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
Khajuraho. The very name conjures up exotic images of erotic
art on temple walls. However, there is so much more to Khajuraho than just the
erotic, or even just temples. Last December, Samhith and I spent three days at
Khajuraho, exploring as much of the ancient town as we could, and over the next
few weeks, I shall try to show you the Khajuraho that we saw, beginning
with this photo clicked at the Kandariya Mahadev Temple.
The Kandariya Mahadev is one of the most impressive temples
at Khajuraho, and it’s the details which make it so impressive. This particular
figure is of Agni, the God of Fire. Here, though, he is one of the Ashta-Dikpalas, the guardians of the 8
directions. Agni guards the South-East, and it’s his placement on the South
East wall of the temple, which allows us to identify him here. Notice the finer
details, such as his beard….
These photos are among my favourites; among the hundreds I
clicked at Khajuraho, thanks to this female Plum-Headed Parakeet which chose
Agni to be her perch!
Her mate was nearby, perched on one of the smaller
Shikaras….
And they patiently posed for me as I went click-happy;
thrilled by the sight of birds on a temple, a combination I am always thrilled
to see!
Lovely pics.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI usually wait for the birds to fly away before taking pictures. :P
ReplyDeleteBut this time at the Rani ji ki Baori in Bundi there was a flock of pigeons who refused to fly away and all my pictures of the Baori are with them in the frame.
And I look for birds to photograph! no matter where they are!
Deletelooking forward to your pics of the Bundi! esp with the pigeons now!
Thank you!
ReplyDelete