Skip to main content

Featured Post

Odisha Part 11: Discovering the Jaina Heritage of Odisha at the caves of Udaygiri and Khandgiri

The Hindu and Buddhist history of Odisha , or rather, ancient Kalinga, is rather well known to everyone. Who hasn’t heard of the grand temples of Odisha – Puri, Lingaraj and Konark, or the great war of Kalinga which inspired Ashoka to convert to Buddhism? In contrast, very few know of the Jaina heritage of this region. This is quite a pity, since, just around 7 km from the city, is one of India’s most ancient inscriptions, which throws light on the Jaina heritage of Odisha. This inscription is the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, in the hills of Udaygiri. Udaygiri and Khandgiri are two hills located opposite each other, and both are testaments to the rich Jaina heritage of Odisha. The caves at Udaygiri are older, while Khandgiri is relatively newer, but has lasted much longer, and continues to be a place of pilgrimage for Jains even today. These hills, from inscriptions and excavations of caves, shrines and rock beds, appear to have been a haven for Jaina monks, right from the ...
1 comment

The Last Kolu Pics for this year!

Some of you might be bored of Kolus by now, after seeing so many over the last few days! However, before I close the Navaratri chapter for this year, here are the last three kolu arrangements for this year.....

The Fine Arts Society, Chembur, has a mammoth 15 steps Kolu which draws visitors over all the ten days of the festival. Besides, there is also usually an interesting decoration based on a theme. 



This year, the theme was a dual one - Of Andal and Meera, represented picturesquely with handmade dolls!


Everyone knows the story of Meera - who loved Krishna and none but Him, and in spite of facing all sorts of troubles, remained true to her Lord, finally merging with Him.....



Andal's is a similar story. She is the poetess saint of the south, who loved the Lord, and considered him to be her spouse. As with Meera, she too merged with the Lord, all decked up as a bride. Many Vishnu temples have sanctums dedicated to her.



While we loved seeing the beautiful dolls made with such care and eye for detail, there were some interesting dolls on display too.....By now, you all would have realised our fascination with Dashavataram dolls. Here was something different....

Dashavataram - featuring Ganesha!!!! Interesting depiction, right???



And then, there was this beautiful set depicting women near a river.....



and we love these sets depicting the merchants selling their wares.....



The next kolu was at the Bhajan Samaj, Ghatkopar. Here are the steps....



An interesting set of dolls depict the Sapta Matrika - seven forms of the Devi...



and on the side were these dolls..... There is a set depicting Ravana holding court and Hanuman sitting on a seat he has made by winding up his tail.... and also a set depicting a band....



Our last and final Kolu this year was at the Mariamman Temple in our colony.....



Most of the dolls are the same as last year... just one is new.....



This is half Ganesha and half Hanuman... I have never seen one like this. Have you?

Last, but not the least, at the same temple, the utsava murthy of the goddess was decked up as Saraswati..... Yes, this was on the ninth day of Navaratri....


Labels:

Comments

  1. ArchanaOctober 8, 2011 at 8:20 PM

    Wow, read all your posts on Navratri. Lovely pictures and excellent documentation. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anu ShankarOctober 9, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    Thanks a lot, Archana!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MadhuOctober 9, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    Ya... we have the same doll like that... its called ADHI ANTHA PRABHU...half Ganesh & half Hanuman...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anu ShankarOctober 9, 2011 at 9:47 PM

    Thanks Madhu.. didnt know that.. first time i saw such a doll!

    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...
10 comments
Read more

Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
9 comments
Read more

Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport.  That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’...
2 comments
Read more