Day 79, Tanjore [Wednesday 20th February 2008]
Previous day: Day 78, Trichy [Tuesday 19th February 2008]
Next day: Day 80, Chidambaram [Thursday 21st February 2008]
We spend some more time looking around Big Temple in Tanjore, then get the bus to Chidambaram. I have been reading 'Perfume' on the bus, which is very apt book to have while travelling through India, one of the most fragrantly varied landscapes on Earth. Every corner tickles your nostrils wit a new smell. The streets are infused with the scent of jasmine, urine, wood smoke, human shit, fried food, spices and toxic exhaust gases. Wonderul.
At Chidambaram we visit the cavernous Nataraja Temple. It's big and square and dark, with long, wide hallways lined with carved pillars. It's really dark. It feels ancient. Did I mention it was dark? Everywhere bells are clanging ominously, but remain unseen, just the echoes arriving down the hall from somewhere. I feel very far from the outside world, separated by thick, solid stone walls. It feels like being in the bowels of something. An ancient, sleeping beast, perhaps.
People are streaming down the dim walkways towards a sanctum, and when we arrive there we see hundreds of people are gathered to watch an elaborate ceremony — the deity of Nataraja, a gleaming bronze statue, dancing on one foot and surrounded by a ring of flame, is being washed, chaotically, by a group of Brahmin priests. First, they pour bowl after bowl of flour over the statue. Nearby, a priest stands over a long metal spike, smashing coconuts down up on and collecting their water in big drums. Next they pour this coconut water over the statue, bells ringing and clanging. We watch for a long time, the coconut milk pouring off the statue, onto the floor and under our feet. It becomes hypnotic, and we could have stood there for hours.
But eventually, weak with hunger, we make our way back out into the freer, fresh air outside. There, talking to some locals, we find out that the celebration going on inside is a festival for the new Tamil month, of which there are 6(?). He tells us that later the statue will be washed in ghee, and after that in turmeric.
Next day: Day 80, Chidambaram [Thursday 21st February 2008]
Previous day: Day 78, Trichy [Tuesday 19th February 2008]