Feb 15 2010
Year-end (2009) trips – Kanchipuram
The year 2009 ended on a good note with a packed weekend. We were back to Chennai after 5 years for a family get together. But we did manage to plug-in an active one-day travel.
It is a matter of shame that we lived in Chennai for 7 years and not even once we visited Kanchipuram or Mahabalipuram. We were not in our elements then for sure.
So it was Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram. We planned the timings so that we will be at Kanchipuram Saravana Bhavan for breakfast.
Kanchipuram is known as the city of temples and is one of India’s seven sacred cities, second holiest after Varanasi. The temples were built by different dynasties as the city changed hands. The Pallavas from 6th to 8th century AD, followed by Cholas and the Vijay Nagar kings. Kanchipuram is also unique in the sense that it is a seat of the two sects of Hinduism – Vaishnavism and Saivism. The Varadaraja Perumal temple is a centre for Vaishnavism, the Ekambaranathar temple is a Saiva centre, with the Kamakshi Amman temple tucked in between.
It requires a minimum of one full day to explore Kanchipuram completely. And yet again – at one more place, we made a promise – to come back.
