Southern India (3)

On By Mick CanningIn India, photographs, travel

It’s been a busy week again. I don’t seem to have managed to write anything, take any photographs, or even think about drawing or painting.

The news? I try to avoid it.

And to top it all, I have a cold and I feel bleurgh.

It’s at times like this I usually travel somewhere exotic in my head.

So, a few more photographs from Southern India, then.

ganesh shrine kodai

Ganesh Temple, Kodaikanal. Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of prosperity, is one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon and worshipped widely throughout India. This shrine is by the lake in Kodaikanal, a hill-station in the Palani Hills northwest of Madurai.

kodai lake

View of the lake at Kodaikanal. Besides the better known hill stations of Northern India, there are quite a number further south, of which Kodaikanal is just one example, although unique in having been originally started by American missionaries in the 1840’s.

bungalows

Raj-era bungalows in Kodaikanal. These are on a ‘prime-site’ location overlooking the lake.

madurai skyline crop

Madurai skyline. The Sri Meenakshi Temple complex, dedicated to Shiva and his wife, Sati, dominates the skyline of the old city. Often called ‘The Heart of Tamil Country’, Madurai attracts up to 10,000 pildrims and tourists on any one day. This picture was taken from the Rooftop Restaurant Terrace at the Hotel Supreme, where we sat with a beer and watched a long procession of tourists wander across the roof to take the same shot.

madurai 1

Entrance to the Sri Meenakshi Temple complex, Madurai. 12 huge gopuram towers, each between 45 and 50 metres in height, are carved in highly elaborate designs featuring gods, people, animals and mythical creatures which are then brightly painted. The whole effect is more like an enormous and eccentricly iced cake, or at least plaster-work. The whole of the temple seethes with pilgrims, tourists, trinket sellers and guides. And touts, who basically cover the last two categories.

nataraja madurai

Carved statue of Nataraja, Madurai Temple complex. I am unfamiliar with this particular god, but I like the carving!

26 thoughts on “Southern India (3)”

  12. Someone wrote that the temples could be Sri Lankian and i agree but its all linked, isnt it?
    The pictures of the bungalow, from a long gone era are very atmospheric. You say, prime land, so ripe for development? I see in Kerala that prices are akin in some developments to London Price…..

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I suppose it doesn’t matter where you live, there are going to be some areas more attractive than others. And people keen to take advantage of that. That said, I don’t think there was much going on when we were there – I just think there might be by now.

      I do love the bungalows. They are just the sort of place I would happily live if I could. And in just the sort of location, too.

      And the temples could certainly be Sri Lankan – the Tamils who were originally shipped there by the British to work on the tea estates naturally built temples like those at home.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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