Padaivedu

During one of the trips to Tiruvannamalai, on work, my colleague and I drove to Padaivedu nestled at the foothills of the mist-soaked Jawadu range. We drove past coconut groves, sugarcane, paddy, and banana fields and arrived at Padaivedu. Sambuvaraiyars who ruled this region, in the 12^th  and 13^th centuries chose Padaivedu as their capital because of its location between impregnable hills and dense forests.

Padaivedu steeped in myth as much as in history is home to many temples. We had the time to visit only one of them.

We drove up the hills called Kottai malai, the fort hill – the rocks tall and hanging precipitously, roots of huge trees clawing into the crevices or clambering the edges of the hills, to visit Venugopala swami temple.

We stayed up for half a day, exploring the level ground around the temple for a view of the chain of hills that go to form a part of the Eastern ghat. I took pictures and painted as monkeys athletically swung across trees, and screeched at my paintbox, wondering if it was something to snack on.

Puhar

Kaveri Poompatinam was an important port city during the Sangam Age in the 4th century BCE . It was the capital of the Chozhas. The flourishing capital city was also known as Puhar, aaru puhum edam, the place where the river enters the sea. River Kaveri drains into  Bay of Bengal here.

The city is immortalized by the great literary work ‘Silapadikaram’ written by the Chozha poet prince Illango Adigal. It was in the golden sands along the river that Madhavi the dancer mesmerised the rich merchant Kovalan with her poetry and music.

‘Silapadikaram’ describes the city in great detail – the two regions Maruvoor pakkam and Pattina pakkam divided by sprawling gardens, the king’s palace built of wood, the temple taller than the palace, the viharas built by rich merchants for Buddhist monks, terraced mansions where the nobles lived, busy market places called angadis (there were the day and night markets called naalangadi and allangadi), the dockyard and the port where large ships from Roman lands visited carrying precious stones like carnelian and lapis lazuli.

Below is an artist’s recreation of the port city. Nothing of this has survived because it is believed that the ancient city was destroyed by giant waves.

You can read more about Puhar here.

I visit Puhar very often, it takes six hours by road from Chennai. Time cannot take away the magic of this place, the city is deeply entrenched in the collective subconscious of the Tamil people. There are too many ghosts here that beckon me. Here are a few paintings from my previous visit to Puhar.