The Hindu Temples of Tamil Nadu (Part 3 of 3)

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Trichy

Our Tamil Nadu temple blog moves on to Tiruchirapalli, or Trichy for short, which we used as a base to explore the region.  We stayed in a large generic hotel (the Breeze Residency), but the staff was so friendly (they really liked Talia) and the food so good (and so inexpensive) that the place deserves a special mention. We don't typically get room service, but here we just couldn't resist – for five nights in a row! A lavish dinner for the entire family (with plenty of leftovers to put in the small fridge) cost only $15-25, including a large Kingfisher beer, three kinds of Indian bread, and perfectly executed dishes like cauliflower with mint and ginger, coriander curry chicken, fiery chicken biryani, and mixed vegetable raita (and chicken nuggets, vegetable fried noodles, and grilled cheese sandwiches for the children).  

To work up an appetite, we visited three temple sites in Trichy. The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (pictured above and below) was the most impressive, both because of its really long name and its vast size. As our guidebook points out, it feels like a small city rather than a mere temple and that's precisely the point, as it was made to conjure up a sense of awe and reverence. We had a bit of fun with our guidebook's assertion that the temple “is going to knock your socks off.” Indeed, you have to take off your footwear before entering. To get to the temple's inner sanctum, you have to walk through seven different gopurams, the largest of which is about 240 feet high. The outer rings were buzzing with bicycles, tuk-tuks and commerce, while the inner rings were more focused on ritual and prayer. Apart from the usual trappings of a renowned Hindu temple (intricate stonework, colorful murals, a fascinating cast of characters, etc.), there's a place on the temple grounds where you can climb up to get an excellent rooftop view. We spent nearly three hours exploring all of the various halls, shrines, niches and open spaces, and thankfully when we finished our shoes and socks were right where we left them.

A few kilometers away, the smaller Sri Jambukeshwara Temple offers a more intimate and equally colorful experience and a name that's marginally easier to pronounce. The highlight was a Hindu ceremony where devoted worshipers with painted foreheads and special necklaces were chanting loudly in unison. 

 

Detail from gopuram

 

Finally, there's the Rock Fort Temple, perched on a rocky outcrop high over the chaos of the city. Over the centuries, the site has served both military and religious purposes. A staircase leads up from a small gopuram at street level to two temples, one about halfway up the hill and one at the summit. Non-Hindus are not allowed inside of either temple, but apparently that's not a very strict rule: We were allowed to go into one of the temples to retrieve our children, who had run ahead and had inadvertently entered. Thankfully, Non-Hindus are allowed to get a blessing from the house elephant, as Talia was eager to give him (or her?) a small coin to get a holy tap on the head (Jeremy declined). At the top, there are nice views of the city, especially of the neo-Gothic, Gallo-Catholic Our Lady of Lourdes Church. Back down at the bottom, there's a lively street scene, with some alluring sweet shops.

About to enter the Rock Fort Temple

On our way up to the top

Easy there big fellah!

View from the top of the hill

Temple roof with Our Lady of Lourdes Church in the background

Our Lady of Lourdes Church from street level

The bustling neighborhood around the Rock Fort Temple

Mmm, sweets!

Our final temple town was Madurai, one of the oldest cities in India and home to the Sri Meenakshi Amman, an enormous temple that is considered by many in southern India to be as important to India's architectural heritage as the Taj Mahal in the north. According to legend, the goddess Meenakshi was born with three breasts and with the prophecy that the extra breast would disappear when she met her husband. The prophecy was realized when she met Shiva and became his consort. The temple was built in the 16th century, and offers a staggering array of brightly colored artwork - from elaborately sculptured towers teeming with deities and demons, to beautifully decorated pillared hallways and courtyards, to an excellent little museum that Talia didn't want to leave. We were fortunate enough to visit on an auspicious day for weddings according to the lunar calendar: the main courtyard and connecting hallways were packed with wedding parties decked out in ceremonial garb and lined up for photo-ops. This was the most crowded and lively of the temples we visited and as soon as we exited the temple, we happened upon a musical procession that was all too happy to pose for a picture. Although everything else in Madurai pales in comparison to the pomp and glory of the Meenakshi Temple,we had a great lunch highlighted by a delectable coconut curry leek and potato and, like Trichy, there's a decaying royal palace and a large neo-Gothic church. 

Jeremy finds a quiet spot to read his kindle

View from the road, on the way to the Royal Palace

The Royal Palace

 

In Colombo, Sri Lanka, we talked at length with a man from Washington State who was very knowledgeable about Hinduism and has traveled many times in Tamil Nadu. He asked what temples we had visited and when I rattled off the list he said, “Wow, you guys did it all! Good karma!” Well, I don't know about that, but we had a lot of fun and we learned a little bit along the way.