Trivandrum
Trip Start
Jan 24, 2012
1
3
11
Trip End
Feb 03, 2012
Where I stayed
Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The temple is dedicated to the Lord Vishnu and is one of the 108 Divya Deshams (holy abodes of Vishnu). The main temple houses a reclining full length idol of Vishnu made in black shilagram. The idol currently in displayed is around 1000 years old and is placed in front of the original smaller idol which dates almost 2500 years old. The darshan of the main idol can be done through 3 windows (the idol is not on display completely) from head, naval and toes (left to right). There are 2 other smaller temples surrounding the main temple - Lord Narshimha and Lord Krishna both dating 1500 years and 2000 years old. These temples are surrounded by an outer gopuram and huge stone pillared corridors running on 4 sides. The pillars of the corridors are in form of beautiful maidens holding diyas in hand (diyas are actually lighted in their hands) and total up to 365 corresponding to the 365 days of the year. Each and every statues of these maidens is unique differing in costumes, faces and hair styles.
When we entered the temple after passing through metal detectors, there was a huge queue along the corridors as the darshan was yet to start. The temple is still owned by the royal family of the Travancore and every morning the king performs the puja in the morning after which the temple is opened for general devotees. Initially the queue was well managed and well behaved, but as we started approaching the Narashimha temple, many local devotees unabashedly started breaking the line and jostled their way ahead.We were quite taken aback at the recklessness but soon started protesting to the devotees who were barging ahead. The way to the main temple is very narrow and there is a lot of jostling and pushing around. To get the darshan itself there is a small wooden podium to get on which itself was a Herculean task and had to literally squeeze in to get on to the board. Now amongst the crowd, one has to manage to decipher the view offered in the windows, taking care that you are not pushed down the podium. After managing a somewhat fleeting glimpse at the Lord, climbed down the podium and out of the temple, heaving a sigh of relief. Offered my prayers from outside the temple, wondering why cant we all(Indians!!) just have some patience at least in the house of the Almighty!! Roamed in the beautiful corridors of the temple, before taking leave of the reclining lord. For ones who might think that they can get a glimpse of the treasure, sorry to disappoint, but there is no such display or even any indication as to where the treasures are kept :-)..
Next we were supposed to visit the Napier Museum and Chitra Art Gallery which houses some of the originals of the famed painter Raja Ravi Verma. With eager minds to enjoy a feast of the beautiful paintings, we headed to the museum, however were thoroughly disappointed to find it closed as it was 26th Jan - Republic day and a public holiday across India..Was very very disappointed and planned to visit the next day morning although it was gonna delay us by 3 hrs on our onward journey to the back waters.
Back to hotel and then we set out for some local shopping experience at noon. Hailed an auto (always decide the fare before getting in) and requested the auto driver to take us to the local market. Got down near the railway station and based on directions offered by a resident, reached the Jayalaksmi saree store. It is a 6 storey store with 4 floors dedicated to all ranges of sarees, one floor exclusively for bridal wear and one floor for salwar kamiz. Its an awesome store and a must visit even if you dont want to shop. Needless to say, shopped traditional Kerala sarees (off white with gold border) and cheered up a bit after the museum fiasco..Nothing helps like the retail theray :-)
After lunch and some siesta, went to the much famed Kovalam beach, however was quite disappointed by the narrow strip of beach that is open to the tourist. The Kovalam beach has three beaches separated by rocky outcroppings - Lighthouse Beach (this is where we visited and is the most frequented by tourists), Hawah Beach and Samudra Beach. It would seem that much of the 17 km coastline of the beach has been bought by private resorts, leaving very small area for the general tourist. Sat by the beach watching one more glorious sunset and had a delicious "dal wada" and tender coconut water -- some relief to the disappointments of the day!!
