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| Gopuram, Sri-Ranganathaswamy-Temple, Trichy, India |
Some city names in Southern India can
really drive you crazy.... Probably it is the same with Indian people
– they are great in shortening city names....
Trichy is so much easier than
Tiruchirapalli....
To make the chaos perfect, a lot of
people also call the city Srirangam - this is the name of the big
temple complex in the northern part of the city.
This temple is the main attraction of
Trichy - Sri-Ranganathaswamy-Tempel.
I am very sure, that from now on
everyone understands what I mean with complicated names in this part
of India.
This temple is the most important one
in all Tamil Nadu. A lot of pilgrims come here especially to visit
this temple. The temple is surrounded by seven walls. They make the
complex look like a city within a city.
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| Srirangam, Temple town, Trichy, India |
The outer rings of the
complex is a part of the town with streets, houses and shops. Living
here are mostly Brahmins, the highest caste in Hinduism.
The temple itself is in the four most
inner rings. Here, there are many chapels, pillars and corridors.
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| Sri-Ranganathaswamy-Temple, Trichy, India |
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| Sri-Ranganathaswamy-Temple, Trichy, India |
Altogether there are 21 gates into the
temple – visitors have to pay attention, from which gate they enter
– this gate you need to use later to leave the complex. If not, you
will never find your shoes again, which have to be left outisde....
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| Rock Fort Temple, Trichy, India |
Trichy has some more things to offer:
The Rock Fort Temple is situated on the top of a 83 meters high rock.
To visit this temple, you have to climb 437 steps. This is hard work
at 35 degrees centigrade. But the view from up there is absolutly
beautiful.
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| View from Rock Fort Temple, Trichy, India |
For daily life it is best to go to the
river Kaveri – more precicely to a place called Amma Mandapam.
Here, locals come to take a bath, to do laundry and to throw the
ashes of their dead into the river.
There are many hairdressers to shave
the heads of men. Everywhere, there are priests to celebrate with
pilgrims and family of the deceased, the so called Pujas. On a holy
place like this, for sure, there is also a temple elephant – a very
hard working one giving one blessing after the other and collecting
coins....
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| Priests, Amma Mandapam, Trichy, Indien |
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| Hairdresser, Amma Mandapam, Trichy, India |
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| Priests, Amma Mandapam, Trichy, India |
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| Temple elephant, Amma Mandapam, Trichy, India |
