Great temples...Tanjavore & Kumbhakonam

We planned this trip in 2009 Dassarah holidays...Thats on 28th Sept'2009....Kumbakonam and Tanjavore..Our first destination was Kumbakonam and we started in the early hours of Sunday at 7 am by Jana Shatabdhi,and reached at 12.30 hrs...The station was damn quite.Initially nothing found in that place to make us feel like we were in a tourist place.On enquiry we learnt that the temples will reopen after 4 pm only...Had some homemade food we carried with us and relaxed in a rest room for a couple of hours..We caught a cab to visit the temples.

There are around 6 temples worth seeing.Kasi Viswanatha temple,Nageswara Swamy temple,Rama Swamy temple,Adi Kumbheswara Swamy temple,Someswara Swamy temple and Sarangapani temple are among them..Maha maham tank is another spot having historical prominence..As its Dassarah time the roads and temples are illuminated with festive glory...The place reflects typical Tamilnadu cluture..The temples are very big but there is lack of maintenance in some....In Adi Kumbheswara Swamy temple the "Bommala koluvu" was excellent..

After seeing all temples we started to Tanjavore on the same day by bus.Stayed in a hotel that night and morning we got to visit Bruhadeeswara temple.There is no proper traffic control and the places near bus stand are very untidy with garbage and all....Irregular traffic caused much inconvenience...

Just hearing a little about the Tanjavore temple,I stepped in to the premises without a blank impression..My god what a temple!!!! Its just amazing..No words to describe the sculptural beauty and architecture..It is an example of excellent architecture of  Cholas..It was built by Raja raja chola..We also visited Palace which is just 1 km away from temple,Art gallery and Saraswathi Mahal Library made by Raja Sarfoji..The art gallery has a fabulous collection of bronze icons..We met a Tanjavur painter..They are people with god gifted talent..:-)

The very famous Saraswathi mahal Library.....

A must see place in India..People who like to visit temples and love architecture must visit this once..But it will be a good experience for everyone if Govt. maintain the place a bit clean in a healthy way.I will say that it is the second place worth seeing in South India after Meenakshi temple,Madhurai.