"Tamil Nadu" a State of Tamil Nadu Travel Page by tayloretc

Tamil Nadu (“Land of the Tamils”) is also called the Land of 30,000 Temples, which is probably not an exaggeration. Every photo you see shows a massive, colorful gopuram, typical of Dravidian style (although it’s not the only style around); every town has a temple; every corner has a shrine. Temples are the most enduring things in Tamil Nadu. Houses and stores are built and torn down, but a temple, once standing, stands, regardless of changes around it.

What’s around the temples is changing fast. Chennai has become one of the IT centers of the world, and consumer culture is catching up to rival anywhere in the west. Tamil Nadu is also home to heavy manufacturing, chemicals, and other industries. You might not guess it from driving around, but it’s one of the wealthiest states in India.

Tamil Nadu is home to some of the oldest Indian culture, too. Some scholarship claims that the Dravidians were the original inhabitants of the oldest North Indian civilizations, and were pushed south as the more nomadic Aryans arrived; other Tamil traditions claim that the oldest Tamil poetry and arts are 12,000 years old, created in cities now under water south of the current tip of India, and written down 2,000 years ago. A thousand years ago, the Chola empire spread east to establish trade, and outsiders may have had a presence, but didn’t rule these lands until the British Raj. History here differs from the history of the rest of India, and unless you go looking you might not hear much about it.

History isn’t as clearly defined here. Lord Rama launched his attack on the Lord of Lanka over a bridge made of stones, much of which is still visible in the shallow waters between Danushkodi and Sri Lanka. Shiva danced the cosmic dance at the temple in Chidambaram, where he is worshipped in that form. Rajaraja I built temples displaying the might and wealth of the Cholas, and other dynasties rose and fell, leaving their own marks. Everywhere you go there is a story of gods and armies attached to the land, history and myth so closely entwined it’s hard to separate them. If you’re coming here, background reading will make the trip so much richer.

When I moved to India, I made a conscious decision to travel more locally rather than go to distant places for a day or two, so I spent most of my 3 ½ years in and around Tamil Nadu. I lived in Chennai (which I would not say is representative of Tamil Nadu generally), and took day and weekend trips when possible, as well as a couple of longer trips further out:

A 9-day driving tour, including Chidambaram, Tranquebar, the wildlife sanctuary at Kodikkarai, Chettinad palaces near Karaikkudi, Rameswaram, Tiruchendur, and Kanniyakumari, as well as some lesser-known temples and towns along the way.

A 12-day touristy tour with a visiting relative to Thanjavur, Madurai, Thekkady/Periyar Tiger Reserve, (also included, a couple of days in Kerala, in Kochi, and overnight on a houseboat in the Kerala backwaters).

Several weekend trips to Mahabilipuram, Pondicherry, and Kanchipuram.

(Beyond Tamil Nadu, but very close by, I spent two days in the Kerala river town of Shoranur, and a month in the Coorg [Karnataka] hill station of Madikeri, including a 4-day trek through coffee plantations and wildlife reserves.)