Friday January 20 - Chennai to Mamalapuram

Had a wonderful morning visiting our first site in South India, a Hindu temple in Chennai called Karpagambal Kapaleeswarar Temple Temple at Triplicane, from the 16th c, which is dedicated to Shiva.  This temple attracts thousands of devotees. These are living temples where you see local residents as well as pilgrims who come from far away in acts of devotion.  It is quite a striking experience.  

We were lucky enough to visit on a Friday which turns out to be the day when women go to the temple for prayer.  They take ghee with thread and make oil lamps.  We learned from our wonderful guide, Donalakshmi, that on Fridays women clean their houses and offering vessels with tumeric and lemon juice.  Temples open early and remain open late but they close between noon and 4 in the afternoon.  Our guide said that the people believe the gods "need to rest" during this period. I loved that.

Next we drove along the beach to see the local fishing people and seafood market.  This area was completely destroyed due to a tsunami in 2004.  Honestly it looks as if the tsunami happened yesterday.  People live in huts made of woven coconut fronds.  All it's extremely primitive and is amazing to see.   

As we traveled Donalakshmi answered our many questions regarding Hindu gods, their consorts, children and their "conveyances".  Brahma's wife is Saraswati, Vishnu's wife is Lakshmi, Shiva's wife is Parvati.  Shiva and Parvati have two sons, Ganesha and Muruga (aka Karatikaya).  Conveyances:  Shiva, the Bull; Parvati, the Lion or Tiger; Vishnu, the Garuda; Muruga, the Peacock. Being able to identify the conveyance is important in a temple because often the sculptures of deities themselves, at least to our eyes, look pretty much the same.  The conveyance is often a helpful way of determining which god is which.

Had lunch at a Chettinad-style restaurant where we once again ate off of banana leaves (round yet again) but this time without silverware.  Eating rice and curry with ones' fingers is quite a challenge. 

Before leaving town we stopped at what I think was a nice and reputable antique shop.  I purchased a small sandalwood carving of a Ganesh and a two-sided carving depicting on one side Saraswati, the god of learning and wife of Brahma, and on the other side Lakshmi, god of wealth.  Now I need to find a carving of Parvati, god of energy and power.  Donalakshmi tells me that Madurai is the place.

Chennai street scene.

Chennai street scene.

Continued on the local equivalent of route A1A, a road that took us south along the coastline to tonight's destination, Mamallapurum.  On the dashboard of our car (our driver is Bala) is a small Ganesh and I noticed it had red powder sprinkled over it.  Donalakshmi explained that people often put a red powder made of tumeric and flowers on their dieties.  This is also the same mixture used to make the paste for bindi dots.  The bindi on the forehead represents the idea of keeping god with you at all times. 

We arrived around 5pm, checked into our lovely beach resort (the Radisson Blue Resort Temple Bay), then headed out again at 6:30 for a dance performance.  This is part of a two month special dance performance period in which classical Indian dances are celebrated and wonderful music is heard.  We were happy to see many local Indian families in the audience.  Happily this performance was not just for tourists.