the only good time to visit brihadeeswara temple in thanjavur during this time of the year is at 8am. sooner, if possible. we showed up at the place before breakfast, and the timing was barely right.
sun was still lateral, so you could take some good looking pictures. more than that, the temple premises were still walkable. the stone-paved courtyard gets so hot you can barely put your foot on.
the temple itself is magnificent. the temple compound consists of a large ‘nandi’ and satellite temples of vinayaka, murugan, parvathi surrounding one massive gopuram housing a 25-foot shiva lingam. walking around the temple compound, you are left in awe of the vision of the kings and artists that made this thing happen. 1000 years ago. unbelievable.
we then had a large breakfast back at the hotel and caught up on the sleep. then went to the fort complex that houses some of the rarest manuscripts and artifacts collected by king sherfoji from the 17th century. very rare indeed – only thing is that they are placed in a very mundane place, where they probably don’t even have good electricity supply to keep them in good shape for years to come.
a general tour of the fort reveals a fantastic collection of statues from 10th to 17th century. most of the bronze and stone statues are simply fantastic. we were slightly disappointed to see no mention whatsoever of thyagaraya anywhere in thanjavur.
for that, we went 10 km outside town to Thiruvaiyaru. but very disappointed to see a shack of a place purporting to be the monument to the great poet — on the banks of a dry river bed. utter disregard to the original poet that is in the everyday lives of millions.
returning from the pitiful place, we headed for the 3-hr drive towards thiruchirapalli (locals tall it trichy). we drove stright to srirangam, a few km outside trichy. it’s another magnificent and very elaborate temple complex with 6 concentric boundary walls and one big temple housing sriranganatha – he’s the god that rama worships. his unique sleeping pose is very similar to the sarangapani in kumbakonam.
it only took 2 hrs and 1 gallon of sweat to score a up-close-and-personal darshanam with the god, all with the help of a great guide for Rs.200. by the time we got out it was 7pm, we bolted back to madurai, reaching by 11pm. the drive is longer than it seems.