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Tiruchchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
Tiruchchirappalli, or Trichy, lies at the head of the Cauvery river delta. A
Chola citadel in the 1st century BCE, it was an important regional capital of the Pallava,
Pandyas, Chola, and Vijayanagar kings from the 7th to the 17th century,
and the scene of bitter fighting between
Muslim, Maratha, British, and French troops from the 17th to the 19th century.
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Sri Jambukeshwara Temple
Built in the 10th century CE, this temple, dedicated to Shiva
and Parvati, is known for its fine gopurams. Gopurams are the entrance
gateways to temples in South India. They grew in size from the mid-12th
century CE until the colossal ones came to dominate the temple complex,
surpassing the main sanctum for architectural elaboration. Often a series of
gopurams are to be found at a shrine, each providing entry through a new
enclosure wall. The gopuram is generally constructed with a stone base and a
superstructure of brick and pilaster. It is rectangular in plan and topped
by a barrel-vault roof. The exterior walls are covered with sculpture. ♣
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Outermost
gopuram
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Divine battle
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Zooming in
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Ravana?
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Song and
dance?
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Push, push
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Gateway sentry
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Dreadlocks
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Second gopuram
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Third gopuram
w/ mandapa
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Third gopuram
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Third gopuram
detail
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Comfy sitting?
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Ravana?
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Krishna with
gopis
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Krishna with
gopis
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Path to the
inner sanctum
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Pillared
hallway
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Center of the
hall
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Pillar detail
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Fourth gopuram
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Courtyard
sculpture
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Fifth gopuram
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Beggar woman
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Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Srirangam)
Ramanuja (1017-1137 CE), the single
most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism, settled down at Srirangam,
where he organized temple worship and founded centers to disseminate his
doctrine of devotion to Vishnu and his wife Sri. He taught that the worship of a
personal god and the soul's union with him is an essential part of the
doctrines of the Upanishads on which the system of Vedanta is built;
therefore, the teachings of the Vaishavas and Bhagavatas (devotees of
Vishnu) are not heterodox. His influence on the course of Hinduism was
profound. By embedding the urge for devotional worship (bhakti) into his
doctrine of salvation, he aligned the popular religion with the pursuits of
philosophy and gave bhakti an intellectual basis. Ever since, bhakti has
remained the dominant flavor of Hinduism.
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Today the vast temple complex is a
noisy little town. An example of a still-popular ancient temple that is
ill-maintained (unlike the nearby Jambukeshwar temple, or the Meenakshi temple at
Madurai), it seethes with half-naked
priests with painted foreheads hell-bent on preventing cameras inside and keeping non-Hindus out of it,
a disturbing practice not uncommon in Tamil Nadu temples. Until the efforts
of Gandhi
and Ambedkar in the 1930s, the "untouchables" too were not allowed in. At
the temple Shunya met a retired civil engineer in traditional attire,
escorting his 90+ mother. Mixing mystical ideas with reason, he
criticized the temple's orthodox priests and rituals. "You must stay away
from temples," he said, adding mischievously, "what do you think happens
to all the sticky sin that others unload here ? " |
Entrance
gopuram (more)
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Second gopuram
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Third gopuram
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Fourth gopuram
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Road through
gopuram
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Riotous
sculpture
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Hallway behind
inner sanctum
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Around the
inner sanctum
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Rock Fort Temple |
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Built by the
Nayaks of Madurai
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Relief
sculpture near entrance
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Vinayaka (Ganesh)
temple
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Shiva temple
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Miscellaneous pictures |
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Trichy on the
Cavery (more)
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Trichy roads
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Brick & mortar
jungle?
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Another view
of Trichy
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Cauvery river
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Lourdes church
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Girl leading
blind woman
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"High class"
restaurant
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