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The Vaishnodevi Experience 2023

My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
3 comments

Wayanad - A Forest Shrine

Returning from our encounter with the python, we chose a different path back, and came across this....




A stone idol of Ganesha, with a small stone container (probably a lamp), with a feather lying by the side - doesn’t it look like the feather might be a quill, and the container might hold ink, ready for the Lord to pick it up and write? As the one who penned down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it, the sight was appropriate, don’t you think?



The idol was installed outside what we were told, was an ancient, tribal temple.



The temples were really shrines, built mostly with bamboo, and in one case, bricks, and they were old, though they didn’t really look ancient.



There wasn’t much to see or appreciate, especially since the temples were closed.



The Ganesha idol was surely the most interesting thing here, and that too by a quirk of nature, which caused the feather to fall where it did!!!! 

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Location: Wayanad, Kerala, India

Comments

  1. P.N. SubramanianJune 12, 2013 at 9:36 AM

    Excellent. The Ganesha must be some 1200 years old. Though there is an ink pot and a quill nearby, I wonder if any material like paper was available to write on during those times. The tribal s did not deem it necessary to place the idol inside their Shrine!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJune 12, 2013 at 9:38 AM

      Thanks PNS, but i somehow felt that the Ganesha must have been a recent addition to the shrine, which is why it was placed outside.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 12, 2013 at 3:21 PM

    At which place is this temple located.

    translation ahmedabad
    interpretation ahmedabad

    ReplyDelete
  3. R Niranjan DasJune 12, 2013 at 11:03 PM

    Wow! Those temples look interesting. Have never seen such ones. Nice post Anu.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/06/amidst-sea-of-blue.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. RajeshJune 15, 2013 at 12:25 PM

    Wonderful place to explore. Very true Ganesha idol real eye catcher.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SudhageeJune 19, 2013 at 3:58 PM

    I wonder what deities are inside the forest shrines. I also find it very interesting that all the shrines are laid out in a row. And, old or new, I like the Ganesha :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. ErcotravelsJune 21, 2013 at 5:09 PM

    Temples looks weird but have a peaceful and clean atmosphere nearby.

    ReplyDelete

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