What a phenomenal place. The temples there are on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. I think they should be on the 'Wonders of the World' sites because they truly are a wonder to see. I was fortunate enough to visit with my sister's family as we toured back from Pondicherry to Chennai.
To say the Indians were a patient sort is definitely and understatement. These temples, of which many are carved out of one single monolith of stone, took generations to complete. The pictures I include in this blog certainly do not do them justice - to see them quite rendered me speechless, to which most will attest is no mean feat.
This was a very overwhelming view. It is almost 200' feet long, and one large monolith sculpt from end to end.
As you come around to the front of this particular sculpt, the elephant in the foreground is approximately 30' feet tall. The detail was just awesome in its scale.
It was a very hot day on the day we visited. Cool, I imagine, by most native accounts.
We had a superb guide who painstakingly led us through the temple site and explained the meaning of the carvings and various temples. He was very knowledgeable, although I must admit, that by the end of the tour, it was very much a sensory overload, and Vishnu blended with Krishna. Perhaps it was the sun frying my brain.
"My goodness", I said to the guide..."Did someone deface the wall? Those bodies are missing their heads!!!" "No Madam", he said. "This is how it was sculpted. The teacher, on the left, had the pupils heads lopped off because they refused to listen to the lesson being given".
Wow...that could very well have been my grade 3 teacher....heehee, only 1500 years ago!!
I guess no matter what the culture is, everyone has their version of angels.
It was an incredible tour. And I would highly recommend it to everyone. If I were to visit India again, I think I would try to do as many tours of as many temple sites as I could. If you love history and architecture, then it's definitely something for you to experience.
One word to the wary, however, the hawkers are very persistent. One in particular, followed me around the entire site because I made the mistake of commenting on his wares and saying that I might be interested in purchasing something from him on the way out.
I consider myself to be a very patient person, but by the end of the tour, I'm afraid I was bordering on rude, just saying 'no thank you' is apparently not enough.
Just off the site were many places to buy stone carvings, sculpts and trinkets. The work the stone carvers do is phenomonal, it's too bad they are so heavy...it takes a toll while carting them through customs!!
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