Last year I visited the temple city of Kumbakonam for attending my relative's marriage. It presented a unique opportunity for me and my wife to take time off and visit the beautiful and brilliant temples in and around Kumbakonam.
Kumbakonam is a unique city with lots of temples and each temple foretells its history of thousands of years. The city is a must visit for people who are religious, people who love architecture, archaeology and history. More often India is distorted by specific tourist destinations like the Taj Mahal (which of course is a must see) but if you really want see what India looked like in its golden age and 1000s of years before recorded history then you must visit the temples of south India and places like Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Madurai and host of other temple destinations in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
In this multi part blog let's take a look at Kumbakonam a beautiful temple city in Tamil Nadu and its temples.
For more information on the city visit the wiki site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbakonam
One of the great things I love about cities like these is that you can relive the history of such places by visiting the temples where tradition of thousands of years are still kept alive through the temple customs, deities and ambience. The experience is just out of the world, in this era where we are always rushing from one thing to another and do not take the time to experience or feel anything, this kind of experience somewhere grounds you when you look at the history and the architectural marvel of these temples. The icing on the cake is the peace and eternal bliss that is experienced in such places, places of worship which are still not shrouded by commercialism and places where you can take your own time to explore and experience.
I found a very good guide map and legend of temple locations in and around Kumbakonam in the hotel where we were staying. We took a cab to go around and I think the cost was a INR 1,500 for a day with the driver who was very knowledgeable about the locations and conversant with the temple timings.
Kumbakonam is a unique city with lots of temples and each temple foretells its history of thousands of years. The city is a must visit for people who are religious, people who love architecture, archaeology and history. More often India is distorted by specific tourist destinations like the Taj Mahal (which of course is a must see) but if you really want see what India looked like in its golden age and 1000s of years before recorded history then you must visit the temples of south India and places like Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Madurai and host of other temple destinations in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
In this multi part blog let's take a look at Kumbakonam a beautiful temple city in Tamil Nadu and its temples.
For more information on the city visit the wiki site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbakonam
One of the great things I love about cities like these is that you can relive the history of such places by visiting the temples where tradition of thousands of years are still kept alive through the temple customs, deities and ambience. The experience is just out of the world, in this era where we are always rushing from one thing to another and do not take the time to experience or feel anything, this kind of experience somewhere grounds you when you look at the history and the architectural marvel of these temples. The icing on the cake is the peace and eternal bliss that is experienced in such places, places of worship which are still not shrouded by commercialism and places where you can take your own time to explore and experience.
I found a very good guide map and legend of temple locations in and around Kumbakonam in the hotel where we were staying. We took a cab to go around and I think the cost was a INR 1,500 for a day with the driver who was very knowledgeable about the locations and conversant with the temple timings.
