Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar temple

This morning I visited the Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar temple (I know, it's a mouthful). I remembered to wear pants (not shorts, I typically remember to wear pants in general) and I left my shoes across the street at a government shop. I entered through one of the massive gates (covered in some of the 33,000 statues of the temple) and was on my way.

It's a very large set of temples, although I was only allowed in maybe half of the place due to the fact that I'm not a Hindu. It was still very interesting, just a huge place full of pilgrims and every day worshipers. Any time there are what I consider exotic animals in a place of worship, you can count me in (this time it was an elephant all decorated, just hanging out in the temple). The statues are impressive, all painted how they were originally (some are "only" 300 years old, but many are much older, no one seems to know exactly how old).

The whole struck me as very ancient, as if it had changed very little in the last thousand years. Hinduism as I see it feels like ancient Greek or Roman religions, full of different gods, with different powers, myths explaining everything and interwoven with the local landscapes. It's very interesting, although the guys taking pictures of me with their cell phones takes away from the ambiance a little bit. Anyway, I'm not sure what I'll do this afternoon, but I may visit an old half destroyed palace of some sort, we'll see.