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’t ju
There are 12 temples inside the Mysore Palace complex. Some
of these are ancient ones, which stood long before the palace was built, while
others are relatively recent, having been built by the royal family in
different periods. Among these, it is the Shveta Varahaswamy Temple which is
the most prominent, since it is located right next to the present entrance to
the palace.
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| Varaha over the main doorway |
Varaha is the third avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu,
the family deity of the Wodeyars. He appears in the form of a wild boar,bringing out the earth (Bhu-devi) from the ocean. The idol being made of white
stone, He is called ‘Shveta (white) Varahaswamy. It is said that the idol was
brought from Srimushnam in Tamilnadu, by Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar (1672-1704),
and consecrated at a new temple in Srirangapatna, which was then their capital.
In 1809, the deity was brought to Mysore and consecrated in this temple by
Diwan Purnaiah as per the wishes of Krishna Raja Wodeyar III.
The temple is built in the typical Hoysala style of
architecture with intricate work over the doorways and pillars.
There is also a
separate shrine for the goddess.
One of the interesting things about this
temple are the paintings representing the Ramayana and Bhagavata on the walls
of the pillared hall. Unfortunately, cameras aren’t allowed inside the temple,
so I have no photos of these. Instead, here is a depiction of the Dashavatar
(the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu) over the doorway…
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| Narasimha... killing the demon Hiranyakasipu |
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| Narasimha in a different pose... as Lakshmi Narasimha accompanied by smaller ircons of Dashavatars... the one on the left is Vamana. I cant identify the one on the right. Looks a bit like Garuda. |
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| Some of the Dashavatars/.. the central one is Rama. see the smaller icons of Matsya, Kurma and Varaha |
I am sharing this post today with SkyWatch Friday. True, there isnt much of the sky in these pics, but standing in the palace complex, looking around, the temples with their majestic gopurams were the most visible on the skyline! For more beautiful skies from around the world, visit the Skywatch page.
Wow, Gorgeous! Indeed, extraordinary architecture...like your tour.
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Thanks so much. I havent been able to see a lot of blogs recently, but when i start to catch up, I surely will read yours. hope to keep seeing u here.
DeleteVery beautiful photos for SWF!Have a nice weekend.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steffi! have a grt weekend too!
DeleteBeautifully covered. I have been wanting to do this for long now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rajesh! would love to read your impressions of the temple too.
DeleteWonderful architectures. Nice shots.
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