ADHVAGATI

   Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica , Fort Kochi. Five centuries old Roman Catholic place of worship , one of the landmarks of Fort Kochi .A handsome white edifice with two soaring spires built  in a blend of Indo-European and Gothic  styles.  The interior is  richly decorated with frescos and mosaics, created by the 19 th Century Italian painter, Fra Antonio Moscheni and his Indian student, DeGama. But the building  itself is not 500 year old.  Commander Dom Alfonso Albuquerque of Portugal, arriving  with the second exploratory fleet,in 1500,  helped the king of Cochin to repel the predatory advances of the Zamorin of Calicut . And  received , as thanksgiving, the right to build a Fort in Cochin . The generous  King  must have thought the whitepeople would load their ships with pepper and sit around happily confined to their little fort ! Alas, alas ! History turned out so different !  In 1505, the King pe...

Where would you expect to find a 800 year old temple ,with inscriptions in ancient scripts talking about  grants  and settlement of agricultural dues ? Certainly not in a  busy residential layout with laundry fluttering  in the balconies of matchbox -stack- apartments and  shops offering cellphone recharge .....and the garbage collection truck  tactfully skirting an enormous monolithic garuda sthamba standing in the middle of the forking road. Domlur , it is. And above  a stairway, right behind the sthamba, the centuries old monument. Completely redone ofcourse. But , retaining  whatever could be salvaged after early 20th century urbanisation had dealt a merciless blow to it . The inscriptions are there. The pillars, with their curious motifs ,are there. Individual blocks, bits and pieces, are all there, fitted prudently into the modern structure....ok, so they  had to  fix the gate in a rather awkward way, closing on the face of some...

Vasantha Vallabharaya Temple, Vasanthapura, Bangalore Rural. You read about 'an ancient monument' , note that it is located on a hillock with valleys around it , its vast extent , of kings , sages ,holy springs, divine dreams and stuff. You get a mental picture . Imagination runs amok. And , you HAVE to visit it. But dreams are made to fall apart .............. Late Chola period temple to Vishnu . Fully redone.  Hillocks, valleys all reduced to urban sprawl, so the setting is nothing to sing about.  Only the sanctum seems old, and a few bas relief panels on the pillars of the porch. Oil painted walls . And a very new cement Rishi in a small  kitschy alcove. Shayanotsavam going on at 10 am ! Ladies singing to a dazzling god on a razzle dazzle swing . Quite an eyeful . Giant sized sweet balls as offering, highlighted with some dancing disco lights focussed on them. The Dwarapalakas are well dressed and decorated, looking quite lovely. (Wanted to photograph the beau...

TIPU's SUMMER PALACE , Fort, Bangalore The first impression : Its so modest, for a royal retreat ! Designed somewhat like the Dariya Daulat palace in Srirangapatna , this one is smaller, has fewer rooms and fewer decoration. Flooring is simple grey stone, no fancy mosaics.   The mouldings of the pillar capitals  looks elegant , reminding of some central Asian  structure , can't  put my finger on it. The best feature here is the mural art. The colour scheme and floral designs are exquisite . But sadly, peeling, chipped and marred by graffiti .     Pictures ( modern replicas and prints  of  old engravings ) from the time of Tipu are exhibited in the ground floor , along with some Tipu memorabilia, including a rocket . Ofcourse there's a replica of that mauling Tiger toy too ! The  picture of the famous throne is an eyeful . Reportedly, the Brits broke up this magnificent artefact and sold it off  by  bits and pieces a...

Memorial stones erected in honour of people who died heroic deaths are found  all over Karnataka and parts of neighbouring states. Beautifully sculpted, with graphic details about the heroic deed, these Veera Kallus ( Veeragals )often show a moon and a sun in the top panel to indicate the wish that the name of the hero shall shine till the sun and the moon shine in the sky. But sadly, not all Veeragallus have the name inscribed. Only some do.  Veeragallus ( Hero Stones ) are classified according to the nature of the documented death. Yuddha or Kote Kalaga : hero died in war Ooralivu : Hero died defending his town/village   Gadi Kalaha : Hero died preventing entry of invaders Gograhana or Thurugol : Hero died defending cattle during a cattle heist Pendirudeyurch : Hero died defending honour of women Bete : Hero died during a hunt. Memorials similar to Veergallus were also put up for women who comitted sati ( Masti Kallu ), for people who vo...

Begur is not far from Bangalore city, but was not exactly Bangalore historically. Yet ,it turns out to be the place where the oldest inscription to name our city was found.  And no, it has no story about the boiled beans. There never was a boiled bean , except in old wives tales. Bengaluru was Vangalur in the inscriptions .And, it would seem, not some great place either, compared to Begur's own importance ! Bengaluru was just a place where some soldier, Buttana Setti by name, had died in battle. (The Begur Inscriptions are secure in The Bangalore Museum) . Not much is known about the Western Gangas, though they ruled for long. But they  have left us some nice religious monuments, among them , The Naganatheshwara ( or Nageshwara) in Begur, which has later evolved into Panchalingeshwara with added shrines. One doesn't expect a shrine of such great antiquity and architectural style to pop up suddenly in a busy semi rural market street. At first, its  disorienti...

KALALE LAKSHMIKANTHA GUDI While well crafted stone sculptures make our ancient temples marvelous monuments of art, Stucco sculptures add a lot of vigour and vitality . Often coloured vividly, they become tableaux  illustrating myths, graphic documentation of general public life of the time and showpieces of  craft . Stucco figures, called Sudhai in Tamil, were individually hand crafted without moulds , with a core of  metal rods and broken bricks . Specially prepared lime plaster was then slapped over the core and shaped , much like clay. Ingredients like tamarind seed paste, tree resin , sea shell powder etc were mixed into the lime plaster for good finish and strength. Nowadays however, cement has replaced all that. Nanjangud temple has awesome stucco figures crowning all its walls. The craftsmanship and artistry are of very high order. While the majority of  southern stucco figures are painted with all colours of the rainbow and more, Nanjangud has main...