Week  5 March 10, 2006

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Mar 10, 2006, Friday

Spent the day working. I have unearthed some old files on my computer which came from the Central American job we did some years ago and are directly relevant to what I am trying to get them to look at here. I owe my old friend Andy Nelson a drink for this.

I noticed in the paper (and I shall add notes about Indian newspapers one day) that they were inaugurating a new temple car at Thiruvanmyur temple at 7:00pm. That's where I caught my bus to Mahabalipuram from, so I thought I would walk over and have a look. Well worth the walk.

Large temples here aren't usually one building. They are large enclosed areas with a high wall around and great towered gateways into them called ghoporums. Inside the enclosure there will be several buildings, usually a number of shrines, some which you just look into and larger ones that you go right into, but generally only if you are Hindu. There are also one or two large open sided stone columned halls called mandapams where meetings and performances are held. This temple has all of these plus two enormous tanks outside and many trees inside, which make it very pleasant. There is also an enclosure for a small herd of cows who I presume give milk for pouring over the idols. There was a notice above one shrine I saw stating, in English, that reconstituted dried milk was NOT acceptable for libations, only fresh cow's milk. So there.

The Car or chariot is a wooden wheeled vehicle which is pulled around the temple on special occasions with one or more idols in it. Usually they are enormous, carved wooden edifices, but this one was only about 12 feet tall. Solid gold.  With fairy lights that flashed on and off. The mixture of extraordinary artistic craftsmanship and utter kitsch is hard to comprehend at times.

The crowd was staggering. At an inexpert guess I would say well over 20,000. I was the only European I could see and had the advantage that I could see over the top of all of them. I actually ended up within 20 feet of the car as they were getting it ready. Shawms and drums blaring away and a group of 30 or so priests sitting behind the car, chanting Sanskrit dirges non stop. Then the fun. Lots of flames, torches, hefty young priests and about thirty video camera men showed the idol was arriving, Shiva in gold and silver and lots and lots of flowers. Clearly very heavy and there was an anxious few minutes when he got stuck as they levered him on. This was a new Car and maybe he didn't fit? But he did, to great rounds of applause. Then the kitsch, the generator was fired up, the lights switched on and the whole thing lit up with fairy lights which twinkled round and round the top!  Really looked wonderful. Then it was slowly pulled round the temple courtyard, stopping at each shrine, with the musicians leading the way, the priest throwing flower petals all over it and the stinking, smoking, thundering generator following on a bicycle rickshaw behind, attached by a an umbilical cord of about five power cables. Every five minutes there would be an enormous bang as it backfired, then stalled and the lights went out. After lots of shouting and waving it would be pulled back into sputtering life, revved to death and the lights would come back on. The first time it backfired we all suddenly went quiet for a second. There has just been a bomb blast at a ceremony in a temple in Varanassi, killing 20 people. We were all in a crowded temple at a special ceremony. It suddenly made you wonder just how awful was it to be in a panicked, terrified crowd. But it was just a backfire.

I watched for the best part of an hour and then went out with the crowd. Quite something getting through the gate. Solid mass moving out. Solid mass wanting to come in. Police with those sticks you see them hitting crowds with all around, looking anxious. But no problems. My main concern was what chance did I have of finding my shoes again amongst 20,000 pairs, but they were just there where I left them. An interesting evening

	The main entrance to Thiruvanmyur Temple. Big but not especially elaborate. Most of the mouldings are geometric with a few statues between. The tank is full on this side. The tank on the other side is dry and grassy. The next pictures are some of the hardest I have had to take on this visit. Dark and no tripod, so I had to lean on walls and trees to try to hold the camera as steady as possible for the 2 second exposures. I think they look pretty OK despite that.
	The Car, sitting and waiting as the crowd pours in. The noise must be imagined. Drums, raucous shawms and  loud chanting, which part way through they started to amplify, just to add to the atmosphere.
	The priests on the ground behind the car. I presumed the crowd of women next to them were their wives. Most fairly elderly but some quite young. All very excited and good natured. They chanted without stop for the hour that I watched and presumably could keep going all night.
	Waiting for Shiva. The idol came from the mandapam on the left, borne on huge logs and covered in garlands. It looked a modern silver gilt statue. Whether it was a new one as well I don't know. In a crowd like this I felt a bit diffident asking "Well, who's that then?" They all seemed to know.
	Generator fired up, lights ablaze and Shiva is on his way around the compound. He moved very smoothly and slowly with a crush of people around and a couple of policemen and women trying to clear a way for the musicians and the Car. He stopped in front each shrine as he went round. The crowd dropped in behind to form a huge following troop.
	Shiva arrives and hands are raised in prayer.
	The car passes me and I head, slowly, for the exit. Strangely, because of the sheer press of the crowd, I couldn't in fact see how the car was moved, whether it was pulled or pushed or what. One poor bloke was pushing the cycle rickshaw with the generator as quickly as he could to stop the cable being pulled out.
	A short video in WMV format. Hope it opens OK. here's the direct link if it helps. Templecar.wmv

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