ADHVAGATI

PARAVASUDEVA TEMPLE  Gundlupet ( Chamarajanagar District , Karnataka , about an hour from Mysuru) was earlier known as Vijayapura,  a town  within a fort. After the Maharaja of Mysore Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar died  in 1673 at Hangala ( near Vijayapura) his son Chikka DevarajaWodeyar , cremated him on the banks of Gundlu River. He also  built an Agarahara near that site and enlarged the fortification of the place. With new settlements arising , commerce flourished there and it became an influential big-town ("pete") and eventually came to be called Gundlupete.  Chikkadevaraja built the Paravasudeva Temple in memory of his father and he endowed it with rich grants. Later , during the time of the brief Sultanate , the grants were cancelled and the Agrahara slowly disappeared . By early 1900s , the Temple too fell into decay.  The magnificent images of the garbhagriha , the bronzes and some parivara idols  were shifted to the ancient Vijayanarayana Temple in the same town .The orna

Beemanakolli ruins  On a visit to Antharsanthe ( HD Kote Taluk , 70 Km from Mysuru ) , chitchat with lay villagers about this and that throws up an interesting info . Presence of an old temple in Beemanakolli village  referred to as Cholara-Gudi and Kallina -Gudi ( " chozha temple " and " Stone Temple" )by villagers. The term Chola is just an euphemism for " Ancient" in these parts.  Suitably fired up, we promptly land in the obscure Beemanakolli village , but finding that stone temple turns into a wild goose chase . It is just a tiny town with a colourful , rebuilt , 400-year old temple to Veerabhadra and a bunch of houses in two or three streets. Rest are fields and orchards on one side and the backwaters of Kabini Reservoir on the other . Where can an ancient monument hide ? Round and round we go , finding no spire or wall that can indicate a halfway ancient stone temple.  Finally , the priest of the Veerabhadra temple gets kind enough to guide us . He

What does one do on a hot summer afternoon ?  How about spending time looking at  rocks ? .....as it turned out it wasnt such a bad idea . In fact it was a most  illuminating two hours . The Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals , Hillsboro . One couple's personal collection of rocks , minerals and petrified wood , housed in their ranch style home that sits in a wooded estate of 23 acres.  Richard and Helen Rice picked up an interesting  rock by the beach on their honeymoon ( in 1930s) and it turned out to be agate . They were hooked for life. Their collection has grown to 20,000 exhibits now . A grand obsession !  And an infectious  obsession ! A visit leaves one in total awe of the treasures the earth stores beneath our feet......now feel like giving each and every pebble  stumbled upon a second look , with much respect .  The collection is divided into well captioned galleries - Minerals , Gemstones , Meteorites , fossils etc. with  explanatory notes about each exhibit and

KEESARAGUTTA ( or, Kesari Ghatta  )  Did not  set out to see this place. In fact , had not even heard of it. It just happened to be on the way from somewhere to somewhere on a hectic, jampacked  itinerary ; so looked in , not really knowing what to expect. Just that it was a Siva temple, yes, with nice new, whitewashed towers and cement arches pointing the way. The usual pushing and shoving around for a darshan.....and then, they  direct you to the hillside.  Now, this was a discovery ! Hills and valleys around. And scattered all over, dozens of Shivalingams ! With daylight fading and no lights  behind the temple, it certainly was one eerie sight ! Round headed stones  emerging from the earth like dark , giant mushrooms in a godforsaken wasteland. Got the story from another visitor. The often heard one about Rama wanting to do a sivapuja and asking Hanuman to fetch him a lingam . The latter goes off all the way to varanasi , poor chap, and comes back with a shopping cart full of select

Restoration and amalgamation - an interrsting example from another era . Vijayanarayana Temple , Gundlupet . The shrine dates from the Western Ganga period ( 10 CE ) , but has been maintained by various succeeding dynasties who have left their marks on the archiecture too.  The present Narayana is believed  to have been installed by Hoysala Vishnuvardhana who had ordered largescale renovation .  The shrine is a rather clean cut, simple structure with elegant  decorations like the row of makaras on the hara , the kumbhapanjaras on the outer wall of the sanctum , scroll-work kudus ,   ....There is no rajagopuram, and the vimana is modest .  The most striking, photogenic  feature of the temple  is the  beautiful mukhamantapa  , which ironically wasnt meant for it ! It was salvaged and relocated from a 17th Century temple of the Wodeyar Dynasty , The Paravasudeva , which had gone  to ruin .  The work was carried out in 1917 by the MysoreArcheological circle . It had blended in seamlessly

Oregon Historical Society  The words Colonisation , Invasion , Conquest , Occupation , Appropriation/annexation , Acquisition, Subjugation and Encroachment are never used in any text in any forum discussing the Original Natives of The Americas . The standard term used to denote the period before influx of europeans  is " Pre-Contact " :  a sanitised , scented and sugar-coated label  fit for public consumption .  Genocides ?......Denial makes History  cool.  But at least  they saved some remnants of the native civilization and made a museum out of them ....a greatly saddening visit .           Wooden Mask , Woven reed basket , Whistle , Painbted wood Mask and Box, Chiklat Robe.  ----

Who doesnt like stories of Buried Treasure   and Guardian Snakes ?   Not that we were into investigative journalism , but just as ruins come chasing  after Ruin-Spotters , Fairy Tales rain upon Collectors  of Rural Gossip.   This time , the Ruin ditched me and grabbed my travel mate  instead ,as we drove along a godforsaken stretch of uncultivated land in Tiptur Taluk ..... 'Look , look' , she spluttered in excitement , ' like Nallur ! ' There it stood, just by the road. A Ruin !  A cuboid stone edifice, topless, doorless , id-less . But , aged .  We had to stop . We had to investigate . Because the old stone walls were dressed with some icons in bas relief .  Other than the Dwarapala pair , the walls, all around , showed some randomly placed  shallow relief carvings of elephants ....elephants ....elephants .... Not totally abandoned, it transpired . There were half a dozen workers pottering about behind the cuboid  , working on  a brand new pillared pavilion .

Melakkovil or Thiru Mer(t)rali  The sprawling complex of the The  Kudumiyanmalai Temple ( Shikhanathaswami), situated at the foot hill of a large bald rocky outcrop , is made  up of two parts . The medieval structure in the front  and the more ancient rock cut shrine at the back , demarcated by a wall , with a locked door . An ASI guard holds the key to unlock this wing , called Melakkovil  , which seems to be menaced by honeybees . The   neatly angled garbhagriha , the large lingam and the ardhamantapa are all cut into the rock, in situ ,   at the foot of the rock hill . It is thought to be a Pandyan structure of early 7 thCentury , though a Pallava connection ,through the agency of their   feudatory Muttharayars , is also suspected by some .   The rockcut shrine is fronted  by a Chozha mahamatapa put up by Kulotthunga ( in 11 CE ) and a mukhamantapa by Raghunatharaya Tondaiman ( of Pudukottai ) in 17 CE .  The midday light reaches only upto the chozha mantapa . Then it gets to be

Mount Harriet in Andamans  I am not sure at what height a hill graduates to be called a "mountain". The bump in the topography of the Ferrarganj tehsil does not look very august, but at 365mts. above sea level, its summit is the highest point in South Andamans. Perhaps that justifies the honorific "Mt." before its name, Harriet. But i should not quarrel with the label. Because, if it is a Mountain, then i can claim to be a mountaineer ! A-ha ! We ( two kids, a young niece and i) started out very early, carrying with us a tiffin box of Idlis, potato gravy from Annapurna Cafe. Potato gravy and idlis make strange bedfellows. But at that early hour, only 3 items were ready and the cheerful server boy, whom we had befriended , was kind enough to pack the meal for us in a jiffy, with some cola cans , as thoughtful additions. An hour long journey brought us to the sylvan highrise, green, cool and quiet. Just the previous day, we had visited another green,cool and qui

The most attractive thing about Mysore is that it is " centrally located" , to use the estate agent's jargon. It is a very convenient base camp for so many one- day excursions , trips of all description : pilgrimage, adventure, historic interest, what have you. Bandipur Wild life Sanctuary has always been a favourite haunt of the family . Have enjoyed its really "wild " character ; and later despaired of its "garnished -for- tourists" avatar too. Time was when all that signalled the begining of the sanctuary was a length of log , barricading the road, weighted on end with some precariously fastened stone blocks, the other end tied , by cattle-rope, to an iron post. When the car stopped, a sleepy man in roomy khakhi shorts emerged from a shack next to the post, peered in prefunctorily, enquired if we were smuggling rice, never waited for an answer and untied the rope from the post ; whereupon ,the weig

Firenze or Florance is not a just a beautiful city ; its a live being that warmly engulfs you in an overpowering embrace of magical charm. One gets tossed between artistic riches , turbulent history, modern municipal efficiency, haute chic and the expansive demonstrations of public affability exhibited by its natives. It takes just a few hours for the place to get you totally besotted. If you like history, like I do, you will willingly place yourself in its thrall for ever .  This heartland of Tuscany is actually an open air museum. Go get a gelato from a jazzy neon-lit cafe and you have an exquisite 15th Century statue peering down at you from a niche by the entrance.  A mundane agriculture office will turn out to be a Renaissance Palace.  There are Banks established in Medieval times, and still very much housed in the same original fortresses.  The nerve center of the city is Piazza Della Signoria, a L shaped city square, close to the most famous landmark, The Duomo (The Santa Mari