Omelette, sambar and fruit made a good breakfast after which
we set out with Thomas on the long morning’s drive to Madurai. The tanker
drivers’ strike, he told us, had been settled last night, which was good news
and meant we would not have to push the car any time soon.
Tea plantations in the Kannan Devan Hills, Kerala |
Tea Plantations in the Kannan Devan Hills, Kerala |
I shall not reproduce them all here but the view of tessellated
tea bushes with wind breaks of silver oak and stands of eucalyptus trees surrounded
by rugged hills was endlessly changing and fascinating.
Tea Plantations in the Kannan Devan Hills, Kerala The silver oak is not a true oak. Native to Australia it has adapted well to the local conditions |
Lower down a small lake nestled among the tea bushes...
A lake among the tea bushes, Kannan Dean Hills |
....and further down again the tea gave way to forest. I
am never quite sure where the Cardamom Hills are, the name seems to be
applied to various southern parts of the Western Ghats, but with cardamom dominating
the underbrush this area had as good a claim as any.
Cardamom growing beneath the trees on the lower slopes of the Kannan Devan Hills |
Somewhere on the lower slopes we crossed from Kerala back
into Tamil Nadu.
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In this post we travel from Munnar to Madurai |
A last look at the Kannan Devan Hills |
The temperature had increased as we had descended from the
pleasant warmth of Munnar to the furnace of the plain, but cocooned in the air
conditioned car we hardly noticed as we sped along on the wider and straighter
road.
On the way we encountered a water jar salesman - most rural
Indians collect their water daily from a well, tank or stream and the arrival
of the lightweight plastic jar has made life much easier.
Travelling water jar salesman, Tamil Nadu |
Shop in a small town, Tamil Nadu |
... and nearing Madurai we passed this family heading into town
for a day out.
Family day out, near Madurai, Tamil Nadu |
Madurai is surprisingly little known outside India but it
has been a major religious and commercial centre for over 2,000 years and is now,
with 1.5 million inhabitants, the third biggest city in Tamil Nadu.
We checked in to our hotel, an upmarket glass and marble affair beside a busy road. With no shops or other restaurants nearby, the hotel was the only option for lunch and at great expense (by local standards) I enjoyed sambar with chapattis while Lynne ate a chicken sandwich with chutney. ‘Better to eat local,’ I said sagely but she did not listen.
When the fierceness of the heat had subsided a local guide arrived and we set off for the Ghandi Museum. Opened in 1959, the museum is housed in the Tamukkam Palace, built for Rani Mangammal, wife of a Nayak ruler and Queen Regent after his death in 1684. Following the fall of the Nayaks the house endured a chequered history and was, at one time, the residence of the British Collector of Madurai. On independence it passed to the Tamil Nadu government who donated it for use as a museum.
Gandhi Museum, Tamukkam Place, Madurai |
The museum tells the Gandhi story from his birth in 1868,
through his training as a barrister in London, and years in South Africa to the
struggle for Indian independence. As one of the five Gandhi Sanghralayas it exhibits
a part of the bloodied clothing he was wearing when shot down in 1948 by a
Hindu nationalist.
Gandhi walking, Pondicherry 2009 The statue of Gandhi walking seen rather distantly outside the museum is repeated all over India |
It is not an easy museum to visit if you are British; we are
very much the villains of the piece. On the whole that is fair enough (no one
could try to excuse, for example, the 1919 Amritsar massacre) and Gandhi’s
consistent commitment to non-violent resistance is inspirational, but the attack
does feel relentless. A 'what have the Romans ever done for us' moment might
have provided balance – so I am supplying one myself.
Gandhi walking with followers, Hassan, Karnataka, 2010 |
I am not defending colonialism, merely suggesting we should not judge
19th century people by 21st century standards and now the dust has
settled both countries have reasons to be grateful to each other – we gave them
cricket and they gave us curry, gifts whose importance should not be
underestimated.
We visited Madurai in 2009 on our first trip to India. The huge Meenakshi Amman Temple dominating the city centre, may be the world’s finest Hindu temple but in 2009 its 14 richly decorated gopuram (gateway towers) were covered in scaffolding for repainting and the scaffolding was hung with banana leaves to protect the painters from the sun. We saw only the bare outlines. Before returning we had checked that no repainting was scheduled, but now it was already half past four and the local guide wanted to take us to the Nayak’s Palace, I began to fret that we would only see the temple in the dark.
One of the scaffolding and banana leaf covered gopuram, Madurai 2009 |
After some discussion we went along with his plan. We saw
the palace in 2009, but since then more has been restored and it was worth re-visiting.
The Nayak dynasty ruled a region similar to modern Tamil Nadu from1529 to 1736
and the Thirumalai Palace was built in 1636 by King Thirumalai (who else?). We
saw the King’s Hall….
King's Hall, Nayak's Palace, Madurai |
…the pillars and corridors that connect the ceremonial rooms….
Pillars and corridors, Nayak's Palace, Madurai |
…the decorated ceilings….
Decorated ceiling, Nayak's Palace. Masurai |
…and the auditorium with a display of statues from Nayak
times and from the earlier Pandyan Kingdom.
Royal auditorium, Nayak's Palace, Madurai |
Impressive though the rooms are, what remains is only a
quarter of the royal complex once occupying
this site.
Leaving the palace we drove the 2km to the temple first
passing through the wholesale vegetable market. Each street is dedicated to a
single vegetable and our route took us down the onion road….
Just a few of the onions, Madurai |
…and then past a rather poverty stricken retail market.
Retail fruit and veg, Madurai |
We parked and walked to the temple through the posher streets
occupied by Brahmins – for all Gandhi’s efforts to modernise India and destroy
the caste system, it still hangs on.
Brahmin dwellings around the Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai |
And then we emerged beside the temple. There was still
plenty of light to see the gopuram, but the narrow streets meant we were too
close to get an overall view…
North gopura, Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai |
…though parts of the north gopura are impressive enough in close-up.
North gopura, Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai |
Originating in the 6th century BC, the current Meenakshi
Amman Temple was mostly constructed in the 17th century. It is dedicated to
Meenakshi, also known as Parvati and it was here she married Sundareswarar
(Shiva) to whom it is secondarily dedicated. In 2009 in Kanchipuram near
Chennai we saw the mango tree beneath which Parvati and Shiva were married -
fortunately gods can easily remarry as different avatars.
To enter the temple we had to deposit our bags, shoes and
cameras, which would have been mildly annoying had they not allowed camera
phones to be taken in – and even sold a permit to use them – which made it very
annoying.
I have no photos of the interior from this visit, but I do
have some from 2009 when the rules were more relaxed – and the paint was very
fresh.
We spent over an hour in the temple, partly because it is
huge and there is always something to see in a Hindu temple, partly because it is
exciting just being among the shrines and stone pillars but mostly because we
were waiting for the procession.
Every evening Meenakshi is taken to her husband.
Screened by gold curtains and sitting on a decorated plinth she is carried on bamboo poles by six priests behind a white ox, an elephant and a group of musicians.
We found the elephant in a stone recess swaying ominously.
Elephants are large (and hairy) even more so when seen close up in a confined space and this
one seemed restless. The ox was nearby, standing placidly with a drum strapped
to his back and a vacant expression on his face.
The procession formed up with the ox and drummer at the
front then the elephant and lastly the musicians. After a short wait the goddess
arrived, the drum was struck and the musicians blew, very hard, down their ….
let’s call them ‘pipes’ and with the ear splitting sound echoing round the
stone chamber they set off at a smart lick. I think of processions as being slow
and dignified but here everybody walked as though they were frightened
of missing a train and the priests at the back, shouldering their bamboo poles,
struggled to keep up.
They walked several times round the interior and although
there was a crowd, it was easy to slip between the pillars and catch them two
or three times on each circuit. I am sure I would have some excellent pictures
if I had a camera phone. Eventually they disappeared into a sanctuary where
only Hindus could follow.
Left alone, we caught our breath, adjusted to the ringing in
our ears and went to reclaim our shoes, bag and cameras.
Outside the light was beginning to fade...
....and we were shown up
to the roof of an antiques shop with a view over the whole site.
Lynne was unwell when we returned to the hotel. We retreated
to the bar for a kill or cure but they had no gin so she drank rum, which may
be equally efficacious. Afterwards she came to the dining room to watch me eat and
toyed with some noodles. She was ill for the rest of the evening and first part
of the night – I warned her about that chicken sandwich!
The Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai |
03/03/2016
Lynne felt better in the morning and we set off for
Rameshwaram.
Madurai's morning traffic |
Our first stop was still in Madurai, only 2km south of the temple at the Vandiyur
Mariamman Temple pond. The hole created when material was excavated to make the
bricks for the Thirumalai Palace is kept full of water by its connection to the
nearby Vagai River. 305m long by 290m wide it is the largest temple tank in
Tamil Nadu and is the scene of a major float festival in the tenth or twelfth
month of the Tamil calendar (depending on which source you read) when the Goddess Meenakshi and Lord Sundareshwarar
are brought from the temple to oversee proceedings. Unfortunately we were a
fortnight too late (or too early).
Vandiyur Mariamman Temple pond, Madurai |
Beside the tank
some men were stringing out long lines of dyed cotton. I think they were drying
it, or maybe something else – who knows?
Busy doing something, Vandiyur Mariamman Temple pond, Madurai |
India's Deep South
Part 1: Bangalore to Mysore
Part 2: Mysore, Somnathpur and Srirangapatnam
Part 3: Kabini and the Nagarhole National Park
Part 4: The Road to Ooty
Part 5: The Nilgiri Blue Train to Coonoor
Part 6: Across the Palakkad Gap and up to Munnar
Part 7: Munnar - Tea, Dams and Elephants
Part 8: Madurai
Part 9: Rameswaram
Part 10: To the Very Tip of India
Part 11: The End of India and Beyond
Part 12: North to Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) and Kollam
Part 3: Kabini and the Nagarhole National Park
Part 4: The Road to Ooty
Part 5: The Nilgiri Blue Train to Coonoor
Part 6: Across the Palakkad Gap and up to Munnar
Part 7: Munnar - Tea, Dams and Elephants
Part 8: Madurai
Part 9: Rameswaram
Part 10: To the Very Tip of India
Part 11: The End of India and Beyond
Part 12: North to Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) and Kollam
Part 13: Ants, Mollywood and Varkala
Part 14: The Backwaters of Kerala (and some Coir)
Part 15: Marari Beach, Rest, Recreation and Refuse
Part 16: Kochi, a Second Visit
Part 14: The Backwaters of Kerala (and some Coir)
Part 15: Marari Beach, Rest, Recreation and Refuse
Part 16: Kochi, a Second Visit
THE END
Wonderful photos. And thanks for the map.
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