Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai

Place: Poosimalai Kuppam Aranmanai
Date: 1-11-2008
People : Mega,Arivoli,Srini,Dhamu,Balaji
Vehicles: Pulsar,Fiero,Splendor

Just to recap, I had gone to Vellore to attend my friend Raju's Wedding and had visited Kottaimalai near padavedu.

And after we returned from Kottaimalai and thinking about the plan for the next day, after the marriage gets over, people suggested a worn down,unused,not taken care of Palace in the nearby village.

"uncared for, Worn down" were words that I liked and hence we decided to go the palace.

I have never been to a Chettinadu Palace and it quickly occurred to me that this could be one like it.

Thanks to Vinnoli for finding this place.

The way to the Palace was devoid of any habitation but the roads were Very good.

Front view:




Entrance



Side view

There were Iron Pillars from Glasgow,England.



Steps

The steps,Pillars and all the Walls were of high quality finish , that is not achievable nowadays and the Civil Engineers amongst us was quick to say that the high quality finish
was possible due to the addition of lime mortar and that practices has completely stopped now. He also said Infosys is one client who requests such finishes.




Paintings

The Walls were pasted with floral designs, which I believe were Paper. But its tough to decide by looking at it now.




Walls

The Outer walls were also of high quality due to the high quality bricks that seem to have been used. Each brick was in perfect shape.



FirePlace:

Once inside our task was to identify the prupose of each room. This one was a easy one and its fireplace. :-)



Top






Emblem

I am not sure about the below one , but this one looks to be a Royal Emblem of sorts.




Side view



After spending some 2 hours at the place we were left to wonder what it would have looked like when it was new and being used.
The palace has a outlook which we might label as British, but has Indian pillars and Arches commonly seen in Mughal architecture.
The place was a good mixture of English,Muslim and Hindu architectural elements.
We were lef wondering at the craftsmanship of Indian masons.

The Palace is constructed in a very good place such that it is completely surrounded by hills on three sides.

I later learn that , a Zameendar from this place who had studied in England had married a English woman and constructed this palace for her.

The place is in ruins now and I believe is cared by noone in particular. I hope the TN Archeaology Dept takes over this site and maintains it.

How to Go:

Go to Arcot and ask for Poosimalai Kuppam.

Hills in/near Chennai - 5 - Kottai Malai

Kottai Malai

Date : 1/11/2008
People : Mega, Arivoli and Thannoli
Vehicle: 2 Pulsar's

When searching for interesting places near vellore, Kottai Malai was suggested by my friend Raju from Onnupuram and hence it was decided that we will go to Kottaimalai when we came down to Vellore for his marriage.

If you havent looked at the previous posts on hills, click on

Hills

Name Board :

This was the name board that spelt the way for Kottai Malai and the 2160 feet doesnt convey much in the board.



Path:

The Path to the top of the temple consists of a mixture of Tar Road till the bottom of the hill and then alternating Sand road and cement roads till we reach 90% of the top. After that there
are the steps.

The Roads are very steep once we start to climb and hence utmost care is needed. 2 Wheelers are the best choice but even then it was tough terrain all the way.

I dont remember the last time that I was so focussed on a single task continously for more than half an hour.It was so demanding that I even forgot to take photographs on the way :-)

What you see below is a Bridge inbetween the rocks.




Temple :

The temple is on top of the hill and has a view worth dying for.







Godowns:

These seem to be old constructions most probably like some godown or something.






The Surrounding Hills :

The hill itself is surrounded by a whole range of mountain ranges and all you get on the top is view of undulating mountains.





Kids:



These people were trying to listen to the sound of silence at the edge of the mountain. Their presence there tempted me to go to the place where they were sitting and it was good to be there.



Village:

When we began our journey to the top of Kottai Malai, we came to a place where there were roads that went left and right with Temple path being the centre one.

The left was to go to Shenbaga thoppu, a dam and the right to "Elandhampattu" a village, that you can see below as a group of huts.




How To Go :

Go To Vellore and from there to Padavedu. In Padavedu ask for Kottai Malai.

If you are fit and you have the time, you can walk from the bottom of the hill. It will take you a whole day if you plan to do it by walk even for a fit (by Village standards) person.

Best option is to travel in 2 wheelers for each person. Doubles wont help.

If you travel by a 2 wheeler, make sure that you are very good at handling it and I mean it.

Cars are not of any help here.


Cheers

Walajah - Arcot - Vellore Trip

People: Mega & Arivoli
Places: Walajah, Arcot and Vellore
Date: 27,28 May 2006

With the weekend approaching and When I was more afraid of the thought that I have to spend my time in home,the thought of seeing Vellore came to me. Though Vellore is so near to Chennai it is largely unexplored. So I packed my bags and started off with my longtime friend and college roommate Arivoli to Vellore. We stayed at Walajah, his native place.

I have known Vellore as the most hottest city in TN and also as the city which contains the jail from which LTTE successfully escaped by contructing a Tunnel in a very filmi way.And also as the city which contains one of the best surviving fort in TN. But apart from these the City of Vellore is also known as "the place which has Theivam illadha kovil, Raja illadha Kottai, Maram illadha Malaigal"

The places we covered are

1. Vannivedu Temple
2. Delhi Gate
3. Raja Rani Kottai
4. Badaam Pahad
5. Vilapakkam Caves
6. Pancha Pandavar Malai
7. Padavedu Amman temple
8. Senbaga Thoppu,
9. Amirthi Forest
10. Vellore Fort
11. Jalagandeeshwarar Temple
12. Vellore Govt Museum
13. Thiruvalam Temple
14. Vallimalai Murugan Temple
15. Thirupugazh Ashramam, Valli Malai

1. Vannivedu Temple

This is a small desolate but recently renovated temple in Walajah.A nice place to enjoy solitude.



2. Delhi Gate:

This building is a fortifaction gate or watch tower sort of building built on the banks of the Palar river which divides Walajah and Arcot. This tower had been occasionally used also as a jail.



Surangam :

My friend who also pitched in as the Guide says that there is a Tunnel from here which goes all the way to Delhi. Though I am a believer of all these tunnel stuff but the distance mentioned here seemed unbelievable even to me.

This was the entrance of the surangam and my friend played a flashback of his childhood days when he had played inside these tunnels .



It seems even Rober Clive had been here .



After coming here only I realised that the Muslim population here is relatively more like what I had seen in Hyderabad and Arivoli gave the explanation that Arcot was the seat of Nawabs for many centuries. A Mosque amidst the fields.



3. Raja Rani Kottai

Though it is locally called as Raja Rani Kottai, there is no Kottai(Palace) here. This is a pair of two swimming pools. One for the Raja, one for the Rani. There must have been a palace nearby but I think it must have got destroyed.











It is widely believed here that the Muslim rulers did have a *Very Nice* time inside these swimming pools.

4. Badaam Pahad

Vellore is a place known for its hills and this is the first one that we climbed. Known as Badaam Pahad , we saw 2 Samadhis and a building on top of this. Nothing else. There is no information on who are the people buried here.



From the top of this hills we were able to capture a good view of the surrounding places and we saw the Rock cut caves in the nearby hill.s



The small gaps you see at the bottom left corner of the above photo are caves probably by Budhhists or Jains.

5. Vilapaakam Caves:

A Sign Board on the Road notified of this monument.







There was nothing worthwhile inside these cave like structures except a carving of Buddha/Jain on top of the caves.



6. Pancha Pandavar Malai :

The Name reasons of this hill seems to be that the Pandavas stayed here for some time during their exile. I am not sure of this story's worthiness. There are no signs of it. What is there at the top is a Samadhi of a Muslim Saint.

Steps leading to the temple on top



There was a single scultpure which looked to be a scene from Ramayanam. If you are able to guess the scene , you are good in Hindu Mythology :-)



7. Padavedu Amman temple:

This is a very famous temple which comes in Thiruvannamalai district. It was a long travel from Arcot to this place but the way was a very good scenic one. One of the rare places where Norther TN looks very fertile and greenish. The temple itself was located amidst hills surrounding it and hence making a fantastic place. There are many Hill temples near this one but since we were very exhausted after climbing 2 so called mini hills we did not risk the other hill temples here.

The residing deity of this temple, Renukambal Amman is supposed to be very powerful one.



8. Senbaga Thoppu

This is a dam constructed inside a forest in the nearby hills. Nothing much to see here.



9. Amirthi Forest:

This is a govt promoted forest area comprising a Nature reserve and a zoo.
The timing of my trip was not proper since there was no water in the falls inside this forest.



The nearby zoo had many animals and here is one of them.



10. Vellore Fort :

The Vellore fort is one of the most important places to be seen in this area and is worth the time spent here. There is everything that a fort must contain here. And also this was the location of the Vellore Mutiny , the First War of Indian Independence that happened in 1806.

This fort houses a Church, Mosque and Temple and many building that are now used as public Offices.

11. Jalagandeeshwarar Temple

This is a Hindu temple inside the fort and is dedicated to the deity Jalagandeeswar. The temple is noted for its sculptures.



The temple had good sculptured pillars.



The below sculpture is a 2 in one. There are two animals entwined with a common single head here.If you hide the body of one of the animals the other will be prominent.Try it.



12. Govt Museum

This is a multi purpose museum maintained by the Department of Museum Government of Tamil Nadu. It treasures ancient and present day curios relating to Anthropology, Botany, Geology, Numismatics, Pre-history, Zoology, etc. Historical monuments of the erstwhile composite North Arcot district are gracefully depicted in the gallery. This museum is kept open on all days between 9.00 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. and 2.00 p.m and 5.00 p.m. except on holidays.

Apart from other things these 2 things were intersting to me.

The growth of Uyir Ezhuthukkal in Tamil.



The growth of Mei Ezhuthukkal in Tamil.



13. Thiruvalam Temple

Thiruvalam is a small village with a old temple. The important fact that can be seen in this temple is that the Nandi here does not the face the God as is normal and is facing east.







A strange sculpture of a deer with two heads.



14. Vallimalai Murugan Temple

This was one place which I really wished to see. This place is touted to be the birth place of Valli, Lord Murugan's consort and also this was the place where the marriage happened.

The temple is situated in the top of a small hill that can be ascended by a flight of 300 steps. The deity worshipped here is Lord Subramanyan.It seems the temple had been built about 1500 years ago.

The temple tank at the bottom of the hills. There was lots of water in it and it looked inviting.



Taking rest on the way



The Mandapam in the hill



The main temple




15. Thirupugazh Ashramam

This is a nice trek from the temple. At the top of the Vallimalai hill this place is a nice place to enjoy the view downhill.





Thirupugazh Swamigal Samadhi



Sooriyan Kaana Sunai



A nice View of the plateau from Vallimalai.



Since the trek upto Vallimalai proved very exhausting for us we decided to end our sightseeing for the day and return home asap. The return to chennai proved another pain as the Monday was a Muhurtha Naal.

Cheers
Megarajan