Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Namchi, Sikkim - Of two statues, temples and some thoughts



A huge statue is visible on the mountain as our car makes its way along the winding roads. We ask what it is and our driver replies “Oh, that is the Padmasambhava Statue. We shall be going there.” Soon, the curves hide the statue from our eyes, and we make our way to a temple complex, over which towers a massive statue of Shiva. 




“Amma, this looks like the one in Murdeshwar!” pipes up Samhith, and he is right. They aren’t exactly the same, but idea is similar. Murudeshwar is on the west coast, and we are now in the north-east, at Namchi in Sikkim, but it is evident that sculptors and temple builders across the country have the same ideas!



The Siddheshwar Dham is touted as a unique pilgrimage centre, one that brings together some of the most important Hindu temples in one place. To begin with, there are the Char Dham, 4 of the holiest places of pilgrimage – Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameshwaram and Puri. Then, there are the 12 Jyotirlings, the huge Shiva statue I mentioned earlier, with a temple under it, and finally, a Sai temple. That brings the total to about 18 shrines here.



On the opposite hill is visible the huge statue of Padmasambhava we had seen earlier, and that is our next stop. This is said to be the biggest statue of the patron saint of Sikkim, and under it is a monastery, which is remarkable for its peace and silence in spite of the tourist crowds which arrive here. Very interestingly, it is believed that this hill is actually a dormant volcano, and that the Buddhist monks have offered prayers here for centuries to keep the volcano from erupting!



The landscape, as seen from the viewing gallery at the statue is beautiful, and as I stand there, people clicking photos all around me, I try to see if the Shiva statue is visible from here. And it is. And it makes me wonder – why, of all places, was this one chosen to build two such immense statues? Is there some kind of competition? Is this an attempt to make up for the lack of ancient temples in this region?



Among the two, I must say, the Padmasambhava statue and monastery were more interesting to me. I am not too fond of huge structures, which is why the size didn’t impress me. What did, was the depiction, and the sense of belonging. It just felt right, if you know what I mean.

Besides, Samhith, for once, managed to talk to one of the young monks about his own age, and the personal interaction only added to the charm of the monastery.



This is what we missed at the Siddheshwar Dham, the sense of belonging, of feeling right. The temples, at least to me, felt out of place, mere decorations rather than the sacred sites they are meant to be. Maybe it was because I have already visited the original of these shrines (well, all except Puri). Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am inherently against building new temples in a country already full of ancient ones which need proper repair and maintenance.

As we turned back, the one thing that remained with me was the thought of these two massive statues, almost facing each other, looking down at the city. There are lots of similarities between them – the sitting posture, the trident both have in their hands, the expression, the elongated ears with earrings. In some ways Padmasambhava appears to have attributes of other Hindu Gods too…. The Vajra of Indra, the lotus of Brahma, the concept of reincarnation like Vishnu, to name but a few. Hinduism must have been prevalent in the area long before Buddhism made its mark. Today, there are hardly any temples here, and Buddhist monasteries wherever you go. Is the Siddheshwar Dham, in the eyes of the locals, a way to reclaim their Hindu past? I wonder what these two deities looking at all this, think about it!



Information:
  • Location: Both, Siddheshwar Dham, and the Padmasambhava Statue are near Namchi, about 92 Km from Gangtok and 90 Km from Siliguri.
  • How to reach: There are buses to Namchi from both, Jorethang as well as Gangtok. The share jeeps also bring people here. These shrines are both on the route to Gangtok via Melli, so the temples can be visited during the journey.
  • Tips: While here, visit the Rock Garden, and the Temi Tea Estates too. 



Comments

  1. Beautiful post, Anuradha. I couldn't go beyond the blue skies initially. The secular practices are impressive in the mountains :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Amrita. The secular practices are impressive, but we see them everywhere, in the interiors, which are still unspoilt by the problems brought on by fanaticism.

      Delete
  2. The first pic reminded me of the status of Hanuman on Jakhu hills at Shimla and the third, of Murudeshwar as Samhith pointed out. The statues look real massive..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Meghana, there are just too many such new and huge statues all over. i cant imagine why we are so obsessed with size.

      Delete
  3. Just planned to visited Namchi this October!! Looks splendid :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well Sikkim didn't have a hindu past so the main motive was to attract tourists and promote diversity that's it. While Padmasambhava has a history with the land so it's a sacred relation seems more in place.

    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

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie