The incredible temples of Madurai

Luxurious bus travel
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We jumped on a local bus nice and early from Trichy (escape!) for the 4 hour bus trip to Madurai.

The bus trip was the usual hilarious escapade of dodging cows, squashing up with locals, driving on the wrong side of the road with horn blaring and choking on the dust pouring in the windows.  We had the added pleasure of a Bollywood film being played on a screen at the front of the bus, with speakers all around turned up to ear splitting levels.  The movie was all in Hindi of course, but pretty easy to follow, with some pretty good ganster fight scenes, and the usual outrageous song and dance sequences.  Brilliant stuff.

Temple complex at Madurai
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Arriving in Madurai without a reservation ended up being a bit of a mistake, however one helpful soul in yet another hotel that was full called around for us (probably because I looked like I was going to cry - still bruised from Trichy) and managed to find us a good hotel close to the action.  Phew!  Disaster diverted.

Madurai is famous for their huge temple complex 'Meenakshi Sundareswara'.  Locals proudly point out that the temple complex attained 26th place in the list of top nominees for the new Seven Wonders of the World (kind of impressive...I guess...).

Huge entrance 'gate' to the temple complex
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To get in to the complex you pass through one of 4 'gopurams', huge towers completely covered in brightly painted carvings and hundreds of sculptures.

Once inside the walls, there are many different buildings and areas set aside for different purposes.  Central temples, huge bathing pools, dimly lit corridors and pillared halls.

Pilgrims seem to know exactly where to go and what to do in all of the different areas - here you will see a statue smeared with ghee, there a statue covered in saffron, over there a baby set infront of a shrine and candles being lit.  The whole complex is a constant swish of sarees rushing by, prayers being chanted, incense being burned and candles being lit.  In fact, the biggest pleasure was just in sitting quietly in a corner watching the action.

Simon in the temple complex
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Unfortunately (for us), non-Hindus are not allowed in the main temples, meaning that we had to be content with all of the activity just on the periphery of the central temples.  Luckily for us, there was plenty to keep us entertained there for a good few hours.

In hindsight, after visiting other temples that are open to tourists, I'm glad they keep us out.  We are a complete pain; amateur photograhers shoving their huge lenses right in the faces of people just trying to pray, and the constant gabbering of tour guides and tourists can completely spoil the atmosphere of otherwise beautiful and probably peaceful places.

Statue smeared in ghee
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Just outside of the central temple area, but still inside the walls of the temple complex we bumped in to the temple elephant who, for a fee, which he collects from your hand with his trunk and snorts into his keeper's waiting hand (snot and all) will bless you by bending his trunk over your head.

The temple complex at Madurai was absolutely incredible and worth enduring the horrors of Trichy to visit :)

Next stop, Bombay.