Weekend Trip to Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram

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....