Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Kanchipuram



Kanchipuram district is situated on the north-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal and Chennai city. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai district, in the north by Thiruvallur district and Chennai district, in the south by Villupuram district, in the east by Bay of Bengal. It lies between 11° 00' to 12° 00' North latitudes and 77° 28' to 78° 50' East longitudes. The district has a total geographical area of 4, 43,210 hectares and coastline of 57 Kms. It is also known as city of thousand temples.


Kanchipuram, the temple town is the district headquarters. For administrative reasons, the district has been divided into 3 revenue divisions comprising of 8 taluks with 1214 revenue villages. For development reasons, it is divided into 13 development blocks with 648 Village Panchayats.

Kanchipuram was the historical capital of the Pallavas during the 7th - 9th centuries. Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India. Kanchipuram is famous for hand-woven silk fabrics and saris. The weavers use the highest quality silk and pure gold thread. Kanchipuram is also known as Silk City. Sankaracharya 'Math' is situated at Kanchipuram.

How to reach :-

1) From chennai C.M.B.T bus stand, there are lot of bus frequencies available for kanchipuram for every 15 to 30 mins. some of the bus numbers are 76b,76c

2) Alternative route :- take bus from chennai C.M.B.T to sriperambadur and take another bus to kanchipuram

3) Use private cabs.

Pictures :-



























Other tourism places around kanchipuram :- 

  • Vedanthangal
  • Muttukkadu
  • Thiruvannamalai 
  • Mamallapuram
  • Vellore
HISTORY :-

Kanchipuram- "Golden City Of Temples" was believed to be the most attractive city of ancient India. This city is one of India's seven sacred cities and is considered the second holiest place in India next to Varanasi.

 This city was the Historical Capital of the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Vijayanagar rulers. It was under the Pallavas from 6th to 8th century A.D. It later became the citadel of the Cholas, Vijayanagar kings, the Muslims and the British. During Pallava times, it was briefly occupied by the Chalukyans of Badami, and by the Rastrakutas when the battle fortunes of the Pallava kings reached a low ebb. Many of these temples are the beautiful work of Pallavas and later, Cholas. The remains of a few Buddhist stupas here also bear testimony that Buddhism also prevailed here for a while. One of the Acharya Peetas of Sri Adi Sankaracharya - The Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam is situated here. It has been a centre for Tamil learning and Culture for centuries and gives us a clear picture of the glorious Dravidian Heritage of the Vaishnavites and Shaivites.

Kanchipuram, the "Silken Paradise" is world renowned for the gorgeous hand-woven silk sarees of myriad rich colours, noted for their shine, finish and matchless beauty. The exquisite silk sarees are woven from pure mulberry silk in contrasting colours and have an enviable reputation for lustre, durability and finish. They reflect a weaving and dyeing tradition hundreds of years old and whose riches the West came seeking before the industrial age began.