Sunday, October 04, 2009

Chola Desam

The famous south gopuram of Srirangam. There is no God to absolve me the crime of using the 250 rupee shortcut darshan!

Kaveri beside the Thiagaraja Swami Samadhi at Thiruvaiaru. I see the water levels in Kaveri are kept deliberately high for canal irrigation, thereby depriving its distributeries, esp Kollidam.

A couple of residents of Umayalpuram, who helped establish this school in 1897, may not be amused to know that education has utterly escaped one of their great grand sons.

My ancestors on my grand mothers side lived on this street facing the Perumal Kovil, while my grand father's house was on the next street.

Darasuram. Pity, in a town full of temples (Kumbakonam), this umbilical cord with the Golden age of the Cholas, has tourists outnumber locals.

Big temple at dusk!

Itinerary:

Friday: Bus to Trichy from Bangalore. Checked out Srirangam and Thiagaraja Swami Samadhi at Thiruvaiaru on the way to Umayalpuram, our ancestral village. Stayed the night in Kumbakonam.

Saturday: Darasuram in the morning. Went to Saraswathi Mahal and other museums at the Thanjavur Palace before spending the evening at the Big Temple. More pics from my previous trip there.

Note:

Chola Desam's infrastructure seems incapable of servicing such high population density. Not to mention the huge influx of religious tourists and the Tam-Brahm community which flocks back to get a glimpse of their roots.

4 comments:

Vijay said...

nice to see the wide kaveri! How was the water?? clear? and how was the current?

I havent visisted Srirangam...want to visit...

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

oh, this is Kaveri at Thiruvaiaru which is much narrower than say in Thiruchi. Kollidam was pretty much dry.

water was clear. I didn't swim but the currents weren't significant. besides, this is not Kaveri in spate. just the water levels being artificially kept high for canal irrigation. so strong currents are unlikely.

Anonymous said...

Neat information.

I love to travel to such places but at the same time I do not mind travelling during off-seasons. Do you have any info on season/off-season?

Balaji Chitra Ganesan said...

religious tourism is big in these districts but i have no idea which days are 'holy'.

i suspect summer holidays and december/january will also be crowded, becos of NRIs and Chennaiites visiting their ancestral places.

if possible, travel weekdays instead of weekends.

although I almost always use public transport, it may not be a bad idea to use a car here.

and the general rule in Tamilnadu is to stay indoors or in vehicles between 11 AM and 4 PM to avoid the intense heat :)