The Cauvery delta is the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, and for a thousand years it fed an empire. The Cholas, who ruled much of southern India from the ninth to the thirteenth century, built their power on the fields, the ports and the fleet that carried their armies as far as Sumatra, and they poured their wealth into temples. Three of these, the Brihadisvara at Thanjavur, the one at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the Airavatesvara at Darasuram, are together a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Great Living Chola Temples, and the adjective is accurate: priests still perform rites in them daily.
Thanjavur, also called Tanjore, is a city of about 220,000, with a Maratha palace, a famous library of old manuscripts, and a workshop tradition of bronze casting and painted panels with gold leaf. Musicians still make veenas, the stringed instrument of south Indian classical music, in the streets near the temple. Fuel and food are easy to find, and the city is a convenient base for exploring the delta, with the town of Kumbakonam, where the Airavatesvara temple stands nearby, a short ride away.
The riding is flat and straightforward. Roads run between flooded paddy fields, banana groves and coconut palms, with villages every few kilometres and wayside shrines in between. Traffic is heavy, with buses, lorries and tractors, and the roads can be rough. Long straight stretches are broken by sudden speed bumps, and cattle wander on the verge. The heat is considerable, especially from April to June, and the best time to ride is from November to February, when the days are mild.
Food is a pleasure, with banana-leaf meals of rice, lentils, curries and pickles served at simple restaurants, and strong filter coffee in small steel cups. In the early morning, the temple's great tower catches the first light, and the town is quiet, with the smell of incense and jasmine in the air.