's the thumbnail and contact detail in the pic itself, if you wanna purchase the same...

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Sittannavasal & Ezhadipattam are located about 16km from Pudukkottai in the Kulithalai - Manapparai Road towards Annavasal.

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Narttamalai Part II (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-10T10:11:00.000+05:30

Getting down from Melamalai, our next target was Kadambar Malai where Kadambar Koil is situated. The Lord here is Kadambanathar aka Malai Kadambur Thevar. Next to this is the Nagareeswaram temple where the Lord is Nagareeswarar and then is an Ambal Temple where she is Mangalanayaki. The first one was built by Raja Raja Chola in 11th C and the other 2 by Maravarman Sundara Pandyan in 13th C.

Kadambar Koil has a huge inscription of 27 lines in the south facing wall, which is the hill itself. There were some small crude shallow relief of Dakshina Murthy. A bit more further ahead, is this 27 line inscription which Prof. Muthazhagan read out for us.

This is the only inscription that celebrates the Vishwakarma community, who were the temple builders of that era. The inscription says that Rajendra Chola has appreciated an this person named Akalanga acharya for his services towards the temple and his father and have gifted them tax-free land. There was another shallow relief of Chadikeshwara.

The temple pond was huuuuge, complete with steps. Ofcourse I did have Fish Pedicure!!! Why spend a bomb on the so-called Fish Pedicure when I can immerse my feet in such temple ponds and let the fishes bite me, in the ambience of ancient monuments surrounded by natural breeze away from pollution and traffic. I bet no parlour can give me that!!!!!

From Kadambar Malai we proceeded to Alurutti Malai where my dearest spot - the Jain Beds were located!!!

These 4 Jain beds are dated at 2nd C BC. Not just the Jain Beds, but also the 2 reliefs of Thirthankaras atop sculpted later during 7th-8th C AD. How would they have sculpted this with such finesse at such height - really makes my mind go bazoonga!

Its a shallow cave with 1 set of bed and 2 individual beds. There were 2 more loose sculptures beside. But the sad part is that unlike other places where Jain Beds are located, this is open without any grills. That has caused the place to be dirty and open to ravages of humans & animals!!!

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Narttamalai is 10km from Pudukottai via Oorapatti.

Photographs by Mr.Gopu, Ms.Shillika & ofcourse, yours Ms.Bhushavali!

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Narttamalai Part I (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-02-06T10:10:00.000+05:30

So, here continues my travelogue on Pudukottai. Proceeding with Narttamalai. This place has had several names before it got its present name. It was called Malai Kadambur, later on Telungu Kulakaala puram, then Kulothunga Cholapuram, then on Nagarathar Malai and finally Narttamalai. Our first spot in Narttamalai was Melamalai where Vijayalaya Choleeswaram is located. This one is a temple located atop a small rocky hillock. Before going there, here's what we saw at the base of the hillock.

Amazing isn't it? It was indeed a paradise!!! That too, early in the morning, before the sun rose, at 6 o' clock - absolutely heavenly!!! This enormous waterbody is called Animadha Eri. This was dug up during the 7th - 8th C. Old right! Yeah! That's what I love about India History!!! And yeah, we have an inscription that supports this fact. It says that Mallan Vidumban Muttraraiyan who was also called Thennalan Thamizhakaraiyan, dug up this one for a carpenter named Cholaa Naraiyan.

From this point, the view of Vijayalaya Choleeswaram was just way too amazing. I was speechless! This is why we reached there at 6 am, to see the sun rays fall on Vijayalaya Choleeswaram, from this vantage point. Then we started climbing the rocky terrain.

What we see here from atop the hill is one of the largest Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests! And from here is the perfect view of 5 other hills - Alurutti Malai, Kottai Malai, Kadambar Malai, Uvachan Malai, Man Malai.

One more important thing to be noted before reached the temple, is yet another temple, but easy to miss. Find the temple in this pic........ Found??? I'll wait. Take your time... Not yet. Ok. See the waterbody? That's the temple. Errr... I mean, the temple is inside that waterbody.

Its an eternal spring and beneath it at 30 ft depth is a cave temple. This spring is called Talai-Aruvi-Singam Sunai. And in the temple is a single shrine of Jvara-Hareshwara. There was an inscription beside it too!

Ofcourse, as I climbed up the hill, Vijayalaya Choleeswaram temple vanished from our eyesight. Its a blessing in disguise though. As I reached it, from behind the hill, I saw just the stupa, then the shikara as well, then little by little the whole temple. A viewer's delight!!!

Vijayalaya Choleeswaram is a west facing temple. Inside the sanctum sanctorum is a Shiva Lingam. Earlier it must have been a square Aavudaiyar (base of the lingam) in a Circular Sanctum Sanctorum. But now the Avudaiyar is circular and around the circular wall is another square wall! Renovation coupled with Innovation!

In the Ardha Mandapam were some paintings, most probably of Nayak Period, but mostly gone!

On either side of the main shrines are the Dwarapala (Door Keepers), with fabulous outfit & ornaments. A bejeweled sacred thread with bells across their chest, a lion faced armlet - I loved it! Er.. sorry, the designer in me pops out like this!

Opp. to this main shrine is the Nandi Shrine and 8 more shrines, 1 in each direction, at various stages of ruining!

To the north, is the Samanar Kudagu of 7th C. There is nothing in the sanctum sanctorum but has evidences of a Shiva Lingam which was once present which must have been destroyed during the Religious unrest in middle era (12th C).

There are some controversies about this place. This must have been a Jain temple with relief sculptures of Thirthankaras. But then, they also must have been scraped off and 12 identical Vishnu reliefs must have been done on the wall behind. The unusual depth of the base intensifies the doubt! These sculptures were painted too but now just traces of paints are seen. Some loose sculptures from this area were brought here like Saptha Madha, Dwarapala etc.

The basement of this shrine has this exquisite Yaali series along with some elephants & Purusha Mirugam. A series of 3 elephants with their natural movement on the east & west walls and a head-on elephant in the south wall need special mention. Just below this rail are some inscriptions.

Next to this is the Pazhiyili Ishwaram Cave Temple.This has only Sanctum Sanctorum with a Lingam in it. This was built by Saathan Pazhiyili.

From this place, the hill could be still climbed to have a look at Vijayalaya Choleeswaram from atop and also the Evergreen Forest. At this I remembered a joke I read in some magazine, 'Wow, its my desktop wallpapers everywhere!!!'. Coming back soon with Narttamalai Part II with Kadambar Malai...

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

Narttamalai is 10km from Pudukottai via Oorapatti.

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Megalithic Burial Sites (Pudukottai - Tamil Nadu)

2012-01-31T10:05:00.000+05:30

First things first, sorry for not posting anything last week. I was off to Pudukottai with some 30 people, to enjoy not just temples and heritage but also nature, and best of all Megalithic Burial Sites!!! Yes, something that goes as back as 2000 yrs old, inspires me more than anything else!!! Remember my old post on 2nd C CE Jain Beds of Arnattan Malai? Its one of the places that I always mention when I talk about my travels!!! So, this one is much more earlier and I went a bit more crazier!!!

So, what is Megalithic Burial? Its the 3rd C BC to 1st C AD (Sangam Period), burials done by the stone age men either in urns (in terracotta pots) or graves (direct burial).

So, here in Pudukottai, such burial sites are er.... should I say several several thousands!!! Yeah, it was. Could be lakhs, too!!! I was awestruck!!! Absolutely speech less!!! They were everywhere - Ambur-patti, Ammachatram, Annavasal, Kizhaiyur, Melur, Mootamapatti, Narangianpatti, Perungalur, Peyal, Poyyamani, Puttambur, Sathyamangalam, Sengalur, Sittannavasal , Tayinippatti, Tekkattur, Tiruppur, Vadaguppatti, Vattanakuruchi and Vilappatti. The place we saw was near Sittannavasal & Ezhadipattam. Locally these are called Mudhu Makkal Thazhi.

Its pretty easy to identify these!!! They look like icing on a black forest cake, see!!!!! Seriously, it did look like black forest icing for me when I saw it first in a very small thumb nail pic in greyscale.

But then, yes, this is how it actually looks like - A huge circle of laterite blocks, with granite slabs in the centre.

Thanks to the nature's fury over the years, the granite here are corroded and smoothened like pebbles!

These granite slabs, a kept in a form of a square of about 3 feet per side, with a partition at the centre, forming 2 rectangles. The body of the dead is kept in a urn in one of these sides and on the other are some of their possessions and food grains. Someone asked a valid question in the group, 'any valuables also kept along with it?'. No, nothing. Mostly it was foodgrains & implements & tools!!!

That's Prof. Muthazhagan showing a crude stone age tool.

There were pieces of terracotta scattered everywhere... At some places I also saw just the brim of the submerged urn over the soil. Those people of that era should have been most probably Jains with the Jain Beds and inscriptions of that era like Arnattan Malai, but extremely high in number here! Yeah, that's where we ventured next. From the stone age to the next few centuries targeting the ancient Jain sites. Wait n watch!!!

To Reach Pudukkottai:

From Chennai: 400 km via Villupuram, Trichy

Trains to Rameshwaram go via Pudukottai.

Trains / Buses can be taken to Trichy and regular buses are available from Trichy.

From Trichy: 50 km. Regular buses are available.

From Madurai: 115 km via Tirupatthur

From Coimbatore: 300 km via Dharapuram, Dindigul

In Pudukottai the burial sites are located in several places. This one is between Narthamalai and Sittannavasal.

Dedicated to Prof. Swaminathan, Prof. Muthazhagan, Prof. Jambunathan, and the whole group...

Thalakkadu / Talakad (Mysore - Karnataka)

2012-01-19T12:00:00.000+05:30

What are the sand places in India? - Thar Desert, Beaches, then??? Thalakkadu. Located near Mysore, on the banks of Cauvery, this huge landscape is just drowned in sand.

Why? The legend goes that this place was cursed by a widow Alamelu Mangamma of the last king of Vijayanagara Empire, Sriranga Rayar, who was killed during the war with the Mysore Empire of Wodayars. She cursed that this place would be filled with sand always and that the Wodayars will have no sons to carry forward their empire.

There are about 30 temples here which are being excavated little by little. Thanks to the curse, the overwhelming sand always delays the efforts taken by the Archaeological Survey of India. 6 of them are now well excavated and are regained regular worship.

There are 5 temples here dedicated to Lord Shiva collectively called the Pancha Linga Kshetram. They are Akkeshwarar (worshipped by Sun God), Padhaleshwarar (worshipped by Vasuki - The Snake), Sykatheshwarar (worshipped by Lord Brahma), Mallikarjuneshwarar (worshipped by Arjuna) and Vaidhyanatha Swamy with his consort Manonmani Ambal. Vaidhyanatha Swamy temple is the only Shiva temple which has Swarga Vasal, a common phenomenon seen only in Lord Vishnu Temples. In Vishnu temples the Swarga Vasal is opened on the occassion of Vaikunda Ekadesi. Here it opens during Pongal. On either sides of the entrance of this temples are the relief sculptures of Thala & Kadu.

Apart from these 5, there is 1 more temple here dedicated to Lord Vishnu, called the Keerthinarayana Temple, where Lord Vishnu is in Ananthasayanam or Sleeping Pose with his consort Lakshmi near his legs. This temple also had shrines of Lord Ganapathy and Goddess Lakshmi.

After a trip to all the temples, it is then the time to to move to the water from the sand - Coracle ride in the Cauvery river!!!

I could definitely give you a couple of tips. Wear sturdy footwear which either closes your foot completely or almost totally open. Its better to venture in cooler months of the year, so the sand doesn't kill your feet!!! Apply loads of sunscreen, and carry loads of water.
P.S.1: Those who are aware of the Tamil Film Industry would definitely remember the legendary movie 'Mudhal Mariyadhai'. The scenes of the coracle ride with the heroine were very much shot here!!!

P.S.2: Yes, its the age old me, when I was 12 yrs old!!! :)

TO REACH THERE:
From Mysore: 50km via Duddagere and T.Narsipura
From Bangalore: 140km via Kanakapura and Malavalli

TO STAY:
Several hotels and dorms at all price points are available at Mysore.

Dedicated to Mom & Dad

CSI Church (Karur - Tamil Nadu)

2012-01-12T10:12:00.000+05:30

Last post I wrote about one of the 2 main churches in Karur, St. Theresa's Church. The other one is the CSI church.

The history of this church is related to Rev. Henry Little. He had come to India in 1861, during the English rule, to the then Madras Presidency, as a part of his Methodist missionary. After working in several towns, in 1874 he reached Karur and began preaching there.

In the year 1877, this place was struck with a famine. He came up with the idea of giving a simple porridge to everyone. He then came up with a small home for children.

Then started the betterment. From 1880 onwards he came up with an institute to teach several job-based skills like type writing, carpentry, lace making etc. He managed to market and sell the goods made by the locals as well.

The church standing today was built in 1892. The foundation stone for it was laid by Lady Little. The church is now more than a century old. It is true that the antiquity of the church that attracted me the most. Its a huge church built in a very English style made of bricks.

When I went inside, I was all the more fascinated by its construction. It had arches and high ceiling like cathedrals. It was neither white washed, it had beautiful exposed red bricks!!! Loved the architechture totally!!!

When we went, the decorations were being made. And being a CSI Church, it did not have the concept of having a Nativity crib or Christmas tree!!!

To Reach There:

Refer to the prev. post on St.Theresa's Church.

CSI Church is located just next to St.Theresa's Church

Dedicated to Ashwini & Pratima

St. Theresa's Church (Karur - Tamil Nadu)

2012-01-05T10:10:00.000+05:30

Come Christmas and I love visiting my friends' places to see the Christmas Tree decor and the Nativity Scene crib. This time, since I was in Karur, I missed my friends' places, but then I went over to the churches in Karur. There are 2 main Churches in Karur, one being St. Theresa's Church & the other being CSI Church. And this post is gonna be 'bout St. Theresa's Church.

In 1642, Fr. Baltasar De Costa came across Karur and he took up the job of giving spiritual guidance to the Christians of that locality. And then he proceeded his missionary at Erode, Dindigul etc. During that time, the church was only a hut with thatched roof. About the time of Indian independence, the church was under Fr. E.A Chinnappan. Under him, the Presentation Sisters Convent was brought under this church. He later on also built an elementary school which now stands as a high school. It was only about then that the present structure of the church was built.

Being to this church on 2 different celebrations (a wedding & a Christmas), I could see the beautiful skill of the Sisters in floral and ribbon decorations. Their Christmas decorations were also so beautiful. Having been schooled at a Convent, my mind was going back to my school days to see the Sisters walking about...

So, here comes the Christmas Decor....

The almost life sized Nativity Scene crib

Jacob's Well

Nativity Scene

Mount Orab - Creatively depicted with potato sacks,
dipped in clay & let to dry over standing poles!!!

Jordan River

P.S: Yes, it's the very Church where one of my best friends got married. Click here to know what I wore for her wedding!!!

To Reach There:

Located 1/2km from Karur Bus Stand & 1km from Karur Railway Station.

Dedicated to Ashwini & Pratima

Halasuru (Ulsoor) Someshwara Temple (Bangalore - Karnataka)

2011-12-29T10:08:00.000+05:30

I can't believe, I haven't done a single post yet on Bangaluru (Bangalore)!!! Yes, I have done a few places easily reachable from Bangalore, but then, this is gonna be my first post on the heart of Bangalore.

During my last trip to Bangalore, I had some work near the MG Road and pretty near to it was this place called Ulsoor or Halasuru. One mistake I did was to try to walk upto Ulsoor from MG Road. It was just 3 kms and I would have easily walked it up. But why mistake? I walked it up wearing my stiletto heel, right from work!!!!! 3 km in stilettos, I know, stupid, right? Yeah!!!

At Ulsoor was my destination, Someshwara Temple. This was a huge temple, but then still, hidden in the chaos of the market all around it.

light thru coconut leaves

Unique was the first word that hit my mind when I saw the sculptural marvel of this temple. It was not regular. The pillars, the reliefs on them, the reliefs on the temple walls, everything was different from the regular temples.

This temple was where Mandavya Maharishi prayed to Lord Shiva. The Shrines here were of Nanjundeeswaran, Arunachaleshwarar, Kala Bhairavar, Dakdhinamurthy esp. apart from Chandikesa, Lord Muruga and Lord Vinayaka. This temple is believed to have been built by the Hoysalas/Cholas with the Dravidian Architechture. Later on during the 1570 AD this was rebuilt by Kempe Gowda, the founder of modern Bangalore.

The legend so goes that Kempe Gowda, tired after hunting, slept beneath a tree here and in his dream Lord Siva as Someshwara asked him to erect a temple at the very spot. Just as I would say always, in a country where we have the Ajanta from 2nd C BC, I wouldn't consider this temple very old!!!

The uniqueness of the temple was esp. the pillars. No two pillars looked alike. Many pillars had sculptures more than reliefs. Minor portions of the sculptures, were attached to the actual pillar, thus creating, an intricate, open work on the pillars!!!

Another unique factor was all over the walls. Just above the lowest crevice in the wall, across all 4 sides, there were series of relieves throughout the walls, at places depicting a story scene by scene!!!

My cam is in a wee-bit bad shape, so all these pics are from my cell. Thank you Samsung Mobile!!! Lolz!!!

TO REACH:

In Bangalore:

Nearest Busstop: Ulsoor

Nearest Metro Station: Halasuru

From M.G Road: 2.6km

Further detail on transport in Bangalore given in Pt.4 of Transport Section in Travel Tips Page.

TO STAY:

Hotels, Dorms, Paying Guest facilities available at all price points all over Bangalore.

Anandeeswarar Temple (Cuddalore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-12-22T10:11:00.000+05:30

From Chidambaram Thillam Natarajar Temple, my next target was Anantheeswarar Temple.

I had info with me that told that this temple was about a km and a half from the Thillai Temple. I was planning to walk up the distance, but I had no idea as of which direction I had to walk. I enquired a local with whom I am now very disappointed. He said, it isn't walkable distance and asked me to take up an auto. I did and as the auto went about, I knew he was circling, he practically took the 3 sides of a square to reach from one end of a road to another. I was literally in a fit of anger when I reached this temple!!!

A root from the gopuram through to the entrace

Well, but then, I really couldn't see much of this temple, thanks to the sunset and almost no lighting. This temple is a bit dilapidated when compared to the Thillai Natarajar. The specialty of the temple is the shrine of Raja Chandikesar, which is present only here and no where else. The shrine id located separately at the left as soon as you enter the temple. The Uchi Kaala Poojai (Noon Puja) is considered auspicious.

The wall on all 4 sides was kinda unique with a kind of limestone and brick structure like in Muruganatheswarar Temple, than the regular granite structure.

click to enlarge

I did spot a couple of epitaphs. But I have no clue of who built it and when, but its ancient for sure, and I suspect the Cholas!!!
P.S.1: A big thanks to all you lovely readers. This blog, My Travelogue has just crossed 1,00,000 Pageviews!!!

Click for my bride's maid outfit post Click for my Pichavaram outfit post

P.S.2: I've been telling you that, this trip to Chidambaram was for a friend's wedding. So, here is my outfit for the wedding and when I ventured to Pichavaram. Click onto the images to go to my Fashion blog's posts on each...

TO REACH & STAY:

Refer to my Previous Post.

From Thillai Natarajar Temple to Anantheeswarar Temple:

Get out of the Thillai Natarajar Temple through the West Gopuram. You'll be standing at the West Car Street (Mela Radha Veedhi). Cross the road and get into the lane just opposite. That's the Bazaar St. or the Kaasu Kadai Steet. Walk up about 3/4 a km to almost to where the street kinda becomes a jn. of 4. Take left to Anandeeswarar Street. You should spot it!!!

Ph. no. of the temple priest: +91 98653 44297
Temple timings: 6AM - 11:30AM & 5PM - 8:30PM

Google Co-ordinates: 11.399472,79.682955

Chidambaram Natarajar Temple (Cuddalore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-12-15T10:12:00.000+05:30

As I said in my last post, I recently went to Chidambaram for a friend's wedding. The evening of the wedding, I went to the place where everyone else would go and also went to another place where no one else would go.

Ok, first the place where everyone would go - Thillai Natarajar Temple.

Named Thillai after the plant Thillai which grows excessively at Pichavaram. This place is also called Perumbatra Puliyur. Remember Karur Thevar Samadhi from one of my previous posts? He had referred to this place as 'Enbellam urugum anbartham kootatthu ennaiyum punarppavan koil', which means 'This is the temple where the Lord embraces all his devotees who pray his with ultimate devotion, including me'.

The main deity here is Lord Shiva at his dancing best as Lord Nataraja. The Goddess here is Sivakami Amman. This place as a sacred place ever since time immemorial, however the actual temple construction took over a long period from Pallava, Pandya, Chola, Vijayanagara and Nayaks. It is said to have been begun to built by Simhaverma aka Iranyaverma. Later on during the Chola dynasty, this temple was further developed by 2nd Kulothunga Chola, Vikrama Chola, 3rd Kulothunga Chola, during 11th to 13th C AD.

The temple is in an area of 51 acres. Yeah, its a sprawling space, which is well lit and in that space during evenings I spotted several school and college kids with their books, studying!!!

Like most other temples, this too has 4 entrances with a towering Raja Gopurams upon all 4. Each of those are 135 ft tall with 7 stories. Each entrance itself is 40 feet high. I entered this temple always from the Eastern Entrance, thanks to the location of my hotel!

As I walked to the in, I couldn't help but notice the gorgeous 108 karanas (poses) of Bharathanayam sculpted on either sides as reliefs. It was marvellous! That was not all, just above each karana was an inscription of 2 lines, explaining that karana!!!

The karana above is called Adhikrantham and the one below is called Viruchikakuthitham!!!

This one is Vishnukrantham, the 100th pose. Yeah, I know - But its neither Greek nor Latin, its Sanskrit!!!

Another specialty here is the amazing murals at the ceiling of the Maha Mandapam of Sivakami Amman Shrine. The central part of the ceiling has new paintings. The old must have been mindlessly lost!!! But then, on either sides (the ceiling is divided in 3 equal parts), the Nayak period paintings of 16th & 17th Century, still survive with all glory. I couldn't help but observe the apparel of the women depicted. Sorry, the designer in me pops up often. Women wore transparent outfits with beautiful prints & amazing borders on them!!! Pics weren't allowed inside, so I couldn't click. But then, it was a visual delight. I must have spent about 2 hours within the temple, of that almost more than 20mins were spent staring at those murals!!! It depicts the way the temple was built and the legend behind it. It astonished me to see the temple plan depicted there! The best part, the last panel of the left (as when you're facing the entrance), is a huge panel depicting the Kanaka Sabhai and Aagaya Lingam!!!

The other shrines here at the outer circum-ambulation passages are of Mukkuruni Vinayakar, Karpaka Vinayakar, Subrahmaniyar, Somasundarar Navalingam (The 9 Lingams prayed by the Navagraha (9 planets)) etc. There is a centrally placed Temple Tank.

If you get into the inner circum-ambulation passage through the eastern side, the first thing to be noticed on either sides is the Purushaa Mirugam (human faced, animal bodied) sculptures. The inner passage has this most important place elevated platform called Narthana Sabhai or The Dance Court. Its hard to miss, thanks to its amazingly intricate sculptures. Every pillar was unique and it was all filled with several several little figures and each figure was hardly the size of a finger!!! And the best part, figures in that size were dancing!!!!! Beside was the Sarabeshwarar shrine. Remember, the Sarabeshwarar who was the specialty of the Madambakkam temple? Later on there were shrines of Nalvar, Mallikarjunar, Dakshinamurthy, 63 Nayanmars etc.
This is a unique temple that houses both the shrines of Siva and Vishnu together. The Lord Vishnu here is called Govindaraja Perumal. Quite unusually the Lord Nataraja here is seen facing south.

There are 2 main specialities of this temple. One is that this is one of the 'Pancha Sabhai's or the 5 Courts, and this one is called the Kanaka Sabhai. It has 18 pillars to denote the 18 Puranas. The other specialty is that this is one of the 'Pancha Bootha Kshetra' or the 'Temples of 5 Elements', and this one is a 'Aagaya Sthalam' or the 'Temple of Sky'. To see that special place we had to take a ticket of Rs.50. Then once inside, there were a few layers of golden Vilva Flowers hung onto the ceiling. This is to depict that Lord's not here in any form but totally formless in the sky. If you get lucky with the timing, you may spot a priest, just outside the Shrine, praying a Maragadha (Emerald) Lingam!
The priests here in this temple are unique when compared to the priests else where. Here they are called Deekshithars. Both men and women have a side bun while regular priests have a back pony. They were 3000 in number or rather 2999 with the 3000th as Lord Nataraja himself. They're called the Thillam Moovayiram Deekshithargal. But now only 300 survive!!!
Coming back soon with the road less travelled or should I say temple less visited???

TO REACH THERE:
To Chidambaram:
From Chennai: 220 km via ECR, Pondicherry, Cuddalore
From Trichy: 157 km on NH227 via Jayamkondan, Palayamkottai
From Pondicherry: 70 km via Cuddalore

TO STAY:
Hotels, dorms, lodges at all price points are available at Chidambaram town.

Pichavaram Mangrove (Cuddalore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-12-08T10:09:00.000+05:30

Let's check your IQ. Which is the WORLD's largest mangrove forest - Sundarbans in West Bengal, India. Second largest? - Pichavaram in Tamil Nadu.

Recently to attend a friend's wedding, I went to Chidambaram and just 16km from there is this is gorgeous mangrove.

I left the hotel at about 7:30 and reached took a bus to Pichavaram. The hotel receptionist had told me that it would take an hour by bus to reach Pichavaram and for an hour long travel by bus, that would be a long distance and would cost a lot too!!! I handed over a Rs.100 note to the conductor and he was like 'No change?'. Well, the ticket cost turned out to be just Rs.18 and the trip was just half an hour. The bus went right into the TTDC (Tamilnadu Tourism Dev. Corp.) complex.

The boating section had 2 branches - Row boat and Motor boat. The buzzing of the motor gives me a headache, so we opted for a row boat. Here's the breakup of the rowing costs, based of people & time.

Unlike Muthupet, here Pichavaram is much shallow than there and didn't have much occurance of island like formations. There were huge chunks of land, mostly that bordered the waterbody. This waterbody is 2800 acres vast expanse. The boatsman who came for us was a mind-blowing person. Let me tell you how - there are 5 varieties of trees here in this mangrove. And guess what, he gave me the botanical scientific name of all those varieties!!!

So here they are. The main 2 varieties are Rhizphora and Avicennia.

The Rhizophora varities are locally called Surappunnai and they filter the salt content in the water before intaking the water. This Rhizophora varieties reproduce by Viviparous reproduction. That is, the new roots grow from below the branches and they detach themselves from the parent only after they get pretty strong. The types of Rhizophora here are Rhizophora Apiculata (Kuttai Surappunnai), Rhizophora Mucronata (Nettai Surappunnai) and Rhizophora Lamarckii (Kalappina Surappunnai).

The Avicennia varities are locally called Kandal and they take in the salt water and gives out the salt through their leaves. Here reproduction happens by Aerial roots or Pneumatophores. The roots emerge from the soil and grow outwards to the air to absorb oxygen. The types of Avicennia here are Avicennia Marina (Venn kandal) and Avicennia Officinalis (Karungandal).

These plants together have made the place so exquisite with their viviparous roots and aerial roots. These roots are so very strong and they are infact used to steer the boat at times instead of using the paddles.

The best places were the little sublets of water that went into the lands. These sublets were hidden from sun with all the branches and roots forming a cage like topography. Within these cage like structures, nestled inside are several several birds. I heard so so many creeches and a variety of other sounds. But thanks to the caged housing these birds couldn't be spotted.

Picking molluscs from the river bed is a thriving business there apart from fishing & farming. The depth of this place varied from just 2 feet deep to 7 feet deep. From the shallow areas, these are picked by hand.

And what more, this is the very location where the legendary MGR Tamil movie Idhayakani was shot and also this is the very location where Kamalhassan is dropped into the water in the first part of the movie Dasavathaaram.
So, here take a tip or two. Opt for the row boat, its better to go into the smaller sublets of water. Take cash, Pichavaram has no ATM. And leave back only footprints and take back only pics & memories. And yeah, plastic is banned here. And most important, maintain silence inside the mangrove. Just like, how you wouldn't want anyone to play noise with blaring speakers in front of your house and how painful would it be for you, your slightest sound would be the same pain for the birds nested in here!!! Shhhh.......

TO REACH THERE:
To Chidambaram:
From Chennai: 220 km via ECR, Pondicherry, Cuddalore
From Trichy: 157 km on NH227 via Jayamkondan, Palayamkottai
From Pondicherry: 70 km via Cuddalore

From Chidambaram to Pichavaram: 15 km towards Killai village
Yes, the mangrove is actually located in Killai village and Pichavaram village is a bit far from this mangrove.
Buses are available every half an hour from Chidambaram. Its called the 'Sutrula Maiyyam' bus.

TO STAY:
Eco Hotel Saradharam Pichavaram is available at Pichavaram.
Ph: +91 4144 249399/249400
But this is a slightly higher end hotel.
However hotels, dorms, lodges at all price points are available at Chidambaram town.

Insect Watch - Hammerhead Worm

2011-12-01T10:04:00.000+05:30

I spotted a slimy black worm in this rivulet.

Errr... Emmmm.... Well, this is the long shot of the same rivulet. Its called 'My Backyard'!!! I loved the way my backyard looked just after rain.

And as I was roaming about there, I spotted this black slimy worm with a flat, thin, wide head which I had never spotted before. Not exactly in the mud or water, but on the cement flooring beside this.

After taking a couple of shots, I picked this up on a leaf & left it in the soil. Its called a Hammerhead worm.

Scientifically it belongs to the Bipaluim genus. Its a flat worms which esp. feeds on earthworms!!! And like many other flatworms this too on being broken into pieces, grows as individual worms. There are 170 speicies of this worm and there are seen esp. at Indo- Malaysian and South East Asiatic regions and also in North America where its considered nuisance in Earthworm rearing regions!!!

G D Naidu Museum - Part III (Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-11-24T10:17:00.000+05:30

Last 2 posts were about the computer part and the physicspart of the GD Naidu Museum. Well, why wouldn’t it be? These are 2 fields of science that I am fascinated about. Infact, a bunch of my friends and me were the founders of ‘The Science Club’ in our school. No, we all were cool science buddies and not geeks or nerds!!!

Well, back to the GD Naidu Museum, this post is about the whole of the Museum in general. GD Naidu as a person, was the founder of the GCT (Govt. College of Technology) and UMS Group in Coimbatore.

The first ever motor produced in India was by the UMS Group under G D Naidu in 1937. He's done some great great inventions including thin blades, kerosene fans, 5 station radio, low cost 2 seater petrol run car, etc.

This is an ancient on-demand radio which has slots to put in coins, so can be used on demand - amazing for that era, isn't it!!! He was a genius and a true engineer from his heart's core!!!

Some great stuff here in display include a range of radio from age old times to as it is now... Same gradual advancement is shown with pieces from each upgradation was also in tv, gramaphone, telephones, razors, typewriters, projectors, tape recorders, iron boxes, food processing equipments etc.

Most of these samples were innovations of the UMS Group of Companies itself. Its a museum of the company's heritage ever since its inception and the masterpieces and brain-children of G D Naidu, himself!!!

An ancient 'disaster warning system' of 1987 make was in display. Also here was the first ever 'Electronic Telephone dialer' made in 1982 in display, before that was the 'finger in ring and rotate' dialer!!! Also there was the first ever 'Electronic Telephine STD Locker' of 1983.

There were a bunch of pens, no, I should rather say, a few hundreds of ballpoint and fountain pens made in the UMS factory. This one is the hand-writing assessment of G D Naidu done with a letter hand written by him.

This one is the personal invitation given to G D Naidu to attend the funeral procession of King George V on 28th Jan 1936 in London!

I dunno if you know this already. But I came to know this only after being there. The first ever 'digital' clock was almost like a manual date calender with a spring action that flips the cards every second!!!

Some kewl wooden cycles innovated by him.

This one is the first ever motor cycle by G D Naidu. He saw a motor cycle when he was little kid in his village Kalangal, a remote, small, quaint village, when an English Official Lanka Shyel rode his bike to Kalangal. Ever since he saw that he wanted to innovate his own bike and then, he did!!!

Ok, so now guess what's this....

Try....

Its a mechanical cash register made in USA in 1950's... Now, how many guessed it right???

One roaming about this whole museum, there was one question persistent in my mind. Was there any thing at all that G D Naidu did not try putting his hands on???!!!!

TO REACH THERE:

Refer to Part 1 of this series

G D Naidu Museum - Part II (Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-11-17T10:04:00.000+05:30

Last post, what I shared with you was some ancient (ok, only computer terms, something that's few decades old become ancient...)!!! Well, this post its gonna be interesting to school kids esp. and also physics enthusiasts.

But before that, a few more old photographs and an old bullock cart from his collections...

Here are some great optical illusions put up there. No, this is a part of the museum only to keep up the interest of the kids. This actually has nothing to do with G D Naidu himself.

The last 2 pics are rotatable. Save these images and rotate them and you might spot something new!!!

This one was an optical illusion where in if I walk parellel to it, 10km away, the building seemed to move along with me.

This hollow face of Einstein, I had seen in my school days when a mobile science exhibition came over to my school. Any face when sculpted in convex, the eyes of the face seem to give a movement and seems to keep looking at you as you walk from left to right or viceversa. Just like how the moon keeps moving with you even if you go to the next town!!! Lolz!!!!!

This one here is called a pinpoint impression. Essentially its a metal plank with tiny holes at the bottom. Each of these holes has a long ball pins through them. When you place you palm beneath it and apply pressure onto the pins they get pushed up creating an impression of the palm. Yes, I was a teeny weeny bit worried putting pressure onto the pins with my palm but no worries, I can assure it now!!!

There were several more illusion stuff and some games too. One was to trace a star not seeing your drawing sheet but its mirror image!!! One challenge was to take a small ball to top and bring it again to bottom of a slanted plane. Doesn't sound complicated?

It is. The slanted plank had several holes in it through which the ball could fall and the ball was on a small plank which was had to be operated by 2 strings attached to the 2 sides of it. Now, its complicated, right? That's the museum curator herself achieving the feat!!! Sorry, the video is a bit, eh... dark!!!

Would you be surprised and would you believe if I say, I saw this thing years ago in my dreams, but not as a electric light but as a flame???!!!!! Yeah, I did. Trust me!!! The moment I saw this one, my ex-dream did freak me out. This one is a 1960's make and its a gel based light. The gel in this when near the light, gets heated up and gets weightless and moves up. As it moves up, it gets condensed and gains more weight and comes down. And this keeps on repeating!!!

Coming back soon with lots lots more stuff from the same museum!!!

TO REACH THERE:

Refer my prev. post.

G D Naidu Museum - Part I (Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-11-10T10:15:00.000+05:30

On my recent visit to Coimbatore, I visited the G D Naidu Musuem. I walked up and down the street a couple of times before I could find out where on earth was this Museum and finally found it.

So who is this Mr.G.D.Naidu? He is Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu. He was born on March 23, 1893 in Kalangal. Yes, its the same Kalangal where I ventured to find about the Blankets. And yeah, there is a house where he lived in Kalangal. Not a house, a Zamin Palace!!!

So then who is he, what is he? In simple words, he's referred to as the Edison of India. He's done great contributions to the fields of Mechanical, Agricultural and Automobile Engineering. He's a inventor, engineer, educationalist, industrialist etc.

His certificates...

His awards...

His photographs alongside eminent people of his era...

This Museum here houses some of his inventions and several collection of automobile, electrical and electronic stuff right from his ages to what are those at present. In this post lets just concentrate on the computer stuff.

This one is a vintage IBM computer of 1977 make from Italy. Its hard disk is 32MB!!! Nowadays the very basic and cheapest version of micro SD, mini SD or pendrive itself is of atleast 1GB. Here the 'hard drive' was jsut 32 MB. And the RAM was 256KB. When was the last time, we dealt with any drive that's in KB's!!! And the size of this one is 160cmx70cmx121cm!!! Now, we are talking of palm computers. And then comes the best part, its weight - 1000kg!!!!!

This is an Apple Computer Monitor made in California in 1984. Model: G091S.

This one is again an Apple Computer made in California in 1984. Model: SPS - 4042.

This one is made in our own India in 1984 by Hindustan Computer Ltd. Model: Busy Bee

This one is a Laptop. No, I'm not joking. Yeah, seriously... Would you be using lappies if they were like this till date??? This one was made by Compaq Computer Corporation, USA in 1991. Model: 2680 KB.

This one is a mechanical calulator. Now, our calculators are very much inbuilt into our phones!!!

Well, this is just the computer part of the G D Naidu Museum. Coming back with lot more - daily use stuff like iron boxes, razors, and mind boggling physics tricks & illusions... Wait n watch!!!

TO REACH THERE:

G.D Naishu Museum

734, Avinashi Road, President Hall, Coimbatore - 641018

Ph: +91 422 2222548

Mail: gdcharities@vsnl.net

Nearest Busstop: Stanes School.

Located a bit ahead of Stanes school (if the school is to your left), in the opposite side.

Its the same buillding that houses Indo-German Goethe Institute and UMS Training Centre.

Its adjacent to Dr.Mohan's Diabates Speciality Centre.

Its a unique building in its construction and you cant miss it!!!

Some Updates, A Gift & A Giveaway

2011-11-03T10:10:00.006+05:30

Of late some regular leaders might have noticed some changes in the layout of my blog. So this post is just to keep you updated of the changes and improvisations I've done in My Travelogue.

The first one is the 'IMP. Note' box on the top right, the first section of my side bar. There have been a couple of concerns in some comments stating that I've put the locality of the place visited wrong. So, this is to clarify that I do not put up the locality of the place I visit. What I put up in the labels and also in the bracket beside the place name in the title denote the district where the place falls. Sometimes the centre of the district might be pretty far from the place ventured whereas the nearby district might be nearer. For eg., Mahabalipuram is nearer to Chennai City than Kanchipuram town of Kanchipuram Dt., though its listed under Kanchipuram.

The second one is the 'Archives'. Of late some might have noticed that the Archives tab has vanished from my side bar. It has been transported to a separate page 'Archives'. The link to this page is permanently placed as the topmost position in the main area.

Also in this area, are the links to some more 'Pages'. Just next to 'Archives' is 'Traveller Tips'. This would be updated as I get to think of new tips that would help travelers. This is to share and help travelers with the customs and local beliefs and rights/wrongs of various places. Do share with me local unique customs and should/shouldn'ts of various places that you've been to (Please avoid things that you've read somewhere and not actually been to, as what this blog is about, is first hand experience) below in the comment.

Next to it is 'Packing List'. I have been helping a couple of my friends to pack things up for their trips when I thought, this might be the very situation for many who don't travel often. On the other hand, some of my regularly traveling friends have things perennially packed that goes into their suitcase. So, just to help out the former ones, here's a Master Packing list, that starts with the trip details and dates and things to carry with brackets besides the ones that require numbers. Next trip, you could take a print of this one. Well, this is just a generic, common list. You might have to add several things that are particular to you and strike off some as well.

Next to it is, 'PR/Contact' that links to my Fashion blog and Business Site, and also has my e-mail id.

So, that's the updations in this blog.

Then here comes the Gift part. A few months ago I discovered this page is Facebook called 'Girls on the Go Club'. And they were organizing a contest for travel bloggers to submit their blogs. I did. And in a couple of weeks, I get a mail saying that I was one the contest winnners! Yippeee!! Then in a couple more weeks, I get this gorgeous waist pouch as a gift from them!!! Double Yippeeee!!!!

The next part is a lovely gift / giveaway from me to all the women readers of my blog. It is a Gorgeous Giveaway to all the Gorgeous women who are bitten by the wanderlust and keep traveling. One lucky winner would get a travel sized kit of Biotique skincare range and some HG facial Sponges too. After all, we do want to look good at a party or a wedding, though we might have trekked Parappalaru, the previous day!!! So, this is to pamper the women on the go!!!!! Click on the image to participate in this Giveaway.

Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagavathar Illam (Vellore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-10-27T10:13:00.005+05:30

I had to go to Vellore to attend one of dearest ex-rommie's wedding. Ofcourse, the wanderlust had bitten me long ago and going all the way to Vellore and coming back without wandering anywhere, how can that happen? The options an and around Vellore included several like SV Aranmanai (Palace), Vellore Fort, Temples in and around Vellore, Vaniyambadi temples, Walajapet etc. However, the trip was just for a day and in that day, the evening would be spent in the wedding. So what I had solid in my hand was just the morning. In one morning I could cover just 1 place and that one place had to be the least travelled road - Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagavathar Illam!!!

Enroute to Vellore, I got down at Walajapet and enquired at a couple of shops for the whereabouts of Venkatramana Bhagavathar Illam. As expected no one knew. And as usual, the best way I take to find places I this, is to enquire in the local ancient temple (note: not the new temples). But hardluck this time on that too. The 2 ancient Shiva Temples here, Kasi Vishwanathar Temple & Ekambareshwarar Temple were closed. However some enquiry around the second hotel, lead me to the Venkatramana Bhagavathar Street. As I entered the street I did notice a house which still had its ancient structure well maintained. I crossed it and enquired a guy and even he had no clue but did say that the ancient house that I spotted was a carnatic music school. I went over to that house and indeed it was my destination!!!

So, who is this Venkatramana Bhagavathar? Anyone with a slightest idea on Carnatic Music will definately know Thyagaraja Swamigal. He was one of the Carnatic Music Trinities. And Venkatramana Bhagavathar was one of his direct disciples. He was born in 1781 and lived with Thyagaraya Swami in Thiruvaiyaru and taught music in Madurai in Tamil Nadu, before he moved permenantly to Walajapet in Vellore, Tamil Nadu and passed away in 1874.

Presently this is the home of the 5th generation of Venkatramana Bhagavathar, Srinivasa Bhagavathar and his daughter (6th generation) Sandhya. It was this very house where Thyagaraja Swamigal himself, lived for 12 days during his visit to Tirupathi.

The house is evidently ancient, being in use since 1850s. The door was the beautiful carved wooden door and there were wooden pillars that formed the 'Thinnai' or the patio. The ceiling was a typical old ceiling very similar to the Kalangal village houses. The flooring was of the Karaikudi Red Clay tiles. In short, its heritage at its epitome.

As soon as I entered the house, to my right was this huge hall and at it end, behind a screen where the images and idols of the Gods and Goddesses. On either sides of the hall were ancient paintings of great Marati composers and singers, painted in the Tanjore style.

The 2 idols there were of Lord Sri Rama and Lord Sri Krishna. These idols were gifted to Venkatramana Bhagavathar by Thyagaraja Swamigal himself. The idol of Lord Rama has 4 arms. The front arms have bow & arrow and the back arms have shell & wheel (Shank & Chakra). He's with Goddess Sita and Hanuman. The other idol is of Lord Krishna with Rukmini and Sathyabama.

Some paintings here are age old, painted when Venkatramana Bhagavathar was alive. Two were of himself with Thyagaraja Swamigal. Another was of himself surrounded by his 2 sons, Krishnaswamy & Ramaswamy and 4 disciples. These were painted by Pallavi Ellayya, one of the disciples of Bhagavathar. Some ancient b/w photographs of his sons were also there.

And as usual as I always say, as I've written in my Traveling Tips (Pt. 2 in Temple Tours), its give generously to the priest when you venture to lesser known temples. That's not just to help the priest, it'll encourage them not to leave the temple to the mercy of fate. That applies here as well...

TO REACH THERE:

To Walajapet:

From Chennai: 107km on NH4 via Poonamalle, Sriperumbudhur, Thirupukkuzhi

From Chennai: 120km via Tambaram, Padappai, Oragadam, Thimmarajampet, Kanchipuram

From Vellore: 30km on NH4 towards Kanchipuram

From Arakkonam: 50km

From Kanchipuram: 40km

To Bhagavathar Illam in Walajapet:

Near Saudambikai Temple.

Its the second house in the left of Venkatramana Bhagavathar Street.

This street is perpendicular to the Anaikattu / Anaicut Street.

Venkatramana Bhagavathar street is opp. to the Ganesh Maternity & Surgical Centre in the Anaicut Street.

The house is located opp. to Karpagam Dhanapal Complex in the Venkatramana Bhagavathar Street.

Ph.no. of S R Balaji, of Hemalakshmi Finance in Karpagam Dhanapal Complex: +91 99522 22972

Google Co-ordinates: 12.92299,79.365417

Dedicated to my Mom

Kalangal Kurumba Blankets (Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-10-20T11:00:00.003+05:30

Last post, I wrote about how I ended up finding the Kalyana Venkatramana Swamy Temple at Kalangal Village thought I did not go there in search of it. So, what I did go there in search of actually. It was for the Kalangal Kurumba Blankets.

But first, before starting about the blankets, the village itself needs a little introduction. In 3 simple words - It was awesome!!!

The houses are still maintained with the old look. The houses themselves are about 100-150 years old where the village head and the other dwellers lived.

The houses had the traditional wooden pillars in them.

The roof was the traditional red clay tiles. In between them once or twice in the roof of each room were glass tiles. This helps to bring in the sunlight in day time without using any other source of energy like oil lamps in olden days or electricity in the present days.

The traditional old switches.

The gorgeous, exquisite, carved wooden doors.

The hooks fixed onto the ceiling to hang indoor swings.

These houses also have a lovely centrally placed open-skied courtyard with or w/o a gauze or grill atop. This are called 'muttram'. When it rains these become rain water harvesting tanks. In summer it becomes sunlit areas still safe from birds that helps to dry out anything.

So now, back to the blankets - These blankets are made from the fibers shredded from the hair of the Kurumba Sheep. Though Kurumba sheep is widely grown in several places in Tamil Nadu, this technique of the handmade blanket is unique and reserved to this place. Like many other arts and traditional crafts of India, this too is getting really stomped upon by the new machine-made, mass produced stuff.

This Kurumba Blankets are so precious It takes almost a month to complete one. Few decades back this was a part of the wedding trousseau taken by the girl when she moves in to her husband's place. The trade was once flourishing, but now with the increase of the mass produced blankets (thanks to globalization!!!), this is not a profitable job anymore and many families opting out of the craft to take up modern jobs. Obviously they would, they have to carry on with their livelihood!!!

The entire process of producing the Kurumba blankets is handmade. Right from shearing the sheep, to its cleaning, to its bleaching, to its making it into a yarn / thread, and finally weaving it. The looms are basic back-strap hand looms. Oh, pardon me for the technical terminologies, the textile designer in me is taking over!!!

The best part of it is that the fibers are generally not dyed. So the blankets are usually available in black, brown or off white, the natural colors in which the sheep hair is available. Sometimes using colored acrylic yarns (synthetic wool yarns) embellishment is given like occassional lines that occur vertically or horizontally or both.

The feel of these blankets is inexplicable. Its slightly rough and yet pretty fluffy and light weighted. I can never compare it to the feel of any other blanket or texture. It was fabulous. Of late, thanks to the fading craft, its not available readily. However upon order they make the blankets esp. for you and a blanket costs about 2500 - 3000 bucks.

I'm sharing this here, so that people would buy them, so they are kept employed and the craft survives the tsunami of globalization!!!

TO REACH THERE:

From Sulur in Coimbatore: 4km on Kalangal Road at Sulur Jn.

TO STAY:
Many hotels at all price points available in Coimbatore.
Sulur is in the outskirts of Coimbatore with regular bus service from anywhere in Coimbatore / Kovai.

Dedicated to my Mom

Kalangal Kalyana Venkatramanaswamy Temple (Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu)

2011-10-13T10:29:00.063+05:30

I ventured to this little village called Kalangal near Sulur in Coimbatore, which absolutely no idea of what to expect. I got into the road that leads to Kalangal village at Sulur and waited there for some local bus or share auto to arrive. Well, some half an hour would have passed by, no trace of any public mode of transport. I got irritated and opted to take an auto. I enquired an auto driver only to know that the 5km distance would cost about 130 bucks. I did get irritated but then I again asked him the rate for an up n down trip. As I expected that worked out much economical. For up and down with 45 mins wait together it worked out for 200 bucks.

I went there with no idea of what to expect but I did go in search of something. I'll write about that in my next post. But in this post, let me share something that I did not go in search of - An 1300 yr old Temple of Lord Vishnu!!!

Yeah true, as I went through a long road with just vacant land and shrubs on either sides, I finally reached Kalangal. I enquired to the local shopkeeper to know where I had to go, but then, as I as venturing my destination, I spotted these 2 ancient 'stone mandapams' with several reliefs on them.

They were not really dilapidated but not in a good condition as well... In the central top portion of these mandapams were a relief of Namam with Sangu & Chakra, the essential primary symbol of Vaishnavism or Vishnu devotees.

Now that's a proof of the existence of an ancient Vishnu Temple in the locality.

The very temple is called Sri Devi Bhu Devi Kalyana Venkatramana Swamy Temple. Sadly, I didn't visit the temple. However, you can check out more pics and contact details of the temple, here at the temple's website: http://kalangalperumal.org. Hope I visit the village again and visit the temple as well...

TO REACH THERE:

Navarathri Kolu 2011 at my Home

2011-10-06T10:45:00.002+05:30

I had already posted about one of the earlier Kolu arrangement kept for Navarathri at my home, here, and here. So, I'm not getting into the details and the story behind each doll set. Just sharing some pics of this year's Kolu.

Here's the main 7 step arrangement...

Kanchipuram Garuda Sevai

Annamalaiyar Unnamulai Ammai

Pittukku Man Sumandha Leelai

Dakshinamurthy

Here are some more pics of the side arrangement 1...

Some lovely gifts from my Friends

Tsunamika....

Tsunamika was not kept in the last Kolu. She is an innovative little doll who was the brain child of Ms.Uma Prajapathi of Auroville, to be created by the women who were affected by the deadly Tsunami which devastated to coastal areas of the Tamil Nadu and Andhra in Dec 26, 2004.

Some more pics of the side arrangement 2...

The First scene Gugan was already in the last Kolu. Next to it is Matryoshka doll aka Babushka doll which is the Nesting Russian Doll set where each doll goes into a bigger doll that itself. Beside it is a small vegetable vendor doll with excellent detailed work including actual fabrics for its dress and small fibers for his head and chest hair.

Pushpa Vimanam of Mariamman Temple Festival (Karur - Tamil Nadu)

2011-09-29T16:10:00.000+05:30

Karur, as I have said in my previous posts also, is a small town in the centre of Tamil Nadu well connected with several places. Its also a hub of heritage and nature with a the village feel still lingering on, in the suburbs. (Yeah, the central town of Karur is more concrete than Chennai suburbs!!!).

Some important temples in Karur are Pasupathiswarar Temple, Abhayapradha Ranganathar Temple, Kalyana Venkatramanar Temple, and Mariamman Temple. Also temples in Erode, Trichy also are easily reachable from Karur.

Of these, Mariamman Temple is the only one that I haven't visited so far. The best time to visit this temple is during end of May, when the annual temple week long festival happens. Somehow, every year for the past couple of years, I plan to visit Karur during this festivity, but somehow I get scheduled with something else and miss it.

The specialty prayers start much earlier and are held a month long which are at their best during the last 5 days when the celebration is at its peak and literally Karur comes to stand still when no offices or shops work.

The month long auspiciousness start with planting the sacred log in front of the temple called Kambu Naduthal. This Kambu is immersed in River Amaravathy at the end of the month long celebration.

During this month several festivities occur. This includes, a day of procession of Temple Car or Ratham. A day of Pushpa Vahanam when various tableau of floral arrangement are made by different groups of people taken from their street to the temple. A day of Oonjal or Swing. And it was during the Pushpa Vimanam Day, that I once happened to be in Karur and witnessed it luckily by chance as well...

This one was shaped like a huge 7 headed snake, made completely of flowers.

And its generally carried to the temple with all pompom and fanfare...

This is the smallest 39 secs video of the more than a few hours long parade all the way to the temple, that I managed to click. Yeah this happened at about 8 pm and that should explain the bad lighting. But the way they were beating the drums and dancing was absolutely fabulous and they were in trance totally.

Hopefully next year atleast I wish I go there for the 5 day main celebration. Lets see!!!

Insect Watch - Lemon Pansy

2011-09-21T16:05:00.048+05:30

I've posted quite a number of Bird Watch posts so far. Recently in my back yard, I found this Lemon Pansy basking in sun, so I thought of sharing this with you.

So here are the images of Lemon Pansy. Its a moth and is scientifically called Junonia Lemonias. It belongs to the Nymphalidae family of insects which is also called Brush Footed Butterflies, because it has its forelegs smaller than hind legs and its hairy as well, resembling a brush.

So here is what Wikipedia says about it

It is brown with numerous eye-spots as well as black and lemon-yellow spots and lines on the upperside of the wings. The underside is a dull brown, with a number of wavy lines and spots in varying shades of brown and black. There is also an eyespot on the lower side of the forewing. The wet and dry season forms differ considerably in coloration and even shape. In the wet season form the markings are distinct and vivid and the wing shape is a little more rounded. In the dry season form the markings are obscure and pale especially on the underside and the wing margin is more angular and jagged. This helps it camouflage in the dried leaf-litter. The Lemon pansy is a very active butterfly and can be seen basking with its wings open facing the sun. It sits very low to the ground and can be approached easily. It feeds with its wings half open. It is a fairly strong flier and flies close to the ground with rapid wingbeats and often returns to settle back in the same spots.

So, if I go as per the details given in Wikipedia, I spotted the Lemon Pansy in a wet day, that's why its bright and rounded. Yes, true. It had rained the previous day and it was sitting on the open seed pods of Indian Laburnum or Cassia Fistula, basking in the sun.