It has been exactly 15 years when I undertook this memorable trip with my Mother. Why it took me so long in putting up as a Blog is something even which I am not sure of. A lot of things happened after this trip. Marriage, Birth of my Daughter, Going to Gulf and so on. Also I msiplaced some of the pages and I haven't been able to tie up those ends of this weeklong trip which will remain etched in my memories due to not only the Temples but also the Railway journeys in the Metre Gauge sections.
So here goes
16 September 2010
Started
from Thrissur by Tirucchi Express at 11:45 pm on 15th September. Our
train was hauled by twin WDM2 Engines from Erode. Train reached Tirucchirapalli
Junction by 10:45 am. I had been reading a book titled ‘Chai Chai’ by Biswanath
Ghosh on travel to railway stations where we hardly get down but pass through.
He mentioned how most of the times he had to depend on Rickshaw drivers to find
him accommodations. I realized the reality in it when I also was forced to rely
on one Auto Rickshaw driver to take me to the nearest Lodge or Hotel at
Tirucchi. One thing in Tamil Nadu, even though Bus travel is cheaper than
Kerala or Maharashtra (These being the only states I have used this mode) but
Rickshaw charges are exorbitant. He charged heavily for an otherwise walkable
distance. But then was I not I under his mercy?
We anyhow
took accommodation in Sharada Lodge.
As the
delay in the train arrival at Tirucchi by 2 hours played spoilsport with my
plans of visiting three temples viz, Srirangam, Thiruvanaaikaaval & Ucchi
Pillayar, we decided to visit Samayapuram, which was comparatively far also and
might be having a good rush of devotees. (Samayapuram and Madurai Kali Amman
were in the evening plans at the start). When we set out for Samayapuram from
Central Bus Depot (The other bus stand is called Chathram Bus Depot). We
fortunately got a bus going directly to Samayapuram. The bus started at 11:30
am and reached near the temple in an hour’s time. The fare for this trip is Rs
6 per head. Samayapuram is the main deity of most of the people here in
Tirucchi, hence the temple is crowded all the time. The temple is open all day
for the convenience of the devotees. One needs to be extra careful of roadside
hawkers who literally make you buy those garlands and other archana items at a
huge cost. By 2:20 pm we were done with our lunch when we discussed about plans
somebody suggested that we go straight away to Srirangam where they allow
devotees after 3 pm even though Darshan is allowed after 4 pm only. Then after
having Darshan, we could visit Thiruvanaikaaval and Ucchi Pillayar also. We
reached Srirangam in an hour’s time and had Darshan very comfortably. Here an
inn called ‘Chhatram’ is available for Rs 150 per day.
We left for
Thiruvanikaaval by 5:40 p.m. and reached there in 15 minutes time. As it was getting
too late, we decided to skip ‘Ucchi pillayar’ as it was a hill temple and that turned
to be a good decision as if started raining heavily by the time we got into the
bus. We reached our lodge had dinner and slept for the day. While going to
srirangam I had spotted a steam engine model kept near Tiruchi railway station and
had decided to take snaps of it but wasn’t able to do so.
17/09/2010 Day
2
Early
morning by 5 am we got into the Bus bound for Thanjavur. The mood was wonderful
as the morning was made lively by M S Subbulakshmi’s suprabhatham. As we neared
Thanjavur, nature had started playing with colours as the Sky painted a
wonderful picture with some wonderful colours. In the meantime, I had enquired
with Saptarishi, my co-traveller in the Bus regarding how to reach the Lodge in
Thanjavur etc. He later showed us where to get down for Railway Station, nearby
which the Lodge was located. We had breakfast at the Lodge and started for
Brahadeeswarar Temple. This temple is at a walkable distance from the Railway
Station. We had started for the temple at 8 am and reached in 40 minutes time. The
temple walls are like the walls of a fortress. The main deity Lord Shiva is 13
feet in height. The statue of Nandi which faces him was earlier constructed of
7 feet height but later a new statue of 12 feet height was constructed. The
shadow of the temple never falls on the ground. This is due to the fact that
the ‘Vimanam’ is very large as compared to the ‘Gopuram’ unlike other Temples. Other
deity presiding here are ‘Varaahi’ Devi. We were fortunate enough to see the
various abhishekams being performed. The ‘Venni’ tree is also worshipped here. Thanjavur
Palace is approximately 2.5 kms from here. Besides the Tower which one can
climb till the one below the six storeys in all there is an Art gallery, Coin
collection at display. One can see whole of Thanjavur from the fifth storey.
Raja Serfoji’s sculpture is kept inside the Art Gallery. There is a small
Ganesha Temple inside the Palace.
The timings
for the Tanjore Palace:
Morning:9 a.m.
to 1 p.m.
Evening: 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m.
Counter is
stopped at 12:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
As
Brahadeeshwarar Temple and Thanjavur Palace were the only places we had planned
to visit in Thanjavur we decided to cover Ucchi Pillaiyar Kovil back in
Tirucchi. Accordingly, we got into Tirucchi Express at 3:10 p.m. and reached
Tirucchirapalli in fifty minutes. As soon as we got outside, I decided to get
photos taken of the replica of the steam engine kept just outside the Railway
Station.
We enquired
with the Transport staff who were having tea as to directions to the Bus stand
which would take us to Ucchi Pillaiyar. They told us that Buses going to Srirangam
would pass through Theppakulam [which was the stop for the temple]. One needs
to cross the main road and turn right and follow the straight road till
‘Sharadha Silks ‘after reaching the Temple just ahead among shops one can find
entrance to the temple of Lord Ganesha called ‘Manicka Vinayagar’ we had ‘Darshan’
there and made our way towards the ‘Thayumanaswamy shrine. The path to the left
leads to ‘Thayumanaswamy ‘shrine while the one on the right is ‘Ucchi Pillaiyar’
Temple. The rocks are estimated to be nearly 3800 million years old as per
experts. Although a book written by Ambujam Anantharaman titled ‘Temples of South
India’ mentions a mural of Parvathi which has a unique characteristic that if
one observes it from any angle, it seems the eyes of Parvathi are looking at
us, I found the mural to be of Shiva which had this characteristic. If there is
one more mural of Parvathi with the same characteristic I cannot say for sure. We
had Darshan and reached the top by around 6 pm. It had taken us both nearly an
hour. One can see the whole of Tirucchirapalli
from here. We got down very quickly. While passing along the streets we came
across a stall selling ‘Bhel Puri’, ‘Dahi Puri’ etc. I was missing Mumbai life especially
the food items. I could not resist myself from devouring a plate of Bhelpuri.
Although it cost a little too much at Eighteen Rupees a plate (In Mumbai I had
never eaten anywhere for more than twelve) but it tasted good. On enquiring
with the person who served the snacks I came to know that he was originally
from Madhya Pradesh. Hats off to these people coming from such far-off places,
overcoming the language problem and still doing good business is what one
should learn from them. We had ample time at our disposal as the passenger
train, which turned out to be a MEMU was scheduled to arrive at Tirucchi by
8:25 pm and it was only 7 pm. We decide to purchase some books in Tamil. We saw
a Book Store by the name ‘Palaniappan’Book Store and went inside it. This Book
Store seemed pretty old to me as most of the staff were very much old aged
persons. In fact, when I asked one of the them, he had to think for some time
before coming to the figure of 50 years. The staff were very courteous and
lastly thanked us before we left. However, I would say that it must have been
the other way around. We should be grateful to such persons for keeping
traditions alive. We purchased ‘Kaara Boondi’ which is a snack item very famous
here. We reached Tirucchi Railway Station, drank Hot milk and made ourselves
comfortable in adjacent seats of a coach in the ‘MEMU’ train. At some station
Mother befriended a Lady Traveller and started talking about other important
shrines in and around Tirucchi and Thanjavur. The lady mentioned about ‘Erumbueeshwaran’
Kovil which could also be sighted from the train and was at a walkable distance
from one of the stations on the route. By around 10 pm the Train reached Thanjavur
Railway Station. There was no further activity for that day we laid down to
sleep.
18/09/2010
Day 3
The next
day we vacated the Lodge by around 6:15 am and made our way to the Railway Station
so as to board the Rockfort Express at 6:40 am. As one makes way to the
Platform one can hardly miss the remains of the Metre Gauge sleepers. Even the platform looks so much Metre Gaugish
that one cannot help imagining how it would have been in those days. There is a
small ‘Ganesha’ temple under tree too making us feel nostalgic. I was lost in
thoughts when an announcement was made stating the arrival of Rock Fort Express
on the platform. The engine bearing the trademark Green and Cream coating that
I now had got used to brought along our train. There was no big rush and we
occupied seats comfortably for the forty-minute trip. We passed across
Papanasam Station (One of the Total 108 Shiva Temples is situated in Papanasam)
in thirty minutes time. After reaching Kumbakonam Railway Station we hired an
autorickshaw up to the Hotel and paid the advance there. This Hotel offered a
Television like view of two temples face to face. (These temples were
Saarangapani and Ramaswamy Temples). We refreshed ourselves had breakfast and
ventured out. As Kumbakonam is known as the ‘City of Temples’ and it is said
that even if you stumble and fall there would be a temple there. We did not
know which temple to look out for. We first went inside an open temple the
doors of which however were closed. The temple was a unique temple comprising
of the ‘Avtaars’ of the Lord but was desolated. We then made our way towards
another temple which we guessed from the tower must be a significant one and it
turned out to be ‘Ramaswamy’ Temple. Here the Lord is in ‘Marriage Ceremony’
also called as ‘Kalyana Rama’ The Priest showed us the faces of other deities
there by the somewhat bright light of the ‘Deepam’ as to be Lakshmana, Sita and
Anjaneya. We prayed to them and made our way towards ‘Kumbheshwar’ Temple. Once
or twice, we kept following the wrong Towers and finally reached ‘Kumbheshwar’ shrine.
We had to cover ‘Sarangapani’ and ‘Chakrapani’ before noon. This was necessary
so as to keep time in the evening for ‘Swami Malai’, ‘Oopliappan’ etc which
required some travel time and were in opposite directions. At ‘Sarangapani’ the
Lord Vishnu is in a unique posture. It was nearing 1 pm and we were very
fortunate to have Darshan at the last minute at Chakrapani. We returned back to
our Lodge. In the afternoon we overslept and left our lodgings at 5 pm only
instead of 4 pm that we had planned for. Anyhow we reached Ramaswamy Kovil
Street by 5:15 pm and boarded a ‘Mini Bus’ going to ‘Swami Malai’. A boy
informed us that there was a Bus (No 12 If I remember correctly) at 4 pm that
would have taken us directly near the temple. All the other Buses go near the
Bridge from where one has to walk to the temple. The boy was very forthcoming
and also gave directions to go to ‘Oopliappan’ temple. I was tempted to ask his
name and other details but didn’t do it. The bus finally arrived at 5:30 pm and
travelling along a wonderful narrow path took us to ‘Swami Malai’ in some
twenty minutes. There were minor halts when the cattle would stray into the
road otherwise the bus journey was without much delay. Mother became nostalgic
as she had been here when she was a child (Her eldest sister lived here along
with her Husband at an Inn which was near a small ‘Ganesha’ temple). We had
darshan of Lord Muruga in one of his abodes here in Tamil Nadu. The moon that
had started peeping out and the temple domes made me grab my camera for a quick
snap much to my mother’s dismay. My advice to amateur photographers like me is
to travel alone. We then ventured to look out for the entrance that would take
us near the ‘Ganesha’ temple. My mother’s memory was good and we did find the ‘Inn’
or at least the place where it must have stood. It seems that either the inn
was razed to give way to some other construction. The temple however was intact.
We prayed before the God and made our way towards a ‘Hotel’. The Hotel was less
crowded and most of the occupants were old aged. The snacks were delicious and
tasted well. It was a most perfect end to a wonderful day. After dinner we went
out looking for Transportation to our Lodgings. There are very few buses
passing through Swami Malai and going to Kumbakonam so after waiting for some
time we decided to hail an auto rickshaw to the Mini Bus Stand. No Sooner had
we got down from the auto rickshaw we found a bus heading to Kumbakonam. We got
into the bus and reached the Lodge safely.
19/09/2010
Day 4
The next
day morning we set out early as we had to cover a rather distant location,
Tranquebar (locally known as Tharangampaadi) of nearly 150 kms travel to and
fro. Also, we had been unable to include Oopliappan and Thiru Naageshwarar
Kovil in the day before trip. We reached Kumbakonam Bus Stand and then took a
bus to the Post Office stop (The Landmark for the Mamangam Tank). This tank assumes
an immense form during the annual festival called ‘Mamangam’. There is a temple
dedicated to Lord Shiva called ‘Kashi Vishwanath’ temple which we decided to
visit and it turned out to be a pleasant experience. There is a ‘Lingam’ kept
to the left side of the temple along the path for the ‘Pradakshina’ which grows
every year. While we were observing the Lingam two persons who were Father and
Daughter also came and had darshan of the unique ‘Lingam’. The daughter in
question was more or less forty years of age, was unmarried and was settled in
Singapore. We exchanged greetings and bade good bye. The temple compound has
been wonderfully maintained by planting a number of trees. There was also a
wooden chariot in a dilapidated condition stationed along the walls of the
temple. We returned back to the Bus stand at around 7:30 a.m. In half an hour’s
time we reached the ‘Oopilappan’ temple. According to the Legend The Lord
wanted to marry the daughter of his devotee, who remarked that his daughter was
not very well versed at cooking so how could the Lord consume the food prepared
by her in case she forgot to put salt in the food or if the amount was less. To
that the Lord said that he would not consume the Food prepared by his Daughter as
it is without salt and hence the name ‘Oopilappan’. Even the prasadam offerings
like ‘Puliyogarai’, ‘Murukku’ etc are prepared without salt and yet the taste
good. Accommodation facilities are available here as on September 19, 2010:
Double room per person : Rs
200
Dormitory: Rs 25
Contact
Number: ( 0435 ) 2463385
Website: www.oppliappan.com
The
‘Thirunaageshwarar’ temple is nearby. ‘Pal Abhishekam’ is famous offering or
practice here. We purchased two small pith work structures of ‘Lord Ganesha’.
Pith work are very common here. We did not wait for the ‘Pal Abhishekam’
however as we had to visit Tranquebar also. We also skipped ‘Prathyamkara Devi’
temple due to shortage of time. We returned back to Kumbakonam Bus stand. The
bus started from the stand at 10:30 a.m. and reached Mayiladuthurai nearly in
an hour’s time. The Bus was bound for Thiruvanamalai. We had to get down at
Mayiladuthurai from where we had to catch town bus which would take us to
Tranquebar. The town bus stand is a 10 minute walk from the Main Bus stand. We
got into the bus bound for Porayar, which would pass by Tranquebar. The
journey started ten minutes past 12 and ended at 1 p.m. We actually passed by the Fort and travelled
quite a distance furthermore. We had Lunch there and caught another Bus which
dropped us at Tranquebar. The fort is roughly 1 k.m. from the Bus stop. It was
around 2 p.m. when we started walking along the road leading to the Danish
Fort. The road is lined by Houses constructed maybe a century ago by the looks
of them, but still very well maintained. Just as we neared the Fort a Bus load
of tourists drove by and came to a halt near the entrance to the fort. This
development was very unpleasant to my ideas. I was of the opinion that there
would not be a single soul around the Fort and the adjoining beach, but I was
surprised to see a good sized crowd at the beach too besides the newly arrived
tourists. Although it is good for tourism I prefer solitude whenever I go so I
was in a foul mood.
A Board in
front of the Fort states ‘The original name of Tarangampadi a port city on the
Coromandel Coast was ‘Sadangapadi’ constructed by Naval Col. Ove Geddy in 1620
A.D. with the permission of Thanjavur King Rajendra Nayakkar.
Entry Fee
per person: Rs 50
Camera: Rs
30
Fort is
closed for an hour between 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The Fort
has two levels. First floor comprises of Godown, Prison as well as Rest area
for Soldiers. Upper Floor is for the Residence of Governor and Priest. I
skipped the visit inside and headed towards the beach and the ‘Nasilamani’
Temple. The beach is the only ozone rich beach and is un polluted. The temple
although being slowly consumed by the Sea is a wonderful work of art. Although
the Fort was full of the crowd that had arrived by the Bus, the temple however
was desolated except for one or two occupants. I took some snaps of the temple from
all possible angles I could explore. If one observes the layout of the Fort it
is wonderfully maintained. A number of violet coloured Vinca Flowers dotted the
surroundings of the Fort. We left the beach and started walking towards Bus
Stop when we spotted a Board mentioning ‘Tranquebar Maritime Museum’. There are
photos depicting victims of Tsunami in one room and the other room has photos
taken aftermath. Although it is a good effort I felt that it might be getting
low number of visitors. I purchased a Post Card depicting the Danish Fort and
the Book about Tranquebar. One can find more information on the place and
related History on the website named www.trankebar.net. If it weren’t for the long
distance we had to travel back to.
Page 27
Going to
the town would come at 1:15 pm. It was around 1:45 p.m. when we caught a Bus
bound for Madurai. We reached Madurai by 4 p.m. Here there are nearly 4 Bus
stands, Periyar Nilayam, Anna Nilayam. Madurai was the only place where we had
trouble finding accommodations. It was nearly 6 pm when we got accommodation.
The next
day morning we started for Alagar Kovil and the temple atop the hill called
‘Pazhamudirsolai’. We reached ‘Periyar Nilayam’ and from there caught a bus
going to Alagar Kovil (Mostly Buses numbered 44 go to Alagar Kovil). Our bus
started from Periyar Nilayam at 6:30 a.m. and reached near the entrance gate of
‘Alagar Kovil’ in Forty five minutes time. The walls of the temple compound
resemble walls of fortress. Just before we enter the Alagar Kovil there is a
temple dedicated to a Devi which opens only on Aadhi Poornima Day. The Alagar Kovil
was not open so we decided to visit ‘Pazhamudirsolai’ first and then have
darshan of Alagar Kovil. Bus fare to the top is Rs 10 per head. There are lots
of monkeys here. The buses or rather mini buses take you near the
‘Pazhamudirsolai’ temple. Further journey to the ‘Thirth kund’ and Devi temples
has to be done by foot. We had darshan of Lord Muruga and then started our trek
upwards. No monkey trouble us en route when we neared the ‘Thirth Kund’ the
people in queue behaved very indecently. Some had brought along large vessels
to collect the water while some bathed in the water as if they had never taken
bath. Sometimes I wonder that the monkeys are comparatively better in this kind
of behaviour. Anyway we then descended the steps and started towards the
Murugan temple again. We had darshan again and purchased ‘Prasadam’ in the form
of ‘Adai’ which is the speciality here and returned to the Bus stand. We
reached the base by 10:15 a.m. It took us another hour for us to have darshan
and explore the temple complex. In a little bit
Page 33
And drove
very cautiously all along. We reached Bodimetu, which should be the highest
peak here. Here we stopped for Tea and Lunch. I took two snaps, one each from
the Digital and traditional cameras that I had brought along. My traditional
camera’s roll ended with the snap from the top while the Digital Camera also
was full in capacity. Hence I had to satisfy myself with visions of my eyes.
Nevertheless it was a most satisfying end to our week long tour. We started
from Bodimetu, which is also on the Border of the two states at around 2 p.m.
or so. We passed across roads covered with mist even in the afternoon. We also
crossed two waterfalls for sure. One of them was near a milestone which
indicated Munnar was still 51 kms ahead was so serene that I have decided to
visit it for sure next time. It had a small temple nearby. We reached Munnar at
around 3:30 p.m. We then crossed the Bridge to find that NH-49 did bypass
Munnar after all. What I couldn’t make out was that how Bodinayakkanur stay
away from NH-49. We then got into a Bus bound for Ernakulam which passed through
Perumbavoor and Aluva. Although initially we had thought of getting down at
Aluva we decided that Perumbavoor was a better and safer option. We reached
Perumbavoor Market stop and took an auto to the Bus Stand from where we got a
bus bound for Thrissur. We reached home by around 10 p.m. It was a most
satisfying and enjoyable week long trip that I had ever undertaken till now.
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