DISCOVERING THE TEMPLES OF TAMIL NADU AND PONDICHERRY

The southern state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry in India are known for their temples. It is often called the Land of Temples. Numerous temples big and small exist here. The Hindu and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu is said to have 38,615 temples on its roster according to sources. There are others too. The tradition of temple building in the Tamil country is several hundred years old. You find ancient temples here as well as very modern ones. Some are active places of worship while others are historical sites that are not active or partially active. The sites of some of these temples are very ancient and their dates of origin are obscure. The structures that we see today are up to 1500 hundred years old or older. Most temples are Hindu temples belonging to the Saivite or Vaishnavite traditions. There are places of worship belonging to other faiths that are very old too. All these sacred places are very important from cultural, artistic and architectural points of view. Some are well known, while others are less well known.

Our objective is to bring about greater awareness about these temples, including many that are less well known, through a series of posts over time. Some posts will highlight a particular temple or site while others will be about related subjects. These subjects might pertain to history, an architectural element, iconography or other cultural aspect that might make the experience of visiting these places more meaningful. Others will concentrate on helping travelers plan their trips to visit some of these remote locations  Your reason for visiting might be religious, spiritual or due to curiosity to learn about a culture and civilization that is several hundred, perhaps thousands of years old. Whatever your reason and motivation might be, we invite you to visit this intriguing land. There is more to Tamil Nadu than what the basic travel guides will tell you. You might be an Indian from the cities, other states or a foreigner. If you are are foreigner, you might be a diaspora Indian or Tamil person wanting to know more about your heritage or someone wanting to learn about this ancient culture. Whatever your background maybe, you might find these posts interesting.

These are mostly temples that we have visited. These posts are not meant to be comprehensive guides. They are introductions for the reader to explore further. I hope to give you some insight and tips if you ever plan to visit. Over the next few weeks, months and years, we will crisscross the Tamil lands of South India in search of temples both famous and less well known to kindle your interest in these spiritual and cultural treasures.

We have on occasion used Tamil script for certain words and place names. This is to enrich the experience of the Tamil reader, who can then relate to the post and page better. The pronunciation is sometimes lost in anglicizing those words and place names. It should not diminish the experience of those who do not read Tamil. They can safely ignore those terms in Tamil script.

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The posts will only give very brief descriptions about the individual temples and we will leave it to the readers to explore further. The posts are meant to be read in 5 minutes or less and will include photos and diagrams. After all a picture is worth a thousand words sometimes !!

Any photographs we have used are our own in most instances and we ask that they are not reproduced without our permission. The featured temples are ones we have actually visited.