Proceeding south and west, we came to the Tanjore area, which contains the great Chola temples built in the later medieval period (10th to 12th century) when this area was the center of a large Hindu empire. Many of these temples are UN World Heritage sites (one member of our group has a goal of seeing as many of these sites as he possibly can, so we went to several of them). Here is the courtyard of the Brihadishvara Temple in Tanjore, and a photo of a couple of schoolgirls who were there on a field trip and posed for a photo.
Also in Tanjore, we visited the city palace, which contains a museum with many bronze statues of Hindu gods and goddesses, animals, and other mythic figures. Here is the palace courtyard and a sample of the statuary (the peacock is a common motif in Hindu culture).
Next stop was Madurai, perhaps the largest city you've never heard of (estimated population is 2.5 million). The chief attraction there is the Minakshi Temple complex, one of India's largest. Here is a model of the complex (we didn't visit all the buildings), and a view of one of the magnificent painted ceilings. There is much other amazing art in this temple.
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