"Eagle" temple

Near Mahabalipuram is the town of Thirukkalikundram, the site of a locally famous "Eagle" temple.    Quotes are needed because the eponymous birds are actually Egyptian vultures  .    By reputation, the "eagles" accept food from the priests daily around noon.


My daughter and I visited the place in March 2012.


The temple, dedicated to Siva, perches atop a substantial hill.   It's accessible by a staircase asserted to have 1100 steps.   Shoes and chappals are forbidden, so the smooth stone stairs are welcome.     But one stays  in the shade whenever possible, because the dark stone heats up very markedly in the midday sun.  

Few of the Temple's visitors are foreign tourists.      These Tamilian ladies face a long, hot, steep climb.

Here's the view from on top.   Note the tall conical towers (gopurams) of yet another important temple below.

Our pleasant and chatty driver, himself a Siva devotee, turned out to know the place and the local priests well;  he took this snap.    The hilltop temple's interior is supposedly restricted to Hindus, but Mr. Yerumalai led us right in and introduced us to the top priests.    One of them mentioned a brother working with computers in Sunnyvale, California.   (This is not really remarkable; countless South Indians work in the IT industry, at home and abroad.)

All three of us emerged from the temple properly garlanded and forehead-marked, and bearing ceremonial flowers.    Mr. Yerumalai, our driver and guide, is at left.