Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

A Sculpture like none other!

He is over 8 feet tall, and simply seems to take up all the space! We were, to be honest, rather startled, when we first set eyes on him. The reason though, was not his size, but the fact that he seemed to be made up of faces! Wondering what I am talking about? Here, let me show you….





At first glance, he appears grotesque, but he gets more and more interesting as we take a closer look, and realize, that he isn’t just made up of faces. The entire statue is made up of animal and human figures, a thought grotesque in the extreme, but a result surprisingly intricate and awe inspiring….



His head has two serpents coiled around, his eyes are frogs, their mouths open, holding eggs as eyeballs. His nose is a lizard, whose legs form his eyebrows; his moustaches are fishes; his mouth is a crab, and his ears are doves!

His neck is another snake, and his shoulder has birds on them, one looks like an owl, while the other seems to have succumbed to weathering. The hands are the legs of elephants, and his fingers, once again, snakes. His chest, stomach, and thighs are all human faces – interestingly, the upper ones seem to be males while the lower are females! His feet and legs are tigers, and yet another snake rises its hood near his feet, as if it formed his cloak!

He is incredibly interesting, but who is he? We were told that he was Rudra Shiva, from the temple of Tala in Chhatisgarh (the figure here is a replica), but he doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the scriptures, at least the ones we know of. It is evident that he is incredibly ancient, and, according to the ASI, he dates back to the 6th century! He is believed to predate Hinduism as we know it, a combination of Aghora and Rudra worship, more common in tribal societies.

This was my first visit to Chhattisgarh, and I travelled to Raipur and Sirpur, to attend the Sirpur Music and Dance festival, on an invite from the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board. There was much I saw and appreciated, but this sculpture - the first one I saw on my visit - is one which has made a lasting impression – and above all, has made me curious about Chhattisgarh and its history. I now have a deep and burning desire to visit Tala and see the original sculpture!


Have you seen anything like this before? If you have, please do write in  and enlighten me!  

P.S. For more detailed information, read this post by Saurabh, on Puratattva.in

Comments

  1. Fantastic Anu! How do you manage to remember so much :) :) :)

    Looking forward to more...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Sid! we all remember what we love.... i cant imagine how you manage to go talk to so many people, remember their dreams and write it up!

      Delete
  2. you know I have to write or take notes.. else i will forget it all what i see sometimes ..

    those are beautiful sculptures.. thank you for sharing

    Bikram's

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you are welcome, Bikram. I take notes too, at times where there is too much to see and remember... but some things just stay with me...

      Delete
  3. wow........ great job Bhabhi !!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie