Kanchi in a Kaleidoscope

Kanchi in a Kaleidoscope



Day 1 started at 5 am, Woke up, left Chrompet by 7 …



Reached Kanchipuram, entered a 300 year old house right next to the Varadaraja Permual temple. The lady of the house took great pride in telling us how old the house was .Clad in green cotton “madi saar” /Kachche Sari; she stood fiddling with age old vessels in the kitchen, and acknowledged our vannakams. She was going to accompany us to the temple .Being a Friday; the long queues would make our entries late she said. We nodded.



While we spent some time at the ancient house, I observed the ceiling, it was extremely high; about thrice the size of the heights of our normal homes .The entrance door was huge and there were no locks! They didn’t lock their homes those days said the lady; I stepped out and saw a beautiful courtyard so big it could easily accommodate 50 people!

I stood outside soaking in the religious aura that the place had. I could see men clad in pure white panches /dhotis vibudhi smeared all over chanting and marching to the temple.

Saw Ladies with fine jewelry and pakka madi saars draped over them; the tilakam and Shree Charanam neatly drawn on their foreheads buying jasmine flowers and hurrying to the temple. The sight of these saris itself amused me, in the hot weather, how r they so comfortable in such sarees? I find the normal sari itself quiet a test of patience. A friend had even once remarked “why do you walk like a battery operated doll while wearing a sari” to which I couldn’t even answer since I was busy trying to walk!

The street was lined with many sari shops; Kanchi has the tagline “SILK CITY” quite aptly since all the womenfolk of the place are brand ambassadors wearing them 24/7. Jokes apart, Kanchi produces some of the finest silk and is home to many weavers and co-operative societies that market genuine silk saris.



We went to the temple and had the darshan of the Lord. A few curious phirangs were merrily clicking photographs of a function happening there at the temple. They were watching each and every ritual with great interest, their Canons and Nikons zooming in and out every minute.



At this temple, there is also the golden lizard which has a mythical tale to it.



Read more about it :-

The place houses a gold & silver lizard, it is said that they were once son and wife of Ayodya king Sakaranis, due to sin committed by them, they were converted into lizards.A prayer to lord Varadharaja absolved them of the sins.Now these lizards are touched by the devotes to wash off their sinsand start afresh account.

The main temple is reached by climbing 24 steps for the darshan of lord Varadharaja, who in his majestic form with Four arms holds you in captivated.


Source: sulekha.com



I touched it hoping for a friend’s eternal fear of lizards to be absolved soon.

Clue: - she comments regularly on all my posts.



Next stop was the famed Kanchi Kamakshi temple; a short distance away from the first temple. This temple is the hub for most Iyers and Kanchi muth devotees. Huge cutouts of the Kanchi mutt seer welcomed us at the temple; they were the managing committee of the temple I learnt. Kanchi Kamakshi’s darshan was smooth, only a half an hour queue :)





Then it was Saravana special South Indian meals at the Saravana Bhavan at Kanchi, they are a popular chain of restaurants in Chennai and also have branches all around the world.

There again another group of Swiss tourists at the table next to us were crying with glee when their open dosa arrived, they clicked more than they ate: P



We resumed our journey back to Chrompet with me napping off.



In the evening, we went to Marina Beach. It is the second largest---now corrected :P "longest" beach in the world after Miami, Florida I learnt. Still not verified that on wiki.



I flew a kite on the beach ,quite amusing ,considering it was my first try, the kite did manage to fly but only in the direction opposite to I was trying to navigate it each time .



I enjoyed the waves splashing onto me; we spent very little time at the beach :(



From there, we went to the Parathasarathy Temple. This temple just left me speechless; hundreds of women dressed up intricately were standing at the thaiyaar sannidhi while the men recited Vedic verses. Being a Friday, there was a total religious halo around the temple. The Lord at this temple, Lord Krishna in the Gitopadesham Avataaram was the most handsome Lord I have seen till now. He even had a moustache supposedly to disguise himself; I do not know the right story.



We called it a day after having another visit to another Saravan bhavan’s specialty restaurant where I devoured mini idlis and some delicious sweet whose name has slipped out from memory.



Day 2 @ Chennai: - will be posted soon





Chennai is full of hoardings and my god; the roads are so wide that I thought I was dreaming! Traffic moves at a considerably better pace there but hey, no city can beat us: P Chrompet where I was put up is quite far away from the city and to commute to a point it takes a minimum of an hour or more. Every drive felt like Mathikere to Maratahalli @ Chennai …



Till next time then, Vannakam!

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