Kanchipuram, “City of a Thousand Temples,” was the capital of the Pallava Dynasty from the fourth to ninth centuries. It was during this period that many of the city’s temples were built. Of the most celebrated temples are the ancient rock-cut Kailashnath Temple and the Ekambareswarar Temple. Here is where thousands of worshipers began gathering to celebrate the marriage of the Hindu god Shiva to Parvati in colorful Festival style just as we were leaving.
Today we drove inland from the coast through countryside dotted with villages and small family farms. Chennai is impinging–pressing outward with housing, industry and a rash of for-prophet colleges preying on students dreams to become part of the economic boom.
It is a full moon AND the transition from Pisces to Aries so there is a gigantic festival occurring tonight here. The crowd will build throughout the day peaking with fireworks, music and pujas.
Perched upon the ancient clay where the Cooum and Adyar rivers snake through their last miles toward the Bay of Bengal, Chennai (formerly Madras) is one of India’s largest cities. Chennai is also the center of Tamil film industry; A.R. Rahman, composer of the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, calls this city home.
The present day city of Chennai started as an English settlement on a piece of waste land to be known as Fort St. George. It grew into a fortified settlement of British merchants, factory workers, and other colonial settlers. Expanding upon this settlement, the English colony grew to include a number of other European communities, new British settlements, and various native villages, one of which was named Madraspatnam. All were combined into the city Madras. However, it is widely recorded that while the official centre of the present location was designated Fort St. George, the British applied the name Madras to include areas which had grown up around the Fort including the “White Town” consisting principally of British settlers, and “Black Town” consisting of principally Catholic Europeans and allied Indian minorities.
We arrived in Chennai on the first night of a marathon worldwide cricket event (56 days). Celebrity and VIP opening night plus widespread highway construction combined for a monumental traffic jam. We are off to explore Chennai for an all day experience tomorrow.
Today was intense and totally engaging! Soon after breakfast we were out walking Chennai’s distinct districts. Neighborhood boundaries still seem defined by early colonial influence. One of our first stops was to have our left palm intricately hennaed by a young man recently come from Delhi seeking entrepreneurial opportunity here. What fun and amazingly intricate design. Lots more photo ops of historical sights right next to enormous slums next to exclusive neighborhoods. The shifts are startling and abrupt.
We next visited an enormous sari store that carried everything from inexpensive acrylic work and uniform saris for employment in hotels or businesses to exquisite intricately embroidered silk for weddings or other festive occasions plus every thing in between. The rich and varied color combinations were truly “eye candy” and help explain how the cities’ vast throngs of women at EVERY walk of life could all be so colorfully arrayed.
The afternoon was consumed by participating in the festival. Check out my separate festival blog on this adventure.
Exhausting, exhilerating, exciting and intense!!
This afternoon we joined thousands of joyous Madras devotees for their annual Aruppathu Moovar festival at the Kapaleeswara Shiva Temple. It was an exuberant cross between a carnival with religious overtones and a high-spirited celebration of abundance and sharing. Narrow streets, food vendors, musicians and swelling crowds all dressed in their festive best added to the richness of the adventure. We OAT travelers to a person were exhausted yet thrilled that we had had had such a firsthand experience.
I was glad to descend into the cool gloom of the subway station away from the intense press of revelers. While waiting for the electric train we were able to relax and regroup while chatting with a troop of Boy Scouts who wanted to practice their English. A four stop train ride got us quickly back to our hotel.
We spent a relaxed morning in the colonial era Galle Face Hotel right on the Bay of Bengal. Although refurbished it retains the flavor of and celebrates its illustrious past with photos and memorabilia.
