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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...
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Of old journeys and new ones... and a glimpse of my recent trip

June 2007: Shankar and I head out to Jaisalmer, 4 year old Samhith in tow. It is a memorable trip, one where we walk for hours over the Golden Fort, clicking photographs with our trusted old Kodak camera, as we take turns carrying Samhith and posing! We trudge across sand dunes on camels, even as I close my eyes tightly to avoid the queasy feeling, and then happily play on the sand, though it still retains some of the heat of the day! I return with so many tales from the trip that my sister in law suggests I start a blog.







November 2007: ‘A Wandering Mind’ is born, and, after the first few posts, I get into the groove. The sixth post is about Jaisalmer, and it is the first of the long posts filled with photographs that soon become the norm for me J

 It has been seven years since then, and I have come a long, long way. My humble blog has grown by leaps and bounds, and today, as I write my 867th post, my thoughts are on that 6th post I wrote so long ago…because this post is about the same place I wrote then. Wait. Did I say, “the same”? Well, the only thing that is the same is the destination – Jaisalmer.

This time, I travelled without my family, but with a bunch of bloggers and journalists, invited by Suryagarh – Jaisalmer, to experience the “Monsoon Magic”. I thought this would be, for me, a retrospective trip, albeit cooler and pleasanter, seeing the sights I had seen so long ago. As it turned out, I couldn’t have been more wrong!!!







The only place I revisited was the Jaisalmer Fort, and even it has changed so much that I looked at it with new eyes. But above all, this trip opened me up to completely new facets of the desert, as we went off the road, explored sites long forgotten, and experienced the desert in all its glory. It was truly a magical experience, one where the stories overshadowed the sights and the attractions.




And that is what my new posts on Jaisalmer are going to be about – stories of the desert! For now, I leave you with some photos I have already posted, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram… That’s where I post updates while on the move, so follow me to keep track of where I am and what I am up to! 







Peacock at Suryagarh

Suryagarh


P.S. I noticed that some of the photos were taking a lot of time to load. Please let me know if you face the same problem too, and I will replace them. 

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Location: Jaisalmer, Rajasthan 345001, India

Comments

  1. R Niranjan DasAugust 6, 2014 at 7:02 PM

    Hope you had a great time in Jaisalmer. Nice captures. 7 years is a long time, Anuradha. May you write many more such lovely travelogues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarAugust 7, 2014 at 11:01 AM

      Thank you so much, Niranjan! We did have a great time. It was most fun catching up with everyone! Hope to meet you too soon!

      Delete
  2. NatalieGAugust 7, 2014 at 5:44 AM

    The years fly by, don't they? I have experienced the same thing with visiting the museums and monuments in and around Washington, DC. I love them but only get back to them occasionally; it's always interesting to see how 'different' they look and feel from my memories of the last time I was there.

    I enjoyed seeing your pictures of Jaisalmer, and I look forward to the rest. I could only wish that more of my mornings started out with chai in a beautiful courtyard! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarAugust 7, 2014 at 11:04 AM

      Thank you so much, Natalie!!! I too so wish my mornings could always start that way!!!! And I actually love revisiting places. The change in perspective, from outside as well as inside me, is really interesting!

      Delete

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