Mark Nicholls experiences southern India and discovers a hotel group that reconnects its guests with the natural environment.
Tranquil backwaters, soaring Hindu temples, tea plantations, aromatic spices, and busy fishing communities await as you plot a route across southern India.
From the temple towns of Tamil Nadu, through Kerala’s spice growing hillsides, to Kochi on the Malabar coast in the west, a vibrant perspective of India awaits.
What adds a refreshing dimension to the journey is the opportunity to stay in CGH Earth hotels – each of which have character, style and individuality, coupled with an over-arching desire to place the natural environment and sustainability at the heart of their relationship with guests.
Soaring gopurams
Visually, the colossal Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu are awe-inspiring. Soaring gopurams above entrances, mysterious inner sanctums, amazing carvings and incredible architectural feats never cease to amaze.
The place to begin is the 7th century shore temples of Mamallapuram south of Chennai. These early examples effectively set the blueprint for construction of ever bigger and ornate Hindu temples over the next 1,000 years.
Nearby sites include Arjuna’s Penance rock carvings and the curious Krishna’s Butterball, a giant stone balanced precariously on a ledge.
After exploring the sites, I headed by road to the former French enclave of Puducherry and checked in to the atmospheric Palais De Mahe (Palais De Mahe), with its spacious rooms, a pool built between the colonnades and opening onto a colourful street.
Breakfast on the terrace is leisurely and a combination of Tamil cuisine and western style food with eggs and pastries to order. Well, what else would you expect in a former French colony, which is worth exploring on foot to visit the Ganesh temple and peace of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Colourfully-painted carvings
To reach the Natarajar Shiva temple in Chidambaram, I headed further south through the ‘rice bowl’ of Tamil Nadu.
Built by the Chola dynasty and expanded by the Vijayanagar empire, it features four high gopurams (entrance gates) that are adorned with colourfully-painted carvings, and an inner sanctum hosting the deity of a dancing Shiva.
From there, towards Cholapuram, there is a quite different temple experience. Equally magnificent and impressive but with fewer visitors, the Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple is set in tranquil gardens where families gather beneath the shade of trees. It was built to commemorate the Chola dynasty’s victory over the north Indian kings.
A few miles away is CGH’s Mantra Koodam (Mantra Koodam) at Kumbakonan.
With villas beside canals amid 15 acres of landscaped grounds, the hotel’s nature expert and ornithologist Karthick Hari, explained: “Our idea is for people to get outside and enjoy the activities and get closer to nature.”
However, if you just want to relax and unwind, head to the Tea Kadai for tea or coffee, have a massage, shop for local products, or simply sit on the veranda of your cottage and enjoy the peace and quiet of the day.
In the early morning, women in lovely saris decorate shrines, or create kolams – art patterns on the stone floors in various designs formed of fine rice powder that are also food for animals.
Pink granite
It sets you up for the next big day of temple sightseeing, starting with one of Tamil Nadu’s temple treasures, the mighty complex at Tanjore (or Thanjavur).
The Brihadeeswara Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built of heavy pink granite from hundreds of miles around, is considered an architectural marvel.
Completed in 1010 AD with a 60-metre high vimana (central tower) topped by an 80-ton cupola above the central lingam (deity), it took a mere six years to build. A ramp several miles long was used to get the giant stones in place. It is surrounded by a vast courtyard and atmospheric cloisters with deities and wall art.
Two further must-visit temples in Tamil Nadu are at Trichy (Tiruchirappalli) and the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai.
Trichy is the biggest working Hindu temple in the world and embraces a whole city within, lined with stalls selling everything from flowers and garlands, offerings and food, to practical items such as trowels and shovels, saris, shawls and toys.
Dedicated to Vishnu and covering 360,000 square metres, it also has some of the finest temple carvings in India.
Enlightening experience Yet it was the visit to the Meenakshi temple at Madurai that was a truly enlightening experience.
Yes, the gopurams were covered in scaffolding; long slender poles of casuarina wood, bound together with rope, and an art form in themselves, as the carved stone is prepared and repainted for a reconsecration.
Cameras, mobile phones and other items are forbidden within. While some visitors may be disappointed, this proved to be an unexpected opportunity to absorb the temple through the senses rather than a lens and enjoy the noise and vibrancy, the aroma of jasmine and incense, and the colours and architecture, unimpeded by technology.
A must-see is the 1000-pillar hall used for weddings, classical dance performances and festivals with magnificent granite carvings of dancers, warriors, horses, lions and elephants. However, you should also note that there are only 983 pillars!
Hotels with style and individuality
While visiting these temples enables visitors to follow the development of Hindu architecture, the opportunity to stay with CGH Earth hotels along the way added a refreshing dimension to the experience.
These residences deliver comfort and luxury in a natural environment, with eco-policies such as water conservation, recycling and no single-use plastics.
Accommodation ranges beautifully-furnished bungalows beneath forest canopies, chalets by the waterways of Kerala, or residences in stylish buildings in cities such as Puducherry or Kochi.
Activities are also discreet and relaxing, from ayurvedic treatments and massages, early-morning cruises on the Backwaters, nature walks and cooking demonstrations.
Hitting the spice trail
From Tamil Nadu, the outlook changes, from temples to natural wonders.
As the road climbs into the hills of Kerala, you enter a land of spices: pepper and cardamon - regarded as the king and queen of spices – grow in close proximity to ginger, turmeric, cumin, clove, nutmeg and nut mace, cinnamon, lemongrass and curry leaf and can be seen on several of the plantations that are open to visit.
Spice expert O.F. Naseeb tells me as we wander through a plantation: “Spices are grown here because of the altitude of 800-900 metres above sea level where there is a good temperature, good rain fall and good soil quality.”
Food is one of the great pillars of any visit to India and in the south you can expect to be served mutton biryani, malai kofta curry, navrathan pulao rice, or buttery dal tadka among many other dishes, with great vegetarian options too. Most dishes will contain the spices you see growing nearby.
Breakfast menus can range from eggs to order to Indian favourites of idly, dosa, upattham (thick dosa with chopped onion and green chilli) through to fresh fruit, with coffee and tea, including the delicious masala chai.
Forest canopy
At Kumily, I stay at CGH’s Spice Village (Spice Village) with villas beneath a forest canopy amid trees and plants of all varieties, and labelled. The restaurant serves delicious cuisine, there is a pool and activities for guests range from early morning yoga and meditation, walking tours, an introduction to spices, cookery demonstrations, classical dance performances and ayurvedic treatments and massages.
Several different bird species can be spotted in the hotel grounds too, including greater coucal, Malabar parakeet, common tailorbird and spotted dove. Periyar wildlife park is nearby for trekking or boat trips.
CGH has 20+ hotels in natural locations with impressive accommodation and adheres to core values aimed at benefiting the local community and environmental sensitivity.
Tea plantations
The road from Kumily to Kumarakom winds through tea plantations where you are more likely to see Christian churches rather than temples.
The final stretch to my destination, the Coconut Lagoon (Coconut Lagoon) hotel, is reached via a water taxi along part of Kerala’s famous 34 Backwaters, a network of lagoons, lakes, rivers and man-made canals which lie parallel to the Arabian Sea.
Here, cottages sit amid quiet gardens, divided by water-filled channels. Don’t miss afternoon tea (or coffee), served by floating tea lady Shanthama from her long black boat moored in one of the canals.
Coconut Lagoon is spread across 30 acres with 28 bungalows, 14 heritage mansions, eight pool villas, a butterfly garden as well as a water purifying plant and solar energy. Several historic Keralan properties, some hundreds of years old, have been moved from across the state and reconstructed on the site.
Palms dominate the terrain, hiding rice fields beyond, that can be explored by an early-morning boat ride through small villages.
Fishing nets
From there, it is a short journey into Kochi, one of India’s most relaxed cities, and a stay at the Brunton Boatyard Hotel (Brunton Boatyard) overlooking the harbour and waterways, which can be experienced by a complimentary sunset boat tour from the hotel’s jetty.
Nearby are the Chinese fishing nets in the Fort area, which are symbolic of Kochi and still an important element of the local fishing industry.
Meanwhile, Mattancherry has shops and cafes in Kochi’s Jew Town where the Paradesi synagogue is open to visit while Mattancherry Palace contains artefacts and impressive wall murals.
One of Kerala’s best-known cultural traditions is Kathakali dancing. Instantly recognizable by the vivid make-up of the characters and the demonstrative body movements and facial expressions that accompany performances, which are held daily and portray stories from the Indian epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
As the two dominant southern states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala offer unique insights into India on a journey enhanced by stays in hotels that make the environment and local culture paramount in the way they connect to their guests. Article and photos by Mark Nicholls
FACTBOX
*Mark Nicholls was hosted by ILH (https://theilh.com/), an India-based destination management company working with guests and travel agents to deliver tailor-made experiences across southern India and the whole country.
For more information: CGH Earth (www.cghearth.com), Tamil Nadu Tourism (www.tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in) and Kerala Tourism (http://www.keralatourism.gov.in/en)
