Nanjundeshwara temple

Nanjangud -close to Mysore - is famous for its Nanjundeshwara (Shiva) temple. A 1000+ year old temple from the days of Ganga's. And seems to have had major royal patronage all through. It reflects in the grandeur of the temple, exquisite sculpture, two big wooden chariots, and idols of numerous kings & queens.

Anil, & me, visited the temple, on our way back from BR hills. Kabini flows close to the temple, and a dip there is the way to start. Cloudy day, so low light conditions, a test of your camera skills. What majorly stuck me, was the paint of the temple. A golden yellow paint of the Gopura's etc stands out.

My favourite shot.





Side view of the gopura.


Back of the gopura.

This huge wodden rath (chariot) had some amazing carvings. The Rathotsava here, is quite famous.

Liked this a lot.....didn't notice the background clutter....shud have kept that out....wud have been a nice pic.




Some erotica!

Yes, in the temple, the sculptures of Gods were simply amazing. There were lotz of Shiva Linga's, and idols of kings & queens. Anil bought some ladoos as prasad. And, as we opened the pack, crows quickly descended, and I got to feed them, they almost picked it from my hands.

My first visit, nice 70 minutes spent at the temple. Lots yet to be seen, and a dip in Kabini awaits. Need to visit it leisurely.

Pallakki

April 22nd, Ulsoor, Bangalore, 23:00 to 0:45 of April 23d.



Pallakki - a Rathyathra - a chariot of Gods & Godesses. An Annual event in most old parts of south-India. On a particular night, each temple or a sponsorer would come up with a pallakki, and a diety is seated in the rath, and with all devotion, gaiety and josh, the chariot is taken all around the village. Its a matter of great prestige, honour and faith. People from the surrounding parts throng in thousands. Its mostly associated with the village fair.

Halasooru (Ulsoor), an old part of Bangalore, this year hosted close to 80 pallaki's.

It also turned out to be a meeting up of old boyz. Vasudev, Vasu, Thulsi & me, met up after ages. And, soon it was the old laughter and leg pulling.

Preperations start a lot earlier, that night as you walk along...you will see the franatic making of the pallaki's. Busy workers. Its more a chariot of flowers. So flowers: mostly Jasmine & Kanakambara.

Temples usually have a 'Utsava moorthi'. A metal idol for such occassions. For normal prayers & darshan in the temple, we have the dieties made of some stone, fixed permanently. I have noticed idols in south India made of darker stones (granite ?), while those from North India are whitish (marble ?) . The inner temple, normally is quite dark (without Electricity), and thus the aarathi (camphor light taken close to the idols) become very important.

Usually, during a Pallakki night, the Electric power in that area is shutdown, due to fears of the overhead cables coming in contact with the tall chariots. And, so its typically a dark night, generators run and supply the much needed spotlight.

Each Pallakki has it associated music. This gang was playing some carnatic stuff. Not a common sight I wud say.

Mmmm...definitely needs a closer look.

Pallaki's create a sense of competiton in the neighbourhood. Quite a lot of people associate themselves with a certain chariot, and would like to believe theirs is the BEST. Again, the architecture is interesting. Normally bigger the temple, better their funds, and grand their pallakki.

The above is from the Kempamma temple. Pallakki's are not only from the rich. Here, every temple, however small, raises money & makes one. Not surprisingly, even children, collect money, build small pallakki's....toy pallakki's......and take them around. Taking them around....thats interesting....the chariot may be physically pulled......it may be housed on a matador or pulled by a tractor.

Lord Aiyappa, I somehow find his sitting (squatting) pose very different from the other gods. Any funda's ??

Yes, what are these chaps doing ?? This ladies & gentlemen is THE music. 'Thamatte' music....high decibel stuff.....fast beats......with lots of energy....and we guyz simply love it. Its a music, you can't just listen too, but simply start dancing along.

Pallakki's happen during the summer in almost all old-parts of Bangalore. An old tradition that continues strongly. Drop in, I bet....you will love it.

Kadaley kai parsey

A Fable.
One of my favourites. The picture depicts an unsuspecting Iravatha - Indra's elephant - talking up some villagers to the heavenly abode.

A village in Bangalore. Time: unknown. A bull keeping grazing & feeding on the groundnuts. Villagers plan to attack it, but that night their crops are mysteriously destroyed. They beg forgiveness from God for their evil plan. Offer heaps of ground nut on one day of the year to the bulls. God is pleased. A huge temple of a bull - Nandi - now stands (monolithic I think), and closeby another huge rock carving of the Elephant god - Ganesha. And, the place thus gets its name Basavana(bull) Gudi(temple), and the groundnut offering becomes a tradition Kadaley kai (groundnut) parsey (fair). Well, I am sure various other stories exist. This, one must agree is a nice one.

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to Kadley Kai Parsey. A fair, a jatre, a typical Indian event. A few days back - Nov 29th - I went to the fair, 8:30 to 10am, and herz the account.

Its a 3 day festival. I was visiting on the 2nd day, and quite early in the day. The shop keepers were putting up their stalls. I decided to visit the temples first - that keeps my mom happy - and then leisurely move around. The huge Nandi seemed sleepy; reflected more by yesterday's garlands that were half-wilted.



The stone pillar is the dwaja-stumba (right ??), kind of a flag-pole.


Most temples have these snake gods under some Ficus trees.



First to catch attention was this granny. As I took this snap, she noticed, called me up and asked for another snap to be taken.

She called her son (posing as a customer), and grand-daughter in the background. Daughter-in-law wasn't interested in the show, and kept away. As I slowly found out, most of the groundnut sellers were from Dharmapuri ( 200Km away in Tamilnadu). A few from Mandya & Andhra, but it was predominantly Dharmapuri villagers who have been coming here annually to sell.


This chap was quite shy. Moved away as soon as I took this snap. Two gardeners came up, and said some people like you have donated him/her to the temple yesterday. I was taken aback. This karru looked out of place...grazzing I asked....ah...don't worry...it may go anywhere...none of us will stop it!!!! Well, I majorly appreciated their generosity & moved on.


Police bando-bast, as we call it. This event attracts hazzar crowd. And, security is neccessary. The constables were awaiting orders I guess.


The right-most person was their senior officer. As I took the snap, somebody sarcastically remarked, 'Take a very good snap of him'


Moving on to the streets. Bangalore traffic was coming to life(hell ?). Flanking the busy roads, along with the parked bikes & cars were the groundnut sellers, toy sellers, fancy-item sellers, and so on...

This old lady said they are from Bombay; they had shiny caps, swords & bows - 5 Rs each -



This family was cleaning up the burnt groundnuts. Fresh groundnuts & burnt groundnuts were on sale. I am not sure if any other kinds of ground-nuts were sold. I noticed the fresh & the burnt ones only.

Yeah! this Ajji cleaning up fresh-groundnut, the ones plucked/unearthed. And, here she rubs them on the ground to remove the mud sticking to it.


Various groundnut shades. The lady gave me a great smile.

Groundnut garbage ;-)

And, BCC at work. The lady to the left wasn't keen on coming on the picture.

A stall of clay gods. And this kiddo posed with baby krishna for me. Couple of her aunts, and an uncle were around. They sat leisurely. And, were doting on the little kid. This family was from Salem, Tamilnadu.

Yes, chains, necklaces, and such fancy items. This family stays somewhere in Yeshwanthpura, and hawk them in the Majestic area.

Boys trying there luck. One rupee to play the game. You throw that ring, and if it fall on a 5Rs or 10Rs or a soap or a biscuit pack. You take them home. The boys were trying valiantly with no luck. The ring simply was bouncing off ;-)) The lady in green owned the stall

I put the items closer & took this picture.

It was 9:53 in my watch, decided to get to office. Started talking to this sugarcane chap. Add a drink - 5Rs - I was his first customer.

Well, stuff like this makes up an Indian fair. I missed out on gaint-wheels etc. It was too early in the morning for a lot of such stalls. Its the festive atmosphere that hits you. People moving around with a spring in their steps, music, hawkers shouting their wares off, lot of bright clothings, some people ready to sell you something, some totally resigned, a crowd to navigate through. Excitement 'bout something ahead, not clearly visible nor hearable. Temples, prayers. Sweet stalls, toys, amusement games. You walk with your friends gigling/laughing, pointing to something/someone. Or would have walked as a young one holding your fathers/mothers hand tightly, excited like anything. Colors never seen before and sights unimaginable. Its all there for you. You gonna mingle, enjoy & get lost. Thats Life, what say ?