grahEShu dhAriNI ramyA tatra ramyA dharAdharAH |
abhibhUtAsmi tatrApi pashchimAdrErvishEShataH ||
ग्रहेषु धारिणी रम्या तत्र रम्या धराधरा: ।
अभिभूतास्मि तत्रापि पश्चिमाद्रेर्विशेषतः ॥
I have professed my love for the hills and valleys of Malnad in an earlier post. No place in the world I have visited hitherto, has moved me as much as malenaaDu has. I read Kuvempu's 'malenADina chitragaLu' and similar works with greed. The reason is not just that the place is beautiful, it is something much more than that, something that I cannot put my finger upon. Though my trips there have been short, they influence me in undescribable ways. I always get the feeling that I am visiting home, during my travels to that area.
It was, therefore, with great enthusiasm (tempered with a little apprehension because my little son was to accompany us) that I prepared for our weekend trip to Sringeri. As Mother Sharada willed it, we did not get tickets for the Rajahamsa bus, and we had to take the ordinary bus which was euphemistically called an express. After a slightly uncomfortable journey, we alighted near the Sharada temple, the cold breeze biting into our hands and faces.
Sringeri is a place made famous by Shri ShankarAchArya. Legend says that the Acharya, during his travels, saw a cobra sheltering a pregnant frog from the heat of the Sun, on the banks of the Tunga river. He established the dakShiNAmnAya peetham, and made SureshwarAchArya, one of his chief disciples, the head of the peetham. Shri Bharatitirtha, an eminent scholar, is the present pontiff, and comes from an unbroken line of highly accomplished aacharyas.
There are two main temples in the complex. One is the temple dedicated to Mother Sharada, and the other one is the Vidyashankara temple. Vidyashankara temple was got constructed by Vidyaranya, the preceptor of Harihara and Bukka. The temple architecture is a beautiful icon of Shaiva-Vaishnava harmony, with imposing sculptures of the dashaavataaras along one half of the temple walls, and sculptures of Shiva on the other half. The inside of the temple is extremely soothing and peaceful. Biyadiya liked this temple the best, probably because he got to test his climbing skills (the steps are a little steep for a kid).
Of course, this is only the religious face of the Shankara matha (I hate calling it mutt). Borrowing words from Jane Austen, I can say that I have never seen a place for which Nature has done more, or where natural beauty has been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. The lamps in the Narasimhavana (the grove next to the temple), are all solar. Right next to it flows the beautiful but dangerous Tunga river. The fish in the river are taken care of by the matha. Needless to say, this was the little one's favorite part of the trip! There is a deer park nearby, also maintained by the matha. And the biggest attraction for me in all the temples of Udupi and South Canara, is the food. Hot and fresh and yummy. Before you know it, the plate is empty and you are left waiting for the next item, in spite of the serving being superfast and the helpings large. Even my son, the slowest and most picky eater I have seen till now, liked the food. An added aspect at the Shringeri Matha is that the food is cooked mainly using solar energy. It behooves us to take this leaf out of the Shrimatha's book!
After a brief rest in the afternoon, we left for a place called Hariharapura, a short distance away from Sringeri. Hariharapura houses another famous matha and a temple, whose main deity is Narasimha.
But the best attraction of Hariharapura has to be the Prabodhini gurukula . We crossed a small suspension bridge with a breathtaking view, to reach the gurukula. It is a gurukula in every sense of the word, with affectionate teachers (as far as we saw them) and lively children. Though I have my own reservations about residential schools, I really liked this gurukula. The students of the gurukula are taught organic farming and yoga along with Physics and Chemistry and the Vedas and fine arts. Not to mention discipline. There is an icon of Lord Krishna, sculpted by the students and worshipped by the students. The names of the classes are also interesting - ShraddhA, mEdhA, prajnA, etc., all very desirable qualities. Many of the gurukula's students have gone on to study various branches of Sciences and Arts. A few continue their studies at the Veda Vijnaana Gurukula near Bangalore, and join Prabodhini Gurukula as Acharyas. This school also conducts summer camps for children aged 13-14 years.
From Hariharapura we went to Kigga. Kigga is a very small town, recently in the news for Naxal activity. The Sun was already setting by then. The orange rays of the Sun played with the green leaves to create a heavenly effect. The temperature had fallen by this time, and it was very pleasant. How anybody can dare to disturb the peace of these small hamlets, is more than I can comprehend. Kigga has the temple of Rishyashringeshwara, the form of Shiva worshipped by the deer-horned sage, Rishyashringa. A rare and unexpected treat awaited us by the time we exited the temple. It was already dark by then, and power went off. We just happened to look up, and the night-sky was revealed to us in all its glory. For us city slickers, this kind of a view is as exciting as sighting a UFO.
Much can be said about the beauty of the Sringeri and the nearby hills. We did not pass by the Charmudi ghats this time. We could have possibly included Horanaadu or Agumbe, but after a terribly hectic one-day trip to Madurai last month(I was dreaming of Saravana Bhavan, but all of us had to settle for a banana and a couple of kODubaLes each, because we did not have time to dine!), we played it safe and stuck to Sringeri and a couple of the places that were very near, and enjoyed every minute of it.
R says that I love the place so much because of the novelty (I was brought up in Bellary, and live in Bangalore), but I refuse to believe that. Maharashtra did not inspire me with the same kind of devotion and awe and love, even though the beautiful Bhimashankar situated amidst the Sahyadri range is worth more than just a visit.
Our return journey was a day-journey. Biyadiya and some of the others fell asleep as soon as we got into the bus. I picked up my book to read, but shut it within two minutes. I could read the book any other time, but these hills and valleys would elude me for at least another year or two. The diversity of the flora struck me as I looked out of the window. Sometime I have to trek in these parts, just to observe the plants. I am sure that such a thing is not going to happen soon, but till then, I have memories of this trip to keep replaying in my mind.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Our Journey Northward and Back - II
Our next visit was to Shani Shinganapur. When I was a child, I had seen a program on TV, about this place. The presiding deity of this place is Shani, whose icon is unsheltered from wind and rain. The beauty of this place is that there are absolutely no doors to any building in the village. And there have never been any thefts or robberies. In fact, the no-door policy has been so scrupulously followed that there are no doors even to the toilets! Swami Vivekananda had once remarked that the life of India was her religion. Nothing moves the average Indian more than religious faith and fervor. The doorless toilets were a testimony to this fact.
From Shani Shinganapur we went to Ellora, stopping briefly at Bibi ka Maqbara. Ellora was something out of a dream. "Unbelievable" and "Magnificent" only begin to describe the temples. We first went to the Jain caves, which are located atop a hill. One could see that the sculptors paid a lot of attention to detail. For instance, Indra and Kubera were always shown being a little on the fatter side. From the size of the temples, it is evident that they were not just used for religious purposes. Near the temple of Kailasanatha, there is a beautiful waterfall. There is a lookout point built in the temple, from where one can have a fine view of the waterfall. There are also stone steps leading to the small lake formed by the waterfall. To me, this was a classic example of understanding Nature, using it to the fullest, but not defiling it. I wondered how this place was, a thousand years ago on the day of a fair, say. It was probably teeming with devotees, noblemen, dancers and shops, the what-have-yous. Will a tourist, thousand years hence, visiting, say Vidhanasaudha, also wonder the same way? Only Time will tell.
From Ellora, we came to Ghrishneshwar, my first Jyotirlinga. The sanctum was crowded, it was hot and we were tired. The temple itself is pretty recent, but the concept of jyotirlingas has been in Indian lore for more than a thousand years. The beauty of jyotirlingas is that they are distributed all over India, like the Shaktipeethas . There are other groups of temples which are located within a few hundred miles of one another, like the navagraha temples and the panchabhUtasthalas in Tamil Nadu, but these places do not inspire the same kind of awe in me.
The next day was reserved for Shirdi. We roamed the whole day in the temple complex (which, IMO, comprised the whole village in Sai Baba's time), Dwarakamai and a couple of other small temples. After the darshan, we went to get some udhi. The procedure is this. You go in a queue, and each person gets one small packet of udhi. As far as my knowledge goes, udhi cannot be bought anywhere. People go in the queue a few times, to get as many udhi packets as they want. Biyadiya saw this and probably thought that it was expected of him, too. He rushed between the railings, and since he is too short to reach the counter, peeped in through the door and asked "udhi ideya?". The good-humored man behind the counter gave him a packet too. We all had a good laugh.
That same day, we left for Tryambakeshwar, the second jyotirlinga in our list. We spent the night at T., and early next morning, we had the darshan. The temple is very beautiful, situated amidst lush green hills, from where the river Godavari takes her birth. Soon after darshan, I had my first batata vada, which was to be my staple diet for the next couple of days.
Our next destination was Nasik. There are about nine temples there, but the place that moved me the most was the river Godavari. Till we got to the very edge of the river, I felt like we were going to enter another temple. Then suddenly, there were steps leading to the water, children bathing and throwing water on one another playfully. Little Biyadiya wanted to go and play in the water, too. He stood on the first step that had water and jumped about until his trousers were wet and muddy. Godavari was really dirty, but beautiful in its own way. I got goosebumps at the thought that Sita had, once upon a time, bathed here. I repeated the line "janakatanayA-snAna-puNyOdakeShu" to myself umpteen times while performing a short puja and let a lamp adorned with flowers, float on the water. Who cares what Karunanidhi says? Sita existed, and still exists in the hearts of billions of Indians! My thoughts went on similar lines, until Biyadiya pointed at the diving kids and cried "Takeshi's castle!" and brought me out of my reverie.
I took in as many sights as I could, trying not to miss anything, but eighty percent of my faculties were engaged in keeping Biyadiya from wandering too far from us. (He is perfectly at home with large crowds and he loves anything connected with water - takes after me and not his Dad, in that aspect.) While traveling in Washington, D.C., I had seen a lady who had two kids tethered to her. I had found it a little odd at that moment, but two days into this trip, I was wondering if I could find a tether that would be easy on both our tummies. It is another matter that I could not find one, but brought Biyadiya safely back to Bangalore.
In the next part of this series, I will write about the Ashtavinayaka temples and Bhimashankar and our journey back.
From Shani Shinganapur we went to Ellora, stopping briefly at Bibi ka Maqbara. Ellora was something out of a dream. "Unbelievable" and "Magnificent" only begin to describe the temples. We first went to the Jain caves, which are located atop a hill. One could see that the sculptors paid a lot of attention to detail. For instance, Indra and Kubera were always shown being a little on the fatter side. From the size of the temples, it is evident that they were not just used for religious purposes. Near the temple of Kailasanatha, there is a beautiful waterfall. There is a lookout point built in the temple, from where one can have a fine view of the waterfall. There are also stone steps leading to the small lake formed by the waterfall. To me, this was a classic example of understanding Nature, using it to the fullest, but not defiling it. I wondered how this place was, a thousand years ago on the day of a fair, say. It was probably teeming with devotees, noblemen, dancers and shops, the what-have-yous. Will a tourist, thousand years hence, visiting, say Vidhanasaudha, also wonder the same way? Only Time will tell.
From Ellora, we came to Ghrishneshwar, my first Jyotirlinga. The sanctum was crowded, it was hot and we were tired. The temple itself is pretty recent, but the concept of jyotirlingas has been in Indian lore for more than a thousand years. The beauty of jyotirlingas is that they are distributed all over India, like the Shaktipeethas . There are other groups of temples which are located within a few hundred miles of one another, like the navagraha temples and the panchabhUtasthalas in Tamil Nadu, but these places do not inspire the same kind of awe in me.
The next day was reserved for Shirdi. We roamed the whole day in the temple complex (which, IMO, comprised the whole village in Sai Baba's time), Dwarakamai and a couple of other small temples. After the darshan, we went to get some udhi. The procedure is this. You go in a queue, and each person gets one small packet of udhi. As far as my knowledge goes, udhi cannot be bought anywhere. People go in the queue a few times, to get as many udhi packets as they want. Biyadiya saw this and probably thought that it was expected of him, too. He rushed between the railings, and since he is too short to reach the counter, peeped in through the door and asked "udhi ideya?". The good-humored man behind the counter gave him a packet too. We all had a good laugh.
That same day, we left for Tryambakeshwar, the second jyotirlinga in our list. We spent the night at T., and early next morning, we had the darshan. The temple is very beautiful, situated amidst lush green hills, from where the river Godavari takes her birth. Soon after darshan, I had my first batata vada, which was to be my staple diet for the next couple of days.
Our next destination was Nasik. There are about nine temples there, but the place that moved me the most was the river Godavari. Till we got to the very edge of the river, I felt like we were going to enter another temple. Then suddenly, there were steps leading to the water, children bathing and throwing water on one another playfully. Little Biyadiya wanted to go and play in the water, too. He stood on the first step that had water and jumped about until his trousers were wet and muddy. Godavari was really dirty, but beautiful in its own way. I got goosebumps at the thought that Sita had, once upon a time, bathed here. I repeated the line "janakatanayA-snAna-puNyOdakeShu" to myself umpteen times while performing a short puja and let a lamp adorned with flowers, float on the water. Who cares what Karunanidhi says? Sita existed, and still exists in the hearts of billions of Indians! My thoughts went on similar lines, until Biyadiya pointed at the diving kids and cried "Takeshi's castle!" and brought me out of my reverie.
I took in as many sights as I could, trying not to miss anything, but eighty percent of my faculties were engaged in keeping Biyadiya from wandering too far from us. (He is perfectly at home with large crowds and he loves anything connected with water - takes after me and not his Dad, in that aspect.) While traveling in Washington, D.C., I had seen a lady who had two kids tethered to her. I had found it a little odd at that moment, but two days into this trip, I was wondering if I could find a tether that would be easy on both our tummies. It is another matter that I could not find one, but brought Biyadiya safely back to Bangalore.
In the next part of this series, I will write about the Ashtavinayaka temples and Bhimashankar and our journey back.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Our journey northward and back - Part I
I am not a great traveler. Though I have my share of devotion towards God and my country and love for other countries, I prefer to sit on my armchair and read about them, rather than taking the trouble of actually visiting them. Shirdi, Nasik , the jyotirlingas, Shivneri fort - I had read about all of these places, but if not for my parents' coaxing, I do not think I would have budged from Bangalore. Finally, after two full months of planning, our trip to Maharashtra happened last week. R, Biyadiya and I, my parents, my brother and grandmother, and my sister's family formed the group of travelers (=pilgrims).
The first leg of our journey was by train. I love traveling by trains. For one and a half years, when I was working in Madras, I travelled by train almost every weekend. However, one big difference from those journeys to this one, was the length. Journey from Bangalore to Chennai takes about 7 hours. This journey took nearly twenty hours. While the Bangalore-Chennai journey does not interfere with one's bath and breakfast timings, this one definitely did. R and I did not want to eat before taking bath, but were forced to eat some food to sustain ourselves.
The closest little Biyadiya had ever been to a train other than Thomas, was when he had once waved at it from a distance of more than one hundred meters. The second we got into our seats, he stated wailing pitifully, asking to get off. I knew that there would be some resistance, as he had shown earlier that he disliked bus-travel also. But half an hour after the train started moving, R, my father and a policeman ("rona nahin!"), were successful in calming him down. He gradually took to the train so much, that he actually did not want to get off the train, when we reached Kopargaon!
I hail from Bellary, as I have said elsewhere. The vegetation in those parts of Karnataka is mainly the 'jaalimuLLu' plants. The fields are usually sown with chili and jowar. Now, I have not visited North Karnataka in quite a while, and it was really nice to see those same things again. My eyes feasted again on the stony hills and the black soil. Shirdi and the surrounding places are also what we can call 'bayaluseeme', unlike Pune and its surroundings, which is more like malenaaDu.
At Shirdi, The cleanliness of the premises and the discipline at the temple and at Bhaktanivas, which is the travelers' lodge, were very impressive. There are a few colorful fountains at the entrance to the temple. Both of us (my little one and I) were quite taken by them and spent a long time in front of them. Since elderly people are let in without adherence to the queue, with an escort, my Mother who was worried about Biyadiya, bade me go with my grandma and finish my darshan. It was a very rewarding experience.
For two full months, we had debated on whether we could take little Biyadiya for the trip. Finally, the Great Man at Shirdi made us take him. And we never regretted it once. The only problem for him was food. He is as picky an eater as I am, and sourcing food for us was R's biggest worry throughout. I did not find the idlis and dosas of Maharashtra palatable. Biyadiya agreed with me and went on a hunger strike. I had to then buy Cerelac for him, to keep his energy levels (and mine) up. However, Maharashtrians make Vada pav and Batata vada, which are tasty even when eaten at roadside stalls. I succumbed to those, and hunger pangs did not bother me a lot, afterwards. An interesting thing about the hotels there, was the 'upvaas' menu. I did not try it out at all, but was impressed to see that there was somebody paying enough attention to their upvaas, even while traveling.
This trip was the longest one we have undertaken in at least five years. Since I wish to do it justice, I will continue the travelogue in the next one or two installments.
The first leg of our journey was by train. I love traveling by trains. For one and a half years, when I was working in Madras, I travelled by train almost every weekend. However, one big difference from those journeys to this one, was the length. Journey from Bangalore to Chennai takes about 7 hours. This journey took nearly twenty hours. While the Bangalore-Chennai journey does not interfere with one's bath and breakfast timings, this one definitely did. R and I did not want to eat before taking bath, but were forced to eat some food to sustain ourselves.
The closest little Biyadiya had ever been to a train other than Thomas, was when he had once waved at it from a distance of more than one hundred meters. The second we got into our seats, he stated wailing pitifully, asking to get off. I knew that there would be some resistance, as he had shown earlier that he disliked bus-travel also. But half an hour after the train started moving, R, my father and a policeman ("rona nahin!"), were successful in calming him down. He gradually took to the train so much, that he actually did not want to get off the train, when we reached Kopargaon!
I hail from Bellary, as I have said elsewhere. The vegetation in those parts of Karnataka is mainly the 'jaalimuLLu' plants. The fields are usually sown with chili and jowar. Now, I have not visited North Karnataka in quite a while, and it was really nice to see those same things again. My eyes feasted again on the stony hills and the black soil. Shirdi and the surrounding places are also what we can call 'bayaluseeme', unlike Pune and its surroundings, which is more like malenaaDu.
At Shirdi, The cleanliness of the premises and the discipline at the temple and at Bhaktanivas, which is the travelers' lodge, were very impressive. There are a few colorful fountains at the entrance to the temple. Both of us (my little one and I) were quite taken by them and spent a long time in front of them. Since elderly people are let in without adherence to the queue, with an escort, my Mother who was worried about Biyadiya, bade me go with my grandma and finish my darshan. It was a very rewarding experience.
For two full months, we had debated on whether we could take little Biyadiya for the trip. Finally, the Great Man at Shirdi made us take him. And we never regretted it once. The only problem for him was food. He is as picky an eater as I am, and sourcing food for us was R's biggest worry throughout. I did not find the idlis and dosas of Maharashtra palatable. Biyadiya agreed with me and went on a hunger strike. I had to then buy Cerelac for him, to keep his energy levels (and mine) up. However, Maharashtrians make Vada pav and Batata vada, which are tasty even when eaten at roadside stalls. I succumbed to those, and hunger pangs did not bother me a lot, afterwards. An interesting thing about the hotels there, was the 'upvaas' menu. I did not try it out at all, but was impressed to see that there was somebody paying enough attention to their upvaas, even while traveling.
This trip was the longest one we have undertaken in at least five years. Since I wish to do it justice, I will continue the travelogue in the next one or two installments.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Malnad Trip
It is amazing how something as common as a cool breeze (refreshing, but common nevertheless) can take one on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. It happened to me when I was returning from work today evening. It was very cloudy, and considering the weather for the past few days, it was very cool. I was sitting in the car, looking at the trees passing us by on either side. And suddenly I realized how cool it was today, just like it was when I visited Malnad, a few years ago.
I have acknowledged elsewhere, I think, that I have this strange affinity towards malenaaDu. My trips were few and short, but when walking around there, I have felt at least as local as the locals themselves. I feel that every tree and every rock there speaks to me in a language that I understand. The rain (this trip, the one I enjoyed most, was in June and it was raining hard) could deter others from venturing out, but not me. A part of my mind has lived there, enjoying and worshipping the pristine beauty of the hills and the valleys of malenaaDu every day, before I even saw the place for the first time.
We went to Kukke Subramanya first and the same evening, we went to Dharmasthala. Thence we went to Beltangadi via the picturesque Charmudi ghats. We then went to Horanaadu and from there, to Sringeri. It was then back-to-Bangalore from there. The interesting thing about this trip was not so much about the deities and the temples in the places we visited. That was there, of course, but what is making me nostalgic is the route we took. We happened to take local buses everywhere. I did not want to hire a private vehicle, because then I would remain an outsider. This cost us some time, but it was worth it. A couple of the drivers of the buses stopped at some places, to let me take photographs.
The beautiful Malnad becomes greener and more beautiful during the rainy season. The already thick forests become thicker. The hills and the trees bathe, now in the pouring rain and then in the sunlight. When it rains, it is hard to even see one's hands. The roads are lined on either side with thick trees, a la wooden grills. Clouds rest languidly in the verdant valleys, unwilling to rise up. Here and there, one sees solitary houses. Every couple of kilometres, there is a small, often shy waterfall. Ah... if any place on Earth can be called Elysium, Malnad should be one of the contenders.
A couple of lines from a poem of Prof.Nissar Ahmed's, come to mind -
ಈ ಘಳಿಗೆಯೆ ಮೈ ತಾಳಿತು ಎನುವಂತಿದೆ ಲೋಕ
ಇಡಿ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯೆ ಸೊಗವಾಂತಿದೆ, ಸಮಯವೇ ನಸು ನಿಂತಂತಿದೆ
ಬಾ ಮಾಡಿಸು ಕಣ್ಮನಗಳಿಗಾನಂದದ ಅಭಿಷೇಕ
I do not know if I can make another trip like this ever again, in spite of my yearning. All I have now are the wonderful pictures, enshrined in my mind. I do not think that I can ever forget them.
I have acknowledged elsewhere, I think, that I have this strange affinity towards malenaaDu. My trips were few and short, but when walking around there, I have felt at least as local as the locals themselves. I feel that every tree and every rock there speaks to me in a language that I understand. The rain (this trip, the one I enjoyed most, was in June and it was raining hard) could deter others from venturing out, but not me. A part of my mind has lived there, enjoying and worshipping the pristine beauty of the hills and the valleys of malenaaDu every day, before I even saw the place for the first time.
We went to Kukke Subramanya first and the same evening, we went to Dharmasthala. Thence we went to Beltangadi via the picturesque Charmudi ghats. We then went to Horanaadu and from there, to Sringeri. It was then back-to-Bangalore from there. The interesting thing about this trip was not so much about the deities and the temples in the places we visited. That was there, of course, but what is making me nostalgic is the route we took. We happened to take local buses everywhere. I did not want to hire a private vehicle, because then I would remain an outsider. This cost us some time, but it was worth it. A couple of the drivers of the buses stopped at some places, to let me take photographs.
The beautiful Malnad becomes greener and more beautiful during the rainy season. The already thick forests become thicker. The hills and the trees bathe, now in the pouring rain and then in the sunlight. When it rains, it is hard to even see one's hands. The roads are lined on either side with thick trees, a la wooden grills. Clouds rest languidly in the verdant valleys, unwilling to rise up. Here and there, one sees solitary houses. Every couple of kilometres, there is a small, often shy waterfall. Ah... if any place on Earth can be called Elysium, Malnad should be one of the contenders.
A couple of lines from a poem of Prof.Nissar Ahmed's, come to mind -
ಈ ಘಳಿಗೆಯೆ ಮೈ ತಾಳಿತು ಎನುವಂತಿದೆ ಲೋಕ
ಇಡಿ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯೆ ಸೊಗವಾಂತಿದೆ, ಸಮಯವೇ ನಸು ನಿಂತಂತಿದೆ
ಬಾ ಮಾಡಿಸು ಕಣ್ಮನಗಳಿಗಾನಂದದ ಅಭಿಷೇಕ
I do not know if I can make another trip like this ever again, in spite of my yearning. All I have now are the wonderful pictures, enshrined in my mind. I do not think that I can ever forget them.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Tiruvannamalai
Tiruvannamalai had been on our must-visit-soon list for a long time. We had planned several one, two and three-day trips, but none of the plans came into action. This weekend, however, we did not plan a lot, and just left for Tiruvannamalai early in the morning. It is just over two hundred kilometers from Bangalore, a good three and a half hours' journey. The road is good. For some distance it is very good, but as one nears T., it worsens. However, it is much, much better than the roads of Karnataka.
Tiruvannamalai (tiru-aruNa-malai = shrI aruNAchala) houses the shrine of Lord aruNAchalEshvara and apItakuchAmbA . Siva is said to have appeared here as a mountain of fire, to test Brahma and Vishnu. Therefore, the tattva here in this lingam is that of fire. Part of the temple (a thousand-pillar-hall and the kalyANi) has been built by our own Krishnadeva Raya.
In the praakaaram of the temple, there are other small temples of shiva, like kAlahastIshvara, jambukEshvara, etc. I was thrilled to see a small shrine of kAlahastIshvara. The story of tiNNanar is one of little biyadiya's favorite bed-time stories. I took him to that shrine and showed kaNNappa to him. I do not know how much he understood, but as I said, I was thrilled.
I have one problem with the temples of Tamil Nadu. They are all beautifully built with stone, but have been un-beautified by paints of various glaring colours. Look at Tiruttani or Kalahasti or any other temple, they are all painted blue and green and red and what not. In my opinion, the temples would look much better and 'cooler' if they were not painted. However, to each, his own...
The hill Arunachala is really beautiful. It is revered as Lord Shiva himself. On the hill, a saint called 'arunagirinaatha' (I am not sure of the name, and I could not find any reference on the web) is still supposed to be performing tapas, much like babaji in the Himalayas (remember Rajnikant's movie baba?). Parikrama or circumambulation of the hill is supposed to be equivalent to circumambulating Shiva himself. We just went around Arunachala by car.
Almost as famous as the Arunachaleshvara temple is the aashrama of shrI Ramana Maharshi.It is a beautiful aashrama. My husband was saying that one should go there for the silence. Coming to think of it, it was not really that silent. People were talking, the peacocks and peahens were shouting at each other (peacocks are called kEkI in Sanskrit, because of their characteristic sound) and there were vehicles passing on the adjacent road. But the place is so calm that one can hear oneself thinking. I guess that is what one would expect out of a place like Ramanashramam.
Ramanashramam has two attractions - one is Shri Ramana himself and the other is the peacocks. There are many peacocks here. A couple of peacocks even spread their feathers and it was a treat to the eyes, especially for a first-timer like me. Little biyadiya followed a peacock everywhere it went, and finally gave it up.
This was an unforgettable trip. True, we could not find good hotels there, and it was sweltering (hey, the tattva here is fire, after all), but aruNAchala is one place I will want to visit again and again (hopefully for regular parikramas...)
Tiruvannamalai (tiru-aruNa-malai = shrI aruNAchala) houses the shrine of Lord aruNAchalEshvara and apItakuchAmbA . Siva is said to have appeared here as a mountain of fire, to test Brahma and Vishnu. Therefore, the tattva here in this lingam is that of fire. Part of the temple (a thousand-pillar-hall and the kalyANi) has been built by our own Krishnadeva Raya.
In the praakaaram of the temple, there are other small temples of shiva, like kAlahastIshvara, jambukEshvara, etc. I was thrilled to see a small shrine of kAlahastIshvara. The story of tiNNanar is one of little biyadiya's favorite bed-time stories. I took him to that shrine and showed kaNNappa to him. I do not know how much he understood, but as I said, I was thrilled.
I have one problem with the temples of Tamil Nadu. They are all beautifully built with stone, but have been un-beautified by paints of various glaring colours. Look at Tiruttani or Kalahasti or any other temple, they are all painted blue and green and red and what not. In my opinion, the temples would look much better and 'cooler' if they were not painted. However, to each, his own...
The hill Arunachala is really beautiful. It is revered as Lord Shiva himself. On the hill, a saint called 'arunagirinaatha' (I am not sure of the name, and I could not find any reference on the web) is still supposed to be performing tapas, much like babaji in the Himalayas (remember Rajnikant's movie baba?). Parikrama or circumambulation of the hill is supposed to be equivalent to circumambulating Shiva himself. We just went around Arunachala by car.
Almost as famous as the Arunachaleshvara temple is the aashrama of shrI Ramana Maharshi.It is a beautiful aashrama. My husband was saying that one should go there for the silence. Coming to think of it, it was not really that silent. People were talking, the peacocks and peahens were shouting at each other (peacocks are called kEkI in Sanskrit, because of their characteristic sound) and there were vehicles passing on the adjacent road. But the place is so calm that one can hear oneself thinking. I guess that is what one would expect out of a place like Ramanashramam.
Ramanashramam has two attractions - one is Shri Ramana himself and the other is the peacocks. There are many peacocks here. A couple of peacocks even spread their feathers and it was a treat to the eyes, especially for a first-timer like me. Little biyadiya followed a peacock everywhere it went, and finally gave it up.
This was an unforgettable trip. True, we could not find good hotels there, and it was sweltering (hey, the tattva here is fire, after all), but aruNAchala is one place I will want to visit again and again (hopefully for regular parikramas...)
Monday, May 17, 2004
gridhrasaras and pArijAta
Once, when I went to our AcArya, He told us this story:
When Rama came to pa~NcavaTI for the first time, he met jaTAyu, a bird belonging to the gridhra species. On exchanging words, jaTAyu came to know that rAma was his friend dasharatha's son. He came to love the family very much, though he was unaware of their divine origin. And what is bhakti, but pure love? Pure love for someone who is dependent on us (say, a child who is dependent on its mother, or people who are dependent on their king) manifests itself as vAtsalya. Pure love for someone we consider higher than ourselves manifests itself as bhakti.
Coming back to the story. We all know that jaTAyu fought rAvaNa courageously to rescue sItA from him. However courageously jaTAyu fought, he was no match to rAvaNa. jaTAyu was severely wounded, and he fell to the ground. rAvaNa successfully kidnapped sItA.
After rAma and lakShmaNa returned from killing mArIca, they discovered that sIta was nowhere in the hut, and they started searching for Her. They met jaTAyu, who told them that sItA was abducted by a rAkShasa. jaTAyu died at the feet of rAma, and rAma gave him sadgati. Later, rAma found sItA with the help of vAnaras, and They were united.
We all know this much from the rAmAyaNa. There is another little-known story. At the place where jaTAyu died and obtained paramapadam, a small pArijAta tree sprang. It is on the shore of a lake named gridhrasaras, after jaTAyu. The following shloka is said about the lake and the pArijAta tree.
shrImad-gR^idhrasarastIre pArijAtamupAsmahe
yatra tu~Ngairatu~Ggaishcha praNatairgR^ihyate phalam
ये जनाः संस्कृतं पठितुं शक्नुवन्ति, तेषां कृते संस्कृतेन एव लिखामि ।
श्रीमद्गृध्रसरस्तीरे पारिजातमुपास्महे।
यत्र तुङ्गैरतुङ्गैश्च प्रणतैर्गृह्यते फलम्॥
This place has been on my to-visit list for a very long time.
When Rama came to pa~NcavaTI for the first time, he met jaTAyu, a bird belonging to the gridhra species. On exchanging words, jaTAyu came to know that rAma was his friend dasharatha's son. He came to love the family very much, though he was unaware of their divine origin. And what is bhakti, but pure love? Pure love for someone who is dependent on us (say, a child who is dependent on its mother, or people who are dependent on their king) manifests itself as vAtsalya. Pure love for someone we consider higher than ourselves manifests itself as bhakti.
Coming back to the story. We all know that jaTAyu fought rAvaNa courageously to rescue sItA from him. However courageously jaTAyu fought, he was no match to rAvaNa. jaTAyu was severely wounded, and he fell to the ground. rAvaNa successfully kidnapped sItA.
After rAma and lakShmaNa returned from killing mArIca, they discovered that sIta was nowhere in the hut, and they started searching for Her. They met jaTAyu, who told them that sItA was abducted by a rAkShasa. jaTAyu died at the feet of rAma, and rAma gave him sadgati. Later, rAma found sItA with the help of vAnaras, and They were united.
We all know this much from the rAmAyaNa. There is another little-known story. At the place where jaTAyu died and obtained paramapadam, a small pArijAta tree sprang. It is on the shore of a lake named gridhrasaras, after jaTAyu. The following shloka is said about the lake and the pArijAta tree.
shrImad-gR^idhrasarastIre pArijAtamupAsmahe
yatra tu~Ngairatu~Ggaishcha praNatairgR^ihyate phalam
ये जनाः संस्कृतं पठितुं शक्नुवन्ति, तेषां कृते संस्कृतेन एव लिखामि ।
श्रीमद्गृध्रसरस्तीरे पारिजातमुपास्महे।
यत्र तुङ्गैरतुङ्गैश्च प्रणतैर्गृह्यते फलम्॥
This place has been on my to-visit list for a very long time.
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