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Single-day mile munching in my XUV700 to visit multiple lovely temples

8th April 2025, 09:40 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

A road trip that combined driving passion with spiritual awe. What more could a petrolhead ask for?

BHPian rudra_shiv recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

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Finally, I checked off that long-pending road trip to the Chola Trinity of Siva Temples with cousin trios.

Our route? A thrilling Sulur → Gangaikonda Cholapuram → Darasuram → Thanjai Peruvudaiyar Kovil (Big Temple!) → back to Sulur. This marks close to 650kms all in a single day! Here is a quick glimpse of our plan:

The trios of the trip

The plan was to start at 5AM which eventually got delayed to 5.40AM and after the fuel fillup + air pressure check, it was almost 6AM when the rubber actually met the road at god speeds.

The first stopping is the breakfast at Trichy at around 9AM, we swapped the driver - my cousin took the charge of the wheels till GKC. Reached GKC on time as planned around 10.15AM.

En route is the dried-up Cauvery (aka Ponni Nadhi), which used to flow endlessly across the deltas of TN. Now all that is left is just the sand. Wish the government would build a dam in between and help Cauvery get back on its "flow".

Gangai Konda Choleeswarar aka Ganga Konda Cholapuram

Here is the mesmerizing look of Gangai Konda Choleeswarar Temple - An architectural marvel built by Kadaram Kondan (the king who sailed from Tanjavur to Malaysia and conquered the Kadar in Malaysia), who was also called Madhuranthagan and widely known as Rajendra Chozhan.

Post the ArulMozhi/Raja Rajan's tenure as the King of Chola Empire, his son Rajendra Chozhan took charge and shifted the capital to Gangai Konda Cholapuram from Tanjai. This marvel was built by Rajendran (1030s) after his conquest of the Northern States, wherein he brought the water from the Ganges lake, formed the Ponneri Lake and performed rituals for Shiva in the Gangai Konda Cholapuram.

The Shri Vimanam is 180 ft high, which is 10 ft smaller than the Thanjavur Temple. Historians believe that the height of the temple is deliberately kept low in dimensions compared to the Thanjavur temple as a mark of respect for Rajendra for his father's masterpiece. Compared to the Thanjavur Temple, which has straight contours, this temple has a curvilinear contour, slightly concave towards the top. It is divided into eight zones

Meet the man himself: (It was said to be the Rajendra Chozhan based on the archeology researchers)

A part of the temple was destroyed by Malik Kafur in the 1300s + Pandyas & British Army. One can find it aching to see the front entrance being destroyed, and so does the Thiruchuttru Maligai (Chozhas have the habit of building a granite shed all around the temple for people to walk around the temple in the shade) & a few sannathis.

Later, when the Vijayanagara Empire came in, Nayakkas replaced the actual Nandhi with a cemented large Nandhi

Also, the British have used this to hold the tanks here -

It is also unfortunate to see that the inscriptions were destroyed, too and what we get to see

After the divine vibes at Gangai Konda Cholapuram, taking the wheel back, we headed to Darasuram Airavateswarar Temple which is less spoken on common grounds. We had to take a couple of coconut waters to escape from the kissing sun.

Darasuram - Sri Airavateswarar Temple

Darasuram was built by Raja Raja II in the 12th Century. The garbhagriha or inner sanctum is a 12-metre-sided (39 ft) square, with thick walls on which the vimana (pyramidal tower) rises to a height of 24 m (79 ft).

The maha-mandapa is a rectangle of about 24 metres (79 ft) by 18 metres (59 ft), with six rows of right pillars (forty-eight in total). The lovely sculptures weren't just built on the pillars but also on the roof of the temple, and each depicts a wonderful story. Also, take a look at the remains of the places sculpted to light the nighttime environment in a traditional way (lamps made out of granite)

If you are planning to hit Tanjai for Peruvudaiyar temple, definitely add Darasuram to the list too. Such a marvellous architecture it is. Deserves as much recognition as the GKC and Peruvudaiyar.

Singing steps at Darasuram:

The Agra mandapa has an attached square porch of 23 ft side. It has ornately carved steps that go from east to west. On its east, outside the main podium, is the bali-peedam. It is unusual, in that it is produced as intricately carved balustraded steps, which produce a musical note. They are therefore called the "singing steps"

Just like Gangai Konda Cholapuram, the entrance of Darasuram was also ruined in the invasions of Pandyas, Mughals and Britishers. It would have been breathtaking to see them as a whole for sure. After the worthy 2+ hours of those spine-chilling vibes, we had to leave Darasuram with some heavy feelings.

We stopped for lunch near Darasuram itself. And we dropped the plan to visit Pazhayarai to spend a little more time at Peruvudaiyar & reach before the next day kicks in.

We had a satisfactory yet spicy lunch at Moshika Bhavan in Kumbakonam. Food was a little pricey though. Between happy to spot the hotel parking was covered by Mahindra's

We chilled for some time and reached the marvel of Indian Archeology - The Rajarajeshwaram aka Arulmigu Thanjai Peruvudaiyar Temple.

Rajarajeswaram aka Thanjai Peruvudaiyar aka Brihadeshwarar

Built by Chola emperor Rajaraja-I aka Arul(n)Mozhi Varman, between 1003 and 1010 CE. The biggest highlight being its 80-tonne single stone granite at the top of the Shri Vimana.

Here is the layout of Rajarajeshwaram:

The temple has 4 entrances and 3 gopurams:

Maratha Gopuram (was built by Maratha rulers of Tanjore in the late 1400s)
Keralanthagan Gopuram (built by Arulmozhi himself after the conquest of Kerala)
Raja Rajan Thiruvasal (built by Arulmozhi himself after the conquest of Kerala)

The temple, being guarded by Dwarabalakars & has three stone sculptures. The ground floor level sanctum walls have Lingodbhavar, Hariharan and Ardhanareswarar. The second floor holds Shiva's Tripurantaka forms in different postures, and above all these storeys (13 storeys if I am not wrong) is a single square block of granite weighing 80 tons, and 25.5 ft side. On top of this block, at its corners are Nandi pairs, each about 6 ft 6 in x 5 ft 6 in in dimensions.

Here is the inscription about himself and his conquests, starting - SwasthiShree Thirumagal Pola Peru Nila Selviyum, boasting his conquests all across India, particularly :

Nulambampadi- Karnataka+Andhra Border
GangaPadi - Western Ganga Kingdom @ Karnataka
VengaNaadu - Tamil Nadu+Kerala border
Kalinga - Odissa
KudamalaiNadu - Western Ghats
Eelam - SriLanka
Kollam - Kerala

Raja Rajan has inscribed all the names of the people who has donated to the temple starting from his sister Kundavai (who gave ghee to the nondha vilakku) to the poor old lady who gave free butter milk to people who worked there to the architect who helped in building this structure - Kunjara Mallan Raja Rama Perunthachan.

Even after the prayers and wandering around the temple for more than 120minutes, we could not just think we have to head back.

Just look at the golden hour shots of the lovely temple

Some silluhouttes

It was an amazing trip altogether. Except for a 30-40kms of two-lane roads, the roads were super smooth, neatly laid out.

When we returned we missed the route and had to detour for a 30kms via Musiri road, suggest not to take it, especially at night. We stopped at Trichy for dinner at Sangeetha's. The food was perfectly cooked, reasonably priced and extremely good + spicy to our liking.

Overall, the drive was buttery smooth, the roads mostly fantastic, and the sheer joy of being behind the wheel? Priceless!

My cousins who drove the car for about 200kms also shared the same feeling of sheer joy, pleasure & comfort.

Here is the snapshot of the trip summary: