Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Where are the Palaces of Kanchipuram ?

saree
History used to be one of my favorite subjects in school. Even these days, when I go to the Barnes & Noble store, I'll pick a book on Indian History and read a couple of chapters.

As I grew up and read Kalki's novels especially Sivagamiyin Sabadham, I became even more interested in History. I was specially attached to the Pallava Dynasty, as Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram, the two important centers of the Pallava Dynasty were only a 1 hour drive from home (Perungalathur, a suburb of Chennai, India).

I was awestruck when the recent Tsunami uncovered a long gone 4th Century temple at the shores of Mahabalipuram.

One thing which always puzzles me is this: What happened to the palaces of the Pallava Kings. They just cannot vanish without a trace when the temples they built in and around Kanchipuram and the famous Mahabalipuram sculptures are still preserved. Whenever I went to Kanchipuram, I've looked around, asked the local people and browsed the Internet for any information on the palaces. Nothing has yielded results so far.

I am still continuing my research while my wife continues hers, looking for some wonderful silk sarees make in Kanchipuram.

15 comments:

Me said...

i guess the palaces are vandalized & destroyed when someone invades...i guess they don't destroy temples for obvious reasons.....

this is just my view...

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Me,
Comeon, How can they be destroyed without a trace.! There should be atleast something left out of those palaces.!

Ram C said...

Mr,Narayanan, you can ask your wife to visit 'Sundari silks' next time... but be prepared for the outcome. My expereince during last Nov-04 holiday speaks... My wife had a supplementary credit card at that time... Ketkavaa vendum!!!! :-( :-( :-(

Venky Krishnamoorthy said...

If I remember correctly, there was an article in "The Hindu" about the palaces in Kanchipuram.

REFLEX said...

Narayanan,
I think I gave you some answer before though it was not convinving. I remember when I was in my sixth standard, my history teacher took us to a place called Pallava medu where u can see some cave. But people residing there said it is fully covered by sand and u can't go inside it. So we went near to that place and came back. But this time I will take up the task and ask some people over there whether they know something about the palaces. About the silk sarees, if u can come to Kanchipuram , I will take you to my shop. We hav few shops over there and even if u don't like I will direct you to some reliable shop where u'll get real silk saree. We are one of the suppliers for Nalli and Kumaran.

ada-paavi!!!! said...

if these places are not preserved theyw ill be destroyed, new buildings will built on them. these places are not places of worship so the community then didnt see any value on preserving them. since there was no one living in these palaces, people later on built new buildings on them after destroying the old palaces.

Ganesh said...

Anna
Kallukkungo :)

BTW Thirai Isayil sil ragangal part 3 is updatd check it out thanks

Ganesh

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Ram,
Thanks for the Sundari silk advice.! Viraivil nahn mottai.!

Venky,
Link please.!

Reflex,
The next time I go to India, I'll remember you....and yes I did read about 'Pallava Medu' but I am not convinced. Huge palaces became a small medu??

Grey-Vampire - I doubt it. How can it vanish without a trace.

Srivatsan - Thanks for stopping by.
There should be some trace atleast one would think.? Also why is our ASI sleeping? Can't they atleast attempt to find out?

Virumaandi - I took your advice and wrote to the collector of Kanchi today. Let's see. His email id is: collector@kanchi.tn.nic.in


K.Kirukkan - Wonderful. I liked your blog today and left a comment. All the songs are wonderful songs indeed.

PVS said...

I'm also eagerly waiting to see if the collector replies :))

GS said...

Hmm ... nice question! It never struck me that the palaces have actually disappeared!

Narayanan Venkitu said...

PVS,
Let's wait and see. I am eager as well.

Gayathri,
Something happened which no History book told us.! Isn't that a shame.!

premwithme said...

I think, King palace will not be made of stone/rock like temples. They will be mostly using brick and pillars using Wood. So they are not design to withstand 1000+. Their no standing palace of chola, chera and pandiya, that shows they didn't built palace like temple they built and ofcourse rock structure won't suit for living. The only old palace structure i can find is Pandiya Fort Wall, i read in some blog, the fort entrance of pandiya fort in a busy road.

This is pandiya's fort entrance
http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01379/27feb_mavan_pg-_MA_1379975g.jpg

Read article:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/madurais-history-lies-underneath-our-feet/article4468384.ece

Unknown said...

I have visited kanchi a number oftimes yet i am still to see,at least, the ruins of a palace.
Karikala chozhyan built a golden palace in kanchi, forget the gold, even one piece of granite can be seen there.

Anonymous said...

Is it an evident fact that karikazh cholan built an golden palace at kanchi??i have read so in an historical novel "ponniyin selvan"

Anonymous said...

Ponniyin selvan is not the real history.... It's written with facts and imaginary thoughts... There were no such golden palace.....