The Ganges Conqueror's city

Let me share some pictures from one of our not-so recent trip.We plan picnics often,mostly visiting some temples and then some historic places. Once on such a trip,while driving onward to our destination we found out to our surprise that we were very near to the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple. In fact we were able to see the temple tower's tip. I have read so much about this temple during my school days and immediately wanted to tour it.We agreed to visit the temple on our way back.

It was around high noon when we stopped at the temple on our way back.. Luckily the temple is well maintained with step mats in place to walk on and the cloudy sky made it a mild weather.

View from the car parking area

This temple was built in 11th Century AD by King Rajendra Chola to commemorate his victory in the Ganges expedition.The temple's architecture is an exact replica of the Tanjore Big temple which was built by his father, the famous King Rajaraja Cholan.

It is quiet a walk to reach the main entrance

To show his respect for his father's work, it is said that King Rajendra instructed to design the temple tower's height to be atleast a foot shorter than the Tanjore Big temple so that his father's work will remain as the tallest stone work of that era.

Soon it became very sunny,so I did not stop to take a close up picture of the Nandhi statue or the Siva temple's entrance view.Here is the Nandhi in a side view.It was marvelous to look at and had many detailed work on it.Thank God for the many trees all around the temple.

The main Siva temple's side view.The temple was closed for worship around the time we visited and was to be open only at around 4 in the evening,so we made do with walking around the temple.

The blue sky with the fluffy clouds and the coconut trees all around -- all made up for a nice afternoon outing.

It was sad to note that some of the temple structures were destroyed in the last hundred years.It is said that part of the temple was destroyed in an attempt to use the stones in a nearby dam construction.

 A wedding party visited the temple when we were there. Its is a Hindu custom to visit a nearby temple once the wedding function is over and we saw the bride and groom walking around with their wedding garlands still on.

 There were many small separate temples for the other deities within the temple compound.

 The west side entrance to the Siva temple

The view of the Nandhi statue from the other side.

I have never seen any other Tamil Nadu temple this well maintained and calm and serene.Definitely appreciate the lack of crowd..maybe not many people know about it.We spent only an hour there with our tight schedule but it is worth to spend atleast half a day there to have a detailed tour.Hope we will visit the temple again sometime in the future.