Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Incredible India Tour - 03 April 2009 (Friday)

Off to Thiruvannamalai, a pilgrimage town and municipality in Thiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.
Thiruvannamalai is home to the Annamalaiyar Temple located at the foot of the Annamalai hill and amongst one of the great Shiva Temples of Tamilnadu. Thiruvannamalai has long been associated with many yogis and siddhars, and more recently the 20th century guru Ramana Maharshi.
The temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was built between the 16th and the 17th centuries by the kings of the Vijayanagara empire. The temple is famous for its massive gopurams.
The 11 tiered East Rajagopuram towers to a height of 217 feet, while the fortified walls pierced with 4 gopura entrances offer a formidable look to this vast temple complex . The Pei Gopuram, Tirumanjana Gopuram and Ammanaiammal gopuram are the other three. The 1000 pillared hall and the temple tank were built by Krishna Deva Rayarar of Vijayanagar. Each of the prakarams has a huge Nandi and several towers such as the Vallala Maharaja Gopuram and Kili Gopuram.


We had lunch at Saravana Bhavan. Then....we went to see the Vellore Golden temple. Vellore, the 142-year old municipality was crowned as largest Corporation in Tamilnadu on August 2008.It is considered to be one of the oldest surviving cities in South India. The city lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort.The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati.

SriLakshmi Temple in Sripuram, popularly known as Golden Temple, is a newly built Spiritual Park / Temple in Thirumalaikodi, Vellore. The whole exterior of the temple is laid with gold sheets and plates. The construction of this temple is reported to have cost Rs.300 crores (Rs.3 billion). The temple is surrounded by a vast lush green landscaped area. The temple can only be accessed by going through a star shaped walkway.
No photograhs allowed in the temple.....so i got this from the net ;)