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-   -   A quick dash to Kanchi and Mahabalipuram (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/258465-quick-dash-kanchi-mahabalipuram.html)

Work had been too hectic for the past few months. The body and mind were itching for a holiday. Had one during the Dusshera week, a short dash to Goa and back. But, yeh dil maange more.

So, in comes Diwali week, had a few days off. One part of me wanted to stay home for Diwali, and another was still yearning for a holiday, and a long drive.

Here is the plan, maybe semblance of one to have the best of both - Drive down to Kancheepuram on 22nd Oct, drive to Mahabalipuram on 23rd Oct, and return to Bangalore on 24th Oct morning, to be in time for the evening pooja.

Now the bigger dilemma - Where do you stay? Surely it will be difficult to land good hotels at such short notice and not break the bank.

Good old Google and Tripadvisor to the rescue. Hotel Adhi Residency in Kancheepuram had some decent reviews, and also had a room available for 22nd Oct. So made the booking. As for Mahabalipuram, all good hotels were very expensive. And the ones that were not expensive, were either seriously bad from the reviews, or not a good option for families.

Left it that. Thought we will see about the Mahabalipuram booking after reaching Kancheepuram, maybe we could get lucky twice in a row :)

We decided to start from our home in Whitefield, Bangalore at around 6 am, so that we reach Kancheepuram around 10:30 - 11:00 am.

This will allow us to visit Varadraja Perusal temple (which is walkable from the hotel) in the morning or before the temple closes in the afternoon. Have lunch, come back to the hotel and rest a bit, and then move to visit rest of the temples in the evening session. Most temples close at around 12:30 pm and reopen around 4:30 pm for the evening session.

Trip Day

We start from our home at 6:10 am. Since we stay in Whitefield, it made more sense to take the NH75 via Hoskote instead of the Krishnagiri route.

For those of you who are not aware of the route, this is what it is - Hoskote, Kolar, Mulbagal, Gangavaram, Bangarupalem, Reddygunta, Vinnampalli, Ranipet, Kanchipuram.

Since this was the start of long weekend and Diwali weekend to boot, traffic was heavy as expected. It was like that till Kolar, then it started thinning down a bit. Just a bit of caution, there are no decent restaurants once you pass Mulbagal, and we found this out the hard way.

But once you pass Mulbagal, there are plenty of food trucks on the side of the highway. There are a good number of people having their breakfast at these trucks. We tried our luck at one such place. It ended up being surprisingly good and cheap.

So tummy filled ready to move on, that's when I realised that the Harrier was getting low on fuel. Since this was a last minute plan, didn't get enough time to fill the tank the previous evening as I would normally do. Anyways tank filled, and on our way.

Reached Kanchipuram at around 11:30 or so. Managed to take a couple of wrong turns, get a bit lost around town and then eventually reached the hotel, which was pretty close to Varadaraja Perumal Temple.

The check-in at the hotel was smooth. We got a room on the first floor at the far end. The room itself was decent, in fact was good for the amount we paid. The bathroom was cool. There were two beds for the three of us. One double bed and a single. There was a TV, which we never bothered to switch on.
There is parking for one maybe two cars in the front of the hotel. They have an enclosed ground for parking of customers cars, which is about 60-70 m away from the hotel. It's gated and they have a guard there. So we parked our car there.

The guys at the hotel informed that if we want to go visit the Varadaraja Perumal temple, it closes at 1 pm.

So we quickly washed up and started our temple run.

Temple Run

The temple is like a 10 min walk from the hotel. There is an entry fee of Rs 5 into the temple. And it was reasonably crowded at the entrance.

Then we go in and join in the queue for darshan, not to the main deity but at a sub temple. It took like 10-15 mins here. Then we went to the main deity and the queue there was pretty long to say the least, it took almost an hour.

After having darshan, we spent a bit of time admiring the incarnate carvings. One has to admit we were blown away looking at the delicate work done in stone all around us.

Just a few pics -

Starting with the temple gopuram


The temple pond


Some examples of the carvings -







After the temple visit we were starving and found a good place to have our lunch. This place was pretty good, and we ended up visiting this place a number of times.

We were tired by now, and headed back to the hotel, and decided to take some rest before the evening session of the temple run began.

For those of you unaware, most temples in TN and Kerala open in the morning and close in the afternoon, to reopen early evening.

Temple Run - Evening session

Had read at a few places that the best way to travel in Kanchi was by auto, so we decided to park our car at the hotel, and go around town in an auto. The agenda for the afternoon was to visit the below temples -
1. Kanchi Kamakshi Amman temple
2. Ekambareshwar Temple
3. Kailsanathar Temple

Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple

We got into a share auto to go to Kamakshi Amman temple from our hotel, and we reached there in no time, and hassle of finding a parking, which was an added bonus. The temple reopens at 4:30 pm, and we were there probably around 4:10 or so. Saw the temple pond with its fountains.







Since the temple had just opened, there was no rush at all, and we managed to get into the temple with virtually no rush. The highlight was that we were able to see the abhishekham. The sense of peace inside the santum sanctorum was beyond words. It was such a nice feeling to be inside the temple.

After finishing darshan here next destination was Ekambareshwar temple, which is not too far from the Kachi Kamakshi Amman temple. So we asked an auto driver, after some haggling over the fare, he dropped us at the temple. With an offer to wait for us, if we wanted to shop for some sarees, and he will take us to some really good shops with good variety and reasonable prices. Later we realised that one of the side gigs for all auto drivers was getting customers to these saree shops.

Ekambaraeshwar Temple


So next stop is Ekambareshwar temple. This temple is one of the pancha bhoota temples in South India. It represents the Earth element. The other temples being -
1. Jambukeshwarar Temple in Trichy representing the water element
2. Arunachaleswarar Temple in Annamalai hills of TN, representing the Fire element
3. Kalahastheeshwara Temple in Andhra Pradesh representing the Air element
4. Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram representing the Ether (Sky) element

As we reach there, we were lucky enough to attend the Shiva Abhishekham this time. This being one of the great shiva temples of south India.

The fine work in stone on the pillars just left me spell bound. I was thinking of how culturally rich these places would have been in their heyday.

Some pictures. Quality may not be upto mark in some of these as I was not carrying my DSLR and let the phone cameras do the duty this time -











The gopuram of this temple is one of the highest in India.

Kailasanathar Temple

The next step was Kailsanathar temple. Hadn't done much research on this one, and paid the price. Read on to find out how.

When I checked Google, it mentioned that this place is open 24*7. I was a bit surprised.
From Ekambareshwar temple, we hailed an auto to take us to this place. It was almost 6:30 pm by the time we reached there. Place was not too crowded, the lawns had few people roaming around, so we went in, and found that the sanctum sanctorum was closed. Spent a bit of time in the lawns and decided that we will come back here before we return. Bummer.

So after this, we were hungry so headed over to Sarvana Bhawan at Gandhi Road. Had a filling dinner, got into a shared auto which dropped us right opposite our hotel.

What to do with Day2?

We had our booking only for the day at Kanchi. Didn't have any bookings in Mahabs. Whatever I saw in the portals was way too over priced for what was being offered. So we decided to extend our hotel in Kanchi by a day, drive to Mahabs in the morning. Its like a 1.5 hr drive. and return at night. And then back to Bangalore the next morning. So seemed like plan.

Checked with the hotel guys and they were too happy to extend by a day. Great!!!

Ok, so we retire for the night, and then realise that every small noise in the hallway finds its way into the room. Hmmm. But since we had walked a lot, and were tired, managed to sleep well.

After getting up in the morning, getting ourselves freshned up and ready for the day ahead, we go for a leisurely walk to the same place we had lunch the previous day for breakfast.

After breakfast, it was time to head over to Mahabs. We started at around 9 am. The road was not the best we have driven in TN, but was far better than what we usually get in Bangalore.

Just at the entrance of Mahabalipuram there is a check post where from other state vehicles they collect Rs 75 entry fees. The guy said that we could park for free at the places of interest by showing this ticket. Cool. So we move on to - Krishna's butter ball.

Mahabalipuram


So we park at the Krishna's butter ball, the place was crowded. We head over to the ticketing counter. There is a common counter from where you can buy tickets for all monuments maintained by ASI. You can either buy from the ticket counter, or you can buy digitally by scanning a QR code, get an e ticket and get a discount to boot. Not many people were scanning the QR code for whatever reason and buying directly from the ticket counter. I enquired from the guy at the counter and he said that the QR code works, people just dont bother to do it. I try my hand at it and it works fine. No hassle at any of the monuments either. Worked like a charm. Happy to have saved some money and contributed to the environment by going paper less (after driving down to Mahabs from Bangalore in a Harrier rl:).

People were getting each other's way in the quest for getting the perfect click. For those of you unaware of Krishna's butter ball, it is a gigantic granite rock resting on a rocky incline. The rock is estimated to be about 250 tonnes. Its about 20 ft high and 16 ft wide.

The standard pics at the butter ball, trying our hands at pushing it down the slope. Since both me and my daughter are as strong as any human we did manage to roll it down, and then keep it back where it was so that others can find it where it used to be. :)





This complex is very vast with lots of structures with intricate carvings in stone which leaves one wondering how these were all done eons ago. Just spell binding.









These carvings of Vishnu in the Varaha avtar are very rare.












No idea how they managed to sandwich these heavy rocks between the boulders.



The following pics are from Arjuna's Penance, another attraction right next to Krishna's butter ball.

Some lines copied from Wikipedia about Arjuna's Penance describing the monument - Measuring 96 by 43 feet (29 m × 13 m), it is a giant open-air rock relief carved on two monolithic rock boulders. The legend depicted in the relief is the story of the descent of the sacred river Ganges to earth from the heavens led by Bhagiratha. The waters of the Ganges are believed to possess supernatural powers. The descent of the Ganges and Arjuna's Penance are portrayed in stone at the Pallava heritage site. The relief is more of a canvas of Indian rock cut sculpture at its best not seen anywhere in India. It is one of the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram that were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.

So from Krishna's Butterball, we go to the next attraction which is privately maintained and not by the ASI - Seashell museum. Its a group of 4-5 attractions housing a sea shell museum, pearl museum, dinosaur museum and a minerals museum. They have a ticket of Rs 300 per head and Rs 100 extra if you want to click pictures even with a mobile phone. Its a good place to spend some time.

We had some sea food at a road side shop right outside the sea shell museum. It was ok kind of food. Not too tasty, not atrocious, not too costly, not cheap either.

Next stop from here is another set of monuments known as the Pancha Rathas. It is estimated to have been carved in around 630 AD in the reign of King Narsimhavarman.

Some pics -

From the Pancha Rathas, the shore temple is a short drive away. The parking here is crowded and it is a big problem to find a slot. There is a private parking here as well, which charges Rs 30. I was able to find a slot so parked for free.

There is some restoration work happening at the shore temple currently. But its again a nice place to spend some time.

















I was wondering why this lion has a square shaped cut in its touch. Well, there is a beautiful carving of a goddess in there.

It was around 4:30 pm by when we were done with the monuments. So, it was time for "Long time no c". Headed for some vitamin sea. The beach was very crowded, and the sea a bit rough, so couldn't go too far into the water, but enjoyed nonetheless.

Once we had our filled, stopped at a shack (not really a shack as in the Goa ones, but a shop by the beach really) for some sea food. And as a bonus caught the last two overs of India-Pak T20 WC match and including that shot from Kohli off Haris Rauf. So as an icing on the cake, India won, and me = very happy.

Time to head back to our hotel in Kanchi, a good 90 mins away. Well, we reach there, have a quick shower and then headed for dinner. Back to the same place where we had lunch the previous day and breakfast in the morning. Have a satisfying dinner and ready to retire for the day.

What a day!!!

Plan for tomorrow, bit altered. So it was Diwali day, and we had to return home. But we decided, lets visit the two Shiva temples again, which means get up around 5ish and head to the temple in time for the opening.

Last Day


We get up and since it was Diwali day and early in the morning, we knew parking will not be a hassle, so decided to take Mr Harry Potter along. We reach Ekambareshwar temple in no time.

Attend the morning prayers and then head to Kailasanthar temple. The temple complex was open, but the main temple is still closed. We are told that it will open only at 9 am.

But we get some really good clicks here.

These lions are known as Yalis




The narrow space you see in between, there is space for people to squeeze in and then there is space for you to sit and meditate. The chanting of Om gives a feeling of an echo as well. Truly astounding. We tried it and it works.

Back Home


Now we headed back to the hotel, actually breakfast, collected our things loaded it into the boot of Mr Harry Potter and drove back home. It was a quick drive back home and Google for some pleasant reason routed us through better roads. and the drive home was super quick.

It was indeed a very well spent time. Thanks for being patient to have come to this point. I know things could have been done differently, but this is how we chose to do it.

you have covered a lot of temples in this trip! Temple hopping is not my cup of tea, requires incredible patience to park, move in those crowded lines. But you do whats best for you. The only exception I have made for that rule is Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Singapore and Tirumala. Incredibly clean and well maintained. Mahabalipuram we always cover when we go to Pondicherry. The sculptures are always something new everytime we visit