TRANQUIL IN Amar Grover treks hills and scours temple towns for signs of devotion. Photographs by Pankaj Anand TAMIL NADU 200 201 he first thing I noticed invaders: the Marathas, the Mughals, the French and finally, approaching the town of the British. Abandoned, it succumbed to the elements. Gingee was the odd hills— The final push to the top, past self-absorhed couples and islands of bare rock studding two rifle-toting guards, was across a narrow ramp over a the lush green paddies of chasm once secured by a drawbridge. A magazine, treasury rural Tamil Nadu. Proximity and audience hall survive. Apart from the quiet satisfaction soon revealed their whimsical of simply reaching here, I was moved by vast eyrie-like texture with weirdly-eroded views across the plains. At the foot of Chandragiri, local granite boulders jumbling their lads splashed about a small lake. The guards reappeared, summits and littering their slopes. Then, on the edge of town, I blowing whistles and hollering to shoo us out by four o’clock; reached a curious triangulation of muscular hills—Krishnagiri, reluctantly I returned. Rajgiri and Chandragiri—linked by the bristling fortifications A larger hill—both in size and spiritual charge—rears 40 and stern masonry walls of Gingee Fort. In Tamil Nadu almost kilometres to the west. At over 2,500ft, Arunachala, or Red all roads lead to the medieval Cholas, the south’s greatest and Mount, looms theatrically over the town of Tiruvannamalai most powerful dynasty. I’m here on the road not taken by and its huge Arunachaleshvara Temple complex. It lends many to explore the remains of that era—as satisfying a way the area great sanctity—according to the Vedas, it was here as any to get under the skin of a state rich in sights and culture. on the ‘Hill of the Holy Beacon’ that Shiva finally settled I’d left Chennai after a leisurely breakfast to reach Gingee by the troublesome rivalry between Brahma and Vishnu by lunchtime; now it’s atmospheric hills and time-forgotten ruins revealing himself as an infinite shaft of light. ushered an afternoon’s exploring. The episode is commemorated with Karthika Deepam Spread over approximately eleven square kilometres, in the Tamil calendar month of karttikai, which usually falls much of Gingee comprises rugged hillside that is home around November and December. Tiruvannamalai has long to monkeys, mongooses and parakeets. I set out up a long celebrated it with particular verve. Various rituals culminate In Tamil Nadu almost all roads lead to the medieval Cholas, the south’s greatest and most powerful dynasty flight of steps weaving between boulders to the summit of in the installation of a cauldron of ghee and camphor atop Krishnagiri. I’m thrilled to have its clutch of part-ruined Arunachala. It burns for nearly a fortnight, its flames visible granaries, temples and an audience hall almost to myself, for miles, and is said to daily consume 600kg of ghee and 100 with far-reaching views across the entire site. To the south metres of cloth wick. lies Chandragiri, its sparse structures given sparser access I’m unable to repeat my climb from 20 years ago, courtesy by the Forest Department. a recent court ruling to curb the chaos of tens of thousands Far more arresting is Rajgiri, its sloping shoulders crowned of pilgrims on the narrow path. Officially, just 2,500 pilgrims by a great hulk of smooth rock resembling a giant slightly are permitted to climb Arunachala each day and the summit worn molar. Seemingly inaccessible, it houses Gingee’s lofty is off limits at other times of the year. Today’s pilgrims citadel—if you only have stamina for one summit, this should are more likely tackling the 14-kilometre girivalam, or be it. Huddled beneath Rajgiri is the inner fort where I circumambulation, of Arunachala’s base. The route passing ambled among surviving barracks, stables, stepped tanks and right through town, is marked by eight shrines and is mosques. This enclave’s real landmark is the Kalyana Mahal, equipped with neat pavements, toilets and streetlights. a seven-story tower with a pagoda-style roof. In the markets beside Arunachaleshvara’s stern walls, I Fortified since around the 9th century, it was expanded noticed virtually every pilgrim stall sold stickers, posters and under present-day Karnataka’s mighty Vijayanagar Empire pamphlets emblazoned with similar cartoon-like images. that swooped into Gingee’s picturesque hills during the All depicted a mountain luridly spiked by a blazing lingam. early 1600s. Perhaps the landscape’s striking resemblance to This motif was faintly echoed beside the great temple’s main their homeland in Hampi was part of the allure. Subsequent gateway where early morning pilgrims nurtured a small improvements by the Nayaks were ravaged by a slew of pavement fire with camphor tablets. Opposite page from top: one of the many monuments at Gingee Fort in Rajgiri; colourful idols on the gopuram of Sarangapani Temple Previous pages from left: a priest buring incense as a part of the daily morning ritual at Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple; a passage at Kalyan Complex in Rajgiri 202 203 “I found myself shadowed by a saffron-clad mendicant. I’d noticed the ashram devotees, lost in thought or wearing beatific smiles” Throbbing drumbeats serenade my morning visit to one of South India’s largest temple complexes: 25 acres of nesting courtyards cradle prayer halls, subsidiary shrines, tanks and an almost bewildering array of lore and learning. At one end, priests tended to wedding throngs, another end was incredibly still with devotees in statuesque repose. The sanctum is more ancient than its structure, said to date from the 9th century. I found myself shadowed by a saffron-clad mendicant. He beckoned insistently at one doorway and I stepped into a pillared hall that led to the vault-like pathala linga cellar. It was here in 1896 that Sri Ramana Maharishi— Tiruvannamalai’s most famous resident—meditated for weeks, despite the bites of insects and rodents. As the Maharshi’s fame grew steadily within and beyond India, an ashram slowly developed at the foot of Arunachala, beside his mother’s tomb. I’d noticed the ashram devotees floating around town, lost in thought or wearing beatific Clockwise from top: Darbar Hall at Thanjavur Maratha Palace; a sculpture of Nandi casting shadow at Arulmigu temple; a temple priest; diyas at Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar Temple; wax bronze casting process at Kumbakonam; exterior of Arulmigu Temple 204 205 “For days afterwards I was haunted by the thought that perhaps the only true freedom is detachment from desire” A view of the Kalyan complex in Rajgiri. Opposite page from top: students at a Vedic school in Thanjavur; exterior of the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur 206 207 smiles. Some were staying at my hotel, Sparsa Resorts Tiruvannamalai (sparsaresorts.com; doubles from 4,720). Located in tranquil farmland on the edge of town, its spotless rooms come with shady, well- tended gardens, a swimming pool, yoga pavilion and gym—leagues ahead of Tiruvannamalai’s simpler accommodation and austere dharamshalas. The summit may be off-bounds, but several cave-shrines associated with Sri Ramana’s solitary meditations in the early 1900s are open to visit. Strolling up towards Mango Tree Cave, I met Vishnu Sai, a robed sannyasi who obligingly led me the last hundred metres. Wedged against the hillside, a box- like house served as the entrance to a whitewashed cave with barely room for four people. The larger Virupaksha Cave is further up the hill, where we briefly joined several foreigners meditating in the gloom. The candle-lit cave was hot and humid, not a place that would draw the idle but the faithful. At 39, my self-appointed guide Vishnu had been a sanyasi for six years. Born into a well-off family, life’s pleasures had left him empty so he rejected the material world. His wanderings led him to Tiruvannamalai where he was quickly adopted by fellow ascetics whose simple dwellings lay near the caves. “It’s necessary for me to avoid attachments,” he explained matter-of-factly. For days afterwards I was haunted by the thought that perhaps the only true freedom is detachment from desire. “The town is a popular base for its unique navagraham cluster of nine temples that represent the planetary deities” I headed south to Kumbakonam, set near the fertile delta of River Kaveri, a prominent religious and economic centre for centuries. Its temples are renowned. The town is a popular base for its unique navagraham cluster of nine temples that represent the planetary deities; one is also considered the home of nadi astrology. Kumbakonam excelled in less arcane scholarship too; during the Raj it acquired the epithet ‘Cambridge of South India’. Appropriately, its most famous son, mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, made it to Cambridge University in 1914 and stayed almost five years. Ill health forced his return and he died Weaving silk sarees in in 1920, aged just 32. His unassuming residence in Kumbakonam Opposite page Kumbakonam is now a low-key museum, though it clockwise from top left: looks and feels more like a memorial. worshippers at Today, Kumbakonam’s scholarly reputation is Brihadeeswara temple; upheld by institutions like the Raja Vedha Kavya a flower market in Kumbeshwarar; Patasala. This Vedic gurukul has operated since 1542, Bharatanatyam dancer when it was formed by the Nayak kings’ chief minister. Krittika Ravi Svatma; the I’d missed the Vedic chanting slots—at 8am and 2pm famous Maharaja Thali at slots for two hours each—but was welcomed Mantra Koodam 208 209 Sparsa resort at Tiruvannamalai Opposite page: a room to look around.