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Temples of Kashi - The Tilbhandeshwar Temple

The city of Kashi is filled with temples, big and small, old and new. There are temples at every corner, and you never know where you will stumble upon a small shrine. There are idols beneath what remains of trees (there are hardly any trees any more within the core area of the city), there are saffron covered forms resembling deities which seem attached to walls, an especially incongruous sight when the idol itself appears to be old, while the wall is evidently new…. And there are surprisingly large temples rising from what appear to be a bunch of houses. The city is sometimes colloquially said to be as old as time, and some of the shrines and temples are said to date back to times unknown, at least the deity itself, if not the structure. Not much remains of the ancient structures anyway. The city has seen more than its fair share of good and bad times. It has seen the heights of grandeur, and the lows brought about by destruction. The city that exists today has grown so haphaza...
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Khajuraho - The Unexpected

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!

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Location: Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh 471606, India

Comments

  1. BIGBIGBANGOctober 14, 2016 at 7:21 PM

    Lovely pics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SudhageeNovember 23, 2016 at 10:29 AM

    I usually wait for the birds to fly away before taking pictures. :P

    But 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarNovember 23, 2016 at 10:41 AM

      And I look for birds to photograph! no matter where they are!

      looking forward to your pics of the Bundi! esp with the pigeons now!

      Delete
  3. Anuradha ShankarNovember 23, 2016 at 10:40 AM

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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