Indian Columbus

Only a few monuments in  Chennai , the gateway city to South India, are neatly and adequately maintained. Madras War Memorial is one among those few well-maintained monuments.  Madras War Memorial, also known as Madras War Cemetery, is an homage to those soldiers who lost their lives during the Second World War in 1939-1945 CE. The memorial houses 855 graves of soldiers belonging to Commonwealth forces. It also houses a grave of a Polish Airman and four other non-war graves. There is a beautiful Cross of Sacrifice in the memorial, which was set up on an Octagonal base that bears a bronze sword upon its shaft. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission set up the Madras War Cemetery in 1952 CE as an homage to the people who dedicated their lives during the Second World War. This monument is located in the Nandampakkam area, which is hardly 5 kms from Chennai airport and around 14 kms from Central Railway Station. The nearest landmark is Chennai Trade Center that is located right o...

Chennai , the city considered the gateway to South India, has arguably  the second longest beach . It also has a few other beaches. However, it is unfortunate that it is tough to find a clean beach in the city. The beach near Tiger's Cave is an exception, though. Tiger's Cave is located at about 52 kms from Chennai and at 5 kms from Mamallapuram. It has a beautiful and ancient cave-like architectural marvel and an old  rock-cut Shiva temple . Nearby stands the 2000-years-old remains of a  brick temple  discovered recently by the Tsunami. The beach is situated next to the ancient brick temple. The beach is clean, calm, and serene. You can hardly find anybody here. This is a rare sight in Chennai as almost all the places are crowded. The surrounding area, dotted with many palm and casuarina trees, is also calm and neat. It's really a relaxing experience to visit this excellent weekend picnic spot. Happy traveling. Visit my site,  krishnakumartk.com , to know mor...

The Tsunami hit Asia on 26th December 2004 and claimed around 220,000 lives, which was an unfortunate event in the history of Asia. Perhaps the only good thing due to that Tsunami was the discovery of 2000 years old brick temple near Tiger's cave, located at a distance of around 5 kms from Mamallapuram. When Tsunami hit Mamallapuram and surrounding areas in December 2004, it unearthed the remains of an ancient brick temple. This temple of Murugan is believed to have been built during the first century BCE or 2nd century CE, possibly the Tamil Sangam Age. The period of the temple was perhaps the Tamil Sangam Age. An inscription in Tamil on a rock near the excavated site led to the discovery of the temple. The rock, lodged in sand, was exposed fully by the Tsunami that struck this area. It is believed that the original temple was built using bricks. It should be noted that the temples were built using bricks 2000 years ago. It is also believed that this temple was subsequently conver...

Atiranachanda Mandapa is located in the  Tiger's Cave  complex near  Chennai , India. Tiger's Cave is situated in a village named Saluvankuppam on East Coast Road ( ECR ) between Chennai and Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu, India. The distance of Tiger's Cave is 5 km from Mamallapuram and around 52 km from Chennai. There are three cells carved in the mandapa. The central cell alone is complete; the remaining two cells just have the wall portions. The main cell has a polished black multi-faced Shiva Linga and Somaskanda panel on the back wall. Somaskanda is a form of Shiva, Parvati, and the baby Skanda flanked by Vishnu and Brahma. Two dwarapalas are carved in the niches at the entrance of the cell. The remaining two cells, too, have similar Somaskanda panels carved on the back wall. Scholars believe that this monument was built either by Mamalla or Rajasimha Pallava. The front facade of the east-facing mandapa is supported by two pillars and two pilasters. The pillars...

Tiger’s Cave is a place where you can find rock-cut temples and sculptures but not tigers. :-) Tiger’s Cave is located in a village named Saluvankuppam, which is about 5 kms from Mamallapuram towards the direction to  Chennai .  Tiger’s Cave is a unique cave shrine that is different in style from the other monuments of Mamallapuram.  The southeast-facing structure is cut at the height of 6 feet from the ground level. The pavilion is closed on all three sides, and a 4 feet deep and 6 feet high cavity is excavated in the front. There are stairs to reach the high-raised platform. Lion parapets on either sides support them. The two lion pilasters with a female rider on the rearing lion are important features of the site.  Around the central cell, a surrounding garland-like arrangement of eleven yazhis (a mythological animal) is found. Interestingly, some scholars believe that this pavilion might have been used as a festival pavilion during Indira Vizha (festival of Indra...

Chennai city, the gateway to South India, has a lot of temples. Many of them are ancient temples, and few of them are well known even outside Chennai. Nitya Kalyana Perumal Temple is not very popular but an important temple located in the outskirts of Chennai. It is located in a village called Tiruvidandai on the famous East Coast Road (ECR) between Chennai and Mamallapuram. The distance is 42 kms from Chennai and 16 kms from Mamallapuram. Let us discuss about this peaceful temple in this article.  Highlights: Tirumangai Alwar  has sung 13 Pasurams about this temple in his verses. Manavala Mamunigal has also sung hymns about this deity. It is considered as the  62nd Divya Desham temple . It is located in Tondai region. In the olden days, it was also called as Sripuri and Varaha Puri There are 360 consorts for Vishnu in this site. God  -  Aadi Varaha Perumal or Lakshmi Varaha Perumal  ; Utsava deity -  Nitya Kalyana Perumal Goddess  -  Komalav...

After returning from the USA, I showed the pictures of the sea lion show at  Mystic  Aquarium in CT to my family. My daughter started nagging me to take her to the sea lion show. As I couldn’t afford to take my family to the USA, I wondered if there would be a place in India where I can find American sea lions. It was unbelievable to me when I was able to find out such a place right in the city where I live. It is at Dolphin City, located on the East Coast Road ( ECR ) at around 46 kms from  Chennai . Dolphin city is an amusement park. It was started in the late 1990s with the objective of entertaining the public with Dolphins. The authorities brought four dolphins in the beginning. It was a huge success as it was the first amusement park to get dolphins to India. Unfortunately, the dolphins could not adapt themselves to Chennai’s climate, and all of them died within six months. The management of the amusement park thought of an alternative plan, and they brought sea lio...

Chennai  has some interesting places which cannot be found anywhere else in India. The Crocodile Bank is one such place.  Located at around 42 kms from the city center, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust was founded in 1976 CE, and a public trust manages it. The Bank was established for the conservation and study of endangered crocodiles. When it was started, it hardly had 30 crocodiles. Now, there are around 2,400 crocodiles belonging to 14 different species. Over the years, the crocodile bank has supplied a lot of crocodiles to various zoos in India.  Besides crocodiles, the Bank also has 12 endangered species of turtles and tortoises, five species of snakes, two pythons, and some water monitor lizards.  You can get a close view of crocodiles live in the wild as they are housed in enclosures very similar to their natural habitat. I am not sure if you can find many such crocodiles belonging to different species anywhere else in India.   If you are lucky, you c...