Lumbini Bodh Gaya

These places have been beckoning for long . Boarded Rapti Sagar Express on the 30th-of June 2017.
Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is from where Nepal bound journey is to begin . Noutanwa is a border town within India and there is passenger train service between Gorakhpur and Noutanwa.

03/07/2017

By the time the passenger made its way from Varanasi to Gorakhpur and reached the platform it was late by almost one hour .Got to get back to Gorakhpur by evening . The train moved mostly at snail's pace and by the time it was Nautanwa, the time was almost 1pm . Hurriedly came out of station and took seat in a tempo bound for Sonauli .
This town again is on the Indian side of the border . It took some 10 to 15 mts . Caught a cycle rickshaw to get across the border to the bus point . Rs.30 for the ride, but was worth . Had it not for him ,  it would have been very difficult to cover this I km stretch which is seen lined up with trucks waiting for entry.
The mini bus took some 10 mts to Bhair Hawa -  a border town within Nepal (by the way, there is an airport at Bhair Hawa)
Another bus for Lumbini and and at long last I was dropped in front of the main gate and the time was about 2.30pm.
There were tourists from different parts of the world and the whole 8 km area is well maintained like a garden . Remnants of the old castle where Goutama was born is preserved like in a museum and once inside, one feels engulfed in a magical world !
Outside this building is a pond in which were seen swimming few freshwater turtles .


The Japanese Stupa in white is visible from a long distance and adding to its beauty is the blue water body in front , just like the Taj at Agra perhaps.

Temples by  Myanmar, Thailand and few other nations ,where Buddhism still thrived , is scattered in the 8 km garden and there appears no dearth of visitors to Lumbini .

For this visitor, it was a long cherished dream come true.
By the time got back to Sonauli, it was 4.30 pm and the next Gorakhpur train is only at 6:40pm. Sitting in the rickshaw, a sign board of a bus caught the attention -  an Express bus for Gorakhpur  . No time for a second thought and I was in the bus.
Fortunately an empty seat somewhere at the back side.
By 8.30pm , got back to Gorakhpur and tomorrow its going to be Kushinagar ..the place where Buddha breathed his last.

04/07/2017
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Kushinagar is some 50 kms away and the bus stand is close to the railway station.
There is a big statue of Buddha in a reclining position , obviously suggesting his final farewell.
The story goes that some devotee offered the saint some food and the moment he tasted the same he realised that it was unfit for consumption .. poisonous mushroom say some....
But he was not ready to refuse an offer by a devotee!
There is the remains of a huge Stupa as well.

Next destination is Chapra..the border town close to the state of Bihar . From Chapra to Hajipur , again on the banks of Ganges. The 7 km long Mahatma Gandhi Sethu takes you across to Patna (there is work going on for widening the bridge , which till recently had the distinction of being the longest bridge in India) and the plans of visiting Vaishali - which again is on the Hajipur side of the river , will have to wait.
No time or energy left to roam about . Just slept off . A long journey awaits tomorrow.

05/07/2017

Rajgir , Nalanda and then Bodh Gaya .Rajgir is some 100 kms and Nalanda is at a slight detour. Buses ply from Mithapur Bus Stand, Patna to Bihar Sheriff ..some 90 kms and from there to Nalanda first and Rajgir next.
Nalanda bears a serene look and it would require at least 2 hrs to finish but there was no time ..A sudden go around and then to Rajgir .
Rajgir too calls for at least 2 hrs to see all that is there to be seen including the cable car ride, cave and remains of fortress .
May have to come a second time to devote an entire day for these two locales ..Great loss ! Faulty planning...

By the time it was Gaya Jn Railway station , it started raining cats and dogs. Even the place from where auto rickshaws call out for Vishnupada temple and Bodh Gaya , it would be difficult to make it to the vehicle in a foot deep dirty water.

Rain stopped but had to pull up the trouser bottoms before
wading through water . Took some 15mts for Vishnupada Mandir .
A small but beautiful black stone temple . What was in the mind was some huge structure resembling say a Sree Padmanabha or a Tanjavoor temple. In India the most famous temples are cute little ones ..Badrinath, Gangotri , Sabarimala for instance . Put my bag for metal detector testing and kept it by the Sentry Box and had a hurried Darshan .

The Vishnupada (or Buddha footprints ?)looked like the most sought after images . Devotees were seen crawling on the ground to either have a feel of the print or to have a taste of the holy droplets of fluids on it .

Came out after a customary prayer and caught another auto for Bodh Gaya . It took some 30 mts to reach there. The first sign board caught my attention and without second thought gave my back pack , phones and footwear for safe keeping ..free of charge!

In fact the arrangement is for those who are about to enter the near by The Mahabodhy Temple !.

First went to have some food at a roadside eatery .Then to a garden on the way .. and then to see the 84ft Buddha statue and then a Japanese temple ..all on barefoot !
The last on the list was of course The Maha Bodhy temple .
My goodness ..one will have to see and feel for one self . Never felt such a magnificence in any temple .

The Bodhy Tree was simply superb . Like the others who were seen meditating under it , this visitor too sat in meditation for about 10 mts . A divine experience - really !

Some were seem trudging the path of few steps up and down like Goutama Buddha after his enlightenment under the tree .



It says for hours he walked up and down the same way.
Paid a visit to the sacred pond and it was bye for Bodh Gaya.
No doubt this place leaves a mark in one's mind for years on end.
Got to catch my train from Gaya Jn and the Auto man wanted Rs.200 for a solo ride via Rajpath !
Reached Varanasi rather late and immediately checked in . Next morning is the train to Sarnath .

06/07/2017

Saranath train leaves at 9 am from Varanasi City station and for reaching there, an auto would be necessary.

Reached the station in time but the train was late . By the time a train came it was close to 10 am. It's the very first station in that route and it would have been ideal if I looked for a share tempo to Sarnath from Varanasi Jn itself !

It started raining heavily while I got down . Asked the Station Master as to what best I should do. As per him, it was not an ideal weather for any enthusiast . Opened my umbrella and started walking .

 Some one Km  I walked thus and the huge ancient Stupa ,He hallmark of Sarnath  came into view . Knowing that it might take a while to finish , thougt it better to carry some fruits so that it could be had at leisure . That indeed was very thoughtful I soon realised . The first one to be finished was the Museum and with an entry ticket in one hand and an open umbrella in the other, a backpack with few eatables and necessary gadgets, I got in . The rain continued all through . Sarnath Museum is one of the best and its upkeep very good. One ought to have a few hours at hand if one wants to do

justice to oneself . Priced possessions of Indian heritage , all in one place .Local guides were seen engaged in animated descriptions of exhibits to foreign visitors .. in Spanish , French and English.
Once museum was over, another ticket booth and a ticket for the ruins and the rain of course continued . Breath taking view of Stupa , pillar and monasteries alongside a deer park . The place had a lot of deer when Buddha used to give his sermons in those days . And  lo !There sat a male peacock atop a tree and he was all wet but was making big noise at brief intervals. The foreign tourists were very amused to see a life specimen of the world famous peacock.
And at long last called it a day as the present odyssey almost came to a close . Took a break and sat down at a shelter and ate the fruits for lunch .

walked down to the station again to realise that a down train is expected only at 3pm.
It was just 1.30pm .
My Gorakhpur train is to leave at 5pm . Got to hurry . An auto once again and he would have Rs.150 . Well . He took some 30 mts for reaching Varanasi Jn.
Got to get some mustard oil which is not available in Kerala. Rain not over as yet. Walked up the slit and mud ridden crowded street . Asked a traffic policeman where one could get some oil. Walked some more distance and got it.
Thought it fit to call a cycle rickshaw for the return journey of some 100 yards . It was an old man .
'Baboo kahan jayiyega?'
I said 'Railway station'.
He showed me the railway station and said 'Baboo wo to bagal mein dikhayee de raha hai na ?
I said 'Sahi bath . Par mushkil is rasta ka hein '
'Aap baidiyen '
( translation ... The rickshaw man asked me where I would go and when I replied that I wanted to go to the railway station , he replied that the station was so close that it wouldn't worth availing a rickshaw . When I pointed out that it was not the distance but the muddy and slippery road that mattered , he invited me to sit ).
Just before the station entrance a policeman stopped him as it was 'no entry' through that gate . I climbed down and gave him money but he refused .
'Nahi saabji mehnat ki paisa he loonga' he said with a broad smile .
For a moment I was too surprised to react . Then I went near him and stuffed the rupee note into his pocket with a smile.This time he did not resist. That's Banaras. See the richness of a true Indian ! He might look poor outside but very very rich inside .
Banaras need to be the Capital of India and rightly so . I would avail my morning Rapti Sagar from Gorakhpur tomorrow but these memories are sure to leave a lasting impression in my mind. Adeau Banaras.

Hampi Aihole Pattadakal Badami

These places have been beckoning me for long and the Onam vacation 2016 to be at these spots, I thought.

12/09/2016

Reached Bangalore on 12/09/2016 morning and spent the daytime meeting old friends and a visit to the Science Museum and it was really worth. Mr.Sajoo Bhaskaran and Mrs.Sadhana, both curators , spent some of their precious time for me.The mechanical Engineering and Electronics wings were exceptional. After lunch at their 4th-floor eatery, left the place when my friend called up to warn that the Kaveri agitation was taking an ugly turn and urged me to reach the railway station. The rest of my time  spent at Bangalore Central railway station's Pay and Relax room. The Hampi Express for which ticket was booked  came at 10 pm and the atmosphere at the station was pleasant, though reports of buses on flames were being shown on television screen  . Once inside the train, slept off nicely and woke up early next morning and got ready to get down at Hospet  which is the point from where my Hampi ritual is to start.

Hampi

13/09/2016

A bus took me to Hampi .Virupaksha temple came to view from a long distance. With an array of mountains all around,  protruding brown rocks of every size and shape, the whole place bore a curio look. No wonder such a lot of sculptors found expression to their creativity in full measure including the stone chariot which is world famous.
Getting down at Hampi bus stand and moving about a bit revealed to me that I should have gotten down at Kamalapura which is some 4 km before Hampi.
Caught another bus and reached Kamalapura and checked into Mayura Bhuvaneswari, run by Karnataka Tourism . Arrangements were good and the staff very cooperative.
At least the knapsack on my back could be put down now and could travel weightless.

Back to Hampi after a quick breakfast and some one hour later exploration started in an auto. The driver, a youngster, was very cooperative and explained in brief in broken Hindi whatever he knew about a particular place and a monument. What caught special attention was the elephant stables..have seen a pigsty, a cattle shed but never a place where one could house elephants!That too, eleven in a row!
The Archeological Survey people are doing a good job, giving directions using nicely designed signposts. Everywhere one finds nice lawns.
The Anjaneya hill needs a steep climb but was not worth such exertion except for a bird's eye view of the whole of Humpi.

Vithala temple, some half km walk from the foot of Anjaneya hill is indeed worth the walk and the rock chariot, about which much was heard all through , deserves a big salute. The cave called 'Sugreeva's cave' looked too tiny to have housed such a big warrior, if at all it sheltered him ever !

The roasted corn stalk available en route, sold by wayside vendors, was not enough to suffice hunger and yearned to get a good bite but there was nothing around.
The Amul vendor only had sticks but no ice creams.
A round of Virupaksha temple, a look at the Hampi Bazar' - where nothing exists except a few pillars -
got back to the hotel for a nap.
Mayra Bhuvaneswari is indeed a wonderful hotel.
Arrangements for an early outing for the next location AiHole was done in a jiffy and dozed off.

14/09/2016

Got up at 4.30am and was ready to check out by 6am.
A transport bus took me to Hosepet from where a Bijapur bound bus to Ilkal - some 2 and a half hours up north.
The road was good and on the way the passengers got an opportunity to buy fresh apples from farmers directly @Rs.60 a kg and purchased a kg, as AiHole and  Pattadakal are well known for the absence of eateries.

Got off at Ilkal, and another transport bus to Aminagad via Hungund. That bus was going directly to Badami - which is my last destination of this tour, felt bad as I was in no mood to miss out AiHole and Pattadakal which incidentally needed a detour ,for which some crude path waits for me at Aminagad.
Realised the folly of not taking a ticket to Hungund and not Ilkal in that Bijapur bound bus,boarded from Hosepet, because that very bus was seen parked next to mine at Hungund!
What all follies we travelers commit! The lesson learned is , not to get down at Ilkal, if the bus is bound for Bijapur and your next destination is AiHole!
At last it's Aminagad and from there by a smaller bus and the road - a patchy, small, namesake road - to AiHole.

AiHole

The cute little Durga Temple was simply superb and so were the other structures. The small museum by the ASI and the neatly maintained turf gave it a pristine beauty.
The main work is mostly of sandstone and the carvings are just great.The damage caused by intruding kingdoms of Mohammedan kings took its toll.The area is mainly populated by Muslim community and perhaps centuries of neglect contributed to the wanton damage to the magnificent heritage structures and again, ASI is doing a great job to this World Heritage site.
Almost all of the exquisite carvings are devoid of nose , may be because it is easier to just knock off a nose of an idol! As for the big images and idols in the sanctum sanctorum of every temple ,what awaits every visitor is just a raised pedestal from which these have been removed without trace and no one knows where to look for these.May be a full scale search in the nearby water bodies and marshes might give us an answer ! One wonders if the outside carvings appear this attractive, what the main idol would have offered a visitor!
The Durga Temple at AiHole is a real beauty and it lingers long in one's mind even after one leave the site.

Pattadakal

Next was another terrible journey to Pattadakal in an auto.
The Shiva Temple at Pattadakal - majestic!

With granite pavements all around and wonderfully maintained lawns ,these monuments looked wonderful and the mild drizzle already washed off all the dust from these rock structures ,giving these an additional shine in this cloudy backdrop, best suited for photography.
One ought to carry eatables as both these places are devoid of good eateries and if at all one finds some, the arrangements are mundane.Road to Pattadakkal from AiHole by auto was tedious and the silver lining is that a new road is getting built.Good thing.
Pattadakal to Badami by transport bus and the landscape looked very beautiful with lots of trees on either side. The rocky mountains are visible from far and the more you get closer your curiosity grows. Felt eager to get there and see for oneself the cave temples of yore which have been beckoning me for long.
But all excitement subsided once I got off the bus. Badami town - a small one in fact was full of filth dung, pigs and what not!
Took an auto to Mayura Chalukya where I had booked my accommodation.
The hotel was ok and once checked in took a hot bath and immediately got out to have a look at the cave temple sites. It was almost dusk and the entry to the cave temples would begin in the morning .

Badami

15/09/2016

Got up at 5.30 am and got out of the hotel and proceeded to the caves.Thankfully the waiter in the hotel was kind enough to arrange an auto and the auto driver promised to pick me up once the visit gets completed in the afternoon.
The caves built into sand stone mountain side are a feat to watch but the only hindrance was the clamoring visitors whose loud noises got reverberated and disturbed me in no small measure.
What we need in our country is some civic sense for not causing disturbance to the other visitors with your loud talk. No one seems to know the importance of silence.
I stayed put at Cave 1 for the others to go further up and thankfully the whole lot was a single group and no more groups are seen following behind me. The rain continued to bother and a Samaritan ASI official who was on guard duty offered his umbrella.
The first cave is dedicated to Shiva and the second to Vishnu.The third and fourth to Buddhist and Jain faiths. The Jain artifacts carry enough indications to suggest that the carvings were doctored in later years to resemble Theerthankaras. One thing is clear - that these were the sites were Buddhist faiths prevailed and later Jain and Hindu traditions got added
The caves in a semicircular formation around the vast pond with a waterfall on one side (thanks to the rain the previous days) was a visual delight. The caves and the work by sculptors on the ceiling and the sides can only be viewed with mouths agape as these were crafted out of solid rocks by how many artists  working for how long we do not know.
The ASI official was of the view that the damage done to these works could not be attributed to invading kings because for long these were occupied by tribes who made it their shelter.For them these meant nothing other than a simple den.
The lake around which hundreds of dhobi families have been thriving for long is another eye sore.

the best thing the Karnataka govt could do is to plan rehabilitating these people where they could continue using the lake but at the same time live at a convenient place not far off from the area.Surely their presence within the area with all their cattle and foul and absence of toilets makes it really filthy.

Despite all these odds the ASI is doing a great job not just in maintaining what ever is left but keeping a good watch on the visitors who are hell bent on graffiti. Two guards were seen rubbing off names using wet cloth enroute Tippu's Fort .Another person was seen collecting plastics thrown away by someone.Good work. Our public would take some more time to learn the basics.

Tippu made his fort which is nothing but a huge solid rocky hillock with bricks reinforcements to do away the crevices. The watch towers at the top and the canons and last but not the least, what a view to have from the top !

There is a Durga temple a small Shiva temple and a mosque at the top.
Badami Caves are wonderful and not to be missed.
An overnight bus took me to Mangalore and from there by train and back home on the fifth day!

Chidambaram Tanjore and the Rock Fort

2/10/2014 and 3/10/2014

Trichy, Tanjavur and Chidambaram

Boarded Tamil Nadu Transport bus from Shinganellur Bus stand in Coimbatore at about 10 am for Trichy.

The Rock Fort Temple

The road is good but the atmosphere a bit hot. Single stop over at some place where the male passengers emptied their bladders somewhat in a formation at the periphery (not facing the passengers in the parked buses by God's grace!). God knows what the ladies did !
Moments when we feel sorry for ourselves !
Its not a tall order of things if we have to make arrangements for the public at public places.
Preferred to control the itch till Trichy rather than becoming a fallen figure in own eyes.
Reached Trichy by 3 pm .

Took a late lunch of thali meals from a vegetarian restaurant close to Central Bus stand and preferred to take rest for a while and to venture out to see the Rock fort in the evening, but later changed plans to an early morning visit the next day as per expert advice for avoiding the rush and the heat.
True.
 3/10/2014
By the time the Rock Fort was through it was about 11 am.
Visit to Sravanabelegola during the previous month came as a spoiler of sorts during this Rock Fort odyssey.
The very concept of selection of some tall stone edifice for a place of worship in itself has some Jain mindset of not disturbing anything live - trees/wood included.
The stone steps leading up - one for ascent and the other for descent was a replica of what is at Belegola and the idols on the walls too had striking similarity.
No Bahubali could be seen anywhere!
There are odd writings on the rock surface legible for a keen onlooker, but no glass covers for protection of these writings by the ASI.
The idol at the apex is of Ganesha and a lot of devotees could be seen offering prayers and the priests were busy distributing prasada and accepting offerings.
As the place at top is rather small, sufficient enough for less than ten people at a time, the two dwarapalaka idols with their heads and arms severed came in view just after one took one's eyes off Ganesha and turned.
Oh my God ! Who could have done this ?
If it were a Hindu temple from day one on, this wouldn't have happened.
If it were done by the Muslim kings in later years, well they might have caused damage to the deities as well, which has not happened.
Was this a Jain Temple which was occupied by Hindu fanatics ? Who knows ?
The money this visitor planned to put in the hundika ended up in the stretched hands of an old the beggar lady waiting on the steps !
Several doubts cropped up all of a sudden.
May be ; anyone could desecrate any holy place , drive away all the saints and sadhus who propagated ahimsa above all other things. Millions of their followers , all of a sudden becoming aimless ?!!.
Is south India of the present giving us such a picture of hapless aimless people for ages, especially Tamil Nadu ?
By then, they might have imbibed a life without all these Gods - perhaps
Why else should they flock around the film stars who preach nothing of the sort but portray virtues only on the silver screen or why they itch to be at Sabarimala where continuous chanting of "sharanam ,sharanam.." causes excitement in them ? - perhaps it resonated with something similar in their bones - what their forefathers were once quite accustomed to - say "Budham sharanam.."? !!
May not be a Jain link, but a Buddhist one - who knows?
Well ; We all know for sure that such things remain in our genes far too long -  Call it some intuition, some impulse or what so ever.
But one thing is for sure, what ever is picked up from life and formed as a habitual behaviour is sure to get passed over - like in birds, other animals , fish and all else which include their tastes, skills of migration, predatory and breeding habits , admiration , hatred and what all other things we are yet to fathom.
Man alone can not be different !
The multitude of an already awakened Dravidian commoner, who spoke the immensely rich Tamil language capable of expressing even delicate difference in feelings, respect, adoration, loath  , who embraced all that was good for an ideal fellow friendly society- thanks to those preachers and teachers who sought nothing in return- the Digambara Saints- the Thirthankaras, The Buddhist Monks - and these millions had to roam about rudderless for ages, till they found some savior in the form of some matinee idol !!??

Had the link not been broken, Oh My - what sort of a perfect citizenry our India might have have had !
Oh; Only wishful thinking.
What comes to mind is Jayant Narlikar's short story based on catastrophe theory and Prithwiraj Chouhan's death in the eventful war with the invading king.
Coming back to the desecrated Uchi Pillai Kovils or the captured shrines and temples - these might have served the elite Brahmins and the rich -perhaps -till the others got their right even to enter temples - may be.
Was this Uchi Pillai an adolescent Digambara as is seen at Sravanabelegola?

A multitude of questions propped up in the mind during the descent from Rock Fort Temple.
The reason no bus conductor could tell me anything about Rock Fort Temple is due to this reason ? Or perhaps Uchi Pillayar Koyil is what one should ask for ! Do not know.
But who beheaded those statues in front of Lord Ganesha ?
And why didn't anyone , over the years do anything to replace those which causes pain to the onlooker?
A beautiful church in French architectural style greets one who comes out of the fort. Since it resembled St.Philomina's in Mysore , preferred to give it a go by for the moment and boarded an Express bus for Tanjavur or Tanjore?

The Mighty Big Temple

This temple about which much has been heard over the years could be seen from a distance.
The time - almost 10 am and the hot Sun already up.
Luggage and footwear given for safe keeping and got inside the temple compound.
The entrance clearly shows two sections - the lower one which is almost in a Hoysala style and the upper figures - clad in colour dress and males with mustaches clearly suggests of later additions.
The older section was what was interesting and one could only appreciate the work with disbelief.
Mammoth rock pillars of some 30 ft height - in a single block - is too much of a thing to negotiate some 1000 years ago, when none of the modern day caterpillars or JCBs were handy.

Looked up at the Kalash - or the apex dome which is heard to be some 80 tons in weight atop a conical temple of more than 50 meters in height! Some say it is in one piece ! Impossible.
How could they mount it on top if it were in one piece?
Plenty of answers can be had from different sources - such as a ramp of 6.5 kms, hoards of elephants etc etc.
But the real sight is something of a wonder for ages (withstood some 6 earthquakes, and many fires some say!)
How many might have perished underneath - nobody knows.
Its really a wonder worth visiting.
Stepping on the lengthy stone roofed structures on all the four sides, what comes to mind is Sravanabelegola again - with Theerthankaras of different eras occupying pedestals lined up along the long stretch.
Here, what one finds is Shivlingas and Shivlingas and nothing else.
Shivism succeeding Jainism ? Shivism overpowering Jainism at some point of time.
Or Was it really a Jain temple where the mighty Chola King preferred to have an even mightier Shive temple in the middle.
Perhaps, the makers might have been influenced by the structure at
Sravanabelegola and preferred to have such a side setting.
Thanjavur could be no place for a Jain Temple as there are no imposing rocks anywhere around.
Shivalinga inside the temple proper is an imposing 3 meters and even the dwarapalakas measure some 2 and a half meters ! The finesse of Halebidu is but missing. It attracts one by its might raather than beauty.
The various Bharatanatyam signs depicted by the figurines , the brick laid courtyard, the rectangular well , the various steps to and from the sidewalk all adds up to the glory.
Time - about 2 pm  and one need to hurry lest the sights at Chidambaram would be missed.

Chidambaram

Time 5.30 pm and an entire expanse of Chidambaram temple complex of a few acres lay in front. Where to begin was the big question. For ease of access, thanks to the advise of a fellow passenger, took the south gate for entry. Left the footwear outside and took a re-look for some nearby landmarks and hurriedly went in.
If Thanjavur appeared mighty, this one is an incomparable beauty in granite. Rather than the images, what captures one's immediate attention is the exquisite symmetry of the structures. The huge one piece granite pillars on either side of the east side entrance is finely decorated on the sides. Once inside the main temple proper what awaits is rows and rows of exquisitely carved alleys, doors, pillars all replete with ornamentation.
Devotees in plenty during dusk makes it all the more difficult for passage and as darkness started to intensify outside a quick run was the only means to complete the odyssey.
Better viewing at a leisurely pace next time.
Its almost 7.30 pm and the bus to Coimbatore for which booking has been made is to leave at 8.30 pm. Gave Chidambaram temple a last look and said adi
eu.