Jain Temples @ Jaisalmer

 As a visitor to the Golden fort one of the most interesting buildings to visit besides the Raj Mahal is the complex of Jain Temples.

Jaisalmer was a prominent center along the ancient caravan trade route that crossed the Thar Desert and connected India/East with the West. Though it was under Hindu rule, it was the Jain traders who made Jaisalmer prosperous with trade activities and these temples stand testament to their success.

Here's a few photos of the amazing temple complex:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are extremely intricate buildings that are as much a piece of art/sculpture as these are amazing examples of traditional Dilwara style architecture.

The tiny temple town of Osian

 Around 65 km from Jodhpur along the old highway to Jaisalmer is the tiny temple town of Osian.

 The city has groups of small but extremely interesting temples scattered all across its fabric

 

 

The vertical shikharas raising above the temples and Lingam shaped posts (like the one below) depict a particular architectural style of  this region of Rajasthan.

 

... the Sachiya Mata Temple on the hill (below) is clearly the main focus of the city..

.... but the main reason for my stop at this middle of nowhere city was to see the amazing Kund (stepwell)of Osian...

 

 

 

It lies towards the south and belongs to the same age of the main temple complexes, we can only speculate that it could have been used for religious purposes.

Bhimashankar

I have been wanting to visit the Bhimashankar temple and its surrounding forest area for many years now, finally I managed to go there last weekend!

Along with some friends I went to Pune on Saturday and started early on Sunday for Bhimashankar. We started our hike near the Blue Mormon Resort some 9 kms away from the temple.

Sadly when we got there we couldn't find a local guide and for almost two thirds of the way we had to walk along the main road leading to the temple to avoid getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Although its was quiet hot (and probably the worst time of the year to do this trip) the walk offered some great views of the surrounding hills and the few densely forest patches we passed by were delightful.

So after a few stops and over four hours in the sun we finally arrived at the famous temple.

The Bhimashankar temple is one of the 12 original Jyotirlinga temples in India and is a major pilgrimage site. Strangely, though heavily visited the small town around the temple offers almost nothing in terms of facilities - a decent restaurant/hotel is almost none existent here.

The temple itself is a very modest structure built over the years, but none of it seems to be really old.

By the time we finished seeing the temple the heat had gotten to us and we decided to head back to the city.

I've heard that this place is wonderful in the rains may be I need to plan a better trip during the Monsoons and next time I would like to try the Karjat route straight from Mumbai rather than the route we took this time!

Temple in the Mist..

While in Bangalore (see the previous blog entry) we (Ninad, Manish, Amol and myself) went to see the close by hill station* of Nandi Hills.

I have been hearing about this place for a long time now - it's one of the best spots close to the city (some 45 kms. away from Bangalore) to watch birds!

But there's a lot more than birds to see here - To start off the weather and air is soo much better than in the city.. Then there is Tipu Sultan's impressive Fort (entrance to which is pictured above)

Though we started the day early we took for ever to get there..

We were at the main bus station (Majestic) in bangalore by 6 am but made the mistake of waiting for a direct bus to Nandi Hills - if there isn't a direct bus within half an hour of getting to the bus station it's best to take one to Chickballapur and then change, there are lots of buses and rickshaws from there to the top of Nandi hills. We unfortunately took some three and a half hours to get there having wasted a lot of time at Majestic!

But thanks to some tense fog we didn't have to worry about getting scorched by the noon sun!

In fact the weather was amazing and the fog only added to the mysticism related to this stunning landscape..

And at the summit of the hill were these amazing steps carved into the rock face leading up to one of the old temples.

Here's a few images of the temple itself:

Though extremely modest - the sequence and scale of the spaces in and around it is extremely interesting!

And to end a few images of the surrounding landscape..

(* - Hill station is a term used for a town usually at somewhat higher elevations. The term was used in colonial Asia, where towns have been founded by European colonial rulers up where temperatures are cooler, as refuges from the summer heat.)

Spiritual disneyland and more..

Went to Bangalore over the weekend and here's a series of random photos from the city..

Starting with a strange amusement park like temple... the main attraction at the Shiv Mandir near Kempfort is undoubtedly the giant statue of Lord Shiva.

But besides the shear size of the statue there is nothing spiritual about this temple!

It's almost like a religious theme park - it even has a cheesy theme walk based on Lord Shiva life complete with animatronics - and like in most theme park you have to buy a ticket at each stage!

First a ticket to get in to the complex - extra for the camera; another ticket for your shoes; another to see the animatronics; then there are the actual temple rituals (which also involves money) and of course endless possibilities for making donations..

This is not the first time I've come across such blatant commercialization of spirituality! I had recently written about similar commercialization of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai.

Another place that comes to mind is the huge Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar - there the temple has real theme park like rides (mini roller coasters and all) in its sprawling gardens.

So as cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad get richer religious organizations are forced to find innovative ways to get the attention (and money) of the nouveau riche!

Moving on .. a series of images from in and around the 'lung' of Bangalore - Cubbon Park:

a small little temple near the Park with a huge Parrot hovering above it's entrance;

a statue of Queen Elizabeth at one of the parks entrances...;

some beautiful rain trees inside;

the violently coloured State Archeological Museum;

and a few images of the Vijay Mallaya's UB City

It's strange that the architectural language of power across the world is soo similar.

And as for the mall in UB City - it's as expected stupidly unaffordable!

If you really wanted your new Louis Vuitton Bag I understand that it makes no sense to buy it here - it's cheaper to actually fly to Dubai or Singapore (or probably even Paris) and buy it there and you may still save some money!

Here's a new office building just across the road that I found a lot more interesting than UB City..

Moving further..

a modern classic from MG road..

There a whole bunch of these amazing driving tips on Brigade road. I wish all city municipalities shared Bangalore's sense of humor! : )

The beautiful LIC building designed by Charles Correa.. I just love the sheer concrete walls

This is probably his most successful office tower - the building is fascinating both at an architectural and urban level. The massing of the towers sits amazingly well within the Urban grid, with the two set of towers popping up at the main cross roads commanding unobstructed views from quiet a distance!

Another interesting traffic related sign post!

The next three images are of an atrocious building on St. Marks street..

it is one in a series of new buildings cropping up across the country

designed by architects who went to the Architectural Association (AA) in London to do their course in DRL and then worked with Zaha Hadid (or someone like her) and has come back to India to unleash this monstrosities here..

to my mind - just a lot of visual noise and extremely pointless!

Outside a new mall ..

Ulsoor lake - one of the many many lakes of Bangalore..

And to end this posting from this great city - photos of the swanky new airport

This is probably the best airport in the country

(though I haven't yet seen the new Hyderabad airport - which I hear is even better)

Very simple, efficient and well designed..

Lastly an image of the airport taken while my flight took off back to Bombay..

See you soon Bangalore!