Chennai Government Museum

Chris had a day off last week, so we went to the Government Museum (the Rough Guide's summary).  It's known for its collection of Chola bronzes (good site - skip intro & look around a bit).  Several buildings were closed - we've come to expect this - but there was plenty to see in the open exhibitions.

Left is a Nataraja, one of Shiva's avatars (the Hindu gods take on many, many forms).  He's dancing on a demon who represents ignorance, or the old world which was in need of destroying, so a new world could be created (depending on what you read).  There were lots of Nataraja representations in the museum.





There was a geology& archeology section with skeletons & preserved things in jars, and rocks & diagrams of stars.  And an elephant with man in a red shirt, which I particularly liked.





We were happy to spend more time with the bronzes and in a garden and another building with ancient stone sculptures.

 

Nandi   (different sites for different view points, and different serendipitous discoveries.)  13th Century. 

Below, a lion.

<--- snakes, for Matthew.                     Women were built differently then --->

One of the treasures of the museum is a temple moved from the next state north.  Top is a Vishnu shrine, below are statues of Buddha.

Then we went looking for lunch. The restaurant existed on the internet map, but wasn't there on the street.  We're learning that the internet's great for finding things, but reality doesn't always cooperate.