Travelogue #1: Perumukkal

Perumukkal visit

 

About three years ago, I heard  from one of my acquaintances about a place called Perumukkal near Tindivanam which has both a historic and a prehistoric site. The stories that she narrated about her trip seemed really thrilling.  The caves she spoke about and the way she described the place were the very first triggers for my eagerness to visit the site. Then, while reading about the monuments in Mahabalipuram, an interesting document caught my eyes. It contained some brief information about the set of monuments in Perumukkal. A very quick glance through it made me crave to  experience the descriptions. I am writing this to induce those who are eager to crave and introduce others to this dreamland.

 

As the bright sunny morning gave way to a damp, hot afternoon, our car swiftly made a left turn to join the Tindivanam-Marakkanam bypass. Large, old tamarind trees, lush, green paddy fields, tiny yet tempting tea stalls, tractors and bullock-carts that were overflowing with sugar cane, and a pair of dusty quarries adorned the two sides of the road. With Google maps guiding us and having a very co-operative car, there was absolutely nothing to worry about. The road was smooth, scenic and very well-laid. Thoughts about bringing my cycle here had started filling my subconscious.

   

Suddenly, the lady from the Google maps started screaming. She asked us to take the very next right. I was expecting that road to be similar to the one we were going to exit but life took an odd turn and so did our car. It was a narrow mud road laid through people’s houses. This leg of the trip tested our patience and my father’s driving skills. The Google lady asked us to take the next left and it was not a road but a passage... On the other hand, Google said that our destination was 600mtrs from us i.e at the end of that road.

After minutes of skilful driving we crossed about 500mtrs. Then the road passage widened causing a few metres of road, and a small lamp post with a small Shiva lingam on its base, was in the centre of the road. That made me happy because I thought that was a sign of a temple but eventually I realized that I was the only one to feel so. My dad suspected this to be just another proof to Google maps being a lunatic. My brother thought that this was the temple we came in search of and got into the depression zone. While I was busy convincing them, there came two ancient looking pillars right in the middle of the road, blocking the way. I checked the map again and it said that the road ended there and our destination was right behind it. As we got closer, the full picture revealed itself. Behind the pillars were kilometers of lush, green, fertile paddy fields and two large mountains in the background. 

I hopped out of the car, went to one of the houses near the pillars and knocked. A lady answered the door and the following conversation occurred. ( We spoke in Tamil)

Me: Hi Aunty! How do I go to the Perumukkal temple?

That lady: <laughs> What pa! Did you use Google maps to come here? It shows this field as the temple. You go back to the mainroad, drive further for four more kilometers and take the next right. That road is between the fields and that mountain. That is where you have to go. Got it??

Me: Oh yes! Thanks aunty!  

I got back to the car and filled in the others. We were kidding that, if we start a restaurant called the Google cafe here, I would turn out very successful.

After about fifteen minutes, we were standing at the bottom of a hillock and in front of the historical temple we came in search of. It was ‘A Sight’ that would invite anyone to come and explore. The temple made a very good first impression with the Raja Gopuram. It was made of bricks and the remaining three stories of it stood majestically on the dry rocky ground. Even though this was beautiful and attractive, we could not afford any distractions to reach our destination. 

The final leg of the trip had to be covered by foot. We had to climb the hillock to go and see the temple on top, locally addressed as the Malaikovil. It was fun, and a scenic climb. Small water bodies, dry thorny plants and a few slippery rocks had to be dealt with throughout the climb. After a point, we were able to see the temple which we were heading to. From then it was a double treat, seeing the temple in the bottom shrink and the one on top expand in every step towards it.

Throughout the climb, there were a few very notable tool marks. With the size, appearance, location, need and the status of the marks, we tried assuming its age and purpose. It was a fun thing to do. Sometimes the reasons we came up with seemed perfect but mostly they were absurd. During the first quarter of the climb the passage paved its way through a rock. There were tool marks which we assumed were that of breaking the large boulder to make way. On the right half of the boulder was a 11th century Chola inscription presumably written during the time of Rajendra 1.

 

 

Then, at the approximate half way of the climb came a left turn and a set of steep stairs. From there we were able to see a mountain right opposite to us and it was hilariously shaped. My brother’s wild imagination puffed up and he  said that it looked like penguins that form colonies to incubate their eggs during the winters.

Finally, we were able to see a flat fenced area on the top of the mountain. In one corner of it stood the temple structure in a very dilapidated state. It was hard to believe that this temple once stood majestically on this hillock as a temple to  devotees, a fort to soldiers, a headquarter to an empire. A temple with such a rich history in such condition was a sad sight. On the other hand the view from there was breathtaking. Imagining the change of the view over the rich history was fascinating.

The temple was used as a fort/arsenal in most parts of its history. This was very evident throughout the climb and at the top as well. Thick narrow stone walls, view finders, an undisturbed 360degree view for about ten kilometres, stones stacked to form large thick walls, steps leading to higher parts of the hillock, staircases that led to chambers and wide caves with narrow mouths are some examples. This place also houses two perennial sources of water. These features make this site a place to stay throughout the year. No wonder the  French used this as one of their major arsenals. 

My instinct triggered me to give a quick glance at my watch and it was just 5 to 10- just 5 minutes to my math class!! I grabbed my phone and ran all over the place looking for a spot where I could get a proper internet connection. The only place where there was a hint of internet waves was on the final set of stairs leading to the temple. I sat there, logged on to my class and then switched it to the speaker mode. Now, the whole mountain was reverberating with the sounds of my math teacher dictating sums. That was such an experience!!! I bet anything that the whole village learnt congruence of triangles that day.

After an hour, the class got over and I started exploring the temple. I went back to the entrance of the fenced area and started walking slowly towards the temple.

This temple has two main structures, the Shiva sannathi and the Hanuman sannathi.

The Shiva Sannathi is structured as the major deity. Even though it was in a very dilapidated state, the old, indegenous structures were still present. Long strips of inscription covered the lower portion of the outer wall. There was a prakara around it. To the left of the deity there was an unfinished Mandapa. A large portion of it and a few pillars were missing. A few pillars were lying around the place. The pillars were covered with some excellent sculptures. Each pillar had a portion of facets and each side had plane slabs with sculptures.

Then, we had an amazing conversation with the person who was currently responsible for taking care of the temple. He was talking about the outcomes of the recent donations,  the problems they face on a day to day basis and the research work that has taken place. Then we asked him the way to the cave that is located on this hillock and bade him farewell.

Moments later, we started trekking towards the cave. Except for walking under the scorching sun, most part of the trek was easy. We had to walk to the other end of the fenced area, and there the ground plummeted to over forty feet. A ladder was kept to aid that drop. The next big issue we had to tackle was that the ladder was very good in belly dance. The moment we stepped on to it, it started showing off its skills. It was wobbling in all directions. After we got down the thick iron ladder stood still as though it knew nothing that happened.

The next leg of the trek was the toughest of the trip. We could see the cave just a few feet in front of us but couldn't go there... Had I walked straight to the cave, I wouldn't be writing this. What was between us and the cave was an astonishing few hundred feet drop to the closest village from this site.

After about a few hundred cautious steps, I reached the mouth of the cave. The reason why we took such life-threatening efforts was to view the astonishing and the rare feature the cave held: petroglyphs. This is a pre-historic script which uses figures to communicate. This script is often compared to a much more famous yet a slightly different script: the Egyptian hieroglyphs. This site is one of the four places in India and the only one in our state to have petroglyphs…

Then we used the belly dancing ladder to get back to the fenced area. Below the ladder, there was a good cover of trees so the canopy protected us from the scorching sun. Once up, we had no way of fighting the hungry, mighty star.

Waving a goodbye to the temple we started walking back down. The return journey was quick but not pleasant. By the time we were back to our car, we felt squeezed and dehydrated. We looked at the temple down hill and said: see you next time, dropped dead in the car and drove to our next destination.......   

Once back home, I got to know more about this place. It holds marvels in both the historic and prehistoric aspects. Petroglyphs are such a rare sight and its roots and story are still a blank to fill. This site houses inscriptions about the administrative hierarchy in the Chola empire. The inscriptions also tell us that this town was one of the major administrative houses in the territory. This temple was one of the very few which were under the direct royal patronage of the Cholas. This site holds many such wonders. If you would like to be part of the journey which brings them to life, please contact the given E-mail.    

nb188thegreat@gmail.com

Picture credits:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph

Proofread by:

Manya Sekar

 

Thank You!    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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