Temples of Kanchipuram

Kanchipuram, the ancient Pallava capital and one of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism, has long been called the city of a thousand temples. Three of its greatest shrines stand within a short drive of one another, and together they trace the city's arc from Pallava origins to living devotion. Ekambareswarar, the largest temple in the city, enshrines Shiva as the Prithvi Lingam — the Earth among the five elemental Shiva temples — beneath a soaring Vijayanagara gateway and a mango tree of legendary age. Kailasanathar, carved from soft sandstone by the Pallava king Rajasimha at the dawn of the eighth century, is the oldest structural temple here and the very prototype from which South Indian temple architecture grew. And Kamakshi, presiding goddess of Kanchi, is among the foremost Shakti shrines of the South. A single unhurried day joins the three into one pilgrimage.

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