Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip - 15.02.09 - Part 1

I forgot to mention the dinner yesterday night – it was chithi’s trademark Rava Dosai with Thenga Chutney. It seems the trick to the ultra roast lies in the Dosa Kallu, which chithi got from Kumbakonam. She also showed me another Kallu, which was very heavy (as compared to other typical dosa kallus) – it was flat on top and was really fat on the other side at the center. She said she inherited that from her mother-in-law and said that the roast from this Kallu would be unbelievable.

We started off at around 7:30 in the morning, left Prinitha at her chithi’s home because we felt it would become too much travel for the kids and then Savithri chithi, chithapa and I proceeded to Nerur. It was about 10-15 kilometers from Karur and the NH 67 itself was a beautiful drive. Throughout the distance till Karur, Cauvery was on one side for two thirds of the distance and then there was Amaravathi for the balance. The other side of NH 67 was dotted with temples, rice fields and Vazhai thoppus. On the way, we saw Kambarasampettai, Nangavaram, Mahadhanapuram and Musiri – all these places were once famous for Agraharams. Now I do not know if “Kambarasam Pettai Agraharam” denotes just a street or if it is still populated by Brahmins. Chithi tells me that there are still Brahmins in Kambarasampettai and Nangavaram, but nobody here is sure of Mahadhanapuram and Musiri. My guess is that there should still some/lot of Brahmins around, but the entire Agraharam may not be populated entirely by Brahmins.

Take a look at the 1st picture on top, it is an ordinary way-side mandapam between Karur and Nerur. The pillars are of second oldest type of architecture in south India and so it may be even a thousand years old. However, it has to be kept in mind that the pillar architecture is only indicative of the period. For example, even the Kasi Vishwanathar temple at Thennur that I visited yesterday had the same pillar architecture – that is because the budget! The later type of architecture, especially the ones which has the S shape extending at the top is very costly. So some pillars, even though built recently, could belong to an architectural style that belongs to a previous period. Moreover, it doesn’t make sense in spending lavishly on a roadside mandapam – our kings always knew where to spend lavishly and were to be cost effective and yet utilitarian. There are hundreds of such mandapams that were intended to provide shelter to traveling people – I’ve seen quite a few myself along the Chennai-Trichy-Kumbakonam highway. It may also have been more effective considering that travel in earlier days invariably took more than a day.

The area near Brahmendral’s adhishtanam was surrounded by sugarcane and vazhai thopus as shown in the 2nd and 3rd picture from top. In the midst of these serene lands, Brahmendral’s adhishtanam looked very peaceful indeed.

Note the small Gopuram inside in the 4th photo from top. I was actually surprised to find a Kasi Vishwanathar Koil and that Brahmendral’s adhishtanam is actually located inside the temple premises. The Gurukkal at the temple told me that swami and ambal were brought from Kasi by a Brahmin boy. I do not know if the temple was in existence before Brahmendral’s time, but going by the architecture, it definitely seems to me that the temple was in existence before and Brahmendral’s adhishtanam was built later – otherwise, it would have been planned in such a way that the adhishtanam occupied a more prominent place in the premises.

Note the 5th picture from top. Brahmendral’s adhishtanam is located right behind Kasi Vishwanathar.