Page 612 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

610  SOUTH INDIA

they created a sanatorium-
cum-retreat here. They
also established Kodai’s
Interna tional School in 1901.
This picturesque town is
today spread out around the
man-made, star-shaped Kodai
Lake, created by the dam built
by Sir Vere Henry Levinge in
1863. The 3-km (2-mile) long
trail around the lake makes for
a pleasant walk. On the shore
is a Boat House, built in 1910.
East of the lake is Bryant Park,
famous for its plant collection
(including over 740 varieties
Tree-lined avenue in Kodaikanal of roses) and its annual flower
show, held in May.
p Palani many of whom shave their Beyond the city centre are
heads as an expression of a number of scenic areas, such
Madurai district. 120 km (75 miles)
NW of Madurai. ~ Madurai, 119 km devotion. An electric cable car as Pillar Rocks, Silver Cascade
(74 miles) SE of town centre, then bus takes devotees up the 600 steps and Green Valley View (originally
or taxi. £ @ _ Thaipoosam (Jan/ to the hill shrine. known as Suicide Point), which
Feb), Karthigai (Nov/Dec). Palani is also a base for hikes offer enchanting picnic spots
in the surrounding hills. and views of the deep valley.
A major pilgrimage centre, Kodai also has many options
Palani is situated on the edge of for cycling, riding and long,
the great Vyapuri Tank. Its hilltop a Kodaikanal rambling walks. A trail following
Subrahmanyam Temple is the Madurai district. 120 km (75 miles) the hillside, called Coaker’s
most famous of the six abodes NW of Madurai. £ Palani, 65 km Walk, provides a panoramic
of Murugan, the son of Shiva, (40 miles) N of town centre, then view of the hill station. The
who is said to have come here bus or taxi. @ n Tamil Nadu walk ends at the Church of
disguised as a mendicant after Tourism, (04542) 241 675. ( Mon– St Peter, which was built in
quarrelling over a fruit with his Sat. _ Summer Festival (May), 1884, and has fine stained-
brother, Ganesha. Popularly Flower Show (May), Winter Festival glass windows. Nearby is a
known as Danda yutha Pani (Dec). s small Telescope House.
(“Bearer of the Staff”), Murugan Some 3 km (2 miles)
is depicted with a clean-shaven Lush green valleys, terraced northeast of the lake is the
head, holding a stick. His image plantations and a pleasant Kurunji Andavar Temple,
is made of medicinal herbs, climate make Kodaikanal one dedicated to Murugan. It is
mixed together to create a of Tamil Nadu’s most popular named after the amazing
wax-like substance. During the hill stations. Kodaikanal, or kurunji flowers (see p653),
Thaipoosam festival, the temple Kodai as it is commonly called, associated with the god.
attracts thousands of pilgrims, was first “discovered” by The Chettiar Park nearby,
American missionaries in the laid out along the hillside,
1840s. Drawn by its bracing is where the kurunji blooms
climate and clean environs, every 12 years.

Hiking in the Nilgiris
Short excursions around Ooty
offer many opportunities to
explore the Nilgiris (see
pp608–609) on foot. There are
scenic trails in the grasslands
around Mukurthi, an extinct
volcano known to the Todas Waterfall in the Nilgiris
as the “Gateway to the Dead”,
and in the windswept
Avalanche region, which consists of rolling, grassy downs, shola
trees and rhododendrons. The western edge of this region falls
away into the dense tropical jungles of Kerala. The eastern half
of the range, largely deprived of the Southwest Monsoon, is
Religious offerings for sale dominated by dry scrub and volcanic rock.
in Palani
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp702–703 and pp717–18

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm