Tanjore, or rather, the Brahadishwara Temple

We spent the bulk of our time in Tanjore at the Brahadishwara Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site ... and I hope these pictures give you a sense of why.

Here is the main layout of the temple complex - with Nandi the bull facing towards the temple's inner sanctum. Our guide explained that the temple layout was designed to signify the God in repose. Here is my interpretation of his description.

Nandi (sacred bull, Shiva's transport), carved out of a single rock, at the entrance measuring about 16 feet long and 13 feet high.

Along the outer walls of the temple there were some beautiful frescoes, like this one depicting the goddess Durga defeating the demon Mahishasura. This story is a little too good not to share (shout out to bad-ass, demon-killing, females in Hindu mythology).

From Wikipedia:

According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight anasura (an inhuman force/demon) named Mahishasura. He had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods went to Brahma, who had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a man. Brahma could do nothing. They made Brahma their leader and went to Vaikuntha — the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. Hearing this Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods became very angry and beams of fierce light emerged from their bodies. The blinding sea of light met at the Ashram of a priest named Katyan. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest and emerged from the sea of light. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme Brahman who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the gods. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.

It is said that upon initially encountering Durga, Mahishasura underestimated her, thinking: "How can a woman kill me, Mahishasur — the one who has defeated the trinity of gods?" However, Durga roared with laughter, which caused an earthquake which made Mahishasur aware of her powers.

And the terrible Mahishasura rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.

Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. The patient goddess became very angry, and as she sipped divine wine from a cup she smiled and proclaimed to Mahishasur in a colorful tone — "Roar with delight while you still can, O illiterate demon, because when I will kill you after drinking this, the gods themselves will roar with delight".When Mahishasur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.

Durga is therefore called Mahishasuramardini (literally the slayer of the buffalo demon)

After the Brahadishwara temple, we saw the Saraswathi Mahal Library, originally the royal library of the Nayak Kings of Thanjavur who ruled 1535 - 1675 AD, but is now open to the public. They had an amazing assortment of historical texts (books!), but one of the highlights was seeing the palm leaf manuscripts (pictured below). The writing was minuscule (the width of the palm leaf in some cases being no more than a couple of fingers).

Source

Last but not least was the Palace Art Gallery, which had an amazing collection of Chola-period bronze work.

The Nataraja, Shiva in his cosmic dance of destruction

From Wikipedia:

Chola period bronzes were created using the lost wax technique. It is known in artistic terms as "Cire Perdue". The Sanskrit Shilpa texts call it the Madhu Uchchishtta Vidhana.

Beeswax and kungilium (a type of camphor) are mixed with a little oil and kneaded well. The figure is sculpted from this mixture fashioning all the minute details. This is the wax model original.

The entire figure is then coated with clay made from termite hills until the mould is of a necessary thickness. Then the whole thing is dried and fired in an oven with cow-dung cakes. The wax model melts and flows out, while some of it vapourises.

The metal alloy of bronze is melted and poured into the empty clay-mould. This particular bronze alloy is known as Pancha Loham. When the metal has filled all crevices and has settled and hardened and cooled, the mould is broken off. The bronze figure thus obtained is then cleaned, finer details are added, blemishes are removed, smoothened, and polished well. Hence each bronze icon is unique and the mould cannot be used to create copies.

The images that were created by this technique were quite stunning.

I feel that we learned so much on this trip about Hindu iconography, architecture, and south Indian aesthetic that I hope it will stay with us for a long time.

So that was the end of our little south Indian adventure. Richard is now safely back in Kentucky, Allen is happily working with leather workers in Banaras (fingers crossed for a post soon), and I'm spending a couple weeks in Bangalore helping out at an NGO that looks data (!!!!) on Bangalore and India's infrastructure and makes policy recommendations. Fun fun!

Terrific Trichy*

I apologize in advance that this post is going to be pretty image heavy - there was just so much that we learned at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (a huge Vishu temple complex) in Trichy (AKA Tiruchirappalli).

Vishnu is one of the three principle Gods in Hinduism: Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver/maintainer, and Shiva is the destroyer --- a cosmically balanced trinity or rather Trimurti.

More beautiful Dravidian gopurams (pyramid gates)

Everywhere (on temple walls, on shop signs, etc) we saw these symbols of Vishnu, starting on the left: Garuda, Vishnu's ex-demon transport; the Sudarshana Chakra (a weapon in the form of a wheel); Vishnu's heel in white and Lakshmi's (his consort) heel in red; the Conch or Shankha, Vishnu's war trumpet; and Hanuman, the ever faithful servant of Ram (one of Vishnu's avatars, incarnations - but we'll get to this in a second)

The temple entrances were protected by yarlis an animal that was made from 5 (6) different animals. It has the feet of a vulture, the body of a lion, the teeth of a crocodile, the tail of a cow, the ears of a pig, and the eyes of a goat --- male yarlis are sometimes depicted as having elephant trunks as well. I was sad that I couldn't find any more documentation on this creature - but they were common features of all the Dravidian temples we saw in south India.

Hall of a thousand columns used during festival time to welcome the overwhelming number of pilgrims

We were told that this gopuram was painted white to recongize the sacrifice of those priests who protested a tax on the temple by committing suicide (during French control of Trichy, I believe)

Intricate stone work on a single piece of granite

Nine incarnations of Vishnu (sort of match evolution, from fish to man)

From Wikipedia, again:

The concept of avatar within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trinity orTrimurti or the one and only supreme God for followers of Vaishnavism.

Vishnu's avatars typically descend for a very specific purpose. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu—to bring dharma, or righteousness, back to the social and cosmic order:

"Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.

For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,

and for the establishment of righteousness,

I come into being age after age."

There are ten avatars of Vishnu (dashavatara) commonly considered as the most prominent:^[67]

1. Matsya, the fish that kills Hayagriva and saves mankind.
2. Kurma, the turtle that helps the Devas and Asuras churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality.
3. Varaha, the boar that rescues the Earth and kills Hiranyaksha.
4. Narasimha, the one (Lion) who defeats the demon Hiranyakashapu (Nhara = to assure the trouble, simha = takes control about).
5. Vamana. the dwarf that grows into a giant to save the world from King Bali.
6. Parashurama, A Sage, Rama with the axe, who appeared in the Treta Yuga.
7. Rama, Sri Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya and killed Demon King Raavanan.
8. Krishna (meaning 'dark coloured' or 'all attractive' or the Existence of Bliss,^[68]), appeared in the Dwapara Yuga along with his brotherBalarama. Balarama is included as the eighth Dasavatara which list Krishna as the source of all avatars, svayam bhagavan (this viewpoint is specific to Bhagavata, Gaudiya, Vallabhacarya and Nimbarka sampradayas) .^[69]
9. Buddha, the enlightened one. (though this isn't widely accepted, many say that Balaram was the 9th)
10. Kalki ("Eternity", or "timeless",destroyer of time or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the time period in which we currently exist.

Tenth incarnation of Vishnu, when the world will end, to restart

Real life going on inside the temple walls

From Wikipedia:

Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world (Angkor Wat being the largest non-functioning temple). The temple occupies an area of 156 acres (631,000 m²) with a perimeter of 4,116m (10,710 feet) making it the largest temple in India^[2] and one of the largest religious complexes in the world. The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls (termed prakarams or mathil suvar) with a total length of 32,592 feet or over six miles. These walls are enclosed by 21 Gopurams. The space within the outer twoprakarams is occupied by several shops, restaurants and flower stalls. For this reason, other massive Hindu temples like Chidambaram(Nataraja swamy Temple), Tiruvannamalai (Annamalaiyar temple), Meenakshi Amman Temple, Tirunelveli Nellaiappar Temple claim to be the biggest Hindu temples (Note - all these magnificent temples are entirely dedicated for the religious rituals and are "massive" in every sense of the word - size, grandeur and the accompanying traditions).

Next we went to the Rock fort, which was home to both Shiva-Parvati temple and a Ganesh temple (the whole family!)

View of Rock fort in the distance

View of Shiva and Parvati temple and Lourdes cathedral and Trichy from Rock Fort

Beautiful views

From Trichy, we headed on to Tanjore... our next installment

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* I'm trying to keep up the alliteration theme. I'm on a ROLL!

Sri Meenakshi Temple and More in Madurai*

Today we went to see the Sri Meenakshi Amman Temple, a temple complex dedicated to Shiva and Parvati, in Madurai today.

Replica of the complex

Wikipedia says, the complex houses 14 magnificent Gopurams or towers including two golden Gopurams for the main deities, that are elaborately sculptured and painted.

Close up shot of the Gopuram

But it wasn't just the outside that was elaborately painted - the inside was just as spectacular (and grand on such a large scale)

Above is a mural depicting the dance contest between Shiva and Parvati as Kali.

"One South Indian tradition tells of a dance contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons Sumbha and Nisumbha, Kali takes up residence in a forest. With fierce companions she terrorizes the surrounding area. One of Shiva's devotees becomes distracted while performing austerities, and asks Shiva to rid the forest of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him, claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges Kali to a dance contest, and defeats her when she is unable to perform the energetic Tandavadance. Although in this case Kali is defeated, and is forced to control her disruptive habits, there are very few other images or other myths depicting her in such a manner." (Source: Wikipedia)

Sadly, foreigners were not allowed into the inner sanctums, where Shiva and Parvati were, but there was so much else to see that the sting of disappointment wasn't too severe.

We also saw the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal, a 17th century palace built by one of the Madurai Nayak kings, King Thirumalai Nayak. The site is only about 1/4 its original size ...but oh, how big it must have been!

The architecture was so ornate

As were the ceiling murals

Technically we also saw the flower market and the Gandhi museum... but there were some technical difficulties (hunger pains for lunch and the museum closing for their lunch break), so I don't really have any good photos of those places.

Tonight we're hopefully going to see the Aarti ceremony at the Meenakshi Temple. Fingers crossed it should be really beautiful.

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* Still working the alteration, so sue me!

South India Trip Part 1: Kochi and Alleppey

Yeah for Kerala! Well built roads, clean streets, friendly people, rich history, and beautiful waterways! We picked up Richard in Kochi, after a few minor hiccups.*

In Kochi we saw St. Francis Church, which has passed through the Portuguese, Dutch, and British as a Catholic, then Protestant, and now Anglican church. It was also home of the tomb of the explorer Vasco da Gama before he was reintered in Portugal 14 years after his death.

Next was the fish market, where we saw the 700 year old technology of Chinese fishing nets (which is pretty much a tourist racket now, but still pretty interesting). We then went to one of the fish stalls and literally up our lunch for the day

Kingfish!

This is what a kilo of Kingfish look like grilled

Next was off to old Jew Town near the Paradesi Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the Commonwealth. It was a little sad that we couldn't see the synagogue becuase it was closed Friday and Saturday, the two days we were there.

Source: Wikipedia

We also got to see the Keralan murals of the "Dutch" Mattancherry Palace (sadly photography was not allowed). We have a friend in Goa that does this style of artwork, so it was really neat to see on such a large scale.

An example of a Kerala mural (Source: http://enchantingkerala.org)

By far, the coolest thing we saw in Kochi was the Kathakali cultural show. We're not talking high art here, obviously this was for tourists, but we thought they did a spectacular job walking us through the various parts, including getting to watch the performers put on their makeup. I'm planning on doing an entire post on this style of dance later, when I can put together the footage I took. Needless to say, it was quite a lot of fun to see.

Yesterday we spent on the backwater canals of Alleppey. It was so relaxing being on a boat, away from the crowds, the traffic, and especially the car horns of the city.

Could you imagine if this was home?

Quickest way to get around

Could this be our houseboat?

We're pretty pumped because today we'll be spending the day on one of the cruising houseboats. As anyone who knows him can attest, more time on the water makes Richard a very happy man.

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* Our train to Delhi was 6 hours late so we missed our flight to Kochi (despite budgeting an extra 5 hours to get to the airport). Last minute we had to cancel our tickets and rebook new ones for later that evening.

Buddhist Bihar

Where to begin. I've been wrestling for over a week now of how to process my adventure in Bihar with Hamsa, Danika and Jane Marie... literally, we took almost 15GB of photos and videos on this trip. I knew I wanted to make a movie to share this trip with you - I just hadn't anticipated how much there was to tell. Be prepared - the movie is not short. But I hope it really does give you a sense of the places we visited and the various sites we saw.

To recap: Jane Marie, a professor of Japanese Religions, came to India to visit as many of the Buddhist holy sites in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as she could manage. Our mutual friends Hamsa and Danika helped organize her trip and accompanied her on her travels. And I'm the bum who got to tag along for the ride!

We went to Sarnath, site of the deer park where the Buddha gave his first sermon. Next, was Bodhgaya, where the Buddha - under the Bodhi tree - attained enlightenment. After that was Rajgir, home to Vulture's Peak (Griddhkuta) where the Buddha gave several important sermons. Last, but certainly not least, was Nalanda, which is said to be "one of the first great universities in recorded history." It was of interest to us on our Buddhist pilgrimage because it had been patronized by many Buddhist rulers, including Ashoka and the Gupta Empire.

So without much further ado, here's my most recent video of our exploits:

Bihari Buddhist Pilgrimage from Nikki on Vimeo.

Some takeaways from the footage:

First, I couldn't even capture one half of everything that we saw ... if I had the movie would probably have been closer to 2 hours. Feel thankful I didn't put you through that.

Second, all of these sites were active sites of worship, primarily for the Tibetan exiles but for other sects of Buddhism as well. I try to give a flavor of that in the video, but I couldn't record in the museum, for example, monks and nuns touching their heads to the feet of the of every image of a Bodhisattva they could get close enough to touch.... and the security guards at first lamely trying to stop them, then just accepting the tide of human spirituality they were witnessing, and then slyly pocketing any monetary offerings that were left behind.

Third, yes we went to a lot of Japanese temples because of Jane Marie's field interests --- but also they were a sign of a large amount of foreign investment coming to Bihar for development and tourism. Universally we heard the chorus singing the praises of the new Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar, and what a good job he is doing of modernizing Bihar. It was hard to disagree... especially considering Bihar had the best roads I had seen in India. Period.

We were told, after the fact, that it is only this road - in between Buddhist holy sites - that is so well maintained and that the money for it is coming from the Japanese --- but that's almost besides the point! Baby steps, right?

And lastly, despite the influx of foreign investment (and subsequent reclaiming) in these holy sites the Tibetans have overwhelmingly made these spaces their own. With their homeland and holy sites off limits to them, Tibetan Buddhists in exile have embraced India... and they are clearly not letting go anytime soon. The Dali Lama loomed large in these spaces (with images or because he was planning to give a lecture or just had recently given a lecture...). I wouldn't say that these spaces are contentious at all ... but it does make one wonder how the power struggle between China and the Dali Lama will play out in India.... which seems to have benefited so much from the Buddhist tourist trade.

It was a fascinating trip on its own - but it was made even more so by my company of scholars who were extremely knowledgeable and excited about all the places we visited. Many, many, many thanks Jane Marie, Hamsa and Danika for letting me crash your trip ... it was an experience that I hope stays with me for the rest of my life.

Next up for me - a 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat in Sarnath while Allen ... oh, yeah... does more field work.

Surprise Tour of Buddist Sites in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

Crazy story....

So we were out visiting Sarnath, the location of the deer park where the Buddha first taught about dharma, with our bridge-playing friends Hamsa and Danika and their friend Jane, a Buddhologist, and they asked me if I'd be interested in tagging along with them as they visit two other major Buddhist pilgrimage locations in the region: Bodh Gaya, the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, and Nalanda, the location of the oldest Buddhist university.

And I said, "Sure, why not?" Chances like this, to travel around historical Buddhist sites with folks who know a great deal about them only comes around once in a lifetime, right?

Sadly, Allen can't come because of a number of complications* ... but I'm betting I'll some pretty entertaining stories when I get back.
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* Read: Interestingly, buying last minute train tickets the night before departure is is more likely that the women's compartment will be relatively empty than not.... Plus, isn't he doing some sort of research something or other .... [scratching head]

Baltic Sea Cruise: Part 2 (St. Petersburg, Russia)

Just got home to the States and man did I have a CRAZY trip home. I'll post about that soon, but first the last couple of updates about the cruise and Holland
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St. Petersburg gets its own post because it deserves it. I judiciously only took 200 pictures over the 2 days we were there. Hands down, this was the most beautiful city we visited. No joke. I'm gonna try not to overload you with images - but seriously, this was objectively a beautiful place.

We first went to see Catherine's Palace in Pushkin just outside of St. Petersburg. What had started as a small "modest" hunting lodge by Peter the Great and his wife Catherine I, was expanded and embellished by his daughter Elizabeth into a Baroque Palace on a grand scale.

Family in front of Catherine's Palace

The Hall of Mirrors was based off the room of the same name in the Palace of Versailles.

And the details in the room were breath-taking.

Catherine II the Great - her picture and a replica of one of her dresses pictured here - had some objections to the Baroque style that Elizabeth had used.

So she renovated some of the rooms to the Classical style that she preferred. See the contrast in the picture below

And what does it say of the opulence of a space when they design a wall of paintings as is pictured below? The paintings weren't painted in place, rather the whole painting was chosen and then cut down to fit on the wall as displayed. I wonder if the original artists had any objections to how their work was displayed.

Pictured wall

But the craziest part of the tour was realizing how much restoration work went into this Palace after the Nazis had occupied it during the Second World War. Click on the picture below for more detail on this picture of what the facade looked like .... but basically they intentionally destroyed it.... The tour guide kept saying that the Nazi's "had done damage to some of the rooms" ... but the pictures at the end of the museum showed that entire rooms, including the Amber Room*, where stripped entirely bare! The restorers only had old black and white photographs to direct their efforts - but they did an absolutely amazing job!

After the Nazis

After Restoration

Next was the Hermitage. 5 palaces. 3 million pieces (only a fraction of which are on display). It is estimated that if you gave every piece in their collection at least 30 seconds, it would take you three years to make it through their galleries ... if you don't eat or sleep or go to the bathroom.

It felt very much like the Louvre, in terms of the breadth and depth of their collection --- as well as the stunning architecture that was setting the backdrop for their collection.

Some of you may know that I'm a big fan of War and Peace, so I was tickled pink when we entered the 1812 War Gallery, which commemorates the Russian victories in the Napoleonic Wars. Front and center were some of the stars of those engagements....

Alexander I

General-Field Marshals Mikhail Kutuzov

(History AND Literature?! Nerd squeal!!!)

But it wasn't just the art on the walls that made your jaw drop...

...there was no mistaking that you were in a palaces ...

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So how can you come to Russia without seeing a ballet?

Allen with tix to ballet

And Swan Lake no less. It was a beautiful production and a great experience I don't think I'm likely to forget.

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Next up was the Cathedral on Spilled Blood.

Gotta admit that I knew nothing about this place before we got there... and in a way it was almost perfect that I had no expectations because this space was almost unreal.

The church is named for Alexander II, who was assassinated on its present site in 1881. But that isn't the catch... the catch is the church contains over 7,500 square meters of mosaics - according to the restorers.

That's right - there were restorers for this space as well because apparently (according to Wikipedia):

"In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in the early 1930s. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by hostile Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary storage site for the corpses of those who died both in combat and of starvation and illness. It suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Savior on Potatoes."

It took 27 years of work to bring this unbelievable space back to its former glory. Totally out of this world. I couldn't justify (in this post of so many pictures) putting everyone one of my photos from this church in this post ... so I made a Picasa web album instead (added below). Hope you enjoy them even a fraction of as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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* No pictures - lucky you - because we weren't allowed