It’s always been on my bucket list to visit the temple town of Kanchipuram, in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. For some reason or other, I could never make it to this town when I was living in Chennai and later Bangalore for about 4 years previously. So I was delighted when we finally made plans to visit Kanchipuram on our way back from Mahabalipuram.

We stayed in a hotel close to the city centre and walking distance to the Kanchi Kamakshi temple. On our way to the temple in the evening, we visited the Ulagalanda Perumal temple. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu in his Vamana avatara with a large idol of the Lord that it over 30 feet high.

We then visited the Kamakshi Amman temple dedicated to Goddess Kamakshi. This is one of the most famous temples in Kanchipura and reportedly the only temple dedicated to the Goddess. It is a big temple with large gopurams that were well lit up.

Kamakshi Amman temple compound

Kamakshi Amman temple Gopuram

The next morning, I visited the Sri Pavala Vannar temple. This is a old temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. There were hardly anyone else the morning I visited and the ambience was serene and peaceful.

It is said that one must combine a visit to this temple with a visit to the Pachai Vannar temple located a few hundred metres away. So I visited this temple too and again had a peaceful visit with hardly any other devotees.

Pachai Vannar temple

Inside the Pachai Vannar temple

We then visited the Ekambaranathar temple. Dedicated to Lord Shiva and spread over an area of 25 acres, this is one of the largest temples in India. As with many of the old temples in South India, this one also had some incredible sculptures. We again had a very peaceful time at this temple.

On the way out of Kanchipuram, we visited the Kailasnathar temple. This is reportedly the oldest structure in Kanchipuram and was simply fascinating. One of the interesting aspects of this temple are the numerous small shrines built into the inner face of the high compound wall. The temple was closed when we visited in the afternoon, so we could only admire the intricate stone carvings all around the temple compound.

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