Madurai
Let's hope the electricty doesn't go or the connection fail!!
I am now in Madurai- The Temple City. We just toured the Meenakshi Temple. 12 km of towers and a temple honoring Shiva and Pavrati including two pure gold domes. The towers rise 100's of feet into the sky packed with sculptures painted in bright colors. Our tour guide, a towering young local guy spoke in Hindi as Javed translated. Let's just say I was getting the jist of things.
Devotees filled the temple with offerings and prayers. The temple columns are carved from a single stone. Some carvings are of gods, some of fantastical animals..part lion, part human, part crocodile. I am still drawn to the playful Ganeesh. Two huge sculptures of dancing Shiva and Pavrati (I think I'm screwing up the spelling...sorry) had round blobs of butter stuck to the surface. It is said that during a dance competition between the two Shiva pulled a last minute stunt and lifted his leg up to his head. Pavrati could not do this as she was in a sari. He therefore won the competition. Pavrati was very mad, fuming actually that she didn't get her way. Sound familiar? Anyways, the butter is meant to soften her temper. Not sure why Shiva is covered as well.
The ceilings of the temple are covered with intricate paintings. The adjoining museum was a dance hall. It is also called the hall of 1000 pillars. The construction is amazing each pillar is a dancer, musician or fanatastical animal. At the upstage center (as we call it) of the hall is a huge dancing shiva. Five metal statues from the temple are preserved in glass. As was at the palace in Cochin, the museum is dimly lit and the glass is dusty so viewing the statues is an art in catching the natural light. Our guide wanted to point out the karma sutra bas reliefs in the pillars. Looks like sexuality was a bit more integrated and visible or at least celebrated than it is today..in most cultures. Later, when I was looking in my bag for a pen, my dupatta fell and like six men moved forward to catch a view. It must be all the bodacious statues in the temple. It's not NYC in the summer.
As a non-hindu I am not allowed in any other temple so our guide took us across the street...across the hot pavement as our shoes were on the other side of the temple...to a shop that has a view on the roof. He walked easily on the burning ground as my little white feet seared to god knows, I haven't looked yet. It was beautiful . And then we were of course led through the fancy Kashmiri shop..all the same stuff that Javed has in his store only they think he is a foreigner since he's with me. The hard sell begins and we made a bolt for the door.
I went into a store to find a gift and as usual got sucked in for hours as the eager sales ladies pull everything off the shelves unfolding, unpackaging everything until you find something you like. You end up buying something. How can you not with piles of unpackaged salwars in front of you. They are determined to find something you will like.
We just had a luscious meal on bannana leaves. Rice, dahl, curd and vegetables, lime pickles YUM! and really I have no idea what the rest was but it was gooood.
We are only here for the day and off to Kodaikal this evening.
To get here we climbed and winded our way down from Kerala through the tea plantations, jungle, brush overlooking the wide open valley. It was steeper than hwy 1 out of Big Sur and as dramatic as descending into the Dead Sea. I sat clutching the edge of my seat as Javed winded the car down the road narrowly missing buses and jeeps zooming up the hill. At the base of the hill, the trees becaem short and flat topped like large bonsai trees or a wispier version of a cypress. We spied a swimming pool. It turned out to be a private garden to be opened next month by a temple artist. We decided to take a swim. I can't swim in a bathing suit but must instead wear my clothes. This is what I don't quite get because once my pants and shirt were wet, you could see it all. And then we were on our way to Madurai through villages processing wheat and other villages baking bricks.
I am now in Madurai- The Temple City. We just toured the Meenakshi Temple. 12 km of towers and a temple honoring Shiva and Pavrati including two pure gold domes. The towers rise 100's of feet into the sky packed with sculptures painted in bright colors. Our tour guide, a towering young local guy spoke in Hindi as Javed translated. Let's just say I was getting the jist of things.
Devotees filled the temple with offerings and prayers. The temple columns are carved from a single stone. Some carvings are of gods, some of fantastical animals..part lion, part human, part crocodile. I am still drawn to the playful Ganeesh. Two huge sculptures of dancing Shiva and Pavrati (I think I'm screwing up the spelling...sorry) had round blobs of butter stuck to the surface. It is said that during a dance competition between the two Shiva pulled a last minute stunt and lifted his leg up to his head. Pavrati could not do this as she was in a sari. He therefore won the competition. Pavrati was very mad, fuming actually that she didn't get her way. Sound familiar? Anyways, the butter is meant to soften her temper. Not sure why Shiva is covered as well.
The ceilings of the temple are covered with intricate paintings. The adjoining museum was a dance hall. It is also called the hall of 1000 pillars. The construction is amazing each pillar is a dancer, musician or fanatastical animal. At the upstage center (as we call it) of the hall is a huge dancing shiva. Five metal statues from the temple are preserved in glass. As was at the palace in Cochin, the museum is dimly lit and the glass is dusty so viewing the statues is an art in catching the natural light. Our guide wanted to point out the karma sutra bas reliefs in the pillars. Looks like sexuality was a bit more integrated and visible or at least celebrated than it is today..in most cultures. Later, when I was looking in my bag for a pen, my dupatta fell and like six men moved forward to catch a view. It must be all the bodacious statues in the temple. It's not NYC in the summer.
As a non-hindu I am not allowed in any other temple so our guide took us across the street...across the hot pavement as our shoes were on the other side of the temple...to a shop that has a view on the roof. He walked easily on the burning ground as my little white feet seared to god knows, I haven't looked yet. It was beautiful . And then we were of course led through the fancy Kashmiri shop..all the same stuff that Javed has in his store only they think he is a foreigner since he's with me. The hard sell begins and we made a bolt for the door.
I went into a store to find a gift and as usual got sucked in for hours as the eager sales ladies pull everything off the shelves unfolding, unpackaging everything until you find something you like. You end up buying something. How can you not with piles of unpackaged salwars in front of you. They are determined to find something you will like.
We just had a luscious meal on bannana leaves. Rice, dahl, curd and vegetables, lime pickles YUM! and really I have no idea what the rest was but it was gooood.
We are only here for the day and off to Kodaikal this evening.
To get here we climbed and winded our way down from Kerala through the tea plantations, jungle, brush overlooking the wide open valley. It was steeper than hwy 1 out of Big Sur and as dramatic as descending into the Dead Sea. I sat clutching the edge of my seat as Javed winded the car down the road narrowly missing buses and jeeps zooming up the hill. At the base of the hill, the trees becaem short and flat topped like large bonsai trees or a wispier version of a cypress. We spied a swimming pool. It turned out to be a private garden to be opened next month by a temple artist. We decided to take a swim. I can't swim in a bathing suit but must instead wear my clothes. This is what I don't quite get because once my pants and shirt were wet, you could see it all. And then we were on our way to Madurai through villages processing wheat and other villages baking bricks.
posted by Jen at 2:17 AM
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