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Temples of Kashi - The Tilbhandeshwar Temple

The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses. The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction. The city that exists today has grown so haphaza...
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Srirangapatna - Some thoughts

The serene environs of Srirangapatna hide among them, scars of not one, but four wars. 




The crumbling fort walls, remnants of the massive gateways, ruins of the erstwhile palace, and the dungeons, evoke memories of those three decades, less than three centuries ago, when the four Mysore wars tried the resilience of its citizens, over and over again. 



These are grim reminders of Srirangapatna’s past, and the ultimate sacrifices of its people , but the most poignant among them surely has to be the sight of this single stone which stands as a testament to the bravest among the men who perished here.



This simply engraved stone marks the spot where Tipu Sultan’s body was found. This is one of the attractions which every tourist to Srirangapatna visits, but few of us realise that he wasn’t found alone. His body was found among ‘heaps’ of dead soldiers, to quote the ASI board at the site, and the words only serve to emphasise the massive sacrifices made by the people of this remarkable little town.




But above all, it speaks volumes of the courage of the man who stood up to the British, and fought for his beliefs, against all odds. That he succumbed to the bullet of some ordinary, unnamed soldier reminds us that he wasn’t among those who directed the war, but that he fought among his men, shoulder to shoulder, and died among them too. My only knowledge of Tipu Sultan was from all I had read about him – first at school, and later, through books, and then, through a TV series on him. However, it was only as I stood there, by that simple stone Colonel Wellesly had placed in his memory, that I realized he had never felt more real! 

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Location: Srirangapatna, Karnataka, India

Comments

  1. NatalieGJanuary 30, 2014 at 8:34 AM

    I just found your blog, and am enjoying it very much already. I hope to one day visit India, so I want to learn as much as I can about the history and people, and your posts will help me a lot! Now to go find out more about Tippu Sultan...

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJanuary 30, 2014 at 8:39 AM

      Thank you so much, Natalie! I hope you get to visit India soon, and learn all you want to, before you do! If u need any help, feel free to send me a mail.

      Delete
  2. AnuJanuary 30, 2014 at 11:46 AM

    I have travelled through/ around Srirangapatna, but never visited this place at all. Quite a historical place. Is this a UNESCO Heritage site?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJanuary 30, 2014 at 12:22 PM

      No its not a UNESCO site, country hopping couple, but part of the ASI heritage sites. In fact ,there were boards all over, with a list of heritage sites in srirangapatna.

      Delete
  3. HaddockFebruary 18, 2014 at 10:09 PM

    Yes, its only when we visit the actual site we realise the importance and that person and how he must have faced the adversities.

    ReplyDelete

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