Tanjore (Thanjavur)

A wonderful, enjoyable city -- and Raja's home town
Hotel Parisutham on the canal The hotel swimming pool Tourist in pool The Royal Palace, a part of which is still inhabited by the former royal family
Our wonderful guide, S. Raja, and Siv Elephants in palace courtyard The palace tower Lotus on ceiling dome inside the palace tower
Staircase in the tower Upstairs in the palace tower View of the Brihadishwara Temple from the palace tower View of the palace courtyard from the tower
Schoolboys playing cricket on the maidan Schoolboys For the Friday-evening Nandi festival, the statue of Nandi (Vishnu's vehicle, a bull) is anointed with water... ... then with sandal paste ...
and then washed with more water Dressing Nandi again Raja and John This kid was not much interested in Nandi
He's found a girlfriend Nandi's shrine (middle) and entrance gate in the evening after the Nandi festival Moon over Tanjore The base of the temple vimana (tower)
The vimana is almost 61m high, the highest in India when it was built in 1010 A kite flies by We met Raja's daughters at the temple Moon over the gopuram
Bharatanatyam dancers at the hotel The Brihadishwara Temple in the morning The outer wall is constructed like a fortress, complete with moat The temple elephant
Raja holding Siv so she won't panic as the elephant blows on her The temple wall, gopuram and vimana Tourist descending the viewpoint ramp Relief of the marriage of Shiva and Parvati
One of the temple guardians The vimana and the pavilion holding Nandi Nandi chez lui - he seems to be licking his nose with his tongue, just like a real bull Roof of a side pavilion
Roof of a side pavilion Entrance to the temple A yalli, a mythical animal, a chimera Roof of temple entrance
Goddess in lotus position Scenes from the life of Bhudda Gallery around the temple wall Gallery around the temple wall
Siv and a young friend The nine "planets", including the sun and moon A lingam and Ganesh on a horse Water spout in the form of an elephant's trunk
Gallery and elephant staircase Elephant staircase Half horse, half bird Leaving through the gopuram
Chatting (in English) with some young ladies studying to become teachers Colorful fabrics for saris After taking this picture in a store selling lungis, they insisted also on taking a pirture of ... ... the boss, of course
Cooking-ware wallah Nice moustache This guy stopped me in the street to take his picture with his child Very friendly people
Tanjore street scene Ads for the birthday of Jayalitha, a Tamil Nadu politican and former movie star (among other things) Bougainvillea Shopping for a salwar kameez
Raja and robot Fabric wallahs Salespeople Tanjore by night
Moon over a small temple we visited in the evening Young men studying Hindu part singing -- very nice A family of tailors