Indian Columbus

Hi Everyone...I am back to  Chennai . I will cover a few more tourist sites in Chennai before moving to some other city...Let me start with the Museum located inside Fort St. George. Fort St. George's construction in 1639 AD in Chennai was one of the landmarks in the history of the East India Company. Fort Museum is one of the oldest buildings currently present within the premises of Fort St. George. It was completed in the year of 1795 AD. The building was made as a museum and kept open to the public in 1948 AD. Queen Victoria Painting Fort Museum is the city's second most popular museum after Egmore Museum. The museum has three floors full of antiques.  The visitors are greeted by the marble statue of Lord Cornwallis, which has historical significance. Various arms such as daggers, guns, swords, revolvers, canons, and even fragments of shells are found. One particular gallery has full of porcelain materials used by the British people. A small cage is displayed in a galle

Tiruchendur is a small town in the Southern part of Tamil Nadu state of India. The town is famous because of Tiruchendur Murugan Temple. The temple is one of the six "arupadai veedu" (six prominent abodes) of Lord Murugan.  Tiruchendur Beach The colossal temple is located too close to the seashore. In fact, the sea waves keep touching the walls of the Murugan temple. Tiruchendur beach is a different kind of beach where you cannot find resorts or romantic couples; the beach is full of devotees of Murugan. Even though the actual temple entrance starts from the Rajagopuram (temple tower) near the beach, a long mandapa (with a covered ceiling) runs for about one km. You can find a lot of devotees staying beneath these closed corridors during the night. On both sides of this mandapa, many shops sell pooja-related materials. Also, there are small temples. The temple starts from the Rajagopuram (tower), where you can find a big mandapa (corridor). The temple structure and entra

Tenkasi is a small town located near the ancient city of  Tirunelveli  in South India. Near Tenkasi, you can find the popular tourist destination  Courtallm , famous due to its number of waterfalls. "Ten Kasi" means "southern Kasi" in the Tamil language. Kasi is an ancient sacred city for Hindus located in North India. As Tenkasi is considered equivalent to Kasi, this city got the name Tenkasi - the southern Kasi. Tenkasi Temple Tenkasi is famous for its centrally located huge temple, Kasi Viswanathar temple. Of course, the original Kasi city in North India doesn't have such a massive temple for Kasi Viswanath as it was destroyed by foreign rulers. If you want to visit a big temple for Kasi Viswanath, you must travel down to Southern Kasi. The Kasi Viswanathar temple was constructed by the king Parakkirama Pandian in 1455 CE. As he wanted to visit Kasi and couldn't visit as it was ruled by Muslim rulers at that time, he ultimately built a temple for K

Courtallam  is a small town near the ancient city named  Tirunelveli  in South India. It is an important tourist site due to its number of  waterfalls . Besides the waterfalls, it also has an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva ( Kutralanathar ). In addition to that, there is another small temple which is generally not visited by tourists. The name of that small temple is Chitra Sabha. The temple's highlight is that you cannot find an icon here. The temple is full of mural paintings. Having mural paintings is not a rare scene in South Indian ancient temples. However, the Chitra Sabha temple has only mural paintings and no icons. The paintings are being worshipped in this temple. There are five adobes of Lord Nataraja (Shiva in the dancing posture is called Nataraja), where he performed his cosmic dance. One of those five adobes is Courtallam Chitra Sabha. Here, the primary deity Nataraja is in the form of illustration. Besides this, there are many paintings depicting various dei

Courtallam  is a small town located near  Tirunelveli  city in South India. It is an ancient city; the reference to this town can be found in ancient Tamil literature.  Courtallam is a top-rated tourist destination in South India due to its nine waterfalls. Among the nine, the most important waterfall is called "Main Falls" or "Peraruvi". Near the Main Falls, at the foothills of Courtallm hills which is a part of Western Ghats, the age-old temple of Lord Shiva is located. Shiva is named Kutralanathar in this temple. The town is named Kutralam (Courtallam) after this deity. Courtallam Shenbaga Devi Falls The ancient Kutralanathar temple has many Chola and Pandya-era inscriptions. The temple is a Devaram Paadal Petra Sthalam and also a Shakti Peetham. Hence, it is auspicious for Shiva and Shakti. The temple's glory was sung by Tirugnana Sambandhar.  Courtallam is one of the five sacred sites (sabhas) of Nataraja (Shiva in dancing posture). The sabha in this t

Courtallam , a small town near  Tirunelveli  in South India, is very popular due to its nine waterfalls. The most important waterfall in Courtallam is called "Main Falls" a.k.a. "Peraruvi". As the name suggests, this is the main waterfall of the town. The ancient Kuttralanathar temple is located near this waterfall. During the season, you can find hundreds and thousands of people in these waterfalls. You can hardly find water in the waterfalls other than the Main Falls during the off-season. Not all tourists visit all the waterfalls of Courtallam. However, no one misses Main Falls for sure. On the way to Shenbaga Devi Falls There is a trekking route that goes above the main falls. On the way, you can find the town's second waterfall, called "Chittraruvi" or "Small falls". As the name indicates, this waterfall is tiny. If you trek for another 3 km through the forest and streams, you will reach Shenbaga Devi Falls. This is a beautiful and

Courtallam is a small town located around 5 km from Tenkasi and approximately 55 km from  Tirunelveli  in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Courtallam is famous for its waterfalls, and millions of tourists throng to this small town during the season of June - September every year. Courtallam, similar to its nearby city Tirunelveli, is an ancient town. You can find a lot of references about the city in Tamil literature and mythology. Some famous old books, such as 'Courtalla Kura Vanchi' were written about Courtallam in ancient times. Courtallam, due to its number of beautiful waterfalls, has remained one of the most sought-after tourist spots of Tamil Nadu for hundreds of years. Courtallam Main Falls There are totally nine waterfalls within Courtallam. They are Main Falls, Chittaruvi (Small Falls), Tiger Falls, Shenbaga Devi Falls, Thenaruvi (Honey Falls), Five Falls or Aindaruvi, Pazhaththotta Aruvi, Old Falls, New Falls (Pudhu Aruvi) and Palaruvi (Milk Falls). There is an a

Krishnapuram is a small village located around 13 kms from  Tirunelveli  city in Tamil Nadu state of South India. The village is famous due to its Venkatachalapati Temple. Venkatachalapati is the name of Lord Vishnu in this temple. This temple was built by Krishnappa Naicker in the 16th century CE. This village is named after this ruler. The Krishnapuram Venkatachalapati temple is popular among tourists not because of its religious importance but because of its beautiful life sculptures and images. The temple's central shrine has Venkatachalapati and his consorts, Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi. Regarding the beauty of sculptures, Krishnapuram temple can be considered among the best in Tamil Nadu temples. Krishnapuram Temple Let me describe the temple's sculptures to the maximum extent. The northern side of the temple has a hall called Veerappa Naick Mandapam. You can find two beautifully carved elephants at the entrance of the Mandapam. Inside the mandapam, pillars depict various myth