Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2008-06-30 22:33:00 |
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Thanjavur
Last weekend, we had a visit to a few places of Tamil Nadu. We decided to stay at Thanjavur and then visit the surrounding places from there, and hence booked a room at Sangam Hotel at Thanjavur. We started from Bangalore on Friday evening by a KSRTC bus headed for Kumbakonam, which reached Thanjavur at 6:30AM on Saturday (which was an hour later than the scheduled time of arrival). The bus stopped at the "New Bus Stand", which was more than 2 kilometers from the city center. We took an auto-rickshaw to the hotel and checked into our room.
We got out at 8:30 and walked to the Brihadeshwara Temple. It was a twenty minute walk from the hotel. The townspeople were all very helpful, and hence it was easy to locate our way. We spent two hours at the magnificent 10th century Chola temple. I bought a small book written by Dr Kudavayil Balasubramanian from a shop nearby, which gives good information about the history and architecture of the temple.
From the temple, we walked to the Royal Palace, which is around a kilometer from there. The important things to see at the palace include the Sarasvati Mahal Library where several ancient manuscripts are exhibited, the tall bell tower, and the colorful durbar hall of the Maratha kings (though it is mostly covered by pigeon droppings as of today) who used to rule Thanjavur from the palace. There is also a huge tower near the art gallery, but we couldn't enter the art gallery as it was closed for lunch-break at 1, and would open only after 3. Sarasvati Mahal library also sells books, but the only English book I could find was Manora - Maritime History and Architecture by Dr M Rajaram and Dr Raju Poundurai, which I bought.
We decided to have lunch at Saravana Bhavan restaurant, and tried to locate it using the city-map from Lonely Planet guide-book. But there didn't seem to be any signs of Saravana Bhavan at the place where we thought it was located. We asked a few people, but they gave contradicting directions. Finally, we gave up, and took an auto-rickshaw to our hotel. After having lunch from there, we took rest for two hours, and then went to Brihadeshwara Temple again, this time by bus (a kind elderly lady - she was a Malayalee - helped us to catch the right bus). Unlike in the morning, the temple was a bit crowded. We got the darshana of the massive Shiva Linga installed inside the sanctum (it is 13 feet tall). It was an overwhelming experience - thinking that more than a thousand years back Raja Raja, the great Chola ruler, also might have stood at exactly the same place near the sanctum to have the Lord's darshana. The colorful characters and incidents from Kalki's classic, Ponniyin Selvan flashed through my mind.
Last weekend, we had a visit to a few places of Tamil Nadu. We decided to stay at Thanjavur and then visit the surrounding places from there, and hence booked a room at Sangam Hotel at Thanjavur. We started from Bangalore on Friday evening by a KSRTC bus headed for Kumbakonam, which reached Thanjavur at 6:30AM on Saturday (which was an hour later than the scheduled time of arrival). The bus stopped at the "New Bus Stand", which was more than 2 kilometers from the city center. We took an auto-rickshaw to the hotel and checked into our room.
We got out at 8:30 and walked to the Brihadeshwara Temple. It was a twenty minute walk from the hotel. The townspeople were all very helpful, and hence it was easy to locate our way. We spent two hours at the magnificent 10th century Chola temple. I bought a small book written by Dr Kudavayil Balasubramanian from a shop nearby, which gives good information about the history and architecture of the temple.
Brihadeshwara Temple, Thanjavur
Mysterious figure of a man wearing a hat - appearing on the tower of Brihadeshwara Temple
From the temple, we walked to the Royal Palace, which is around a kilometer from there. The important things to see at the palace include the Sarasvati Mahal Library where several ancient manuscripts are exhibited, the tall bell tower, and the colorful durbar hall of the Maratha kings (though it is mostly covered by pigeon droppings as of today) who used to rule Thanjavur from the palace. There is also a huge tower near the art gallery, but we couldn't enter the art gallery as it was closed for lunch-break at 1, and would open only after 3. Sarasvati Mahal library also sells books, but the only English book I could find was Manora - Maritime History and Architecture by Dr M Rajaram and Dr Raju Poundurai, which I bought.
Paintings on the walls of Maratha Durbar Hall at Thanjavur Palace
We decided to have lunch at Saravana Bhavan restaurant, and tried to locate it using the city-map from Lonely Planet guide-book. But there didn't seem to be any signs of Saravana Bhavan at the place where we thought it was located. We asked a few people, but they gave contradicting directions. Finally, we gave up, and took an auto-rickshaw to our hotel. After having lunch from there, we took rest for two hours, and then went to Brihadeshwara Temple again, this time by bus (a kind elderly lady - she was a Malayalee - helped us to catch the right bus). Unlike in the morning, the temple was a bit crowded. We got the darshana of the massive Shiva Linga installed inside the sanctum (it is 13 feet tall). It was an overwhelming experience - thinking that more than a thousand years back Raja Raja, the great Chola ruler, also might have stood at exactly the same place near the sanctum to have the Lord's darshana. The colorful characters and incidents from Kalki's classic, Ponniyin Selvan flashed through my mind.
