Trichy / Tanjore (Tamil Nadur) - January 26th, 2007

This morning I got up early and went to visit the superb temple complex, Sri Ranganathaswamy. Many dynasties have worked on the structure, and work still continues on. This complex is on 60 hectares, it is possibly the lastest in India.
The Cauvery River crosses the northern part of the city, it's very wide and very panoramic with women in part of the bank river washing their laundry and bathing.
At noon I travelled to Tanjore, an easy going town, with a world Heritage Brihadishwara Temple, and a palace complex.
This town is also famous for its own art style (raised and painted surfaces). Krishna is the most popular deity and in the town school his skin is white instead of the traditional blue.
It's located by a fertile delta so they have harvest celebrations. Tanjore was the ancient capital of the Chola Kings (beginning of Christian era), and at the height of their power they controlled most of the Indian peninsula.
I went to visit the Brihadishwara temple and fort. This is the highlight of Tanjore, a magnificent Chola temple architecture. It's set in very spacious well-tended grounds. The inscriptions in the outer walls record the names of dancers, musicians, and poets, a reminder of the importance of the arts.
There is a huge statue of the bull Nandi, created from a single piece of rock, weights 25 tonnes and is one of India's largest.
The temple elephant was at the temple entrance, taking a coin donation from people with its trunk, and blessing them thereafter by touching their heads gently with the trunk's end.