Work without break gives us not only physical stress, but also makes the professional life monotonous too. Planning to take a short break after 5 years of work, finally, I planned to visit the specific places of Pallava Dynasty in southern part of India, which not only brings me a freshness in life but also to face our heritage and learn about its depth. On thinking to make an adventurous trip, I went alone to Chennai where I was invited as a guest to a Tamil family to celebrate the biggest festival of India - Diwali with Tamil tradition. They welcomed me with warmth as if I'm one of their family members. After watching a different sort of Diwali celebration which is quiet different from from my city of east o even from North India, I started my adventure from very next morning of Diwali. It was the beginning of November, so the weather in Chennai and its neighborhood is far better than any other time to roam around the places.
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| Arjun's Penance in Mahabalipuram |
First day, I went to Mahabalipuram, the ancient city of Mamallapuram where the Pallava kings depicted their creativity in cave sculptures in Mahabalipuram caves, Pancha Rathas and also in Sun Temple area. Most of the existing statues are of 7th and 8th centuries depicted on Sand stone, though the work was started from 2nd century. Lot of French tourists use to visit this ancient town, as it is very near to Pondicherry.
Next day, I went to the capital of Pallava kings, i,e, Kanchipuram which almost 70 km west from Chennai. Kanchipuram , also known as Kanchi, is nowadays is famous for its sari and as the city of 1000 temples though most of them are demolished by time, now 150 temples exist only and 20 among them are well- maintained for visitors and devotees. With the help of an auto rickshaw I managed to visit 15 of them within 4 hours, the driver was friendly and became my guide to show the famous temples, houses explaining significance of some places.
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| Corridor of Sri Ekambaranathar Temple in Kanchi |
On third day, I went to Thirukazhukundram village to visit the Eagle temple which is known also as Pakshithirtham. It is also a part of Pallava dynasty, established by one Pallava king 1200 years ago. There are 2 parts of the temple, the biggest one in plan land on which the entire village is surrounded and the hill temple where till 2004 the Eagles use to come at 12 pm everyday to take Prasadam from the priests of the hill temple. To climb to the top of the hill is not an easy task, but after reaching there, I've seen a beautiful view of village, far landscape, nearest city Chegalpet, the big tank of the temple beside the hill and the temple at the bottom. The priest also offer Prasadam to each visitor in the hilltop temple. Due to difficulty to climb, most of the visitors avoid this temple. But, for the sake to viewing the natural beauty of that place, every visitor should try to climb, it would be a life-time experience if you reach there with a camera.
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| Vedgiriswarar temple in Thirukazhukundram |
From Mahabalipuram to Thirukazhukundram, it's like a dream journey to come back to the lap of my motherland. A history book can give lot of information of an era, but to feel the era, the best way to visit that place.
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| Chegalpet Lake |
