Kanchipuram - One Day
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Kanchipuram is one of India's seven sacred cities and afamous temple town. It is also noted for its handloom silks. The Golden City of Kanchipuram is also hailed by Poet Kalidasa as "NagareshuKanchi"(Best City among others). This pilgrimage centre is important for both Shaivites and Vaishnavites. Popularly known as "The City of Thousand Temples" it mainly consists of Siva Kanchi and Vishnu Kanchi. Kanchipuram is around 72 KM from Chennai
Sri Ekambareswara is in the form of "Prithvi Lingam" hence Kanchipuram is also known as one of the PanchaBhuthaSthalas. The temple complex covers 25 acres, and is one of the largest in India. It houses four gateway towers known as Gopurams. The tallest is the southern tower, with 11 stories and a height of 192 ft, making it one of the tallest temple towers in India.
The temple complex houses many halls; the most notable is the thousand-pillared hall built during the Vijayanagarperiod. The sthala-virutcham or temple tree is believed to be a 3,500-year-old mango tree whose branches are said to yield four different types of mangoes from its four branches
This temple was built in 685-705 CE by KingRajasimha, the Pallava king and is known for its beautiful sculptures. It was believed that this temple’s architecture, based on Dravidian style, was a model not only for many of the temples in South India, but also for temples in Cambodia including the most popular Angkorwat. Other important temples in Shiva Kanchi are the Kachapeswara temple where Lord Vishnu worshipped Shiva in the form of a tortoise, Chitragupta temple, the only one of its kind in the South India, Kumara Kottam, a popular temple of Sri Subramanya, Satyavrateswara and Agastiswara shrines.
The temple has around 350 inscriptions from various dynasties like Chola, Pandya, Kandavarayas, Cheras, Kakatiya, Sambuvaraya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara indicating various donations to the temple. It was King Raja Raja Chola who renovated the temple in 1053 CE. It is one of the Divya Desam, believed to have been visited by the 12 Alwars. Athi Varadar, made of wood from Fig Tree, lies in the temple take and taken out once every 40 years. Devotees can worship this Athi Varadar for 48 days when out of the tank.This temple is also famous for Golden and Silver lizards statutes that appear on the ceiling.
Kanchipuram's exquisite silk sarees are woven from pure mulberry silk in contrasting colours and have an enviable reputation for texture, lustre, durability and finish. More than 5,000 families are engaged in this industry and their spectacular creations are marketed by a number of co-operative societies, located all over the state. Kanchipuram Silk Sarees hold a special place for South Indian weddings and also in special occasions. It is very difficult to complete your Kanchipuram trip without buying a silk sarees or scarves as they attract the tourists and hence it is termed as “Queen of all sarees.”