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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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Vedic Rites to be performed during the Kashi Yatra

The purpose of a Kashi Yatra for most people is the performance of Vedic rites for their ancestors, and it was the same for us. My in-laws were performing all the rites, and we had nothing much to do. In fact, we weren’t allowed to accompany them to Gaya at all, as it is apparently considered inauspicious for those whose parents were alive to see the Akshaya Vatam and the Vishnu Padam. However, my curiosity about the rituals made me ask a number of questions which were thankfully answered in detail by two young people- the manager of the Kanchi Math at Kashi and the vadhyar or pundit who officiated at our rites. Both of them were extremely helpful, and it is entirely thanks to them that I have been able to write in such detail about Kashi as well as the surrounding places, even those we did not visit. At my request, I was given this list of the rites that are traditionally performed during a Kashi Yatra. I share this with all my readers in the hope that it may be of some use to them too. I have provided contact numbers of some people there who will be able to arrange everything for anyone who desires to perform these rituals. To read the full article, click here.
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  1. Sailin GudhkaJuly 28, 2008 at 10:51 AM

    Namaste
    Real good write up enjoyed every bit of it..........Keep writing & thanks once again for sharing. God Bless!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SujataJuly 29, 2008 at 11:31 PM

    I saw your query on the HT electronic version today and was curios to find out more about you. This is a very interesting post. I enjoyed your writing style. Keep writing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. SujataJuly 29, 2008 at 11:36 PM

    I saw your query on the HT electronic version today and was curios to find out more about you. This is a very interesting post. I enjoyed your writing. Keep writing …..:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anuradha ShankarJuly 30, 2008 at 3:46 PM

    Thank you very much, Sai and Sujata....

    ReplyDelete

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