This past weekend we traveled to the town of Tanjore, about a 6 hour drive (provided all the roads are operational) from Coimbatore. While there, we saw the UNESCO World Heritage Site Brihadeshwara Temple, built in 1010 by Rajaraja Chola I (who wins the award for the best name ever. His name means "king of kings.")
While visiting the temple, several of our students gave a few rupees' donation to the temple elephant, who then blessed them with his trunk. Two of them even got to sit on the elephant for pictures! It's crazy to think that we live in a country where elephants (and peacocks and cobras) live in the wild.
We happened to be visiting on an evening where a dance troupe from Chennai was performing Bharatanatyam, a traditional dance from our state of Tamil Nadu. Some of the dancers looked as little as 7 or 8 years old, and all of them were quite talented!
On Sunday, we visited an ashram which seeks to present Christianity in such a way that it can be understood in a Hindu cultural context. We'll write more on that later this week, as it deserves its own post.
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To see more photos from our trip to Tanjore, please visit our Facebook album here.
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