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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
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Navaratri Experiences – 8

The seventh day of Navaratri, the temple decoration was that of SIVA – KAMESHWARI or Kameshwara- Kameshwari, as they are also known.

From Miscellaneous


Kama – the god of love was burnt to ashes when he tried to make the meditating Shiva fall in love with Parvati, born as the daughter of the mountain king, Himavan. When at last Shiva married Parvati after years of austerities, he also brought back Kama to life. However, at the same time, an Asura by the name of Bandasura was born from the smoke. The Devas pleaded to the Devi to rescue them from this Asura, and she appeared in the form of Kameshwari, and put an end to Bandasura. Siva married her as Kameshwara, and this is the form depicted above. I have also appended a Tanjore painting of Kameshwara and Kameshwari (which I found on the net) so as to understand this depiction better.

From Miscellaneous

Well, that’s all for today. Looking forward to being back tomorrow with (hopefully) more photographs….
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