From Thanjavur to the Alhambra, and everywhere in between

Over a period of about 100 days at the tail of last year, I had a 1000 year brush with history across two continents, two distinct cultures, but there was a unifying, almost transcendental outcome - a sense of humility & curiosity that I have not felt in a long time.

The city of Thanjavur in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, has special significance to me. Historically, it is a city that came to the prominence during the Chola Empire. Once led by the charismatic Raja Raja Chola I around the 10th-11th Century who oversaw the construction of the Brihadeeswarar Temple. The early life of the same king was made famous as the protagonist of the fictional epic Ponniyan Selvan by Kalki Krishnamurthy (Yes the same one, it was a serialized novel before it became a movie). So, a remarkable number of cultural touch stones of Tamil Culture revolve around Thanjavur (or as it's anglicized version Tanjore). The significance to me though, is personal & held almost a mysterious hold until last year.

I am born & raised in Mumbai - and as a Tamilian - I had a two pronged cultural connection. The first was my language - I spoke Tamil at home (and for this I am eternally grateful to my amma (mother) & appa(father)). The second my Pati (grandmother) specifically my maternal grandmother who comes from the regions neighboring Thanjavur. All through my childhood and later as an adult, as I visited my Pati I grew to become intrigued by stories, passing descriptions, mentions about Thanjavur, and it's neighboring town of Kumbakonam (More on it later), and the nearby towns and villages from her childhood. My Pati went to high school in Thanjavur, at a historic high school called Kalyanasundaram high school which in many ways was a pioneering educational institution as a co-educational school. In the context of India in the early to mid-20th century, this was a generation ahead of it's time & my pati had told me stories of growing up then and even recalled the India 's independence day & the celebrations of the 15th of August 1947. Education as a core value was deeply embedded in the family and the opportunity to visit places of education, always evoke a strange sense of happiness for me - so this was an opportunity to visit a place with a very dear personal connection.

The region eponymously known as the Cauvery (Kaveri) delta, is deeply embedded into the Tamil diet (literally and figuratively) from the rice that grows, to an epic music festival every year that celebrates Carnatic music called Thiruvaiyaru Thiyagaraja Aradhana (loosely translating to a celebration of Thiyagaraja). As was required by family traditions, my brief brush with learning Carnatic music (it did not work, the music gene which my pati has unfortunately has skipped me) gave me atleast a cursory vocabulary and appreciation of the beauty in its notes, and listening to records with my father an elementary appreciation of some classic tunes. Anyway, back from the tangent, there were all these meandering connections to Thanjavur, which like the tributaries of the Cauvery also grew a sense of mystery in me.

Kumbakonam the other town down the road from Thanjavur had an even more special connection to me. My Thatha (maternal grandfather) was from there, and although I only had a brief time with him, I grew up to many stories of him & one of my favorite was that he went to the same school that Srinivasa Ramanujam(Town High School for anyone who heads to Kumbakonam) went to, and who after graduation headed up to Mumbai in the Early 1950's with my pati which in many ways is the origin story of me as a Mumbaikar. My thatha has always had an enigmatic place in my memory and joining the dots, seeing a place where he spent his childhood, going and having degree coffee that he enjoyed as a college student was something I yearned for, without realizing how much I yearned for.

The Irony of the intrigue was that, despite a deep generational connection to these places and visiting Tamil Nadu all through my childhood, visiting Thanjavur was elusive. We did not really have any direct family or friends living there, and there were other places to be at, and things to do. That was until, last Fall, where an opportunity presented itself as I visited my parents in Mumbai. What was always a conversation piece (to visit Thanjavur) turned into reality as the goldilocks period of perfect weather, the ability to see the start of both the start of Ganpati festival in Mumbai (more on this in a later article, the best time to visit Mumbai) and visit Thanjavur during what is a slightly cool time made the visit happen.

And it happened, and it was epic. I am going to let the pictures do the rest of the heavy lifting, but go visit Thanjavur y'all -

Thanjai Periya Kovil (lit. 'Thanjavur Big Temple') - Brihadeeswarar Temple

The entrance at night, visiting at different hours of the day is the way to savour the architecture 's play with light

Thanjavur palace of the Nayak Kings and later the Maratha Kings

1000 plus year old Bronze statues of Nataraja - Unique, beautiful & powerful

The birthplace of the Kumbakonam Degree Coffee

More of the Maratha Palace in Thanjavur

Kalyanasundaram High School in Thanjavur

Me and a cup of Degree Coffee having a private moment

The house on Sarangapani Temple Street where Srinivasa Ramanajum lived

I dream about this coffee

The Rajagopuram (main gateway) to the Sarangapani Temple. The presiding Deity - Aravamuthar is also my granddad's name

The way back from Thanjavur, and India was interesting. I returned to the beginning of the Scandinavian fall, and winter & there was an obvious provocation in my mind - to yearn, to yearn for sun. And that is what I did, when an opportunity presented itself just as the year was winding up - was to find some sun, this time around along the Mediterranean coast of Spain - to the region of Andalusia. However, unlike a singular chasing of the sun (which this time of the year provokes in me), the after-taste of my visit to Thanjavur was to find what was a 1000 year touchstone of Andalusia (and in many ways of Europe) - The Alhambra.

This was not my first tryst with Andalusia, many moons ago - I was sitting across Andalusia across the straight of Gibralter in Tangier, Morocco (I think driven there through a fascination of Bill Burroughs & the stories of the Stones in the 70's). Although unable to at that time, the opportunity to chase the sun to the Alhambra, was on the cards this time around.

The Alhambra, sits on top of a cliff looking down at the town of Granada. Both the Palace and the town sit at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, to really create a moment in time, and the walk up to the gates of the Nasrid Palaces through the gardens, and paths evokes a sense of traveling in time.

Like, Thanjavur; modern day Granada and the Alhambra, came to prominence in the 10th-11th century during the time of the Zirids Kingdom of North Africa that covered the Al-Andalus region. Zawi ibn Ziri as-Sanhaji founded the dynasty in Granada in the starting of the 11th century. The centerpiece in many ways of this complex of ramparts, palaces, gardens and historical structures are the Nasrid Palaces.

The courtyard, arches, fountains and gardens of this palace evokes a sense of Mediterranean-ness that I think I experienced in its most primal sense. It is also one of the only places I have visited, where you could imagine, place yourself in the middle of a day, a 1000 years ago & wander the hallways painting the rooms with your imagination. (A great amount of credit is due to the preservation and restoration). That said, the Alhambra, captures in all it's essence for what was a historical presence of a culture embedded so deep that you can taste it as you sit by the winding streets, and dig into a delicacy.

The other aspect of the Alhambra that I think will stay with me was just as Thanjavur and the architecture of the Cholas in seminal, so is the Moorish architecture 's sense of geometry and scale. In some ways, standing a fair distance away, there is a sense of harmony in both these styles which evolved separately separated by thousands of miles of land & ocean - but both evoke a sense of chic, style and beauty.

Okay, I am going to let the pictures speak the story now!

The walk upto the Alhambra is special

The Lion Fountain

A pitch perfect day, and the first glimpse of the Nasrid Palaces perched on the cliff above Granada

The palace courtyards made for a good afternoon wandering

So, why Thanjavur to Alhambra? On the face of it, these are two places I visited out of independent reasons. One deeply personal - nurtured over decades of stories and intrigue, and the second academic, and a sheer sense of curiosity. These two places contain within them 2000+ years of shared history, that really do not get too much daylight in our contemporary conversations. Both the countries here, India and Spain have had a rich millenia interspersed with so many epochal events, that it's easy to forget that in the bigger scheme of things, there is so much of history before what we think is history.

There are few places that have the ability to serve as time-travel portals, and to me that has not been every historical place. May be it is a sense of connection of curiosity, but Thanjavur & the Alhambra both felt like stepping into a world that felt contemporary and ancient and holding both of these times together at the same time - makes me an advocate for both these places, so if you have an opportunity go visit them (and also let me know if you felt how I felt!)