Places to Visit in Uthiramerur

On a temple wall near Kanchipuram, a thousand-year-old inscription spells out how a village chose its committees by drawing names from a pot.

Tradition holds that a goddess shaped a lingam from river sand and embraced it against a flood. Today that shrine stands for the earth itself.

In a city of temples, whole streets bend over looms. The Kanchipuram silk saree is heavy with real gold, and every border is a small feat of engineering.

In Kanchipuram stands a Vishnu over 35 feet tall, one leg flung skyward. Tradition holds this is the god caught mid-stride, measuring the three worlds.

A realistic one-day plan for Kanchipuram — Kailasanathar, Ekambareswarar, Kamakshi Amman, Varadharaja and Vaikunta Perumal, and the city’s famous silk, in the order that beats the crowds.

Pair the granite fort and gilded temple of Vellore with the ancient temple town of Kanchipuram on an easy two-day loop from Chennai or Bengaluru.

One of Hinduism’s seven liberation-cities, the Pallava capital where sandstone temples rose 1,300 years ago and looms still weave silk threaded with gold.