http://www.kamat.com/
This is an excellent site which gives an extensive records of Indian history.
Biographies of great Indians, details about our vedic period, types of ancient architecture, painting etc.
http://www.personalmba.com/
Would you like to gain the knowledge of an MBA graduate without joining the course. Then check out this site and actively participate in the group discussions.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Pilgrimage
More than tourists spot, only temples are so crowded in India. I feel people believe in the power of so-called "GOD" than they believe in themselves and they have ample time to waste standing in long queue and they enjoy being crushed in that.
Iam not an atheist. Iam a person who strongly believes on destiny and the supernatural power that really controls us. But after my recent visits to Tirupathi, Darmastala, Udipi, Kollur now I feel I could pray peacefully at home rather going to these temples.
I appreciate the temple assocation who try to manage the crowd(min 50people/hour visit these temples and it takes min 2 hours to finish the darshan). Still government should take more initiative to preserve and maintain these temples.
especially in Darmastala the temple is maintained in an excellent way and the "anna thana sala" is very neat.
After my visits to different places in last two months I am now wondering is there anything called "Tourism Department" in India. There are no facilities available to the tourists in any of the tourist spots, no proper sign boards, no proper explanation about the history and beauty of the place....
If we could properly maintain our historical buildings/temples and advertise it in the right way India would be the top tourist place. I bet we cant see such an artistic work which is very much complicated in any part of the world.
Hope it happens soon....
Iam not an atheist. Iam a person who strongly believes on destiny and the supernatural power that really controls us. But after my recent visits to Tirupathi, Darmastala, Udipi, Kollur now I feel I could pray peacefully at home rather going to these temples.
I appreciate the temple assocation who try to manage the crowd(min 50people/hour visit these temples and it takes min 2 hours to finish the darshan). Still government should take more initiative to preserve and maintain these temples.
especially in Darmastala the temple is maintained in an excellent way and the "anna thana sala" is very neat.
After my visits to different places in last two months I am now wondering is there anything called "Tourism Department" in India. There are no facilities available to the tourists in any of the tourist spots, no proper sign boards, no proper explanation about the history and beauty of the place....
If we could properly maintain our historical buildings/temples and advertise it in the right way India would be the top tourist place. I bet we cant see such an artistic work which is very much complicated in any part of the world.
Hope it happens soon....
Monday, April 17, 2006
Belur & Halebid Temples
We reached Belur at around 2pm. It was a bright sunny day. There were no sign posts to guide us to the temple. I was bit frustrated with the way our tourism department works. Anyway all these frustrations and the scorching sun was ignored when we went inside the temple.
I was overwhelmed by the mix of architecture. The entrance of the temple(the gopuram) was in Dravidian style. There were small shrines in Jain Architecture and the main temple is in a pure Koysala Architecture. The temple has three gates which leads to the main mandap. There is a circular platform before the main God. It is said that the princess used to perform dance in this platform for God. The temple is named as "Chennakeshava" which means handsome Vishnu. Each and every sculpture in the temple was done with utmost dedication and perfection. I feel even the masters of the master of arts could find no fault in these sculptures. The artists of those days were highly intellectual. They have portrayed the ancient history, life style, culture that prevailed during those days. It took 100 years to finish this temple.
The temple is designed as per vaastu. There is a deep pond, food offering place, Lord Ram temple, miniature model of the main temple, devi temple, a lengthy corridor.
There were two things that surprised us.
1) A tall pillar that was supported just on its corners and was being held by gravitational force. We couldnt imagine how they erected it during those time when there were no cranes and good construction equipments.
2) A pillar in the main temple was rotatable.
The pillars in the main temple had lots and lots of designs engraved on it. It is said that the existing bangle and tyre designs are taken from this pillar designs.
There was nandi in groundnut size and ganesha in a pulse size.
The stones of the pillars are so polished and shinining even after hundreds of centuries. The design of the outer structure was excellent. All the corners were triangle shaped and had three layers.
The design was very complicated and just shows the excellence of the architect.
The expressions of the sculptures were carved so beautifully. The bottom three layers has rows of elephants, horses and warriors.
One section is for depicting the civic life which has beautiful sculptures of ladies with various hair styles, in different dance poses.
Other section has all sculptures of deities. The narasimha avathara sculpture was astonishing.
Even a day will not be enough to appreciate all this sculptures.
I was wondering how the artists of those days got such a perfection. When I saw the temples surrounding the main temple, I got the answer for that. It was through streneous practice they have attained this perfection. In the miniature model we could see how they have gradually got their perfection.
Halebid is also a Hoysala style temple which is older than this. The style and works remains same. The only difference is this has big sculptures in its outer wall and belur has many smaller ones.
We returned back nourished with the excellence of ancient architecture. Even today the beauty of the temple and the gracefulness of the sculptures are in my mind.
I was overwhelmed by the mix of architecture. The entrance of the temple(the gopuram) was in Dravidian style. There were small shrines in Jain Architecture and the main temple is in a pure Koysala Architecture. The temple has three gates which leads to the main mandap. There is a circular platform before the main God. It is said that the princess used to perform dance in this platform for God. The temple is named as "Chennakeshava" which means handsome Vishnu. Each and every sculpture in the temple was done with utmost dedication and perfection. I feel even the masters of the master of arts could find no fault in these sculptures. The artists of those days were highly intellectual. They have portrayed the ancient history, life style, culture that prevailed during those days. It took 100 years to finish this temple.
The temple is designed as per vaastu. There is a deep pond, food offering place, Lord Ram temple, miniature model of the main temple, devi temple, a lengthy corridor.
There were two things that surprised us.
1) A tall pillar that was supported just on its corners and was being held by gravitational force. We couldnt imagine how they erected it during those time when there were no cranes and good construction equipments.
2) A pillar in the main temple was rotatable.
The pillars in the main temple had lots and lots of designs engraved on it. It is said that the existing bangle and tyre designs are taken from this pillar designs.
There was nandi in groundnut size and ganesha in a pulse size.
The stones of the pillars are so polished and shinining even after hundreds of centuries. The design of the outer structure was excellent. All the corners were triangle shaped and had three layers.
The design was very complicated and just shows the excellence of the architect.
The expressions of the sculptures were carved so beautifully. The bottom three layers has rows of elephants, horses and warriors.
One section is for depicting the civic life which has beautiful sculptures of ladies with various hair styles, in different dance poses.
Other section has all sculptures of deities. The narasimha avathara sculpture was astonishing.
Even a day will not be enough to appreciate all this sculptures.
I was wondering how the artists of those days got such a perfection. When I saw the temples surrounding the main temple, I got the answer for that. It was through streneous practice they have attained this perfection. In the miniature model we could see how they have gradually got their perfection.
Halebid is also a Hoysala style temple which is older than this. The style and works remains same. The only difference is this has big sculptures in its outer wall and belur has many smaller ones.
We returned back nourished with the excellence of ancient architecture. Even today the beauty of the temple and the gracefulness of the sculptures are in my mind.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Cool Saturday
I was bouncing with joy when I reached home last friday ready to face the weekend.
My joy doubled when Venkat gave me a surprise about our trip to Sravana Belagola, Belur and Halibidu.Dad,Mom and myself were charged up and started doing all arrangements for the trip.
We started our trip on Saturday morning 5.30am. We reached Sravana Belagola at around 8.30am. Sravanabelagola means 'The monk on the top of the hill'. They had the facility of carrying old people so my mom took advantage of that. Dad, Venkat and myself started our trecking to the top of the hill through 614 steps. We saw the huge statue of Lord Mahavir. It is said to be the worlds tallest free standing statue with a height of 58 foot and 8 inches. Though I felt bit odd to see such a huge naked statue, when viewed from artistic feel its a real master piece.
Its really amazing to visualize the way they could have constructed such a structure some 10 centuries before when there were no high fi equipments to help them in their activities. People were doing poojas and abhishekas to lord. After an hour we started coming down the 614 steps. It was fun for me as you get a feel which you cant explain when u descend fast through the steps :) The four persons who were carrying mom in the doly(name for the chariot in which they carry a person) were so fast and their concentration and control were superb.
Then we had a good breakfast and then started off to Belur.....
My joy doubled when Venkat gave me a surprise about our trip to Sravana Belagola, Belur and Halibidu.Dad,Mom and myself were charged up and started doing all arrangements for the trip.
We started our trip on Saturday morning 5.30am. We reached Sravana Belagola at around 8.30am. Sravanabelagola means 'The monk on the top of the hill'. They had the facility of carrying old people so my mom took advantage of that. Dad, Venkat and myself started our trecking to the top of the hill through 614 steps. We saw the huge statue of Lord Mahavir. It is said to be the worlds tallest free standing statue with a height of 58 foot and 8 inches. Though I felt bit odd to see such a huge naked statue, when viewed from artistic feel its a real master piece.
Its really amazing to visualize the way they could have constructed such a structure some 10 centuries before when there were no high fi equipments to help them in their activities. People were doing poojas and abhishekas to lord. After an hour we started coming down the 614 steps. It was fun for me as you get a feel which you cant explain when u descend fast through the steps :) The four persons who were carrying mom in the doly(name for the chariot in which they carry a person) were so fast and their concentration and control were superb.
Then we had a good breakfast and then started off to Belur.....
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