Yep you read it
right. Bangalore to Mahabalipuram to Kanchipuram to Bangalore. All In TWO days.
Started early on a
Saturday morning armed with the usual stuff and directions.
Hosur onto NH7 via
Krishnagiri (take left. Do not go towards Salem) - Vaniyambadi - Vellore -
Wallajah - Kancheepuram - chengalpattu - Mahabalipuram
Beautiful drive.
Mostly 6 lane with some detours. Got to stop at quite a few places for toll. Started
at 6am, stopped for breakfast at Vellore and reached Mahabalipuram at 1pm (just
in time for lunch at Hotel Mamalla Heritage). Post lunch we went to explore the
ruins and spend time on the beach. Must see places are listed below. Got to
take a ticket of 10/- which gives access to all the places listed below.
Shore temple:
Amazing view are you are approaching the ruins. Very picturesque. Not very
large structure but landscaping has been done for tourists. There are shrines
of Vishnu and Shiva.
Then we had a gala time in the beach. There are
hawkers all along the beach. One can buy beautiful show pieces and jewellery
made of sea shells and colored stones for bargain.
Five Rathas: These
are five chariots built out of stone known as Pandavas Rathas. There is Ratha dedicated to each of the Pancha
Pandavas and also Draupati. These are built in Dravidian architecture style.
Durga's Cave: This
is on a small hillock near the light house. There are three shrines: Shiva,
Parvathi and Skanda. One can climb all the way up to the top of the temple and
get a view of the surroundings. One can also climb up to the top of the light
house to get a view of the sea and ruins.
There are many shops
that make and sell amazing stone sculptures (especially black stone) in all
sizes. All the tourist places close by 6pm and no one is allowed near the ruins
post sunset.
We started at 5.30pm
from Mahabalipuram tired and reached Kanchipuram at 7.30pm. We stayed overnight
in Kanchi and woke up energized. The stay was decent in Hotel Sakthi Residency.
What is worth mentioning are the Dosas we had in Sangeeta Restaurant in ground
floor. The service is out of this world.
We went to Kamakshi
Amman temple first. The main gopuram is large with beautiful sculptures. This
is one of the three main shakti peetas. The main diety, Goddess Parvati, has
shakti yantra or Chakra in front which is supposed to be source of power.
Next we went to
Vamana temple which was right behind Kamakshi temple. There is a huge black
stone idol (over 30 feet height) of Vamana with the right leg on Bali's head
and the left leg pointing towards the sky. This temple is special to Kanchi and
Lord Vishnu in this incarnation is not worshiped anywhere with an idol matching
this size.
Varadaraja Perumal
temple is more famous for its golden and silver lizards which are carved in the
roof of the holy sanctum. People stand in queue for hours to touch those and
believe that all their sins will be washed away.
Other prominent places
to visit in Kanchi are:
- Kailasanathar
temple which is the oldest Hindu temple in existence
- Ekambareswara
temple which is the largest temple in the city with one of the tallest gopuram in
India at 59 feet. It has a long corridor with thousand pillars and inner walls
are decorated with 1008 lingas.
- Kanchi Mutt
established by Sankaracharya
Post lunch we
started off our journey back to Bangalore at around 2pm. We reached city by
7pm.
Tiresome but amazing
trip. Wonder where our next trip will be to....
