Visiting Tamil Nadu's Temples

Visiting Tamil Nadu's Temples

If you're heading to Tamil Nadu, you're probably coming for the amazing temples. From a distance, it's the lofty gopurams (entrance towers) that stand out, most of them as brilliantly multicolored as a vivid cartoon. The pillared halls inside, called mandapams, often have friezes depicting myths of Hindu gods and goddesses, and sometimes tales of the temple's benefactors. South Indian temples are thronged daily with pilgrims and visitors, and they're as much social centers as places of worship. You'll see beggars, vendors selling religious items and souvenirs, groups of old men and women having a gossip, and families heading here for a day out. The larger, better-known temples are pilgrimage shrines or are visited mainly on special occasions, such as Pongal (a harvest festival held in January or February) and birthdays. The smaller temples and street shrines are part of daily life.

Hindus worship at their temples in a variety of ways. Some devotees withdraw to the inner sanctum for puja, or the act of showing reverence, which consists of darshan (visual communication with the image of the deity), making donations, and receiving blessings. Others worship a specific carved image in the mandapam frieze, and still others go to the sacred peepul tree and tie a ribbon around it. After puja, worshippers sit outside in the mandapam for a few minutes, absorbing their surrounding. In a temple courtyard, it's possible to see priests blessing livestock or a brand-new car.

Non-Hindus are usually free to explore these houses of worship, but they are typically barred from the inner sanctum. Be prepared to remove your shoes at the temple entrance.