A weekend trip to Kanchipuram

How do you convince 2 teenagers to leave their laptops and join their parents to visit a temple? From my experience it is a scenic long drive, good food and telling them the fascinating stories behind the temples. Our trip to Kanchipuram from Bangalore was a combination of all the three.

It was the start of Diwali break and we encountered a massive traffic jam near Hosur on the way to Kanchipuram. The most likely reason of the heavy traffic jam was an array of fire crackers shop near Hosur during Diwali . The drive to Kanchipuram was longer than usual but it was worth it. We took a quick break at Shri Krishna Inn near Shoolagiri. Though the restaurant was over crowded, the quality and taste of food compensated for the long wait. We reached Kanchipuram by 4 p.m and checked in at Sri Sakthi residency. It was a well maintained hotel with a restaurant at the ground floor. During our stay, we had our food at that restaurant. The food was good and you can explore authentic Tamil delicacies here. My personal favorite was Appam with coconut milk, meals (served in afternoon) and a Ayurvedic juice made of herbs. Since Kamakshi Amman temple was at a walkable distance, after a quick break we walked towards it. It is one of the Shakti Peeth and a beautiful temple with enticing scriptures on the temple walls. If you can walk for around 1 km, you can further walk to Ekambareshwar temple which is a Shiva temple. The lingam is made of sand and hence 'abhishek' is not done. Ekambareshwara means Lord of the mango tree. A lot of significance is found for the mango tree located in the centre of the temple. The temple is huge and we were lucky to witness the evening aarti. On the next day we visited the Kailasanatha temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva and one of the oldest temples in Kanchipuram. All the 3 temples are closed in the afternoon, but open early in the morning.

There are lot of temples in Kanchipuram, in case you plan to explore them. I also observed that some houses were old and had the traditional touch which was very alluring. To commute locally, auto rickshaws are easily available in case you dont want to drive. Apart from temples, silk sarees are worth exploring.