Stopover in Vellore

   The temple has not always been used as a house of worship. In fact, the fortress has had quite a few different masters. First a dynasty of Hindu kings, but after about a hundred years, the fort fell into the hands of Muslim rulers. We have learned that in the Middle Ages, the Indians were quite a bloodthirsty people and many wars were fought. Back then, Vellore was also a much more important city than it is today. A city like Chennai did not exist at all back then (it was founded only when the Europeans arrived there). Under Muslim rule, the temple was partially destroyed. After that, when the British took possession of the fort, they gave the temple the same purpose as their predecessors had: weapons storage.

   There are many other buildings in the fort, which covers an area of over half a square kilometre. The British built a church there, which still stands. Also, two adjoining palaces, where the descendants of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, the great Muslim kings who were crushed by the British, were imprisoned. And even more royal prisoners have visited this fort: Sri Lanka's last king "lived" in a palace there for 17 years with his four wives. These buildings still excist, and are even partially accessible. We could see statues made in the Vellore area over the course of 100 years. Furthermore, there is a museum on the site, and nowadays a police school is housed in the old, British military buildings.

   There are many of the fallow fields in the fort, at one time possibly excercise grounds for the soldiers who were stationed here. Today, youngsters are playing cricket here. But in 1806  a massacre took place. In that year, the very first uprising of Indian sepoys took place. They did not agree with the new rule their British overlords had concocted. The local soldiers had to shave their beards, and replace their turban with a cap holding a leather (!) cockade. In no time at all, the Indians had killed 15 British officers and 100 footsoldiers. Reinforcements from other fords were called, and by nightfall the mutiny had ended with the deaths of many of the 800 insurgents.

   The prisonbuilding is still their, but delapidated to the state of dissolution. The temple has been restored to being a house of worship. And we were even allowed to take pictures in the premises. Very different from that other temple in Vellore, that hosts many visitors.

The Golden Temple

   The next day, we would go to the Golden Temple, but Simon had thought of something else first: the remains of an old castle, the French Castle, about 25 kilometres outside Vellore. I suggested visiting this then in combination with a visit to the Ratnagiri temple. The temple is located on a hilltop near Vellore.

This temple has only been rebuilt (again) since 1968. The founder still lives there, and we got to see him. We are not big on personality glorification, but this man, with his devotion and attitude to life, did ensure that a whole village was created at the foot of the hill. With healthcare for the needy, schools for the children, homes for the homeless, etc. Despite this, there were still plenty of beggars walking around at the bottom of the steps leading up to the temple.... Especially many children. When Simon pulled out his wallet to give some money to one of them, in no time he was besieged by a troop of children who all wanted something.

   Apart from it being built on a hill, with a long staircase to climb for the faithful, and a road with hairpin bends for those who prefer to come by scooter, the temple was one of many. Perhaps we are becoming a bit blasé, but as it's a quite modern temple,  there were no ancient sculptures. Pretty soon, we had finished our exploration, and got into our rickshaw to visit the "French Castle". Most likely it has been built by the British in a French style of archetecture, rather than being genuinely French.

   The drive from the temple to the castle should not be much more than 20 kilometres. Because our driver was stubborn and thought he knew the way better than Google maps, we ended up taking over an hour and a half, and, in our opinion, quite a detour. But we got there. And what we saw was..... a wall of blue corrugated iron. The castle was in scaffolding. After years of neglect, it was apparently decided to refurbish the building, or at least make it less dangerous for visiting tourists.

   Our driver really did his best to get us access to take a few pictures, but the workmen/guards were implacable. We managed to take a few pictures peeking between the corrugated iron sheets, until they chased us away from doing so, as well. So onwe went,  to the Golden Temple, the great wonder of Vellore.

   Before we reached the famous Golden Temple, our driver dropped us off at the temple next to it. Also beautiful, but still not quite what we had imagined. So after looking around, we walked on to its big neighbour. The official name of the Golden Temple, is Sri Lakshmi Narayani Temple. Sri Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity (ah, therefore a golden temple) and the "resident holy man" is Sri Sakhti Amma.

   We had to deposite our shoes and mobile phones -for a fee, of course- and paying entrance tickets that allowed us to be inside the complex for two hours, we went inside. Before the gate, I had already been persuaded to buy a bag of flowers as an offering to the goddess. But after the first entry check came a second check, where my bag even had to go through the scanner to see if I wasn't secretly smuggling in a phone or camera after all. Only then we truly entered the tempel complex.

   The entire complex is built in a large, beautifully styled garden, with a long line of sight from the entrance to the Golden Temple itself. The path first passes a long row of palms, and then a row of fountains that accentuate the steps leading up to the temple. But instead of walking directly to the temple building, you have to follow a star-shaped path, which runs through beautiful green gardens surrounding the main temple. This does make the visit to the temple quite an experience. Everywhere along the path are "inspirational" spiritual quotes, interspersed with pictures of a broadly smiling Narayani Amma.

   The first stop, to which we were led from the start, was at the temple of the 1,700-kilo, solid silver Ganesha, the god of luck. A woman sat selling bundles of sacrificial material -it looked like grass. For 10 rupees, we gave this Ganesha our token of respect.

   We continued on our path, and passed a stall where you could have a photo taken with a green screen, to which you could choose your own beautiful temple background. At the next turn of the star, food and drinks were for sale. A long row of motto signs in three languages (English, Hindi and Tamil) also praised Narayani Amma's many good works. From building hospitals and schools, to helping with  water supply for the poorest during droughts.

   Still further on, there was a sign saying that for 2000 rupees, you could have Narayani Amma's blessings pronounced on you which would last 14 years. Credit cards accepted. We couldn't help but feeling like we were watching a show by an American TV pastorr.
   The star-shaped path ended at the temple's entrance. The golden temple itself is built in the middle of a pond, and the last part of the path is for a  devotee to walk around the water and therefore around the temple. Only now could we see the details on the temple. Very talented goldsmiths have been working here. The base of the handicraft is copper, topped with nine to 10 layers of gold foil. All made by hand. Each image different from all the others and worked out in detail. The temple sparkled in the sun. I am sure this makes the goddess of wealth very happy. The roof, pillars, as well as the floor and all other surfaces in the temple were covered in gold. Golden peacocks, golden elephants, golden geese (laying golden eggs?). The priests walk around in golden robes and the bowl on which I was allowed to place my offering was also made of gold.

   But somehow it felt a bit like an anticlimax for us. Not for the dozens of devotees who stood in front of us and kept praying to the golden image of Sri Lakshmi Narayani. It did not take us that long.

The way  to the exit is considerably shorter than the way in. First, we walked past a stepped waterfall. This is used by believers as a wishing well. It was really full of coins, notes, bracelets, earrings. Anything of any value was tossed in the water. Then we were allowed to go in a straight line towards the souvenir shops. But just as we got there, the temple elephant was brought in. She was blessed under an awning, sprinkled and decorated with flowers, she was given a bindi - elephant-sized - and was incensed. The whole ritual lasted at least 10 to 15 minutes. Upon entering, she seemed to greet the priest and he greeted her back with a hug. For the rest of the time, she remained very still. With no chains, no directions from the attendant. At the end, she was fed a big corn cob and a whole basket of puffed rice. For her, it was the signal that is was finished, and she calmly turned around and walked back with her handler. We had to step aside for a moment. A few women walked quickly up to her and got a blessing from the elephant, who curled her trunk over their heads.

   The rest of the way to the exit, we passed all kinds of souvenir shops. Here we could spend our money on images of the golden temple, either as paintings or in 3D. Possibly with lighting. There were also spices, statues of gods, animal figurines, clothes and other textiles, and again various food items for sale. If you didn't want to buy anything,  you could just donate. creditcards accepted.