From the Sterling we take an old ambassador Taxi to Tanjavur and hop on the next bus that again leaves as soon as we get on! You can see that there are always many people traveling in India. The ride is quite long and we arrive by early evening, it is overland and inland… no more seeviews for a while.
We have a room reserved in a hotel near the East Gate of the Meenakshi Temple, the major reason we have come to visit. Little do we know that we are also right on the very busy market place and the vendors begin bringing in their goods very early in the morning…
Madurai has often been referred to as the Athens of the East. Its cultural heritage goes back to 2500 years! The city was an important commercial center as early as 550 AD! It was the capital of the Pandya kings of South India in the 13th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyas
The Meenakshi Temple is one of the busiest and biggest temple compexes in India. Pilgrims, worshipers and visitors come and go all day. There are 4 main gate entrances and 12 gopurams all sculpted with colorful gods and godesses! The temple is 258 meters in lenght and 241 meters in width. The tallest gopuram, Southern Gate, is 48 meters high. You can get the best arial view from one of the many rooftop restaurants in the city as seen in the picture.
Here you also leave your shoes at one of the entrances and buy some offerings of flowers and coconut for the gods. Once inside you can see it is a real business center with stalls of food, flowers and litte trinkets for sale. You could get lost in here there are so many little corridors, inner sanctums, doorways, etc. There is a big water tank in the middle section with a golden colored lotus flower in the center. The whole pillared area is very pleasant to walk through amongst the pilgrims, mostly dressed in black. We have also seen them in Chidambaram. These Hindus are on a 40 day pilgrimage to different temples in the south. Only men and children are allowed. They apparently have to follow strict rules of not sleeping on a bed, not shaving, etc…
We also visit the Ghandi Museum set in a nice park. We learn about India’s history before, during and after the British colonialism. It is very explained with maps, explanations about the idea behind the flag of India including some of Ghandi’s personal belongs. It is truly amazing to see how simply he lived and about his immense involvement in the peaceful fight for India’s independance. I did not even know he was married! An amazing person that is easily understood how everyone could love such a man. There were many photographs of him and his famous handwoven cotton dhoti which he began to wear in Madurai in 1921.
That evening we leave by plane from the tiny airport just outside the city to our next destination: Bangalore. Inside the terminal there is not much to do as there are about 20 chairs, a book and food counter. We are going to fly Deccan, one of the many Indian low cost airlines.
We have a room reserved in a hotel near the East Gate of the Meenakshi Temple, the major reason we have come to visit. Little do we know that we are also right on the very busy market place and the vendors begin bringing in their goods very early in the morning…
Madurai has often been referred to as the Athens of the East. Its cultural heritage goes back to 2500 years! The city was an important commercial center as early as 550 AD! It was the capital of the Pandya kings of South India in the 13th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandyas
The Meenakshi Temple is one of the busiest and biggest temple compexes in India. Pilgrims, worshipers and visitors come and go all day. There are 4 main gate entrances and 12 gopurams all sculpted with colorful gods and godesses! The temple is 258 meters in lenght and 241 meters in width. The tallest gopuram, Southern Gate, is 48 meters high. You can get the best arial view from one of the many rooftop restaurants in the city as seen in the picture.
Here you also leave your shoes at one of the entrances and buy some offerings of flowers and coconut for the gods. Once inside you can see it is a real business center with stalls of food, flowers and litte trinkets for sale. You could get lost in here there are so many little corridors, inner sanctums, doorways, etc. There is a big water tank in the middle section with a golden colored lotus flower in the center. The whole pillared area is very pleasant to walk through amongst the pilgrims, mostly dressed in black. We have also seen them in Chidambaram. These Hindus are on a 40 day pilgrimage to different temples in the south. Only men and children are allowed. They apparently have to follow strict rules of not sleeping on a bed, not shaving, etc…
We also visit the Ghandi Museum set in a nice park. We learn about India’s history before, during and after the British colonialism. It is very explained with maps, explanations about the idea behind the flag of India including some of Ghandi’s personal belongs. It is truly amazing to see how simply he lived and about his immense involvement in the peaceful fight for India’s independance. I did not even know he was married! An amazing person that is easily understood how everyone could love such a man. There were many photographs of him and his famous handwoven cotton dhoti which he began to wear in Madurai in 1921.
That evening we leave by plane from the tiny airport just outside the city to our next destination: Bangalore. Inside the terminal there is not much to do as there are about 20 chairs, a book and food counter. We are going to fly Deccan, one of the many Indian low cost airlines.
