Before I continue, I'd like to express my thanks to Mr. Seetharaman, the GM of Hotel Prince Towers, Maayavaram, on behalf of all the people who participated in the trip, and those of the e-group. He was a great guide, and he provided us with excellent accomodation at a discount. Thanks Mr. SR!
Gokul, your's is a valid point- but I shall repeat what Mr. Vishwaksenan and other researchers told us- a good many of the 'facts' we heard were assumptions- clever 'oogams' on the part of historians, considering the stone inscriptions and the strategic placement of temples. They were careful to state that in many cases there was no real, solid proof. It could have been- but it needn't have been, either. We heard other theories that came under the same heading- the one in Thiruvalanchuzi, especially. I'll come to that later.
To continue with the Travelogue (there was so much to see that an episode-like version seemed to be the most suitable:-)
Day 1 (Friday, February 7th):
Our next stop was Udaiyaarkudi - another temple with a good deal of historical interest. We arrived there about 11.30 AM, after retracing our steps from Kadambur- and we were so famished that we decided on a food-break. Brunch (a combo of lunch and breakfast, which we missed) was at Hotel Selva's. By 12.15, we were finished. With the sun on our heads, we walked around the temple, which was udergoing repairs (most temples seemed to). It was quite deserted, and we spent a pleasant few minutes walking around the place, admiring the sculptures. I guess, in comparison with the Periya Koil and other renowned spots, these smaller temples looked rather faded. Worse, they had been painted over so completely and thoroughly( 'Asian' paintings, as Mr. Vijayakumar remarked:-) that one couldn't make out the original features at all. For all that, we managed to see plenty.
Udaiyaarkudi, for instance, is the site of the most startling inscription-one that condemns Ravidasan, his brother Parameswaran, and other conspirators, their families, those who married into them, the whole set-up, in fact, to an exile outside Chozha Nadu. The inscription says 'Throgigalaanaa...Ravidasan...' and that sparked off a whole new thread. Throgigal. If RD and the rest of the caboodle had been Pandiya naattu aabathuthavigal, wouldn't they have been named as such? Why call them betrayers at all? Could there possibly be something behind that? One particular theory is that Ravidasan and Co., weren't Pandiyan citizens at all, but were part of the Chozha regime itself. Apparently, they had been assigned by 'someone inside' to put away the crown prince...it appears, however, that Raja raja Chozhan couldn't find enough evidence to support it.
Unfortunately, the 'kalvettu' that bears this inscription is so chock-full of paint that we almost raved in desperation:-) What wouldn't we have done to read a bit, just a tiny bit of those revolutionary words? No amount of scraping over the stone, or feeling our fingers along it could define them. It seems the writer Balakumaran went through the same fit of desperation. One part of the inscription was clearer than the rest- the paint had been rubbed off. The archagar remarked that the writer had painstakingly scraped off the paint over the inscription himself. In the end, we had to content ourselves with photographing it.
We got an unexpected bonus here- the archagar provided us with excellent, enchanting music. We were standing in the garba griham, waiting for the deepaaraathanai, when a voice rose suddenly, singing His praises. In the dark, confined room, it sounded pure and unearthly. There was complete silence for a while after he finished. It was only after he apeared with the vibuthi did we shake ourselves out of the trance.
brought us to the banks of the renowned lake, where the story starts. When we drove to the banks- we saw a huge cement bank on one side, with a vast shrubland stretching away into the distance. A few goats grazed on the plains, and a small dog was splashing about in shallow water:-). But what good is travelling without imagination? We supplied the mathagus, the overflowing water, pathinettaam perukku all by ourselves- so it was quite allright. The road was awful, though. The next stop was the temple.
On one side there was the lake sloping downwards, on the other side the land itself dipped sharply. The van lurched forwards and backwards, all of us hanging on for dear life. We were wondering if our wish to see the lake had been granted in a peculiar fashion by the Gods- by dipping us headfirst into the lake, and affording us a 'different' view! But our therotti proved to be an expert. We wrenched away from the road, towards the temple.
Veera naarayanpuram Koil proved to be an interesting place-in another respect. When we entered, there was a 'Panchayathu' going on, very seriously. It was a pity we couldn't stay and listen to the meeting agenda, but from the way everybody was squatting around, we felt sure that it was something quite serious (just like the films!). We wandered around, gazing at the inside of the temple, spent some time and finally made our exit.
A journey of 25 Kms saw us to Gangaikonda Chozhapuram- the hallmark of Rajendra Chozha I. It was 2.45 when we went there- the temple wasn't open for the poojai yet. They say that the Thanjai Periya Koil is masculine in appearance, whereas GKC is feiminine- smaller in size, and more delicate in features. (Someone even remarked that the temple was smaller than the Tanjore one because Rajendra Chola didn't want to build a temple that might outshine his father's). The grounds of GKC are beautiful- well maintained, green lawns and clear-cut stone sculptures. The Nataraja sculpture in the left part of the gopuram was particularly beautiful- the features were so precise, lifelike and pleasant. The smile alone would have won a beauty paegant. The Nandi also is a sight to see. Since the garbagriham would be open only by 4PM, we decided to spend time wandering about the lawns-which is what we did. We must have taken a dozen photos over there- especially the Singa-muga enclosure which led to the temple well. By 4.30, we were ready to start on our way to another landmark in the Ponniyn Selvan magnum opus- the Pazhuvur Temples.