On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 8:44 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian <sur...@hserus.net>wrote:
> As for the temples - yes, beautiful, cultural, need to be preserved and > all that, but do you seriously expect thiruvanmiyur to revert back to being > a dense forest to set off the beauty of the temple and its tank? > preferably with water lilies rather than pond scum but that's a detail. > > How much of a forest these areas were is a question I am interested in. I think The Pallava temples along the Madras coast were built in places that were "always" occupied. Mylapore or Triplicane were "cities" long before their temples were built. Perhaps (like the Cholas after them, and the Vijayanagaras/Nayaks after the Cholas), the Pallavas expanded upon/rebuilt/ existing places of worship. In any case, forests on the Madras coast would be more brambly and thorn bushes than trees. C
