ADHVAGATI

The Pudukottai landscape is arid , barren and , in mid-year , sweltering . The parched land is dotted with bald rocky outcrops which seem inhospitable - but , incredibly, have inspired kings and artisans of yore to create exquisite monuments on and around them . Kadambarmalai, shaped exactly like a child's version of a " Hill " , protects in its shade a group of small but very beautiful Shaiva shrines . We land there early in the day to be greeted by a dreamy vision of three ancient stone edifices rising from the uneven mother rock . We had been told earlier to meet the ASI watchman who would show us around. The overall ethos is one of monumental loneliness . The feeling is accentuated by the single sighing tree and a tarn filled with still , green water. Except for the call of a distant peacock, there is no sign of life anywhere in the vicinity. Where and how is one to search for an ASI guard ? Resigned to Fate ! Just wander  around , admire the vis...

Rediscovering a coin . I have had this coin for five decades now. Given by grandfather , along with a few British India coins, to add to my childhood hoard of collectibles .     On one side : the image of the devi , Lakshmi ( or so I thought )  .  On the other side :  the name " Vijaya" , in kannada script ( or so I thought ). No markings of denomination or date .  Clearly not  real money , just a souvenir  to commemorate some special puja  in the Mysore palace (or so I thought ) .        ( The Goddess and the script )  The  coin , less than 1 cm in diameter , lies in perpetual hibernation , forgotten,  in the bottom drawer, emerging only  during spring cleaning sprees .   Recently , the Vijaya Coin suddenly popped up - as an exhibit under glass .  In Pudukottai museum that  i was visiting  .   " Pudukottai Amman Cash - 1800 AD  " !  Misshapen an...