A Day in Trichy

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  Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Friday, September 11, 2009

The car ride from Mahabalipuram to Trichy took over five hours.  The roads in Tamil Nadu were much better than most of those in the North, where a trip like this might have taken double the time.  I know I have been in India a long time because I not only notice a good, paved road now, but actually appreciate driving on one.  We passed through a lot of open areas and villages, with palm trees lining the roads and mountains off in the distance for most of the ride.  Trichy seemed like a dirty city by South Indian standards upon arrival, and we checked into our hotel, which was a significant step down after being so spoiled at the last place.  We had lunch and then went out for some sightseeing.

Many cities in South India go by two names - one that is the older, native name and the other that is easy for foreigners to pronounce.  Trichy, also known as Tiruchirappalli, is one of those examples.

We went out in Trichy with a guide for the day.  Our first stop was the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, a living Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu.  Most Hindu temples are dedicated to particular gods, and Vishnu is one of the main three Hindu gods and is known as the one who sustains life. (The other two main gods are Brahma, the creater, and Shiva, the destroyer.)  The temple had expanded many times over the years and gates were built depending on the style of the current ruling power, so there were I think seven gates to go through.  There was one gate that was made without any paint that was done to show Muslim dominance while they were ruling.  We started getting inside a few and I noticed that there were a lot of people inside praying and we were the only tourists around.  We were able to get a rooftop view of the many gates but non-Hindus are not allowed into the inner areas with the main statues.  However, we were lucky enough to be standing around when the temple elephant came out for his afternoon stroll, and it was funny to see him with the paint markings on his face that are usually used to recognize Vishnu.  

After this temple, we went to the Rock Fort Temple, which is placed on the top of a hill.  It wasn't a very difficult climb up, but from the temple on top, you could get a really good view of the whole city.  This temple was dedicated to Ganesha, the god with the elephant head.  These temples were also good to visit with a guide because otherwise I don't think there would have been too much to see.

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jasmine sold everywhere near the temples	vishnu's marking	view of gates from a rooftop	muslim gate, painted all white
vishnu elephant	carving inside the temple	rock fort temple	shiva elephant at entrance to rock fort templ
stone carvings on the way up	almost to the temple	view from the top

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