Tamil Nadu, India: Thanjavur to Rameswaram

I know it's been a while since I last posted about my India trip, but I have a couple more posts to write. If you want a refresher, check out the last post.

In the morning, we left our beautiful resort just outside of town. We went to Brihadeeswarar Temple (also known as Rajarajeswara Temple, which is one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Sites we visited. This temple is over 1000 years old!

Meera getting some flowers pinned in her hair outside the temple. 

The temple was absolutely beautiful - with lots of detail everywhere. There were lots of people there on pilgrimage, occasional chanting, and a relaxed atmosphere. I unfortunately didn't get to see much inside the temples because I was feeling sick. I just sat down at the edge of the courtyard and people watched while the rest of the group went around. 

On the road to Rameswaram, we stopped to get some chestnuts, which were being roasted on the side of the road, just outside of the hut where the whole family lived. It was cool to see the woman roasting the chestnuts, but it was also a really striking example of the poverty and extreme conditions people live in. 

After many hours of driving, which took up the whole afternoon, we arrived at Rameswaram around golden hour. We got a really lovely view of the water as we were driving onto the island. 

After resting for a bit in the hotel, we went to the main temple. We found a guide and arranged to go in the evening. The picture below was the only picture I have at the temple. You aren't allowed to bring any electronic devices inside. We left our phones, cameras, bags, and shoes in the car. 

Rameswaram Temple is a huge site for Hindus to go for pilgrimage. It's a massively important place in the Ramanaya, one of the principle texts in Hinduism. It's also, again, ridiculously old and beautiful. 

I can appreciate this temple for its spiritual, historical, and cultural significance, but I actually didn't enjoy going to this temple. First, there were hundreds of men there on pilgrimage. They were clearly all trying to get through before the bus left, so they were often running and pushing through the temple. They were also shouting and chanting. It actually felt really threatening and scary to be surrounded by shirtless men running, shoving, and chanting. It made me feel really uneasy.

The other contributing factor to my less than great experience was that our tour guide was pretty useless. He only spoke Hindi, so I obviously couldn't understand what was going on. He didn't know the answer to some of our questions and even seemed to be making up some of the 'history' he was telling us. Finally, at the end, he turned to one of the men in our group and said in Hindi 'I rely on people like you' to try to get us to give him more money. 

Particularly that final thing took away from the experience. I wish I could have experienced the temple as a religious place rather than as a place that was a series of stations to go through on pilgrimage or as a money-making scheme to get Americans to pay more money. It really left me feeling quite disillusioned and quite upset.

That said, it was still a good day. I enjoyed the car ride and watching the scenery change drastically as we moved closer to the sea. I also thought the temples we saw were amazing in scale and significance.