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On the rocks

A water body and rocks that defy gravity, writes SUBHA J RAO

WEATHER BEATEN Rocks monopolise the view PHOTOS: K. ANANTHAN

Brilliant sunshine, dust everywhere and traffic-choked roads. So, where's the RLT, I wonder... till we catch a glimpse of the hill shrine in Tiruchengode through a screen of roadside trees.

The hill plays peek-a-boo; we spot it one minute and miss it the next, till we reach the arch that leads up to the shrine. The more devout ones walk up a winding track, but we choose the easy way out, zipping up a winding path that snakes its way around the hill.

Huge rocks monopolise the view on the ten-minute drive up. They seem to teeter and be on the verge of rolling off any minute. But they have withstood the ravages of time and the howling wind as if some unseen hinge has them rooted to the spot.

Each rock seems different and stands uncomplaining, witness to centuries of history. Some are pockmarked, others look like Nature has been at work with a chisel, shaving away layer after layer from their being. In some others, pink granatoid veins appear in abstract forms, as if a modern artist had had a go at them.

ARK Arun, an expert in fossils and rocks, who accompanies us, excitedly points to every little vein that marks the rocks.

Mentioned in ancient text

And, then we reach the Ardhaneeshwarar temple, built between the 4th and 5th Century AD. The temple finds mention in the Silappadikaram too; there, it has been referred to as Sengodu after the red-coloured rocks.

Beautiful sculptures, recently sandblasted to remove centuries of grime, glow in the early morning light. Especially eye-catching is the life-size image of a broken-nosed nomad (kurathi) slinging a child across her shoulder and holding a bamboo basket in one hand. Some adventurer has chiselled off her nose ages ago.

The walls of the airy temple are vibhuthi-smeared; nearby is a mandapam standing on a tortoise base, the face and flippers still intact. The slow-moving tortoise represents the earth's tectonic plates.

Just outside the main temple complex is a carving of a 60-feet long serpent, smothered in vermilion and turmeric. Another carved gopuram later, and you are on the way to Alli Sunai, a water body located atop a bed of boulders. Though the temple is known, not many attempt the trip to Alli Sunai. It is a short walk through slippery wind-weathered rocks, to a water source that has turned dirty with disuse and intermittent vegetation.

A troop of monkeys screeches at human interference and giggly schoolgirls out for a rendezvous shy away from sight. A rock lizard scampers away into one of the innumerable crevices. The shrill cicada is your only companion here. Halfway through the walk, the haematite and feldspar-embedded rocks get more slippery. We stop and take in the sight of a town chock-a-block with pocket-sized houses. From that height, everything appears dwarfed.

How to go

Tiruchengode is 24 km from Erode and about 50 km from Salem. Enter the town and drive up to the temple archway.

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