A Family filled week! - June 1st-3rd

June 1st:

We started off the morning going to a beach nearby to watch the sunrise which was gorgeous! After breakfast we started the trek back east to Karur stopping in Thanjavur along the way to go to another temple and the palace.

We visited the Thanjavur Peruvudaiyar Kovil. (Temple #9)  It is one of the largest temples in India and one of India's most prized architectural sites. Built by emperor Raja Raja Chola I and completed in 1010 AD, Peruvudaiyaar Temple, also popularly known as the 'Big Temple', turned 1000 years old in 2010. The temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Great Living Chola Temples.

We also stopped by the Thanjavur Maratha Palace, which was originally constructed by the rulers of Thanjavur Nayak kingdom. After the fall of the Thanjavur Nayak kingdom, it served as the official residence of the Thanjavur Maratha. When most of the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom was annexed to the British Empire in 1799, the Thanjavur Marathas continued to hold sway over the palace and the surrounding fort. The Bhonsle family continued to hold on to the palace even after the last king Shivaji II was deposed as per the Doctrine of Lapse.

While we're still going to temples along the way the busy part of the #templecrawl is now over and we're on to visiting various family members. First stop was in Karur to stay with one set of grandparents, aunt/uncle, and cousins.

My mom, sister, aunt, uncle, and their two kids

June 2nd:

Our uncle in Karur owns a textile company and supplies a number of stores in the US (Dollar Store, Hobby Lobby, Ross Dress for Less) with different household items such as tableclothes, linens, kitchen towels, aprons, etc... It was cool to stop by and see the showroom and part of the factory. 

At my uncle's textile showroom

We ended the night in Namakkal where there is another set of grandparents and aunts and uncles. The fun part of this stop was the 7 year old cutie that we got to see. Varshini is a cutie pie that I hadn't seen for about 4 years and her cuteness has not gone away. She now has a new baby sister that's 4 months old: Sudarshini. 

Me and the adorable Varshini

June 3rd:

We haven't really had the chance to spend a lot of time at every place since we have to see a lot of people in a short period of time so after spending the night in Namakkal we visited two of the temples nearby. We of course had to stop by 2 more temples along the way. 

Namakkal is famous for a life-size Hanuman (Anjaneynar) Statue carved out of a single stone in the Anjeneyar Temple. (Temple #10)  The city lies at the foot of a huge rock, upon which there is a fort. The name Namakkal immediately brings to mind ‘Namakkal Anjaneyar’ – the temple of Hanuman at Namakkal. The idol of Hanuman is approx. 18 feet in height, and stands under open sky. Opposite to the Hanuman is a temple of Narasimha (Temple #11) which was the other temple that we visited. 

The Anjaneya Temple

Narasimha temple

With the cute Sudarshini (4 months)

After our temple visits we were on our way to Dindigul to stay with my cousin and her family which is always fun. This was our brief rest stop since we were going to be spending a few days here. 

June 4th & 5th: 

We basically just lounged around and caught up with everyone. My cousin and her husband have two kids, Rithani (14) and Kavinraj (11) who my sister and I are close to. Their cousin Ashwatha (7) was also in town after spending the previous 2 months in London with her mom, aunt, and uncle and was a hoot. She picked up the British accent and nothing that anyone did was "modern" enough. No one was cool enough for her. We always have a great time when we're in Dindigul so I was glad that we were spending a little bit more time here. We also had the chance to watch 36 Vayadhinile which was a great movie. We did a little shopping but for the most part just hang out with family. 

Ashwatha (too cool for us)

At Thalapakatti for lunch

Kavin, Myself, Ashwatha, and Rithani

My cousin Bavani Akka

June 6th: 

We made the trek out on Friday night to Rangappa goundan valasu (RG Valasu) where my mom's dad's side of the family is from. This is also where my cousin's parents still live so we spent the night at their house/farm. We also all slept outside since the weather was so nice and we didn't have to deal with mosquitoes. The next morning we explored the farm and basically enjoyed nature. The views from the house were amazing! We headed back to Dindigul after lunch stuffing 11 people + luggage in a 8 seater with no trunk. You can imagine how cramped it was but still fun to hang out with everyone. 

Can you imagine having this view everyday? 

June 7th:

After breakfast with my cousin's family we went back to spend the day and night at my aunt's house (dad's sister) to visit with her family and my grandfather since I technically only have another 10 days before I head back to Pittsburgh. My grandfather is in his 90s and we really don't talk much but I know that he just wants to sit with us sine he only sees us once every few years and even then only for a few hours here or there. My sister and I are the youngest of the 8 cousins and we really don't ever see anyone which is one of the downsides of living in the US when all of your family is in another country. We did have a fun tim exploring my aunt and uncle's farm. They grow a lot of different things: peanuts, sorgam, red chilli peppers, green chillies, onions, eggplants, castor bean trees, coconuts, etc.... 

Breaking the peanut shells

Sorgam

Cows for milk!

This view is amazing!

Eggplant

Red Chilli Peppers

Castor Bean pods

Getting cocunuts to drink coconut water

Getting to the water!

 June 8th:

Today was an early morning because we were headed to the engagement ceremony for one of my cousin's and the ceremony was taking place between 6 & 7am so we had to be up, dressed, and out the door by 5. I had never actually met my cousin that was getting engaged today but a good number of family from my mom's side was going to be there so it was the perfect opportunity to attend a family function and see all of the family that had made the trip for the ceremony. The ceremony itself was short and simple (surprisingly) and after breakfast and spending some time with family we left around noon to head back to my aunt's house to pack up. After one last stop in Dindigul to pick up all of our luggage we headed to the next stop on our road trip to Palani to visit one set of grandparents that are living there. Palani is always a fun place to visit and my grandmother here is a blast to hang out with. Dinner preparations are currently underway and we'll be heading to Temple #12 tomorrow morning! 

With our aunt and grandfather

With Viji Mama (cousin), aunt, and grandfather

With Thatha

And that's all for this week folks! 

~Aish

The Holy Weekend: May 30th & 31st

Saturday May 30th

We were forced to wake up early (3:30am) yet again on Saturday so we can start our journey west to Nagapattinam with my cousin Priya, her husband Saravanan anna, and their son, Manesh Kumar. On our way to their house we were stopping at various temples along the way and going shopping in Trichy.

Temple #3

First stop was Malai Kottai or Ucchi Pillayar Temple located in Trichy. The temple is located on top of a rock fort. We wanted to get there early before the sun came up so that we could make the climb in the cool weather. The temple is constructed on a 273-foot high rock and there are two temples inside the Rockfort, The Uchchi Pillaiyar Kovil and The Siva Temple. Geologically the 83 m high rock may date to over one billion years ago. 

The Ucchi Pillayar Temple,is a 7th-century Hindu temple, dedicated to Lord Ganesha.  This rock is the place where Lord Ganesh ran from King Vibishana, after establishing the Ranganathaswamy deity in Srirangam. 

After making the trek all the way to the top (It wasn't really that bad)

Murugan, Shiva & Parvati, and Pillayar (Ganesha)

 Temple #4

Our next stop was Sri Ranganathaswampy Temple in Srirangam. Srirangam is the foremost of the eight self-manifested shrines (Swayam Vyakta Kshetras) of Lord Vishnu.  The temple is dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of Lord Vishnu. It was constructed in the Dravidian style or architecture and is counted among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu. Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world, the still larger Angkor Wat being the largest existing temple. The temple occupies an area of 156 acres (631,000 m²) with a perimeter of 4,116m (10,710 feet) making it the largest temple in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world.

Most of the temples were unfortunately under construction so I couldn't get pics of the gopurams 

Temple #5

Our last temple stop for the day was Thiruvanaikaval a famous Shiva temple in Trichy. This temple is one of the five major Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu that represent the Mahabhuta or the five great elements (earth, water, fitre, air, and ether). Thiruvanaikaval represents the element of water or neer and the sanctum of Jambukeswara has an underground water stream and in spite of pumping water out, it is always filled with water.

It took us a good 5-6 hours to see all of these temples due to the crowds and the long lines that we had to wait in to actually be able to go into the temple. We also had to endure the sweltering heat throughout the day which made for an exhausting day.

After lunch we headed to Sarathas a clothing store in Trichy. By the time we got here I was in no mood to shop (which is saying something) just because I was completely drained from our morning of temple hopping in the heat. We ended up spending a good 3-4 hours shopping and buying sarees and salwars and some jewelry before continuing on to my cousin’s house in Nagapattinam where we promptly passed out. 

One of the suits my sister bought

Oh the choices

Our course for the day

Sunday, May 31st

The next morning didn’t begin as early as the previous two days but we were on the road by 9am to the temple city of Kumbakonam.

Temple #6: Thirunageswaram/ Arulmigu Naganathaswami Temple

Naganatha Swami (Naga in Tamil/Sanskrit means Snake and Natha means God) is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. An important feature of this temple is that it is of the Rahu bhagawan (one of the nine celestial bodies/planets) sannathi. It is the 29th in the series of Tevara Stalams located south of the Kaveri river. Here milk abhishekam is performed daily during Rahukaalam which is a certain period of time every day that is considered inauspicious for any new venture. During this time it is said that the milk that is poured on the statue turns blue when it passes over the body and once again to white after it reaches the floor. This temple is also the only place wherein one can view Rahu bhagawan with his consorts. The mythological serpents Aadi Seshan, Dakshan and Kaarkotakan worshipped Shiva here and Nala is worshipped here as well along.

First cocunut water of the trip

Temple #7: Uppliyappan Sannadhi/Thiruvinnagar of Venkatachalapathy Temple

This is a temple dedicated to the Hindi god Vishnu and is right near the previous temple. Uppiliappan is considered the elder brother of the presiding deity of Tirupathi Venkateshwara Temple. This is the temple that the Sri Venkateshwara temple in Pittsburgh is modeled after. The temple is revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the 7th–9th century Vaishnava canon, by Periazhwar, Thirumangai Azhwar and Nammazhwar. The temple is classified as a divyadesam, the 108 Vishnu temples that are revered in the Vaishnava canon. The temple is counted as the fourteenth in the list of divyadesams in Chola Nadu and 83rd in the overall list. 

The priest decided to photobomb our picture! 

We bought palm fruit (nongu) along the way

Temple #8: Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple near Pondicherry

Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple or Dharbaranyeswarar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Sani(Saturn) located in Tirunallar in Karaikal district of Pondicherry, India.^[2] The presiding deity is Lord Siva, Dharbaranyeswar and the place Tirunallar was historically called Dharbaranyam. The temple is revered by the hymns of 7^th century Tamil poets.

This was the last temple to round out our explorations for the day and it took us a little while to get back but it took us the good part of the day to make the rounds to these temples.

The archana packets that you could buy with lotus flowers

There were several massive chariots that were parked outside of the temple and they were gorgeous! 

The temple course for the day! 

We took a little bit of a break and then went to Vellankani which his home to one of the country’s biggest churches. The town is also along the Bay of Bengal so it has a beach that brings a ton of visitors. The Catholic Basilica devoted to Our Lady of Good Health is popularly known as the "Lourdes of the East".The origins of this church can be traced back to the 16th century and its founding is attributed to three miracles: the apparition of Mary and Jesus to a slumbering shepherd boy, the curing of a lame buttermilk vendor, and the survival of Portuguese sailors assaulted by a violent sea storm. It is built in the Gothic style, was modified by Portuguese and then further expanded later on due to the influx of pilgrims. The church building was raised to the status of basilica in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. Annually, 20 million pilgrims flock to the shrine from all over India and abroad which an estimated 3 million people visit the shrine during its annual festival from 29 August to 8 September. The 11-day annual festival concludes with the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September.

Velankanni was also one of the towns that was hit the worst by the massive tsunami that was triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The tsunami struck at around 9.30 am on that Sunday, when people from Kerala were inside the church attending the Malayalam Mass. The water did not enter the shrine as it was built on high ground, but the receding waters swept away hundreds of individuals who were on the beach.

The shrine's compound, nearby villages, hundreds of shops, homes and pilgrims were washed away into the sea. About 600 individuals died due to the tsunami. Rescue teams extricated more than 300 bodies from the sand and rocks in the vicinity and large number of unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves.

The new church building after the old one was hit by the Tsunami

Getting my name painted on a seashell!