At the center of modern Kanchi, a large road called Kamarajar Salai runs north to south, bisecting the city along a broad avenue that is lined with shops, tea stalls, residences, and shrines. As Kanchi's busiest thoroughfare, this road is plied with vehicles starting in the earliest hours of the morning (Ill. 29). However, Kamarajar Salai is more than a route through the urban core of Kanchi. It is also a main artery for religious processions. All streets, big and small, branch off from this avenue and lead to Kanchi's many temples. In turn, the temples orient their principal gods towards the central avenue (Ill. 30). Temples to the west of Kamarajar Salai have sanctums that open towards the east. Temples to the east of Kamarajar Salai have sanctums that open towards the west. This centralized orientation is consistent in all temples built within the boundaries of the city during the last twelve hundred years, regardless of religious dedication, builder, date, or material.

This chapter examines how Kanchi's urban landscape was radically reoriented and reconfigured by this unique spatial logic during the Chola period (ca. 850-1275 CE). The city's new rulers laid the main avenue and other new roads, and they allocated resources for the construction, expansion, and maintenance of dozens of temples within and around the city. In doing so, the Cholas realigned the old Pallava city to foster their own political connections and to establish new ritual networks.