Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
fascinating, rare art of Kalamkari (hand-painting on textiles with vegetable dyes). The
Thiruvanmiyur bus stand, terminus of many city bus routes, is 500m west of the Kalaksh-
etra entrance.
While here it's also worth visiting the
Book Building
( 42601033;
www.tarabooks.com
;
Plot 9,
CGE Colony, Kuppam Beach Rd, Thiruvanmiyur; 10am-7.30pm Mon-Sat)
, 700m south of Kalakshetra,
where Tara Books stages exhibitions and events as well as displaying its own highly ori-
ginal, attractive handmade books. With prior notice, you can visit the workshop where the
books are created (10 minutes' drive away).
HINDU TEMPLE
Kapaleeshwarar Temple
(Ponnambala Vathiar St, Mylapore; 5am-noon & 4-9.30pm)
The Mylapore neighbourhood is one of
Chennai's most characterful and traditional; it predated colonial Madras by several centur-
ies. Kapaleeshwarar Temple is Chennai's most active and impressive temple. It displays
the main architectural elements of many a Tamil Nadu temple - a rainbow-coloured
gop-
uram
(gateway tower), pillared
mandapas
(pavilions) inside and out, and a huge tank -
and it's dedicated to the state's most popular deity, Shiva. Legend tells that in a fit of
pique Shiva once turned his consort Parvati into a peacock, and instructed her to worship
him here in order to regain her normal form. Parvati supposedly did as instructed at a spot
just outside the northeast corner of the temple's central block, where a shrine commemor-
ates the event.
San Thome Cathedral
(
www.santhomechurch.com
;
Santhome High Rd)
This soaring Roman Catholic cathedral, a stone's
throw from the beach, was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then rebuilt in
neo-Gothic style in the 1890s. Behind the cathedral is the entrance to the
tomb of St Thomas
ing Thomas' brought Christianity to the subcontinent and was killed at St Thomas Mount,
Chennai, in AD 72. Although most of his mortal remains are apparently now in Italy, a
small cross on the chapel wall containing a tiny bone fragment is marked 'Relic of St
Thomas'. A museum above contains various Thomas-related artefacts including the lance-
head believed to have killed him.
CHURCH
Sri Ramakrishna Math
HINDU TEMPLE
