Ghatikachala & Kanchipuram

Time: Aug 6th-7th, 2024

Place: Ghatikachala & Kanchipuram

Company: Wife & daughter

Highlights: Ganesha festival long weekend, so thought we will head out to see some famous temples nearby. Ghatikachala was always on my list since many decades & wifey wanted to see some important temples in Kanchipuram including the temple dedicated to the 'Earth' element of the Panchbootha. 

Day 1: Left home by 6:30 am and took the 8 am train to Chennai. Got down at Sholinghur Road and took an auto to base of the Ghatikachala hill. The ropeway was closed for the day, so we were forced to walk up the 1300 steps. Took two sticks from the store to keep us safe from monkeys. And, there were so many monkeys! It was like climbing amidst monkeys! After our recent experience with a monkey biting Paavani at Chitrakoot, there is trepidation. The climbing itself was not an issue, and we reached the summit in about an hour. There was no issue with the monkeys except it attacked a person in front of us and that person did not have a stick, so she tried to use me as a shield. But the monkey was only interested in the bag she was holding, so as soon as she threw it away, we were free! Moral of the story - climb this mountain hands-free (except for sticks)!

At the temple atop, there was not much crowd, so had nice and easy darshan of Lord Narasimha. Then we relaxed for some time, did some meditation and then had the prasadam which was offered as our lunch itself. It was satisfying and fulfilling. There was a small procession after which we felt it was time for us to leave. Climbed back down the stairs and took auto bus stop. There was no direct bus to Kanchipuram, so took one bus to Walajapet and one more bus to Kanchipuram.

Kanchipuram downtown is choc-a-bloc with vehicles, and traffic jam everywhere! Thankfully, we had booked a hotel near bus stand and we walked towards it. I made a silly mistake of checking-in into a different hotel than the one that I had booked (because I had booked it in Dec 2023 trip and then cancelled it), and then the reserved hotel owner kept reaching me. Somehow profusely apologised to him so that I did not have to pay for the no-show!

Relaxed for some time, and then walked towards the first few temples which were close to us. The first temple we went was Ulagalanda Perumal Temple. From outside, it seemed a new temple but the idol inside was massive, representing Vamana avatar. Truly remarkable sanctum-sanctorum.

We then walked towards Sri Vaikunta Perumal Temple. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we reached it. Then we headed back to our hotel and on the way, we went to Chitragupta Swamy Temple. It seemed like a small temple on the main road but there was huge space at the back for functions to be performed. It seemed like a nondescript temple but apparently it served a very important purpose for many devouts who visited. Had dinner at nearby restaurant and then retired for the night.

Day 2: Since many temples were closing at noon, we planned to complete as much as possible. We planned an itinerary of temple after temple, but somehow when checked with auto guy who said Varadharaja temple was open at 7:30 am, we went there only to walk a few steps and find out that it was not really open! We were duped, so had to take another auto all the way to Ekambaranathar Temple, which is one of the temples dedicated to the Five Elements. This temple was dedicated to the Earth Element. It is a massive temple, and has a massive mango tree in it's backyard where Sri Kamakshi meditated to marry Lord Shiva. Many people were meditating here, and we did too. It is a very peaceful and tranquil place. We also did an offering inside the sanctum sanctorum and had prasadam which was like our breakfast.

Next stop was Kanchi Kamakshi temple. Took an auto there, just to save time. This temple too was vast with a big square pond inside. Had nice darshan of Sri Kamakshi, and there is good space in front of the sanctum sanctorum to sit and meditate. Sat for almost 30 minutes and imbibed the energy. Here too there was prasadam but we declined since we were too full already.

Next stop was Kachabeshwarar temple to which we went walking. This too is a big temple with a large pond. Inside was Shivalingam. Did not spend too much time here meditating. Just outside, took an auto to Pandava Thootha Perumal Temple. This was a very peaceful temple probably because it is in a residential locality. Here too, we did not spend much time. We then walked some distance until we came to the main road where we took an auto which took us to Kailasanathar Temple. (We then bargained with the auto to take us to rest of the temples and finally back to our room).

Kailasanathar Temple is a Heritage location with exquisite carvings. Temple site itself is vast but the building occupies maybe less than half of the site. The temple is referencing Sacred Mount Kailash which we had a Darshan two years ago. We took a number of pics and hurried through. Most of the temples which we wanted to visit were done by now, and we still had an hour to go before noon with just two more temples in our list. 

Next one was Vaikunta Perumal (same as the one which we had been to previous evening). This time it was open and we had nice darshan. This temple too is a Heritage and maintained/protected by the Government. There is a huge sacred tree in the premises where many were sitting, and we too meditated there for some time. 

Finally, we asked the auto driver to take us to Varadaraja Temple. This is one of the famous temples of this city. We made it right on time, and was not closed yet for noon. The queue, too, was not too much. There are many idols here, and we went along the serpentine lines - one God after the other. The important part of this temple is the Golden Lizard on the roof which one has to touch after climbing a short ladder, which would apparently free us of all sins. A big queue for this but we got it done soon enough. With that, we were done with all the major attractions of Kanchipuram. 

Near the exit, we bought prasadam which would be our lunch for the day. There was also Annadanam but we skipped that since we had already bought a lot of prasadam. Plus Annadanam was taking time. Just after noon, we exited the temple, took the auto back to our room and planned our next steps.

Our initial plan was to take rest in the afternoon when all temples are closed, then finish up rest of the temples in the evening, take the bus to Arakkonam and board our reserved train at 11:45 pm back to BLR overnight. However, since we felt we were pretty much done with all temples, we re-planned, searched for a bus back to BLR in the evening itself. Thankfully we got an AC sleeper bus for all three of us, so booked that and cancelled the overnight train. Rest of the journey back home was uneventful except for me for a sudden tummy upset just minutes before boarding the bus. Thankfully the washroom inside a restaurant near the waiting-area came to rescue! We reached BLR at about 10 pm and home by 11 pm via the motorbike which we had parked in the railway station parking lot. So instead of waiting for train at the station, we were cozily cuddled up in the bed thanks to the re-planning! 

All in all, a quick and short trip - nay, a yatra!

(Our original temple-hopping plan.

But later skipped a few and changed the order too)