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Showing posts with label Great Living Cholas Temples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Great Living Cholas Temples. Show all posts

November 07, 2013

Palani - Darasuram Trip

I planned to make a pilgrimage trip with my family to Palani Hills on this Diwali. Gladly, my Guruswamy family (my Guru in my Sabarimala Trip for last 18 years) and my friend Gokul Nambiar family also joined us for this trip. The plan started off with a 4 seater Tata Indica, then 6 seater Toyota Innova and finally 12 seater Force Traveller. I am glad that such a trip happened for me. My plan was to visit Palani Hills and Darasuram in a single day. But, since more number of people joined, we decided to extend the plan by half day. 

Day 1
On Saturday 2-Nov afternoon at 2:30pm, we headed to Srirangam. However, my guru suggested a temple in Thiruppattur (5km from Siruganur on the NH). At Thiruppattur, we first worshiped Lord Brahmapureeshwara (there is a separate shrine for Lord Brahma). Then Sri Devi Bhoodhevi Varadharaja Perumal Temple. After a tea, we headed to Sri-Rangam Temple . After long wait in spite of lined up in paid queue, we had a very good darshan of Lord Ranganadhaswamy. We had prasadam's from the stall as well as did our dinner at the temple itself under the Annadhana scheme. After dinner we headed to Palani Hills. 

Day 2
On Sunday 3-Nov Morning, we trekked 25 minutes to reach the Lord Dhandayudapany Shrine. My mother had made arrangements to do abhishekha for the Lord Murugan deity in the morning around 8:45a.m. Around 11am we headed to Darasuram from Palani. 

After our lunch at Trichy, we travelled via the Great Anicut Dam (Kallanai)m built by the Chola King Karikala Chola around 2nd Century AD). I must say that it was excellent part of travel. On my left, it was full of farm lands ranging from banana plantation to paddy fields while on my right it was the mighty Cauvery River. It was unfolding endlessly. Those two hours was a great watch for me.

We reached Darasuram at 5 p.m and visited the Airavatheeswara Temple.  This temple was built by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century CE is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Great Living Cholas Temples. It had excellent, intricate sculptures. One testimony for the excellent scriptures is the fused common face for a cow and a elephant. After spending one hour at the temple, we left to Swamimalai Murugan Temple. Later we headed to Vaitheeswaran Temple. Finally, our memorable satisfactory trip came to an end.

Places Covered
Thirupattur

Sri Brahmapureeswarae Temple,
Sri Sridevi Bhoodevi Varadharaja Perumal Temple
SrirangamSri Aranganatha Swamy Temple
PalaniSri Dhanayudhapany Swamy Temple
DarasuramSri Airavatheeswarar Temple
Swami MalaiSri Skanda Murugan Temple
Vaitheeswaran KoilSri Vaitheeswaran, Sri Thaiyal Naayagi, Sri Muthukumara Swamy

Here are few pictures.


Thiruppattur - Brahmapureeswara Temple

Palani Temple - A pilgrim carrying Milk-Abishekha Tank

Trichy to Darasuram - via Great Anicut Dam (Kallanai) - 
On my left - Banana Plantation and Paddy fields


 Trichy to Darasuram - via Great Anicut Dam (Kallanai) - 
On my right- Cauvery River



Airavatheeswara Temple 


Arthanareeswarar

Gokul Nambiar's Father at Horse Rath

A group pic but my guruswamy missing






My Guruswamy family




Main Gopura of Airavatheeswara Temple



Sri Durga

Mom and Grand Mom


Elephant and Cow with a common fused face

Elephant and Cow with a common fused face



December 01, 2011

Gangai Konda Cholapuram at Jeyamkondan

கங்கைகொண்ட சோழபுரம், ஜெயம்கொண்டான்

I and my TATA ELXSI friends went for our colleague-cum-friend Manickam's marriage at Trichy. We planned to visit Gangai Konda Cholapuram. It is one of the Great Living Cholas Temples and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This temple was erected by Rajendra Chola to commemorate his victory over the Pala Dynasty (in northern India in the region of River Ganges). It is said that he brought Ganga River and purified the area of that temple.

Please find few photos here.