Our journey continued to Thanjavur. But before I tell you about Thanjavur, let me take you to Marthur North, part of Thanjavur. I was told that my grandparents hailed from Thanjavur, in particular Marthur North. So, just before we came to Thanjavur, we stopped by this small village. This is where I met some of our relatives whom I have never ever met in my life before. It was good meeting them. They were simply awesome. Kind and humble. They live a simple life. It was a cool village with all greens everywhere (that goes without saying..lol and of course ! cows and goats too...:-) It was breezy all the time. Mum was elated - knowing that her dad lived there before. Some pictures here on Marthur North...
"Life gives us brief moments with another. But sometimes, in these brief moments, we get memories that last a lifetime"....
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| Me on "mottai maadi" (rooftop) of the house |
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My new-found niece with her child :-)
And behind us is my Malaysian nephew, Jeevan :-) |
And now, here comes the highlight of our visit in Thanjavur. The Thanjavur Brihadeeswara or Thanjavur Periya Kovil (Big Temple). An amazing structure ! Although there are alot of beautiful temples in Thanjavur region, the BIG temple is one of the most famous amongst them all. It stands tall with its beaming tower and it's one of the architectural wonders of the world. The speciality of this temple is that it has been sculptured competely with stones without having the mountain around its surroundings. This temple is facing along the east direction and has 3 main entrances. It has many smaller temples inside like Murugan temple, Anjaneyar temple, Varahi temple, Vinayagar temple, Nataraja temple and Karuvurar temple. Inside the Karuvarar temple is a massive Linga. The Linga is 9 feet in height. The total area of the temple measures 237.9m in length and 119.1m in breadth. The gateway to the inner court yard is guarded by an elephant and one of the largest Nandhis in India measuring 6m long by 3 m in height. This massive Nandhi weights 25 tons ! and it's the second biggest Nandhi in India. Just take a look at the pictures and you'll get an idea of how big the Nandhi is and above all how huge this BIG temple is.....yeah, just as its name..BIG !!!
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| The HUGE Nandhi... |
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| Some college students on an excursion - Art Photography session... |
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And of all things that should happen !
Bird shit on my hand...good or bad sign ? I really dunno ... |
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| Jeevan and Dheeran - one big prince and the other - smaller :-) |
Below, not forgetting the card vendors outside the temple - selling "Thalai Atti Bommai" (Head Shaking Dolls) of Bharatanatyam dancers and other images. The heads of the dolls are detachable and these dancing dolls (as commonly called) are amongst all, the interesting things sold outside this temple and they're the most unique and exquisite ones ! We used to have this dolls at home - those days, as decorative items - but now no longer. My niece was delighted seeing 'em and got a set !...the tradition continues having one at home :-)
By the way, do you know that Thanjavur is the centre of Tamil classical dance which is known as Bharatha Natyam? Yup, even today, the teachers of Bharathanatyam hail from Thanjavur and the BIG temple also boasts of unique carvings depicting 81 out of 108 Bharatanatyam dance poses and other sculptural materpieces of the dance. ...Bharathanatyam ! ...here's how the dance is performed...
And finally......ahem ! ....last but not the least.... this is where I met Cedric - a tourist from France. Co-incidently we met again in Tricy (as mentioned in my blog entry re Trichy). So, this is how Cedric looks....lol..!!
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| He is right behind me :-) |
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So, that's all about my visit to Thanjavur...and do look out for a few more of my other destinations in India .......coming real soon.......
"Salut tout le monde ! A bientot ! (Bye everybody!...see you soon!) - and that's in French ! lol...!!
