Mar 21 – Tanjore and More Temples

We are off again, on our way to Tanjore.  More photos of the countryside.

There were a lot of oxen pulling carts with sand for the road construction. 

And lots of temples along the way.

And lots of rice paddies with water. 

In one paddy the farmer was working the paddy with some type of equipment.  This is the first time we have seen someone using a machine to work the rice fields.  Don’t really know what he was doing.

Photos from our lunch stop.  

The tiny tennis racket shaped pieces are papadams.  Papadams are to Indian food as tortilla chips are to Mexican.  Something to snack on while waiting for your meal.  Very tasty. 

Our main stop today was the Brihadisvara Temple Complex, constructed over 1000 years ago.  The entrance gate.

The gate from inside the complex.

Worshipers have some rest in the shade.

The crown of the main temple building is a granite cupola made of 10 pieces totaling 82 tons.  Modern engineers and architects don’t know how the top cupola could have been raised about 200 feet to the top.  Quite an engineering marvel.  The complex is a UNESCO heritage site.

The nandi (bull) is shaped from a single stone and weighs 25 tons.  

Worshipers entering the main temple.  Paul went in one of the entrances but there was nothing to see where he entered.  It was all closed off except for the priests.

Paul went into one of the smaller temples.  The priest there gave him a bindi (or whatever it is called when it is white).

More photos from the complex. 

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More Brihadsara Temple
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We had a lovely welcome to our new hotel.  We were all offered a complementary 10 minute foot massage.  Even Paul agreed.  The massages were on lounge chairs sitting on small pillars in the swimming pool.  Very relaxing. 

It was good marketing as Mary and Tara both signed up for full massages.  This bowl of flowers was Mary's view when face down on the massage table.