Click here for Day 1: Madurai

Day 2: Of the 4 days in our trip this was the most strenuous with the longest travel. Our aim was to leave Madurai and reach Kumbakonam passing through Karaikkudi and Thanjavur. We left early after our complimentary breakfast at Park Plaza.

Karaikudi is about 80 kms from Madurai, about 2 hours by road. Before we reached Karaikudi we stopped at Pillayarpatti at the the Karpaka Vinayakar Temple. This is one of the oldest rock-cut cave temples in Tamil Nadu. The idol is a 6 feet tall mammoth image of Ganesha and the temple itself dates back to the 4th century and is believed to have been built by the Pandyas though the architecture is similar to the rock temples of the Pallavas. The temple was expanded from the 10th to the 12th century and recently a lot of renovations are occurring.

From Pillayarpatti we proceeded to Karaikudi. This is the capital of the Chettinad region, home to the Nattukotai Chettiars or Nagarathars, a highly prosperous community with strong business acumen. P. Chidambaram, India's finance minister is from here. In the 19th and early 20th century many migrated from this region and went to South East Asia. Upon their return they arrived with extremely high quality wood, especially Burma teak and built many houses. Today many of these grand houses are being used in TV serials.

We first visited a friend's family who own a beautiful and ancient house, built in 19th century in Kottaiyur about 8 km from Karaikudi. The architecture was typical of the area, with a huge open courtyard in the center with rooms all around it. The floor above followed a similar pattern. The doors were all adorned in intricately carved wood and the attention to detail could be seen in every corner of the house. There is also a famous and architecturally beautiful Sivan temple here in Kottaiyur, built in 1872 and is currently undergoing massive renovation.

As we wanted to head out to Thanjavur we toured the rest of the region quickly. We saw the house of 1000 windows, and then went to the Chettinad Palace in Kanadukathan, a palace of outstanding Chettinad architecture built in the 19th century by Dr. Annamali Chettiyar, founder of the Indian Bank. The marble was bought from Italy, and the teak from Burma.

Karaikudi is now also turning into a tourist destination especially for those seeking solitude and a love for heritage and though it is difficult to get the owners to sell their property some are being converted to hotels. The Raja Palace is one such and rooms are available for about $100 a day. What a bargain!

Click here to continue with Day 2: Thanjavur