Dakshinayana Part Two – Bangalore to Bhopal

Bangalore to Bhopal 

In that Christmas morning, I woke up early. May be it’s a universal thing, I don’t know; whenever I have to go for a long journey I used to wake up well before the time. Train was after 12 noon, so there was enough time. On that Christmas day, there were not much people on the streets. May be all went to their home to celebrate the occasion. Finally I got in a BMTC bus heading towards majestic bus stand. I had to reach St. Jones cross to find some traces of celebrations, a good number of happy faces were coming out from the gates of nearby church. Leaving them there, I continued my journey. Finally I reached Majestic, from there to Yeshwantpur in another bus. Train was already there, I just had to get in. Outside, under pipe, one guy was taking bath – looks like he already lost somewhere in the continuous flow of water coming from railway lines.

Slowly train started moving forward. Background scenery of Bangalore city gave her way to green agricultural lands. There were a long stretch of agro lands, unused lands exposing her bare chests where only shrubs were growing, a group of coconut trees in small plots, plants growing in black soil etc. Train was moving frustratingly slow, as if a girl moving to see her future husband with a tea cup in hand. Train really lived up to her name (Sampark Kranti) - stopping here and there either waiting for signal or giving way to another train. When rest of the world are creating new records in High Speed Rail, can’t we avoid these glitches atleast in long distance trains?

Bangalore to Bhopal 

Inside it was interesting; co-traveller’s in my compartment very friendly and active. There were two students and one mid-aged couple from Delhi, one guy from UP, two seats were empty as their seats were promoted to upper class, one was vacant and the remaining one was occupied by me.

Sitting on a comfortable side seat, I used my time to watch outside sceneries. The guy from UP was also silent, main arguments were among students from Delhi and the mid- aged couple. Topic was Arranged marriage Vs Love marriage. It went on in expected lines, mid-aged couple argued about the advantages of arranged marriage and young girls argued for love marriage. As often happens, it didn’t reach anywhere; both groups looked more convinced about the strength of their arguments with the passage of every minute.
In between, discussion moved towards – the brutal rape and subsequent murder of 23 year old student in Delhi. There were no two opinions about the gang rape, everybody condemned it.

Many stations came and went, there were few people living anywhere close to tacks, except in the vicinity of big stations. After sometime it became a pattern, in between stations there would be a vast expense of land devoid of any dwellings. What more, in some places, where we could see people working on the land, were deprived of any visible transportation channels – as far as I can see from the train there were no highways, hotels, wells, rivers etc.

Inside arguments about love Vs arrange marriage were still on, there were no shortage of examples. If they continue the debate for some more time, their examples would definitely exceed the total number of marriages I attended till now.

Bangalore to Bhopal 

From Davenagere one more person joined to our compartment. Born and brought up in Orissa, studied in Punjab and currently working in Karnataka – he formed a triangle of activity with legs on East, Central and North India. He came with some new energy, slowly our conversation moved towards the main tourist destinations in India. He started with Bhubaneswar, Bhtarkanika, Puri, Kalahandi etc and traditions prevalent there. Rest joined with their memories from other states.

Marriages

When we talk about customs how can we forget about marriages? The main focus was on marriages from Punjab, UP, Haryana and Delhi. As a person, who neither travelled in these states nor attended any of their marriages, I became a good listener. Topic was interesting, couple joined the discussion by describing Jat's marriages, guy from Orissa dropped his serious look and told us about Punjabi marriages. Suddenly someone asked the silent guy from UP – ‘Are you married?’ He was so shy to say yes or no. Once he told yes, there were a lot of questions waiting for him. Another one suddenly interrupted the discussion and told us that, there were places in UP where people will fire their gun in the air during marriage celebrations. Suddenly one person from the left interrupted and asked, ‘what will happen if some drunkard got the gun?’ Answer was simple, he will also (at least try to) shoot towards air (if missed you have to call an ambulance). By the way I don’t have any independent way to confirm this habit of firing gun in the air. I still have serious doubts on that.

Next in line was Punjabi marriages and dance. All of them had a special respect towards Punjabis; this was mainly because of their martial traditions. By this time our side of earth completely turned her face away from sun. Tired of day long conversation, everybody was preparing for sleeping. Suddenly our Orissa guy started talking about all the movies he saw in theatre. How he was so eager to watch movies in his childhood days and lost interest now. Another 20 minutes went in that way. By the way, considering the information he gave to us, I doubt whether he lost any interest at all. Finally it was the time to sleep.

Night was colder than I expect. On addition to that, someone opened the door and left it in that state with scant regards for the people sleeping in the compartment close to the door. I had to wake up for closing the door in mid night. Again in the early morning, kids from other compartment again opened the door. They came for brushing the teeth, good habit. The problem was what they did next. I don’t know what forced them to do those activities on an early morning. They were standing on the door steps, holding cold metal bar of train with bare hand, and moving rest of the body outside. It may look good in a romantic movie, but dangerous when you can’t see what lies and cold metal bar slowly freeze the skin.

Next Day

Bangalore to Bhopal 

What I don’t know about the path of our train was, in the morning it will reach Pune station. So the skyline of Pune in the morning along with the sound of new passengers surprised me. Time was around 7.30am, already a big queue formed in front of the wash basin. A group of students along with their teacher came in. They were from Jammu & Kashmir. Three people (two moved out later) settled in to our compartment; remaining people moved to another compartment. They were going back to home after participating in some sporting events. The one who still sitting in along with us holds black belt on Karate.

Train continued her journey towards national capital. Lot of stations are on the way - Daud, Manmad etc. Sampark Kranthi made a long sampark at Saroda – waiting for another train to pass. I got down here and walked through the open platform for some time. A group of ladies, wearing traditional dress, were sitting in one corner. Railway station building looks more like a jail.

Antakshari

How you will spend time, when there are a good number of people sitting together in a room but little option to go out? One good idea is to play Antakshari. I think almost all knows about antakshari, for those who don’t know, in anthakshari there will be teams; one team has to start by singing a song (generally a movie song). Next team has to sing a song whose first letter will be last letter of the song sung by previous team.
Here I have little choice other than listening. This problem you will face when fast forwarding the songs while watching movies. But I had some company here; at least three others simply listened. Gents formed the first team and ladies the next one.

They really surprised me, middle age couple and one student from Delhi sang a lot of songs. Many of them I never heard and probably will never hear again. It was healthy competition, from gent’s team one guy really fought hard only to attain martyrdom in the end. They lost the competition by 5-0 or 5-1. Unfortunately, after spending some good hours on songs and bollywood gossips they again went back to the debate of arranged Vs love marriage!!!

Train was close to Berapur station; outside up in the air one kite was kissing the sky. Against the blue background it looked like a smile.

In many areas, there was little running water. Most riverbeds were dry, if Railway bridges were not there I may possibly mistook it for roads. Puntaba, Kopargaon (For going to Shirdi you can get down here), Yevla... Yevla station looked like an old heritage site recently reconstructed by ASI.

After moving some more kilometres we could see a big chain of shaved hills on one side. Here also, In the middle of nothing, we stopped again for some time. From that distance, I could see a number of caves like structures close to the top of one hill. If I am not wrong these hills are part of Satpuda/Chandwad range. If it’s correct then, these structures may be part of ancient caves of Saint Agastya or part of Ankai or Tankai forts.

Later we reached Manmad Junction. This city houses the largest grain storage warehouse (administrated by Food Corporation of India (FCI)) in Asia. Home to Central Railway Engineering Workshop, this city is one of the largest markets for onion producing farmers.

More people came in, among them an old lady sat opposite to me. She was curiously watching heated debate on arranged Vs love marriage. In fact she was watching the girl, her arguments about how husband should behave, how parents should accommodate wishes of their child, how arranged marriages ends in failure, how love marriages ends in success etc. After sometime she turned her head towards me, I smiled, she too smiled. What she may be thinking at that moment? About her daughter? About her daughter’s marriage? About her life? I don’t know. Later she asked me to a save a contact on her phone, which I happily did. After spending some more time she got down at Bhusawal.

Bhusaval

Located on the banks of Tapi river, Bhusaval taluka is coming Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. Famous for banana cultivation, this city has one of the largest railway yards in Indian subcontinent. The famous Ajanta cave temples are located some 60 kilometres from Bhusaval. Tired of sitting for a long time, I moved towards the door.

A lot of people were standing there, it was here I talk with our co-passenger from UP. In fact he was not shy; it was that particular topic which made him speechless earlier. When he came to know that I am from Kerala, he talk about his experience in travelling through Kerala – fortunately he didn’t had any bad experience. He is working in book publishing industry, so book festival used to take him to different cities. It was he, who told me about bananas and Bhusaval.

TTE (aka Travelling Ticket Examiner)

In every rail story TTEs are an important factor. In short they are the uncrowned monarchs in a running train. I am yet to see any TTE going to check the people travelling in general compartment, however sometimes, they would stand on the entry gate for platform and check all the people coming out of a train. Because of this, whenever I get down at Palakkad Railway station, I used to keep the ticket in hand. Last time in Bangalore city station, some of my friends were waiting for a other friends who were coming in another train. That train was late; because of this their platform ticket became invalid. But these excuses didn’t save them from paying the fine.

But here, what they were doing was, just verifying whether people who reserved the tickets are actually travelling or not. So what about people who are standing? No, they don’t bother to ask ticket from them. Only in one instance, I saw a TTE asking for ticket from a person standing on sleeper class. He showed some ticket – but there were some problem with that ticket. Later both of them left. I don’t know what happed after that.

Unnecessary moves

Slowly it became evening; one girl walked towards the door - may be to get some fresh air or to see outside sceneries. After some time, we could hear some arguments coming from there. Many walked towards the door, to see what happened. Two guys were standing next to her, according to them they had to get down at next station and she was standing on the way. So they asked her to move to a side. She angrily turned towards him and asked ‘how you asked? Is that a way for asking?’ In fact, they pushed her to one side, it may be accidental or intentional but people should refrain from these types of activities.

You can see this problem in many places like extra ordinary rush in school or college time, intentionally creating crowded scenarios in front of notice boards, buses etc. Girls are not the only victims; in many cases young, old aged people use this scenario to touch the private parts of younger boys. If you believe that, in Volvo buses and AC class you are safe; then let me tell you – it’s simply a belief not based on any facts; results of later surveys indicates the same.

After dinner, I tried to sleep. Our train would reach Bhopal one hour before midnight. So it was better for to have some sleep. Close to 10.30 I woke up, there was a guy wearing pant, shirt and overcoat and sitting close to the door. He was also chewing something. When he came to know that, my journey will end in next station he sat opposite to me and started the conversation.

Well, have an hour more to go. He started cursing the winter season – how bad it is, how it is not allowing him to work etc. After some time, I asked him, where he is going? He just replied – ‘Chalte chalet pata chal jayega!!!

Bhopal

Train stopped again, some kilometres before reaching Bhopal. After waiting there for some more time finally our train touched the soil of Bhopal. After roaming around the station for some more time, I finally went to the waiting room for spending rest of the night.

Sajeev.

Bangalore to Bhopal 

Bangalore to Bhopal 

Bangalore to Bhopal 

Bangalore to Bhopal 

Bangalore to Bhopal 

For reading rest of the articles please visit,

Dakshinayana Part One – An Introduction
Dakshinayana Part Two – Bangalore to Bhopal
Dakshinayana Part Three – Sanchi
Dakshinayana Part Four – Bhopal: The city of lakes
Dakshinayana Part Five: Ujjain – The Holy City, hearing the sounds of forefathers
Dakshinayana Part Six: Indore – Trade hub of Central India
Dakshinayana Part Seven – Jabalpur: Kalchuris, Gonds and Narmada
Dakshinayana Part Eight – Kanha National Park and Mandla
Dakshinayana Part Nine – Chhattisgarh and Raipur
Dakshinayana Part Ten: Nagpur – The Orange City
Dakshinayana Part Eleven – Sevagram: Walking with Gandhi
Dakshinayana Part Twelve – Aurangabad: The City of Gates
Dakshinayana Part Thirteen – Ellora Memories
Dakshinayana Part Fourteen – U shaped Ajanta
Dakshinayana Part Fifteen – Pune: The Maratha heartland

Dakshinayana Part One – An Introduction

The idea of Dakshinayana initially came to my mind, when I read about Dakshinapatha – the illustrious southern trade route connecting ancient city of Magadha to Pratishthana (now known as Paithan, Aurangabad district, Maharashtra). The precise location and meaning of Dakshinapatha is yet to resolve among experts. Whatever it may be, one end of the path was undoubtedly south of Vindhya mountain ranges.

The question abruptly popped up in my mind was, why don’t go for a general exploration covering major Central Indian areas?

After drawing and redrawing on and off over a dozen months, I finally created a plan. According to it, I had to start from Bangalore on December 25 (2012) and cover Bhopal, Ujjain, Indore, Jabalpur, Mandla, Kanha National Park (Madya Pradesh), Raipur (Chattisgarh), Nagpur, Varda - Sevagram, Aurangabad, Ellora, Ajanta and Pune (Maharashtra) and reach Bangalore back on 6th of January (2013). Whole length of expedition was more than 5300kms, through the heartland of India using train, bus, auto, jeep and my own legs.

Well there were several objectives. First and foremost was to understand life and culture in these areas. To experience the atmosphere, language, food, people, nature etc.

Sajeev.

For reading rest of the articles please visit,

Dakshinayana Part One – An Introduction
Dakshinayana Part Two – Bangalore to Bhopal
Dakshinayana Part Three – Sanchi
Dakshinayana Part Four – Bhopal: The city of lakes
Dakshinayana Part Five: Ujjain – The Holy City, hearing the sounds of forefathers
Dakshinayana Part Six: Indore – Trade hub of Central India
Dakshinayana Part Seven – Jabalpur: Kalchuris, Gonds and Narmada
Dakshinayana Part Eight – Kanha National Park and Mandla
Dakshinayana Part Nine – Chhattisgarh and Raipur
Dakshinayana Part Ten: Nagpur – The Orange City
Dakshinayana Part Eleven – Sevagram: Walking with Gandhi
Dakshinayana Part Twelve – Aurangabad: The City of Gates
Dakshinayana Part Thirteen – Ellora Memories
Dakshinayana Part Fourteen – U shaped Ajanta
Dakshinayana Part Fifteen – Pune: The Maratha heartland

Rioting over a ‘Storm in Teacup’ left five people dead in Dhule, Maharashtra

In these days, riots become an art form. When people don’t have anything else to do, set off for a rioting; when they fell frustrated, go and tear down others properties; when they can't find sound arguments, smack others with sticks; when others are not agreeing with their judgment, force them to do so; when they are not feeling elevated in front of others in their wildest imagination, crush others.

Researchers say mob have different dynamics, emotions appeal to them more than reasoning. Now-a-days this is same with individuals as well; people are living in the wildest end of their imaginations and seldom come to the world of reasoning.

Dhule, a city located just 350 km north east of our financial capital - Mumbai - witnessed a riot which killed five people and injured over 200. Weird thing in this entire episode was the reason for riots – it was not about police brutality; not about one group killing associates from another group; not about one political party attacking another, but about paying a bill in a restaurant!!! Ok, I can agree that, paying a bill in a restaurant may lead to arguments, but how come whole city joined sides and smash each other over this issue?

According to Police, violence was fuelled by religious tensions. I wonder whether India’s religious framework is a soap bubble which anyone can break by some words. If this is the state of affairs, then paying electricity bill, phone bill, taxes, donations, buying vegetables from street vendors, buying rice or wheat, paying hospital bills, what more even walking through roads can lead to riots!!!

Conclusion

The main concern here is people are unable to confine their religious convictions to themselves or four walls of their home. They often failed to reason and getting stimulated by superfluous arguments which won’t lead anybody anywhere. In these circumstances, if state is appearing weak then it will make the situation out of control.

The need of time is an uncompromising state apparatus in the events of rioting, coupled with a mandatory financial recovery system from people engaged in destroying public/private property. We can talk about creating awareness, but in front of a bull running towards us awareness seldom works. Creating awareness should be tightly coupled with stern actions.

Sajeev

References

1. ‘In Maharashtra, Fight Over Restaurant Bill Erupts into Riot’ - New York Times
2. 'Police trained their guns on us, say Dhule victims' - The Hindu

Destination Chennai: Part Two – Vandalur Zoo, Egmore Museum, Crocodile Park and more

Central Bus Stand - Chennai

From Kanchipuram, I reached Chennai’s Koyambedu Central Bus Stand in the afternoon. Next destination was Vandalur Zoo (aka ‘Arignar Anna Zoological Park’). However, there was not enough time. One of my friends already informed that, zoo requires atleast one day. Whatever it may be, I decided to stick to the schedule. The moment I reached on MTC side of Koyambedu stand, I got a direct bus to Vandalur.

Vandalur Zoo

It was a lengthy journey. I tried to stay awake, but slipping in to sleep was more appealing. We crossed ‘Officers Training Academy’ (OTA), ‘Chennai International Airport’ (CIA), ‘National Institute of Siddha’ etc and reached Tambaram bus stand. After spending some time here, my MTC bus resumed the journey to Vandalur Zoo.

One of the most sought after program here was Lion Safari. Unfortunately, I was late for that; hence after buying tickets, I went to see the animals

Chennai Streets

Nilgiri Langoor was there on one side, in another block Chimpanzee was chewing something, and sea eagle was on the nearby cages. After walking for some more time, I met a group of Gaur – one of them, wearing an expressionless face, was looking towards a remote corner of the zoo.
In between the under growth, far away from the eyes of visitors, a tiger was taking rest but his majestic head was still above the shrubs. Next to that, in a block specified for lions, four of them were on a deep family discussion – tea time chat.

A lot of couples enjoying their private moments, sharing jokes and concerns about future were sitting on a remote corner - free of animals and birds. Leaving them behind, I moved ahead to see the white tiger. Lot of people were making noises for this prince to come out. But no... he prefers the place behind that shade over two legged animals.

LIC Building - One of the old big building in the city

From the next junction I took a diversion to see Jackal and bear. There was an artificial cage like room in one end of Jackal’s block. One Jackal was inside and the other one was standing outside. The interesting thing was, after some 7-10 seconds, Jackal which was standing inside the cave would come out and the one standing outside would go in. After next 7-10 seconds the one currently inside would come out and the other one would go in. This process continued for a long time.

After seeing the bear, I walked towards water birds location. Sun’s bright golden rays were slowly but steadily getting replaced by cool dark waves of night. Water bird’s location used to be, one of my favourite locations in any national park.

I hate to see them in those small cages, whose inner area won’t justify the enthusiasm displayed by these creatures. Still, just to see them standing in single legs, searching for food in waters, taking a round around the cage, for hearing the fluttering sound of their wings, their lengthy lips, small eyes, soft feathers, I used to spend a lot of time around them. In any day, Eastern grey horn, Grey Pelican, White/Rosy Pelican, Painted stork etc will add some happiness to viewer’s life.

As darkness was getting thicker, I started walking fast towards the exit and from there to Koyambedu central bus stand.

Egmore Museum (Friday Holiday)

Egmore Museum

I kept the program to visit Egmore museum for the last day. In the early morning, my cousin’s husband dropped me close to the museum. This big museum, also known as Chennai museum, spread over an area of 16.25 acres. Located in the heart of Chennai (Pantheon Road), Egmore museum has six independent buildings and 46 galleries. From the counter I bought the tickets and gave bag at the clock room close to the entrance gate.

Main building houses galleries like South Indian Sculptures Gallery, North Indian Sculptures Gallery, Indus Valley Civilisation Gallery, Memorial Stones and Hero Stones Gallery, Hindu Sculptures Gallery etc. Here you can see the sculptures of Dwarapalaka, Parvati, Dakshinamurthi, Surya etc. On a nearby garden a piece of wooden fossil was on display.

Geology section has two galleries. Here everyone sealed their lips and remained silent, except the noisy old fan. Zoology section has nine galleries. The main attractions are Reptiles, Birds, Mammals, Coral, frogs, Invertebrates etc. Botany gallery is located close to it.

National Arts Gallery building

Children's museum was very close. In the modern building of Bronze gallery, objects were illuminated by small pointed lamps. Big statue of Nataraja (Dancing Shiva) stands at a corner in the ground floor. A group of foreigners standing in front of Nataraja statue with their guide (who was again a foreigner) were curiously picking up each words coming from the mouth of their guide about Shiva and Tandava dance. This building also houses old coin gallery.

One of my main intentions, in visiting Egmore museum was to see the paintings of Raja Ravivarma. Unfortunately, National Art Gallery building was closed for maintenance on that day. However, Contemporary Art Gallery standing close to that was open. After taking a quick look on 'Exposition on the progress of Industries and Handicrafts of Tamil Nadu' located on ground floor, I went to the first floor. Here, life size paintings of British officers will welcome you. A couple of feats away, we can see beautiful paintings from Tanjavur, Rajput, Mughal schools.

Magnificent paintings by Raja Ravi Varma were hanging on one side. First one on the row was,

‘Lady with Mirrors’ – in this painting a beautiful young lady in red saree is holding a mirror in one hand, and combing her long hair using a comb with the other hand. She is standing at the corner of a bedroom, facing long windows.

‘Retired Sepoy’ - This painting shows the sitting image of a retired sepoy. What the lines in his face have to say?

‘The Miser’ – A miser with a long greyish white beard, wearing a red overcoat, is sitting on a chair. His both hands are set in table in front of him, holding a white bag - probably filled with money. He wears a headgear as well.

‘Going out’ – A lady wearing new dresses, with an umbrella on left hand is on her way out (probably to market). Her other hand is on the door knob.

Apart from Raja Ravi Varma, paintings of many others were also on display. Second floor of the same building hosts Holographic Gallery – Objects which appear like real but are illusions only. In a single word – Maya.

After taking the bag from clock room, I left the museum around 1.30 in the afternoon.


Madras Crocodile Bank and Snake Venom extraction centre

Next to museum, there is a Government Maternity hospital. From here, I took a bus to Paris (This Paris is a place in Chennai!!!) bus stand. From Paris I got another bus to Kovalam (Not the famous Kovalam beach in Thiruvananthapuram, but a village close to Mamallapuram in East Coast Road).

The idea was to see ‘The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology’, located on ECR. This is one of the large reptile zoos in Asia. ‘Irula tribal snake venom extraction cooperative’ is also operating close to it.

Running parallel to Bay of Bengal, ECR (East Coast Road) is one of the good roads to travel in southern area of India’s eastern coast line. Escaping from the crowded city and giving shake-hand to Bay of Bengal, I finally reached the place; only to hear that ‘Monday’ is a holiday.

This park was not part of my original plan, added to it on the last moment. So, I didn’t find much time to explore about this place and find out holidays. Interestingly, I was not the only person came there on that day. One family, coming from Mysore, was already in the gates to see the centre; however they didn’t allow them to go inside. Sadly, with a heavy heart, I had to catch the return bus. If I could stay in Chennai for one more day, I would have went there once more!!!

Sajeev.

Horn Bill

Water Birds

Wooden Fossil

Kanchipuram - The temple city

Chennai - Kanchipuram Road

First on my travel list for second day was ‘Kanchipuram’, located 72 km away from Chennai. On Sunday morning, after having a good breakfast from cousin’s home, I started packing for this old capital of Pallavas. Cousin’s husband dropped me at Madhuravoyal bus stop around nine. It didn’t take much time, long metal frame powered by black smoke spitting metal engine slowly approached and stopped in the front (47 INR for a ticket to Kanchipuram).

You can seldom see any residential areas on the sides of this four lane highway, but a lot of medical and engineering and colleges are there – kids of over commercialisation of education. Apart from educational institutions other entities which share the same appetite for land in this road side are manufacturing companies like TVS Auto, L & T, Nokia India, St Gobain, Asian Paints, and L &T ECC Division etc.

After taking a slight diversion from the main road, our bus reached Sriperumbdur stand around 10 am. We joined the main road again, just in front of Rajiv Gandhi memorial. It was here, on the tragic day of 21st May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE cadre while campaigning for Loksabha elections.

Kanchipuram Bus Stand

We travelled some more time, took a left turn to the calm and quite road going towards Kanchipuram. Before going further, let’s take a look at Kanchipuram‘s history.

History of Kanchipuram

Kanchipuram’s fame rose along with the rise of Pallavas in 6th century. It was during the reign of famous Pallava king Mahendravarman I, Chalukya's - under the command of Pulakesin II - attacked the city. Even though Chalukyan army reached as deep as Kaveri River, Kanchipuram successfully withstood the attack.

First invasion was followed by second one; this time Pallavas under Narasimhavarman I (son of Mahendravarman I) forced Chalukya's to retreat to their capital at Badami. Later, Badami was besieged, in the battle of Vatapi Pulakesin II was killed on the battle field. It is to be remembered that, it was the same Pulakesin II who defeated Harsha Vardhana of Kanauj (Lord of the North) in the famous battle of Narmada (around 630-34 AD).

Buddhism and Hinduism flourished under the rule of Pallavas. They built famous temples like Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Iravatanesvara Temple etc.

By the end ninth century, Chola king Aditya I conquered the kingdom. Later city fell into the hands of Pandyas and then to Vijayanagar (1361 AD). Next in line to capture the area was Deccan Sultanates (around 1672).

Varadaraja Perumal Temple - Entrance

In 1687, Mughals under Aurangzeb conquered Kanchipuram by defeating Marathas. Thus Kanchipuram became a part of Carnatic viceroyalty in Mughal Empire.

Later in 1724, Marathas came back to Kanchipuram. This city also witnessed the battles between British and French East India companies, as well as second Anglo-Mysore war. After second Anglo-Mysore war Kanchipuram came under the firm control of English East India Company.

Varadaraja Perumal Temple

A good number of shared autos are going to this temple from bus stand. I didn’t have to wait for long; we started moving through empty city lanes. Later another auto driver told me that, in week days these lanes will be filled with crowds - but Sunday is a holiday.

There were a lot of Ayyappa devotees in the temple premises. Usually, on the way to annual Shabarimala pilgrimage, devotees used to visit all important temples on or near to their way. Temple walls are indeed very high. After taking a couple of steps, I reached the front gate of the temple.

Decorations on the road

This Vishnu temple - considered as home to great Hindu scholar Ramanuja - is believed to be one of 108 temples visited by 12 poet saints (Alwars).

Inside, a small queue was formed for entering to main temple. From left side, sweet sounds of Vishnu sahasra nama stotra were coming from a mandapa built using beautifully carved pillars. There were a number of Brahmins sitting in an elevated area chanting the thousand names of Lord Vishnu. Tens of devotee’s are sitting on the floor participating in this Japa Yagna. After roaming around this mandapa for some more time, I went outside; by this time queue for entering the main temple was almost tripled in size.

Kailasanathar Temple

From Varadaraja Perumal temple, using another shared auto, I went back to bus stand. Next on the list was Kilasanthar temple. Local people told me that, this temple is located on the outskirts and shared autos are not available to this area – In short I have to hire an auto.
Constructed by Pallava king Narasimhavarman II in 8th century, this Shiva temple is considered as the oldest temple in the city (now this is not a working temple). Here you can see numerous beautiful carvings on sandstone walls. After spending some more time here, I went back to bus stand.

Back to Chennai

Kilasanathar Temple - Full view

After coming all this way, it doesn’t sound good to leave the city without having something from here. So, why not some sweets? I went to the first store selling sweets, unfortunately they were not ready to sell 1 or 2 pieces, and I was not in a mood to buy an entire kilo just to taste. Finally, I settled for a Badam milk and boarded a point to point (nonstop) bus to Chennai.

Immediately after the noon, side seat, slight breeze, tired by walking – conditions favouring sleep. However, the person sitting next to me was in a good mood of talking. This person in his thirties, graduated in Tamil literature is working at a retail outlet in Chennai. The moment he realized that I am a traveller, he become more interested in talking about the history of Arcot – his home town. After talking about various subjects, he suddenly jumped to the issues in our current educational system.

Carvings on the walls of Kilasanathar Temple

Nokia staff bus was running some 100 metres in front of us, after overtaking it I slowly closed my eyes.

Other places to visit in Kanchipuram

Varadarajar Perumal Temple, Kailasanathar temple, Ekambareswarar Temple, Kamakshi Amman Temple, Silk weaving, City market area, Kanchi Math etc.

Sajeev.

PS: In the morning, before getting in to shared auto, I asked the driver to drop me at Ekambareswarar Temple instead he dropped me at Varadarajar Perumal Temple. At that time, I didn’t realise the mistake. On my way back from Kilasanathar temple, I asked the auto driver to drop me at Varadarajar Perumal Temple. So he again took me to Varadaraja Perumal temple!!! In this way I missed Ekambareswarar Temple.

Kanchipuram Streets

Varadaraja Perumal Temple

Side walls of Kilasanthar Temple - Another view.

Side walls of Kilasanthar Temple