Just yesterday I got to travel again to Gingee, a town near Tiruvannamalai on the tindivanam-tiruvannamalai road. I was amazed to see some fantastic rock formations on the mountains there. gingee is famous for the erstwhile historical ruler Raja Deysingh and its Fort.. The Fort is atop the samall mountain ranges which are really by the wayside. I wondered how they built those long walls circumbulating the mountain and protecting the fortress and small palaces atop the hill. The mountain was a sheer drop and all smooth on the sides. It was almost as if a pestle had been stood up and atop it something constructed. ,,somewhat like Shiva LingamMy driver told me that there is a path on the side which wasnt visible from the road..there had got to be some steps or least a path for palanquin -bearers to carry their royal highnesses to safety in times of war or battles..!!!
The more intersting thing I want to describe here is the kind of mountains I saw there. The mountain ranges we normally see are all gargantuan boulders or chunks of granite in a neverending strean rolling one over another. We also see twisted rocks and striped lengthwise rocks formed as a result of cooled molten lava after a volcanic eruption. In such cases the lava in its flow downhill, burns all the trees and the trunks along with the molten flowing silica gets petrified as fossills.and these are what we see as the elongated striped rocks or granites.the other rocks just get cooled as big chunks and they are what we see as mountains. Because it is fertile after an eruption lots of trees take root and we have huge trees growing out of rocks all the way down the mountain
Now this is the common sight. what i saw was a mountain, nay a row of mounatins made up of stacked boulders of rocks, not very big but in all shapes and sizes. How was it standing there all these years is my puzzle!Looks to me small pieces..each a ton or two in weight must have been thrown up when the volcano spewed lava and fire and they must have landed one on top of another like the sweets we see arranged in a sweetshop! there are no trees grownig on these rocks and its an amazing and spectacular sight, the like of which havent seen elsewhere. Nearby is Tiruvannamalai which is the Agni Sthal ..one of the pancha bootha sthals..and I think the best explanation would be that it must have been a cauldron of fire milleniums ago and the mountains must have cooled off now. But even today it is the hottest place in tamil Nadu and temperatures soar to 104 or 105 degrees in summer. There is no volcano anywhere nearby now..But this could be the most possible or plausible explanation. The sight of these mountains is breathtaking and i wish I had taken a picture or two..maybe next time i go that side I will shoot a few pics...All I can now chant is Shiva shiva...and believe that it is HIS way of saying HE is still there.
The more intersting thing I want to describe here is the kind of mountains I saw there. The mountain ranges we normally see are all gargantuan boulders or chunks of granite in a neverending strean rolling one over another. We also see twisted rocks and striped lengthwise rocks formed as a result of cooled molten lava after a volcanic eruption. In such cases the lava in its flow downhill, burns all the trees and the trunks along with the molten flowing silica gets petrified as fossills.and these are what we see as the elongated striped rocks or granites.the other rocks just get cooled as big chunks and they are what we see as mountains. Because it is fertile after an eruption lots of trees take root and we have huge trees growing out of rocks all the way down the mountain
Now this is the common sight. what i saw was a mountain, nay a row of mounatins made up of stacked boulders of rocks, not very big but in all shapes and sizes. How was it standing there all these years is my puzzle!Looks to me small pieces..each a ton or two in weight must have been thrown up when the volcano spewed lava and fire and they must have landed one on top of another like the sweets we see arranged in a sweetshop! there are no trees grownig on these rocks and its an amazing and spectacular sight, the like of which havent seen elsewhere. Nearby is Tiruvannamalai which is the Agni Sthal ..one of the pancha bootha sthals..and I think the best explanation would be that it must have been a cauldron of fire milleniums ago and the mountains must have cooled off now. But even today it is the hottest place in tamil Nadu and temperatures soar to 104 or 105 degrees in summer. There is no volcano anywhere nearby now..But this could be the most possible or plausible explanation. The sight of these mountains is breathtaking and i wish I had taken a picture or two..maybe next time i go that side I will shoot a few pics...All I can now chant is Shiva shiva...and believe that it is HIS way of saying HE is still there.
No comments:
Post a Comment