On the way to a one night stay at Thanjavur, we look around one of the UNESCO protected temples dating back to the first century AD. Both this smaller one & the much bigger Brihadisvara Temple are very impressive relics of long bygone Indian dynasties, the highest being 80 meters tall. The former was full of intricate details but not so busy, the latter huge and full of all manner of people, many seemingly on some sort of pilgrimage or Hajj.
The following day we travel to Madurai, stopping off to visit the Rock-Fort temple at Trichy, some 417 steps high. Kath made it though! We arrived in Madurai in the early evening & a guided tour of the huge Meenakshi Temple, much of which was scaffolded for its once every 12 years cleaning & repainting. Dating from the first century, this is a three month job, apparently. And yes, it was raining today, off & on. Still in high 30’s.
Our second Madurai day sees us leaving at 7am to catch a tourist board bus to the village of Chatrapatti, where we enjoy a procession, including stilt walkers & bulls, to celebrate Pongal. Everywhere people have drawn mandalas with coloured rice powder outside their homes and businesses. This a festival celebrating the harvest of sugar cane, turmeric and rice. The women boiled rice in pots below a canopy of sugar cane and everyone made whooping noise when it boiled over, symbolising abundance and gratitude. Chris thinks that Pongal is actually rice pudding as that is what was dished out to all attendees. A rice pudding festival! The festival was completed with children of various ages dancing to mobile-phone-stored traditional Tamil music & some live drumming. Sweet.
Queues of people waited to be blessed at the temples and appeared with sandalpaste on their foreheads and turmeric on their heads. We also saw families with shaved turmeric’d heads – the hair as a temple offering and the turmeric to prevent infection of cuts! Apparently it’s like sheep shearing with hundreds of people bent down.
Night time was spent at the Gandhi museum – excellent – & the Madurai Government museum – awful. Then an extended walk around the stalls & shops surrounding the Meenakshi Temple – Kath loved this anyway. The stalls were overflowing with the requirements for Pongal including huge mounds of sandalpaste and bowls of vibrant colours.
After a long tuk-tuk drive home we is knackered.
Chris & Kath's Travel Time 