India Travel - More Attractions in Chennai

The Christian Tradition

San Thome Basilica - South India's links with Christianity go back almost to the times of Jesus. According to a legend one of Jesus' Disciples, Thomas Dydimus (`Doubting Thomas'), preached in south Indian coasts. Thomas apparently used to walk from here to the beach at San Thome daily to preach and was buried on the beach. He was later reinterred on a little inland, the site of the San Thome Basilica, that also holds some relics of the saint. On the spot near Mylapore where he used to walk, the Portuguese later built Descanco Church.

Armenian Church and St. Mary's Co-Cathedral Luz Church in Mylapore, also were built before the advent of the British. You can also find some fine British churches with towering steeples, like St. George's Cathedral and St. Andrew's Kirk, both with several fine monuments.

Theosophical Society: The font of Indian spiritual revival , the World Headquarters of the Theosophical movement founded by Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott lies in Adyar. The Headquarters Building is a superb old mansion with a vast hall where silence is revered. You can still mediate under the huge old Banyan Tree, believed to be the second largest in India and visit within the shrines of all faiths, a serene Garden of Remembrance and a fine Library with a superb collection of old Eastern manuscripts.

Hallowed Shrines: Ptolemy talks about great port of Maillarpha-the ancient Mylapore, is also renowned for the famed Kapaleeswarar Temple. The present temple has been famous for at least 300 years and is adorned with one of the most beautiful gopurams (towers). Visit too the Vaishnava Parthasarathy Temple nearby. In George Town, are the earliest temples of the Madras Era - the twin Chenna Kesava - Chenna Mallikeswarar Temples are the first temples of the modern city, and not much newer are the Kandaswamy Temple, the Kapaleeswarar Temple and the Ekambareswarar Temple nearby. More modern Hindu shrines include the Vadapalani Andavar Temple and the temples of Mambalam.

The Big Mosque, associated with the Wallajah Nawabs, is the finest mosque in Madras, but the new Thousand Lights Mosque brings modern architectural splendour to mosque-building. Mint Street has several old Jain temples, but in GNC Road there is the new Shantinath Temple that is strikingly beautiful.

Guindy National Park: The country's only wild life sanctuary within a city's limits, it is bounded by the Raj Bhavan, the governor's mansion on the one end, and the beautiful forest-girt campus of Madras's famous Indian Institute of Technology, at the other. You can also find the famous Cancer Institute, a Children's Park with its own mini-zoo and mini-railway, a Snake Park rich in reptiles, and Memorials to Gandhiji, Rajagopalachari the first Indian Governor-General, and Kamaraj, a major Tamil national leader as you travel end to end. Not far away are the play grounds of the rich and famous-the Race-courses.

The Marina Beach: The world's second largest beach stretches two long miles of sand-strewn charm- from the mouth of the Cooum River south of the Fort, till the Portuguese town of San Thome. A promenade, well-kept gardens and a wide beach lies to the east of the road. The north end of the beach is known as Anna Square, where lies Dr C N Annadurai, who fought for the glory of Tamil and the Tamils.. At the other end of the beach is the new lighthouse. In between lie several statues of Tamil scholars and two splendid bits of sculpture - the Victory of Labour and Mahatma Gandhi. You can also marvel at Marina Beach. Cross the road to visit the University campus in Indo-Saracenic style of the 1930s blending with perhaps one of the country's finest buildings in this hybrid style, Senate House. The Chepauk Palace, once the home of the Nawabs of the Carnatic, still reflect Nawabi splendor while housing government offices.. Vivekananda House, once a storehouse for imported ice -became then home for Swami Vivekananda when he visited Madras.