MY VISIT TO THE GRAND LIVING CHOLAS( UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE)

          BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE, THANJAVUR .

"The Grand living Cholas  ", comprises of 3 temples,BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE of Thanjavur,BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE of Gangaikonde cholapuram,AIRAVATESHWARA TEMPLE  of kumbhokonam... together its UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES....

Thanjavur  is some 60 kms away from Trichy, is a small town in TN state in India... On 27th of March 2022 , we planned to drive down to visit the Grand Living Cholas , during our Trichy visit... First in our list was BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE, TANJAVUR.. Started from hotel at Trichy around 9am we reached TANJAVUR  by 11am .. The BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE complex  is very huge and to go around under hot sun , walking across barefoot over granite stone was terrific  but its so so beautiful  that all the pains incurred will not stop anyone visiting from taking all those troubles...it is one of the largest Hindu  temple, built  by Chola emperor Rajaraja1  between  1003 and 1010 AD. Its a 11th century temple includes gopura, the main temple, its massive tower, inscriptions, frescoes, structures....built out of granite , the Vimana tower above the Shrine is one of the tallest in South India.The templehas a massive colonnaded  corridor one of the largest Shiva lingam in India..

The temple stands amidst fortified  walls that probably added in the 16th century... The Vimana is 66mts high..There is a big statue of Nandi craved out of single rock measuring  about 16ft long and 13ft high at the entrance... The inscription  and fresco s on the walls of BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE  records the rise & fall of the city 's fortunes.  Its said that No shadow of the Vimana of the temple never falls on ground at noon...The entire temple is made of granite  rock..

After having a wonderful experience  going across the whole site we thought to drive down to Kumbakonam  to visit the Airavateshwara temple  & skip the temple at Gangaikonde cholapuram....So after sumptuous  lunch at A2B restaurant at Thanjavur  and shopping  at Chennai silk saree store we continued our drive off to Kumbakonam...

By the time we reached Kumbakonam, the temple has closed ...( TEMPLE TIMINGS- 9am to 12pm & 4pm to 6pm).....so we had to wait infront of the Airavateshwara temple for almost an hour or so when luckily we came across a person who introduced himself as kanjivaram  saree loom owner ...I was very excited to visit a loom nearby ....it seems home looms are very common in this region ..... I was very impressed  by the throw away pricing of silk kanjivaram sarees there & ended purchasing again ....

Now it was almost 4pm and the temple at kumbakonam opened for visitors ....though bit smaller in size , but truly beautiful masterpiece in granite. It is also dedicated to lord Shiva, completed  by Rajaraja 2, in the 12th century. The stone temple  incorporates a chariot structure. A feel of mystical world thrives in one's mind right from the moment one step into the temple premise.

After almost an hour at Airavateshwara Temple Kumbakonam, it was time to drive back to trichy ...the heat and humidity had just exausted all of us and we just felt to get back to our hotel room at trichy at the earliest.....beautiful experience indeed to see us wonders with own eyes& admire those people who had created such marvels.

OUR TRICHY TRIP ( Tamil Nadu)

it was Holi Holidays and we had 4 days in hand to breakfree from routine life .... & when whole India is playing with colours , the best part to venture is South India , were there's no holi colour playing/ celebrations ....It was 26th March 2022 that we landed at Chennai Airport  from Mumbai & was joined by my youngest Sis' who flew in from Kolkata....our plan was to catch train from Chennai Egmore station & we had done all tickets pre booking....Now we had 3 hours in hand before we took the train to trichy ....So just thought to just go around the city to kill our time....We hired a vehicle from a local travel agent , who took us to Ashtalaxmi  temple , Elliot Beach, Elliot Church , Parthasarathy  temple- triplicane, a round of Marina Beach, before dropping us at Egmore Station...Before we took the Vaigai Express to Trichy , we had our sumptuous lunch at Sangeeta's restaurant opposite to Egmore station...it takes almost 5 hrs by train to trichy ....its after , more than 15 yrs that I was taking on a train ride....it was AC Chaircar  , so just enjoyed the train travel ...... 

we reached Trichy by evening 6pm and went straight to our hotel ....We had booking at Lemon tree REDFOX hotel at trichy ... Just didnot wish to do much that evening as we were all bit tired as we all started the day very early ....so just a buffet dinner & off to bed ....

Next morning  we got up early as we were supposed to go for darshan at Sri Ranganathaswamy temple & had booked for spl VIP darshan but soon got to know that due to some festivities at the temple all VIP darshan's were stopped for the day .... so we were bit upset about it when one of our friend ( a local from trichy) suggested us to go for a drive off to Thanjavur  instead & visit the Grand living Cholas( UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE)....not a bad idea indeed & it was just 9am & we thought to execute that idea to atleast visit Thanjavur 's BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE & Airavateshwara temple at kumbakonam if not the Brihadeshvara temple of gangaikonde cholapuram, which is a replica of the Big temple of Thanjavur. So we started off from hotel at Trichy after breakfast for Thanjavur .... it took us whole day to go around Thanjavur....And I would like to share the stories of our experiences at Thanjavur  in a separate part of my travel blog..

 By the time we returned back from Thanjavur , its was almost early dinner time & we were very exausted after lot of walking around those huge huge temple complexes & the extreme heat & humidity  there at Thanjavur, so a dinner & off we went for sleep as we were supposedly expected to be at the Srirangam temple north gate by 7 am on 28th March morning.

    

       BRIHADISVARA TEMPLE, TANJAVUR 

By 7am we were at Srirangam temple, trichy ,not much devotees had reached there by that time ...since had VIP darshan booked , it was a bit shortcut orelse it takes almost 8/9 hrs to stand in queue for darshan .....only difficulty we faced is that its all informations written in only Tamil  & people there only spoke Tamil, the good part is that we took our driver along with us who knew both Tamil aswell as English to help us to communicate ....After entering the premise, I was awestruck to see those beautiful  carving on pillars , ceilings & walls of the temple made of granite stone ...its too beautiful...I was just speechless...came there to pray 🙏  but my mind turned to this beautiful  architecture & sculptures across .... the main dome is in Gold ....still can visualize  the huge idol of lord Vishnu in sleeping posture at the main sanctumsanctorum. 

        Inside the Srirangam temple, trichy.

After darshan at the Vishnu temple ( Srirangam) our driver told that there's a laxmi temple too next inside the complex & we need to walk fast to have darshan immediately after its doors open ....

        laxmi temple ( Srirangam)

After all our Darshan at Srirangam , we thought to have darshan at Jambukeshwara temple , trichy dedicated to lord Shiva & visit Kallanai Dam ,Grand Anicut after having lunch .....

     Oh, I was spellbound to visit the Jambukeshwara temple .....awesome Architecture aswell sculptures inside .....my camera lens just kept clicking   ......

Its all works on granite rock .....amazing indeed , whoever has created this wonders..... 

    After lunch at Sangeeta's restaurant at trichy we planned to go for Grand Anicut ( lower cauvery)

The tamilian thalli at Sangeeta's......

The Drive to Grand Annicut was bit long ....total dam built 2000 yrs ago without any cement in zigzag design.

in the evening, our friend from trichy who guided and arranged for our trichy trip took us to upper Annicut of CAUVERY ..... it was on 29th March that  we left for chennai and hence by flight back home...

My trip to DANUSHKODI( GHOST TOWN) in TN.

We were on a 4 DAYS road trip from CHENNAI- MAHABALIPURAM- PONDICHERRY- VALENKKANI- RAMESHWARAM- DANUSHKODI- RAMNATHAPURAM-MADURAI - CHENNAI in Mar 2020 just before the Covid lockdown was announced  by Indian govt.... The road journey  upto RAMESHWARAM  was awesome and needless to say about our stay at HYATT PLACE HOTEL, RAMESHWARAM ....After our Darshan at RAMESHWARAM Shrine, we planned for a drive upto Danushkodi.... it was during my college days that I visited RAMESHWARAM  and again I was here after 30+ yrs.... The place looked so different now, lot of development  caught my eyes too ....Now 3/4 good hotels have come up besides those Darmashala's that existed from ages for pilgrims visiting the Shrine ( Jyothirling).....

       DANUSHKODI, is an abundant town at the SE of Pamban Island in Tamil Nadu state. The town was destroyed  during the 1964 RAMESHWARAM CYCLONES and remained uninhabited  in its aftermath....The town is believed to be the place where  Lord Rama had ordered Lord Hangman to built a bridge which could carry his army across to Srilanka, were Ravana, the demon king kept Mata Sita  captive, as per the mythological story of Ramayana.Danushkodi , is also known as the last  land of India  and got Bay of Bengal on one side & Indian Ocean on other side.....it got a beautiful  stretch of newly constructed  NH road strip, designed using Galion box technology  of IIT, MADRAS to protect the road stretch from Tidal actions.

       

After we left the town of RAMESHWARAM towards DANUSHKODI, it looked so deserted..only few vehicles were driving that strip.... few kms of the drive on the new Danushkodi road was surrounded by jungle stretch on both sides of the road and some patches of water bodies ....As we returned that Ghost town of Danushkodi, the landscape was totally different....sands on both sides of the road and its turquoise  waters of the ocean welcoming us with all those ruins of the old Town of Danushkodi scattered here & there all across on both side of the road stretch...

After we crossed the uninhabited  town of Danushkodi, Ram setu starts .... to some extent of the stretch of road , vehicles r allowed & there after one need to walk down a 1km and half  to the edge of the road strip...it is said that earlier this road didnot exist & to reach the edge one had to walk down & mostly the bikers made their way down upto the edge and after that its Srilankan waters ....I had a personal realization, that as I entered Danushkodi, my mobile signal went of & some international  signal was noticed.... after we started walking down to the edge of Ramsetu, I saw so many Tamilians  walking the stretch barefooted  in scorching  sun ...ultra violet rays r so strong that I could hardly make out what I was capturing on my camera lens ...😀BSF  personal  stopped me from video shooting the zone too ....But the place is so picturesque  that no one can stop one's temptation  to film  it in frame

we really had a beautiful  experience  standing on the last Road of India ...... I personally  feel that each one who in taking on the long journey upto RAMESHWARAM, should definitely  add Danushkodi to their itenary  besides the Samadhi of our beloved DR.KALAM'S & his home at Rameshwaram town........

MY FIRST VISIT TO THE STATUE OF UNITY( GUJARAT)

We were travelling by road from Mumbai  to Patan shethra in NE part of Gujarat, thought to add a visit to Statue of Unity at kewadiya which was bit out of the way for us....We tried to do a bit of study of SOU  from YouTube videos  for all informations related to bookings  for the visit there , before taking onto our journey......

   By the time we were ready to hit the road , it was just 5.45am in the morning..Since  we had to drive from Navi Mumbai side towards the western express way there was lot of traffic jams even ar that early hours around Gorbandar road..... We made our first stopover at Palghar for breakfast...there r lots of good restaurants serving hot Doshas & idlis there ....it was quite chilling and mystic around Palghar ..... Then the drive continued up to Surat( Palshana) in Gujarat, from were we took a diversion route towards Rajpipla& continued  to Kewadia....Since  all bookings for visit to statue of unity has to be done prior online & even slot bookings for the high speed lift travel upto the neck portion of Sardar Patel statue , from were the view of Sardar Sarovar Dam can be seen from the view point inside the statue itself, we were bit in a hurry  to reach  the location by the time slot alloted  for us.... We stopped  for lunch at Rajpipla  & enjoyed the katiawadi  thalli  before continuing our journey  to kewadia.

We reached kewadia around 3pm & after parking our vehicle at the parking of SOU & then boarded the bus for SOU ....Now we had to walk almost 1 km distance thru' beautiful  landscape garden inside...It has been made comfortable  walkway with elevator lifts, and travelators fitted on the way upto the foot of the statue.

The cruise boat that takes people around on Sardar Sarovar Dam.

After reaching the base of the statue , we went around the museum displaying all information  related to the construction of the statue...Now its almost time to stand in queue  for the 2 high speed lift that takes people up to the viewing gallery inside the statue's body .....within seconds we were up on top of World's tallest statue..... it was very exciting  to see the Sardar Sarovar Dam view from there....After a short stay we thought to come down as we had to again walk 1km to the bus stop for the bus to visit the valley of flowers  that was in our package of Rs 350/- perhead... but we were unable to board the SOU buses from the stand as they were all overcrowded  ...then we hired the pink auto driven by ladies to Valley of flowers , but its our bad luck that we reached there around closing time, so just couldnot go around instead we thought to wait for the Glowing Garden visit which we had booked earlier ....Only as darkness set in  , The Glow Garden was illuminated...it was good but very small place ....just a few click of pics there we thought to push out to the SOU parking, where we left our vehicle ...The lazer show on Sardar Sarovar Dam was quite nice but we gave a skip to the Light & Sound Show at the SOU compound.... There r several other locations to visit at SOU like Cactus garden ,zoo , & few more sites but each place is separately priced for entry aswell camera's.....

        At Glow Garden at Statue of Unity.

Overall a good experience  at our first SOU visit...There r few hotels at Kewadia  but its very costly , so we thought to drive off another 1 hr & take a night break at Vadodhara  before we push off for Ahmedabad and Patan next morning. 

Our drive off to PATAN from MUMBAI.

       RANI KI VAV....

After the 2nd wave of Covid Pandemic in Dec'2021 we thought to go on a drive off to Patan in North Eastern part of Gujarat.  Since the distance we were expected to cover will be 1500+kms , thought to deroute our plan ie Mumbai to Kewadiya, which is 9hrs drive & check out the Statue of Unity there , before we make a stopover at Vadodhara for a night stay & next morning take on the drive to Patan via Ahmedabad & visit the SUN TEMPLE OF MODHERA & RANI KI VAV at Patan besides checking out the Patola Museum  there too & do some shopping too of Patola textile , before returning back for a night halt at Ahmedabad & then drive back to Mumbai ....This was the overall plan for the trip ....

      Patan is 125kms from Ahmedabad..We took the Vadodhara- Ahmedabad-Mehsana- Modhera-Patan route..... Vadodhara to Ahmedabad its a fantastic Expressway were one can enjoy the world class drive .....We started from Vadodhara after breakfast & reached Ahmedabad by 11am around & then our drive continued to MODHERA....we reached there around 2pm , since winter , though , sun was quite strong but there was chill in the air  but we were feeling hungry too but didnot come across any good restaurants on the way....Though , there were food stalls at the Sun temple site but I didnot like to eat bhujiya 's as its all oily stuff and settled for some fruits instead ..... 

As we walked up to the Sun temple located in a huge compound I was simply awestruck to see the awesome cravings on the walls & pillar ....the temple is made  of soft Sandstone but those cravings simply stands out & speaks about the artisans skills of by gone eras .... There is a stepwell too infront of the Sun temple .... marvelous  indeed ...we tried to captured every inch of its beauty in our lens.

        sun temple of modhera( gujarat)

 its truly amazing......

Next we left for RANI kI VAV  in PATAN .... it was somewhere around 4pm that we reach this UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.

      RANI KI VAV, built in the later half of the 11th century  by Queen Udayamati, in memory of her husband  King Bhimdev 1 of the solanki dynasty. Its made in maru gurjara  style  of architecture  including beautiful  detailing of sculptures. Its basically a Well .... it is divided into 7 levels of stairs & designed like an inverted temple.500 main sculptures  & 1000 minor  found there .The Central theme  of the sculptures  here is Dasavataras or the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu. It is featured on the new 100 rs note of India... 

   

its simply  should be in everyone's  itenary  who ever wish to visit Gujarat...

it was  almost 5pm by the time we finished seeing the Rani ki Vav & now it was time for us to drive back to Ahmedabad  for a night halt ....hungry & exausted we simply didnot wish to continue late there at Patan after our shopping of Patola there, we didnot go to visit other jain temples around at Patan.