Tiruchirappalli

The temple city of Tiruchirappalli (City of the Three-Headed Demon) was a pawn in the feudal wars of the Pallavas, Pandyas, and Cholas, which continued until the 10th century. After that, the Vijayanagar Empire reigned supreme. In the 18th century, Tiruchirappalli was at the center of the Carnatic wars between the British and French; between these two violent periods, there were periodic Muslim incursions. All of this international activity had an influence on South India's temple architecture, which reached its zenith in the Vijayanagar period under the Nayaks of Madurai, who built most of Tiruchirappalli. It was the Nayaks who built one of the largest temples in South India: the Ranganathaswamy, on the island of Srirangam (8 km north of Tiruchirappalli).

Tiruchirappalli, also commonly known as Trichy, is spread out, with hotels centered in the southern cantonment (the old Raj military area). If you don't hire a car, auto-rickshaws are the best transportation here. The flat landscape to the north is dominated by the Rock Fort, near the bridge to Srirangam, which lies between the Cauvery River and its tributary, the Kolidam.