Mahabalipuram,Pondicherry and Cauvery Delta

I finally made it this time; my last escape was way back in 2006.This time the occasion was a friend’s wedding at Ongole, AP. Its proximity to Chennai made me believe that I could turn this into a good Holiday. After quickly going through some good writings in this forum I planned for Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Chidambaram, Kumbhakonam, Tanjore, Trichy, Madurai.

I started after finishing the wedding formalities of my friend .The first place I visited was a peaceful beach at Pakala near Ongole.The beach was beautiful with golden sand and the best part you don’t see anyone except your shadows on the sand. This is also the drawback since you can’t get even a bottle of water at such place.
The nearest town to this place is Singaraikonda (12 km).To reach Chennai there is a direct bus at 12 pm, since I missed it had to take a bus to Nellore (3 hrs,43 Rs).There are frequent buses from nellore to Chennai every 30 mins.I took a Hitech Bus( 3 hrs, 122rs) which started at 4 pm.Reached Chennai Koyambadu bus station.The Bus station is the most organized I have seen, without much difficulty I could find my Bus to Mahabalipuram(Bus#118,2 hrs,Rs 22).

After reaching Mahabalipuram at 10 pm, we called Shiva guest(lonely planet recmd) house and they had a room available. Othavadai street is where all these guest houses are located and just 5 mins walk from bus stand, so an auto is not necessary unless you have lots of luggage. The room at Shiva Guest house was adequate ( 400 rs double)with Clean bed sheets and Bathroom.
Moonraker is a good place to eat in the next lane, the menu gets reduced to few items after 10 pm though.
Next Morning we left for the shore temple and a 10 mins walk would take you to this world heritage monument,you need to keep the ticket issued here for visiting the Five Rathas as well.The shore temple is an old Shiva temple and is beautifully located with a background of bay of Bengal.
The straight road outside leads to Arjuna Penance( a relief carving),Mandapas ,Ganesh Ratha,Krishna Butterball and few other places. Arjuna Penance is an example of the fine artists we had in past.The rock carvings are very beautiful and skillfully done.you could actually see the veins and ribs of a Sadhu in penance on one leg.
Another road on the left side leads to five rathas, on the way you could see the numerous Sculpture shops which makes a uniform noise at work.The five rathas are dedicated to Pandavas and also has a life like sculptured elephant.On the way back I stopped at Poompuhar Handicrafts emporium near the Rathas.

In afternoon and took a Bus to Pondicherry(all the buses were full, so had to stand for this 3 hr journey).At the bus stand the auto driver took the responsibility for showing a room, this being a weekend all the places he took were full, in the mean time I called International Guest house( Ashram) and to my surprise they had one. The room was neat with hot water( Rs 550 Ac).The best part of living in ashram guest house is that you have access to ashram from early morning till 10 pm and also have access to their cultural programs. We went to the ashram and the Vinayaka temple in the opposite lane. The temple elephant Lakshmi is very beautiful. The evening was spent at the beach road, Le Café is located right in front of beach and makes good snacks with coffee(try their Walnut Brownie). While returning back we followed a group of people going inside an ashram building. The security checked our guest house pass and let us in. It was a cultural night with some fine Gujarati Dance and music.
Dinner was at Aristo restaurant on Nehru street, they are known for their French cuisine.
Next day after an early darshan at peaceful Ashram, took a bike for rent at Rs 150.An additional 2 litres of petrol is all you need to visit Auroville and Pondicherry. There is not much to see for a casual visitor in auroville, Maitrimandir looked good but still under work. The food at their canteen is very costly, may be one of their steps in keeping casual visitors away. It was mid afternoon we finished auroville and the beach nearby didn’t appeal to us in the burning Sun.
The lunch back in Pondicherry at Executive Inn was bad. Visited the Sacred heart Church and drove to Light house which is closed for public now. As it was a Sunday we could visit the flea market at MG Road where you find lots of books and other household items.

That Night around 7 pm took a bus to Chidambaram (2 Hrs), got down in front of the temple and straight into Akshay darshan, it’s a new construction with clean rooms. A double bed for Rs 315 was a bargain.

Next Morning was spent at the Chidambaram Nataraja temple, you could see the Bharatanatyam poses sculptured on the entrance wall.The temple corridor is very long with lots of beautifully carved pillars. You could also visit Vishnu and Laksmi sanctums inside apart from the main Nataraja shrine. The place has lots of temples and you would need to look at every corner and you could discover something there. You could also spot the ShivaGanga pond outside with its habitant fishes, but I saved this spot for the evening Sun Set.

The next place was Kali Amman temple at the North Road, from here we went straight to bus stand to Catch a crowded bus to Pitchavaram, a small hamlet around 25 kms from Chidamabaram, It takes around 1 hr of bumpy ride to reach this place. This place has the second largest Mangrove trees in India (covering 3000 acres). A boat cost around 150 Rs for 1 hr ,the weather was pleasant and we enjoyed the ride. A 2 hr ride takes you an isolated village which was deserted during the Tsunami, you could see a good beach here.

Evening was spent on the steps of the Chidamabaram Temple pond, this place suddenly transforms into a surreal beauty in evenings. The evening fire ceremony ( Aarti) should not be missed .The temple priests are quite demanding since the temple is privately run, so make sure you donate only when you wish and not when persuaded.

Night we took a bus to Nagapattinam, you pass through a place called Kariakal which to my surprise comes under the state of Pondicherry. This city was cleaner and more modern than other cities we passed. http://karaikal.gov.in/Administratio.../MNTOURISM.htm to know more about this place.

At Nagapattinam we stayed at Subham Park( 550 rs Non Ac),this place is far better than any other hotels in the area and is newly renovated. Next day we left for Velanganni ( 40 mins). The Church here was under renovation, but this place was like any other temple city I visited. I was surpsied to see a Dhwaja Sthambam( Pillar made of wood/brass associated to temple) constructed in front of Church where coconuts are broken, pilgrims here also get their heads shaved like in tirupati.The Church though was beautiful.

Back from Nagapattinam bus stand we left for Thiruvayyur (1 hr), this route is scenic with paddy fields on both sides. The Thyagaraja temple is very famous here with the biggest temple Car in India. We reached this place at 1 pm, found the temple closed and realized our mistake; Most temples are closed in Tamil Nadu between 12 noon to 4 pm. This is also the very place where the Trinity of Carnatic music lived. Thyagaja who is the better known lived a few streets away from temple. After some enquires we finally reached the place, a single room where Thyagaja practiced his music.
We had to go back to Nagapattinam for our next destination Kumbhakonam. After few enquiries on room availability we finally got one at Hotel Green Park ( 650 Rs Non AC).
The road from Nagapattinam to Kumbhakonam is very lively with lots of narrow roads.The Hotel room was big and neat.

Morning we visited the Adi Kubheshwara temple, this temple The sculptural wealth of this temple is amazing with almost every piece of stone ornamented.
The Shiva lingam is encased in silver, next to it is the sanctum of the Goddess. The chains hanging from the ceiling are made of stone, showcasing their mastery of stone work. Overall this place is amazing. Opposite to the gate you would find the bus stand where a green Mini bus takes you to DaRasuram ( 2 rs/ 4 km).

Darasuram is a UNESCO world heritage site and you would know why when you see this magnificent Chola creation. The first temple is the Parvati temple which itself is beautifully carved. After few minutes of relaxing moments within the temple we moved on to the adjacent Airavateeswara temple. This temple maintained by ASI is doing a commendable job in recreating its magic as this was destroyed during wars.Some of its sculptures were also taken to Tanjore Museum. We took a guide for this place, its recommended to take one as most of the Chola temples have similar sculptures of Gods, Sages, Kings, acrobats etc and knowing them initially will help you later. All the stone work was done during the Chola’s period and coloring with dyes took place when Nayaks were the rulers. It takes min 2 hrs to appreciate this place. Also to be seen are the musical steps beside the Nandi, it was unlocked by the ASI guide on request and all the steps have different musical notes.

After lunch we took a bus to Gangaikondacholapuram (40 kms) . The name means the Chola land where Ganga was brought/conquered, after the Chola King who conquered upto Bangladesh and brought with him water from Ganga. The temple was built to celebrate his conquest. I had printed material with me which I gathered about this place while I was planning and coincidentally I visited Gangaikondacholapuram on Thursday!( If it is Thursday, it must be Gangaikondacholapuram!)

This temple also is an exact replica of the Big temple at Tanjore( Brihadeeswara), a tribute from a son to his father hence its smaller size. This temple also has a thousand pillar hall and the Nandi is as big as in Tanjore. The visitors are few here and therefore very rewarding to see this place in peace. On the way from Kumbhkonam to this place you could see the Cauvery river on one side and its inhabitant Crocodiles sitting motionless soaking in the Sun.
Darasuram and Gangaikondacholapuram are more archaelogical sites than religious.

Back in Kumbhakonam we visited Sarangapani temple and Ramaswamy temple, both brilliant in stone works but Sarangapani is more magical.

Took the late night Bus to Tanjore. We booked at hotel Valli(lonely planet reccmnd) near railway station(400 Rs Non AC). Early morning took an auto to the Brihadeeswara Temple. There was a program on discovery channel which depicted how this magnificent Temple was built( I saw this few years ago); the temple is capped by a 80 tonne granite stone which was lifted with the help of a 4km ramp!
This temple has number of pillared halls, shrines with spacious ground. This masterpiece by the Cholas is a UNESCO's World Heritage monument. The renovation work was carried by the ASI at one corner in the premises. You would see similar kind of sculptures that you have see at Darasuram and GKC on the pillars.

Next stop was the Tanjore Palace which consists of Durbar hall, Museum and a Library. I also took some time shopping for Tanjore paintings at the store near the Art museum. Around 1 pm we took the bus from the New bus stand to Trichy, the road was good and took nearly an hour to reach.

Trichy had two attractions on my list, first was the Rock fort temple and the second Ranganathswamy Temple. The city is well connected by buses, after using the locker facility at the Central Bus stand for luggage we took the bus to Rock fort. Passing through a very busy bazaar you reach this temple, the steps might deter you to reach the top but going there is worth the effort. The rock is said to be one of the oldest, around 3.800 million years old.
The first flight of steps lead you to Cave temple dedicated to Siva and on the summit you will see a shrine for Vinayaka. This temple offers beautiful view of Trichy with its bridges and beautiful river Cauvery surrounding it.
The next destination was Srirangam an island 4 kms across Cauvery from Rock fort.

The Ranganathswamy temple is one of the largest temple Complex in world (156 acres), it’s a small town in itself. The history of Srirangam Temple itself is a fascinating story.
It is one of the most revered shrines dedicated to Lord Vishnu.The temple is replete with
Excellent carvings and the idol of Ranganathswamy is the most beautiful I have seen.You could easily spend half a day here but running against time as we were, we could only spend around 3 hours.

From the central bus stand we took the bus for Madurai at around 8 pm. It took around 3.30 hr to reach Madurai. We called hotel Sridevi(lonely planet) to book a room(750rs, AC). This is hotel is very close to Meenakshi temple and you could see all the towers from the top floor. Our room called Devi (Top floor) was the worst I stayed during our journey but we were too tired to complain. Next morning promptly we shifted to next room called Aparna which was better.
Madurai is one of the the oldest South Indian city was ruled by the Pandayas who built the Meenakshi temple originally, was renovated by later rulers, Nayaks especially.
The city now is a major hub for textiles and one can visit the forever last day/hour discount sales.Hiring a Rickshaw is a good option to travel nearby places, we took one for visiting Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal around 2 kms from temple.The palace is in renovation phase but still worth a visit to see the Dancing hall.
We spent the remaining first half of day shopping in the numerous congested lanes of Madurai. The evening was reserved for the temple, the main disappointment was that all the Gopurams were veiled due to renovation; I heard it could take a year to complete all the Gopurams. It appeared as if this was the year of renovation for temples in Tamil nadu.

Nevertheless the temple is beautiful with its golden lotus temple tank. You would find many Mandapams inside with the finest sculptures you can see.The temple art- museum is in the 1000 pillar mandapam which is a must visit.

My tour finally ended here and I am carrying lots of good memories of the places I visited. Since we could not book any hotels in advance and the tour was not planned, I took help of lonely planet guide and Outlook traveler for the hotels and places to see. I should also thank the numerous travelers in India Mike for sharing their experiences.

Now I am back to work and searching for my next destination!

Nice post with plenty of useful details, thanks for sharing.

Jorge

Wow... thanks for the travelogue. Nice details.

Excellent narration Hermetic. I found it all the more interesting as we did a similar trip not too long ago. I could kill myself for missing the Cauvery crocs. After reading your post, Chidambaram and Pitchavaram are on my list of must visits.

I found and re-read your report now Hermetic, and realise that you saw the crocs at the Lower Anaicut where the locals said they can be seen, but where I could not see them! Never mind, we will go back and find them some day. As for Chidambaram, I will have to do another visit to appreciate it better.