Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) Jan08

This photo journal features Tiruchirappalli (widely known as Trichy), our stop on day 5 of our tour.

Trichy, situated on the banks of the Kaveri River, is located about 320kms southwest of Chennai (Madras) & 150 kms northeast of Madurai. The city’s tongue-twister name, Tiruchirappalli, which means "city of the three-headed demon", was derived from a fight Lord Shiva had with a three-headed demon named Trisiras. Trichy has two primary & important attractions - the Rock Fort Temple, its most famous landmark, ... (more)

"Rock Fort Temple"
View from the entrance. The huge rock outcrop, which towers over the...

View part way up
That's our Lady of Lourdes church visible on the left. It was...

Closeup of Our Lady of Lourdes church
that I took later. The awesome church, with its 213 foot high steeple,...

Gathering at one of the landings
on the way up.

Help - I can't identify this building!
I took it part way up the hill, I think. Looks like a church with a...

View of Trichy & the Kaveri River

The Thayumanaswamy Temple (tt)
located half way up the rock can be reached by the same flight of steps that...

tt2 - Part of the 100-pillared hall?

Ucchi Pillayar temple (up)
This temple is dedicated to Lord Vinayaka (Ganesha) and it offers panoramic...

up2 - There are 344 steps
leading up to the temple on the summit.

View from the top

There's a busy bazaar
just outside the gate. I bought 2 of these house dresses later ;o)

"Srirangam temple complex"
This is the Naanmugan Gopuram, the main attraction in the complex. At...

A smaller one.
There are 21 of them in the complex.

Amazing, intricate sculptures.
Similar in purpose to the stained glass windows of Europe's medieval...

Another gopuram in the foreground
plus at least one more in the background. I'm not sure what the round...

Are these gopurams or shrines?

Quite a collection......
I think the central 'sanctum' is the gold covered shrine...

Three more gopura including a white one

Closeup of detail

The white gopuram
Note sure it's meant to be white or just not painted yet?

Horse Court
This hall with 8 pillars of horses can be found in an open courtyard at the...

At or near the entrance
of the pavilion or horse court.

Seven walled enclosures
The temple complex is massive - it encompasses an area of over 150...

A metal-ware wallah
The outer three enclosures contain an entire town, with streets, houses, and...

article published 04/21/2008

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What a temple! The details are just amazing, and it looks so much bigger than the ones I have seen in Singapore and Malaysia. Thanks for sharing.
— Ben Hsu, April 25, 2008

We planned to visit the region next September, but the web page of our Ministry of Foreing Affairs qualify it as "unstable and of moderate risk for travellers" at the moment. Have you been there recently? What do you think about that?
— Jose Manuel Echevarría and Pilar León, April 22, 2008

Good God, Lorraine!
The building of these masterpieces must have kept the entire population of the region employed for centuries! Sure makes the Vatican City look puny in (physical) comparison.
— Fred Perry, April 21, 2008

And we think we have highly skilled craftspeople today. These sculptures are phenomenal!
— sharon A, April 21, 2008

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