1-13/14-09

After Chidambarum, we traveled to Tanjavur. My cold had loosened its hold on me somewhat, so I felt up to the occasion of visiting the temple. It is a sight to behold! This temple was also a temple for Shiva – there seems to be a distinct trend in favor of Shiva as far as our temple visits are concerned. However, this temple was more than just another temple. It was also the civic and political center of the Chola Empire in the first part of the reign of Rajaraja (the “King of kings”). The Chola Empire was, for the most part, a seafaring, merchant empire and, as such, all organization was done through the temple, from education to tax-collecting. In the later part of his reign, Rajaraja built another temple dedicated to Shiva. He was exceptionally clever in the naming of this temple. Rather than calling it some variation of “Shiva’s Temple”, he named it Rajarajeswar – the temple for the God of the King of kings – thus connecting his own kingship with a religious power and strengthening his claim of being the rightful ruler.
The temple itself is both very beautiful and rather large. It is made of a lovely golden brown stone. The statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Shiva, in front of the temple is the largest India. In its heyday, there were four hundred full time dancers employed there and each was given a small plot of land and a house for their use. There is also a small museum attached. It had many artifacts from the Chola Empire as well as records of all the gifts from Rajaraja, his sister, and various courtiers.
After seeing the temple, we went to the palace of the Maharaja which has been partly converted into a museum. He still lives there, however, so part of the house is off-limits. There were lots of old statues, and the architecture was impressive. Unfortunately, it was quite dirty. There is a secret tunnel going from the palace to the temple six kilometers away. People are allowed to go into the first part but farther along it has collapsed and is only traversed by king cobras and roaches. I was going to go into the first part, but it was rather disgusting and I heard something squeaking. The closterphobia got to me and I didn’t go more than ten feet. There were some nice weapons as well as other artifacts, including documents written on folded palm leaves.
We also climbed the watch tower. I considered not going because my cold had returned with new strength, thanks to my refusal to rest. By the time I reached the top, I felt like fainting, but I didn’t. It was a really nice view – you can see the palace and a quite a bit of the town. It was also nice to be so high up, in the fresh breeze, far above the hustle and bustle on the streets below. At this point, we were all ready for a rest. Mom and Dad meandered back through the town, stopping at shops along the way, but Patrick and I took a rickshaw because I didn’t feel up to a long walk in the afternoon heat.
In the evening we returned to the temple because it is Pongal and we wanted to see the celebrations. Pongal is a holiday to celebrate the harvest and is, therefore, more popular in rural areas, but it was still a huge occasion in Tanjavur. There was a contagious feel of festivity in the air that reached through to me even through the haze of sickness. There was one girl who bumped into me by accident. Even when she apologized and tried to look regretful, she had such a look of pure joy on her face. I think if I were to see her years from now anywhere else in the world, I would still recognize her. People were thronging in the temple. It was really nice to see so many people happily praying. It has been a long, full day and I am exhausted, but happy.