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...