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Temples of Kashi - The Kardameshwar temple

The absence of ancient Hindu structures in Kashi is something I have always lamented about. The shrines are certainly ancient, and that is something that has always attracted me to the city. However, I miss the beauty of the ancient structures that we see at other sites. This feeling is intensified when I see marble and concrete and tiles in temples that once would have been beautifully adorned with evocative sculptures, and worn by the passage of time, touched by the hands of seekers who came before. This time , this desire to see some remnants of an ancient Hindu structure in Kashi came true when I managed to visit the Kardameshwar Temple. The Kardameshwar temple is not one of the main temples in the city. It is part of the temples on the Pancha Kroshi yatra, a pilgrimage which takes one on a circumambulatory tour of the whole city. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city, on the western bank of a tank called the Kardama Kund. The Kardameshwar temple is one of the...
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A Long Vacation Comes to an End

Its been one hectic summer vacation. Over the period of one month, we traversed over 5000 Km as we spent our holidays travelling and making the most of the longest vacation of the year!

We started our tour with a visit to Tiruppur, where Samhith made the most of his time with his aunt. While there, we managed to sneak in a visit to the Dhyanalinga Temple near Coimbatore.



From there, we headed towards Madurai,
where Shankar joined us, and we spent our 9th wedding anniversary visiting the Madurai Meenakshi Temple.........



and also our family deity temple at Nainar Kovil.



We then headed towards Chennai, where we just had time to drop in on our relatives before we headed out towards the temple town of Kancheepuram.....



and then to Pondicherry, where we spent a couple of restful days.


While returning to Chennai, we spent our time at Mahabalipuram, adding one more place to Samhith's list of World Heritage Sites...



It was time to get back to Mumbai, which we did by hopping on to a summer special train which took its own sweet time, stopping at any and every station which came our way.... We stayed at home for just a couple of days before it was time to head out again... this time towards the west.... First to Mount Abu....



then to the temple of Ambaji in Gujarat....



and then towards Udaipur....



We finished our tour with a visit to the Chittorgarh Fort, and finally headed back to Mumbai by bus!



What a tour it has been! There is much to write, and it is going to keep me busy for months to come!

Meanwhile, I induced Samhith to finally make a scrap book by buying him a handmade paper scrap book at Auroville, and he actually managed to put some things together during the trip itself... On his instructions, I am not going to put it up here, but on his blog. Please do click here and check it out!

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