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 [View with PicLens] 123456► Deepak took us to a meal at one of the local Temples. Meiteis are Vishnavite Hindus, and several of the Hindu temples in Imphal put on a daily meal for there devotees in the late morning. Deepak assured us that this particular temple, the Shri Shri Narsinga Mandir, was [...] 10/30/2010 to 10/31/2010 | Himachal Pradesh , India  [View with PicLens] 12345► My final stop in the Chamba Valley, before I headed back to Delhi, was the regional capital of the same name. Set down in the valley its setting isn’t as impressive as Bharmour’s, but like Bharmour it has an array of impressive temples dating from the 10th to 19th [...] 10/27/2010 to 10/29/2010 | Himachal Pradesh , India  [View with PicLens] 1234► I had come to the Chamba Valley with the intention of trekking to Manimahesh Lake, a lake holy to Hindus set in the high Himalayas at 4,080 m (13,390 ft), and dominated by Manimahesh Kailash. I was hoping to add this Kailash to my Kailash collection, which now included the grand [...] 3/29/2010 | India , Uttar Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 1234► With the exception of Delhi, which is “the Rome” of Northern India where all roads or in this case rail lines lead, Varanasi is the Indian city that I’ve been back to most often. Ironic since it took me until my third trip to India to finally visit this [...] 3/17/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…678► As I walked along side one of the channels of the Ganges that ran through the camps on the Eastern edge of Haridwar I noticed a small group of Sadhus gathered by the river. Some were chanting others just stood watching. I would find out after the small crowd [...] 3/17/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 123456► A stream a Sadhus passed by me as I sat resting in the afternoon sun, immediately curious as to where all these holy men were headed, I jumped to my feet and followed. It turned out I had stumbled upon a lunch that was being put on for a [...] 3/16/2010 to 3/17/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…111213► The wide flood plain that harbors several channels of the Ganges on the eastern edge of Haridwar sprouts into a tent city during the Kumbh Mela. Temporary Ashrams, Naga Sadhu camps, and tented accommodation for pilgrims from various states cover the barren plains in a patchwork of canvas and [...] 3/16/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234► Hari Ki Pauri is believed to be the point at which Ganges leaves the mountains and enterers the plains of India. It is the most revered site in Haridwar believed by Hindus to have been visited by both Siva and Vishnu. While this revered ghat was closed to all [...] 3/15/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…789► Until March 15, 2010 in Haridwar, despite having been to Varanasi and other sacred cities on the Ganga (Ganges) numerous times the extent of my contact with the river had been limited to washing my hands in the icy cold waters at Gomukh, the point at which the Ganges [...] 3/15/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 123456► Somavati Amavasya occurs when a new moon falls on a Monday. On this auspiciousness day Hindus believe that a dip in a holy river will have especially good karmic results. During a Kumbh Mela this auspiciousness is amplified. The stream of Sadhus toward Hari Ki Pauri Ghat inching toward [...] 3/12/2010 to 3/15/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…121314► (warning nudity -not the good kind) Sadhus, Hindu holy men, are a fixture amidst the holy cities and temples of India. Normally wondering the road between holy sites or meditating in caves up in the Himalayas, once every 3-4 years they converge on the site of the Kumbh Mela. [...] 3/12/2010 to 3/15/2010 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…789► As the Second Royal Bath (Somvati Amavasya – Dvitya Shahi Snan) approached, the banks of the holy Ganga(Ganges) at Haridwar steadily filled with pilgrims. In the mornings the pilgrims who had descended on Haridwar from across India would flock to the ghats, taking their morning bath in the holy [...] 3/5/2010 | India , Maharastra  [View with PicLens] 1234…141516► I put on my already color stained hole ridden shirt which I had worn for the Holi celebration in Hyderabad. I had saved this item that might ordinarily gone straight to the trash can for this particular day. I placed my camera inside my dry bag backpack securing the [...] 3/4/2010 | India , Maharastra  [View with PicLens] 12► It was the festival hump day in Nasik sandwiched between yesterday’s celebration of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj birthday, and Rang Panchami the day that Maharastrans throw color for Holi. I decided to take the opportunity to visit the nearby city of Trimbakeshwar, a pilgrimage city worshiped as the source of [...] 2/28/2010 to 3/1/2010 | Andhra pradesh , India  [View with PicLens] 123► I had decided to stick around Hyderabad for Holi, while not the most exuberant place to celebrate Holi, I would get a chance to attend the Indian School of Business (ISB)’s Holi party with my friend Sunny. It was being held the day before Holi since classes were being [...]  [View with PicLens] 123► Somnathpur is home to the 13th century star-shaped Keshava Temple built by the Hoysala dynasty. These masters of sculpture also built the larger more famous temples at Halebid and Belur, which I visited in 1994 and 2008. I made an effort to visit this temple in part on behalf [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…8910► A couple of the members of our group had made a promise to visit and perform a puja at the temple of Ambaji in Northern Gujarat, about an hour drive from Abu Road where we stayed the night. I decided to join them on their early morning pilgrimage, while [...]  [View with PicLens] 123456► After wedding I tagged along with Vinay and a number of his cousins including the bride and groom on a short 4 day tour of Southern Rajasthan (a kind of group honeymoon). The major places on the itinerary Udaipur and Mt. Abu I had already been, so it was [...] 12/16/2009 to 12/20/2009 | India , Uttar Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 1234…91011► Varanasi is a place that just keeps drawing me back every time I pass through this part of Uttar Pradesh. No doubt a combination of things draw me here, cheap comfortable accommodation at the friendly Tiwari Lodge in Assi Ghat, a couple tourist cafes with free wifi where I [...] 12/13/2009 to 12/15/2009 | India , Uttar Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 12345► Ayodhya was another place in eastern Uttar Pradesh that I had been meaning to get to and hadn’t. I had passed through it once on a bus to Lucknow and was impressed enough by the temple lined riverfront that I decided then I should stop at some point. That [...] 10/18/2009 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 123► I had decided to stop in Champawat on my way to the Nepali border. I knew little about the town only that I had been told it was a historical place with ruins of some old temples dating from the 16th century Chand dynasty who once made their capital [...] 1/14/2009 to 1/17/2009 | Bangladesh  [View with PicLens] 12345► From Rajshahi I continued north stopping at Bogra as a base for visiting the remains of the 8th century monastery Somapuri Vihara at Paharpur. Once one of the largest monastery complexes of its time it has now been reduced to a collection of brick foundations, although quite a bit [...] 1/10/2009 to 1/13/2009 | Bangladesh  [View with PicLens] 1234…678► I spent my one day in Khulna taking a day trip to Bagerhat, site of several 15th century mosques and tombs, including the tomb of a venerated sufi saint by the name of Khan Jahan Ali which is the primary draw for Bangladeshi pilgrims. While the architecture is not [...] October 2008 | India , Uttarakhand  [View with PicLens] 1234…161718► Legacy Gallery with Captions Having escaped the snows of Spiti, I headed for the neighboring Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, formally known as Uttaranchal. The state’s most famous destination for foreigners is the Meditation/Yoga/Asram/neo-Hippi meca of Rishikesh made famous by the Beatles’ stay in 1968. For Indians the state derives [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…91011► On my first trip to India, having seen my father’s pictures of Hampi, I immediately wanted to go there myself. The 16th century ruined capital of the Vijayanagar empire, set in a fabulous landscape strewn with boulders appeared to be a perfect place to live out my “Indiana Jones” [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…678► Central Karnataka was ruled by the Hoysala dynasty during the 11-13th centuries. Their temples were characterized by incredibly ornate sculptural detail, possible because the soft steatite soapstone used in construction oxidizes and hardens when exposed to air, beautifully preserving the artistry for almost a thousand years. The Hindu temples [...]  [View with PicLens] 123456► The Ghats are southern India’s mountain range which stretches from its southern tip northward. Before branching into the eastern and western Ghats which create the boundaries of the central plateau of India the Ghats run along the boarder between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It was this region in which [...] 3/21/2008 to 3/26/2008 | India , Tamil Nadu  [View with PicLens] 1234567► I had seen a great deal of Tamil Nadu on my first trip to India so I hadn’t really intended to go back, but I found that a short foray through Tamil Nadu would permit me to head North without retracing journeys I had already made in Kerala. Plus [...]  [View with PicLens] 12► If you mention the words “Sabarimala,” and “Lord Ayyappa,” to the average Western tourist in Kerala and you will be most likely be greeted with a blank stare. I would have been one of those blank stares if I hadn’t started thumbing through my Kerala road atlas looking for [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…789► There has been more than a few times when I’ve arrived in a town and after a quick look around thought to myself what am I going to do here for the rest of the day, yet on each occasion that thought as crossed my mind something invariably arises [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…8910► My initial experience with the art of Theyyam enthralled me to the point where I was anxious to seek out more of this captivating ritual art form. I returned to the Kannur District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) office that had been so helpful in leading me to the first [...]  [View with PicLens] 12345► Getting to Kannur, a city in northern Kerala along India’s southwest coast should have been the easy part. But as I arrived at the Mangalore state run bus stand I was told the same thing I was told at the private bus stand, “no bus to Kerala, strike.” My [...]  [View with PicLens] 1234…678► Udupi is a pilgrim town near the coast in southern Karnataka. It is also the birthplace of the masala dosa, a tasty south Indian snack/meal consisting of spiced potatoes wrapped in a rice flour pancake served with chutneys. It as close as India comes to a breakfast burrito, which [...]  [View with PicLens] 12345► From Bijapur, I left Muslim ruins behind for Hindu ones in and around the village of Badami. Badami along with nearby Pattadakal and Aihole (pronounced a-hole-leh, rather than a-hole) are the sites of some well preserved Hindu temple architecture dating from 4th to 8th centuries. Although the temples were [...] 1/17/2008 to 1/21/2008 | India , Madhya Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 1234567► The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their intricate and graceful carving but even more so for the sexual nature of that carving. The temples, dating from the 950 to 1050 AD, were forgotten, obscured by the jungle until their rediscovery in the early 19th century. There remote location [...] 1/14/2008 to 1/16/2008 | India , Madhya Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 123456► Today Orchha is a small sleepy little village but it was once the capital of a princely state during the 16th to late 18th centuries. Decaying reminders of its grander past lie scattered around the village in the form of palaces, ruined havlies, temples, and cenotaph’s (monuments built on [...] 1/2/2008 to 1/3/2008 | India , Uttar Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 1234…789► The holy city of Varanasi on the sacred Ganges river is India at its most raw. The strange dichotomy that makes up India is on display in this city of pilgrims in its most extreme form. Its beauty in the midst of poverty, celebrations of life surrounded by death, [...] 12/5/2007, 12/10/2007 to 12/11/2007 | India , Madhya Pradesh  [View with PicLens] 1234…678► While Varanasi may be the most famous and holiest of India’s riverside cities, there are a number of venerated places along India’s extensive network of rivers. I made my way to three of these revered cities in Madhya Pradesh, stopping first at Ujjian, and then Maheshwar, and Omkaheshwar. In [...] 9/17/2007 to 9/19/2007 | Tibet  [View with PicLens] 1234► According to Tibetan Buddhists completing the kora (walking) around the sacred Mt. Kailash rids one’s self of the sins (negative karma) accumulated over a lifetime. It’s a bit tougher than walking in to a confessional at your local Catholic Church, but then again Tibetan Buddhism is not a religion [...] | ||||
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