I was so delighted when I decided to join the Tanjore trip organised by PS group members. Being a member of PonniyinSelvan group for almost an year, I have never met any of the members apart from communicating through group mails. So, I was very anxious to meet one and all in the group and to enjoy the first historical trip.

Filled with curiousity and excitement, I landed in Tanjore on 3rd Sept 2005 with my mother and brother. Other PS group members headed by SB sir were on their way from Chennai, the same time. After refreshment and breakfast, my first step in the trip was to meet Mr. Jagan, PS member. We met in front of the famous big library, Saraswathi Mahal. I was so glad to meet the first PS member and got introduced to each other.

Then started the real historical and heritage travel. We approached the Saraswathi Mahal campus and met Dr. Kudavoil BalaSubramanian. I discussed with him about the Tanjore Big Temple construction, inscriptions from RajaRaja's Period, sculptures in GangaiKondaCholapuram, Sathaya Vizha celebration etc. He also explained how to read the inscriptions and discussed the books written by him about the temple construction methods and Big temple. He also came with us to the Raja Serfoji's Palace to explain the sculptures present there.

All these days I will just admire the beauty of the sculptures in the temples but never attempted to understand the meaning of them. I was so delighted when Kudavoil Balu sir explained the "GajaSamhaara Moorthi" sculpture. The Lord Shiva's face with both anger and a smile, his fingers piercing the skin of elephant, Goddess Parvathi hiding Muruga from getting scared, etc made me feel so proud that my ancestors are so intelligent to make the sculpture to look lively. The fascinating part is when I kept my eye near the Lord Muruga's face I couldn't see Lord Shiva's face. This shows the amount of perfection involved in it. Then I went around the Palace, muesums, Saraswathi Mahal and bought some interesting books. I went back to lodge after having a nice delicious lunch at Mr. Jagan's home. I was awaiting for the PS group to come.

Finally at evening 4.30 pm, the PS group members around 30 in number reached Tanjore from Chennai. They were accompanied by the furious thunder and large showers. Satish introduced himself to me and introduced me to the other members as well. In the heavy shower of rain, we reached the Big Temple entered through the the main entrance. Lavanya read the inscriptions on the main Gopura vasal and also said about the inscription details on side outer walls of the temple. We paused for a while at the entrance of the sanctum and Ram explained the way how the DwaraBalaka's are built. A snake eating a large elephant which is at the foot of the Dwarabalaka; this led our imaginations to grow about how big the guard is and how big the Lord inside would be. Delighted by this, we entered near the sanctum and worshipped Peruvudaiyar piously.

Here came the original vision of the trip. We all of us headed by SB sir, climbed the second level of the Gopuram and saw the construction of the gopuram. The two walls gradually had slided towards each other and had mingled in that level of the gopuram. Amazed by this construction intelligence, we also saw the 108 bharathanatya karanams . We also felt the Lord Nataraja in the hollow space over the Peruvudaiyar.Then, we came down to the first level in the gopuram where we were fascinated by the Chola period paintings on the walls. The ASI department had done a remarkable job in retrieving the Chola paintings which were later overwritten by Nayaks. The important point to be noted is the technology used in the painting. A smooth batter of limestone mixture is applied over the stones which will take 2 to 3 days for setting. Within that short span, such large paintings were painted with natural colors like fruit and vegetable juices. An important attraction amongst the paintings was the one with a majestic man and three ladies behindhim worshipping Lord Nataraja in Thillai (Chidambaram). It led to an argument that the man was the Highness, Great RajaRaja Chola with his wives.

After enjoying the amazing paintings, we went around the temple reading the inscriptions on the wall. Also, got excited looking at the foreigner statue on the gopuram, RajaRaja's meikeerthi and the most important inscription "naan koduthanum nam akkan koduthanamum..". At that time, Dr. Kudavoil Balu sir came and took us for a tour around the temple again and gave good explanation of the construction of the gopuram,sculptures and the way rain water collected from the gopuram and transfered to SivaGanga etc. He finished his lecture with a detailed explanation about the Lord Natarajar statue. He exclaimed that it is one of the best statues that he has ever seen and said that it is typical example for the verses "Kunitha puruvamum Kovvai sevavaayum...". Thus the first day of the trip came to an end and we returned to the hotel for sleep. I was filled with lot of information in my mind to digest. Sevikku unavu kidaithadhaal vayitrukku kooda unavu thevai padavillai....:-))


The second day in the trip started at the RajaRajan Mani mandapam. In the manimandap museum, Dr. Kudavoil Balu sir explained the way the 40 feet long inscription was recovered from SrinivasaNallore. My heart literally wept to see the inscription rocks broken into bits and pieces. He also explained the fineness of the Kshethrabalar statue recovered from Tiruvalanchuzhi. Then, we moved to PullaMangai temple to see the Adhitha Karikalan's inscription about victory over Veera Pandian. Ram read through the that inscriptions which was really inspiring me to learn how to read the kalvettus. We saw many miniature sculptures around the temple like VarahaMoorthi, GajaSamharaMoorthi etc and a wonderful Kottravai statue. The perfection in the miniature sculptures really astonished my senses.

From PullaManagai, we moved to the famous Tiruvalanchuzhi temple and had a peaceful dharshan of the Ganesha in that temple. Then we went and saw the so called park and the mandapam where Rajendra had his food. We also saw the Kshethrabalar Shrine immersed in the ground and the inscriptions on the stones.When SB sir said that the renovation of both of them are done by him, it was mind blowing. Then we all moved to see the pallipadai of Panchavan Mahadevi, the favourite wife of RajaRaja constructed by Rajendra. We saw a nilavarai in the pallipadai and the renovation was going on. There was an important scultpure on the pallipadai vimaanam to be noticed; a man with side kondai worshipping Lord Shiva. Lavanya claimed it as Great Rajendra. That sculpture led to a hot discussion among the members. There was another masterpiece sculpture which was nothing but Ravana struck up under Kailasam while tried to lift it with his hands and singing SamaGhanam to please Lord Shiva.

There came the end of the historical trip to Thanjai. We, all the PS group members took a group photo and left to Kudandhai for lunch. After food, I departed from the group to my native whereas everyone left back to Chennai. All of us decided to meet again in one such trip and till then will continue to discuss and float ideas with informations in our PonniyinSelvan yahoo group as usual. After all, it is the one which united us all though we are geographically seperated.
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