Tirrutani

Tirrutani, the town were the wedding took place, is famous amongst Hindus for its temple.

Sat on the top of a hill, the temple has commanding views across the surrounding countryside. The climb to the top is 365 stone steps, which is harder than it sounds in that heat.

As with a lot of tourism/pilgrim hotspots, the route up the hill is lined with stalls selling memorabilia and toys, think religious icons with flashing LEDs, however this for me added to the charm. On the way up the hill at regular intervals the path is bridged by smaller shrines ( at least that is what I think they may have been ) adorned with statues and painted brightly.

Cameras are not allowed in the temple itself, so no pictures from the inside. The queue was pretty long so we paid a little extra to jump it as we needed to get back for the reception.

The inside of the temple is stone, with many intricate carvings in the pillars. The route through the temple passes statues/icons of different gods, at each one a different ritual is performed, I can’t pretend to understand the meanings of them. Suffice to say that it was a very interesting experience. It was a strange feeling as being there was obviously very important and significant to the people I was with, and I was petrified that I would do something to inadvertently offend someone.

At one of the statues, I was standing back, trying to keep a respectful distance and not get in the way of people worshiping, when the presiding priest called me forward, shook me by the hand, and asked me in perfect English where I was from J

Outside the temple, along with various stalls was a man with an elephant. Apparently the elephant would bless me, for money. I got some change ready, thinking I should give it to the elephant’s keeper, but no, the money is given to the elephant, who takes it with his trunk and passes it to the keeper. Then the elephant gently tapped the top of my head with his trunk to bless me. A very surreal experience.

The view from the top of the hill was splendid, I get the feeling that there is no such things as a clear day this time of year, but still I could see a very long way, with rural Tamil Nadu spread out before me.