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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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Binsar and Around - A compilation of my posts on my Binsar trip

Now that I have finally managed to complete my series about my Binsar vacation, I thought it would probably be a good idea to compile all my posts into one…which will hopefully make it easier for anyone wishing to go there to get the information they want…. So here goes…..

We started off from Delhi by train, and hired a cab to Binsar. To read about the journey and the Club Mahindra Binsar Valley Resort and Manipur Villa, read Binsar - Part 1.

The Club Mahindra Resort as seen from Manipur Villa


Home to the Binsar Bird sanctuary, the whole range is full of birds… you don’t need to look far to spot some wonderful birds…. Read all about the birds we saw from our room at Binsar Part 2 – Armchair Bird watching.

A Plum Headed Parakeet seen from our window


There are plenty of activities at the resort; all you have to do is find one to your liking. We chose to go for a short trek coupled with a bit of bird watching too… Read all about it at Binsar Part 3 – Trek to a river, with a bit of bird watching thrown in!

An oriental White eye seen on our walk


Having gone all the way to Binsar, it was impossible to give the sanctuary a miss. While we saw just a few birds, we had some wonderful experiences, including a panoramic view of the snow capped Himalayan peaks. It was an unforgettable experience, and we learnt a lot about the place like where to stay, what to do, the next time we went there…. To know more, go to Binsar – Part 4 – The Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary.

The path through the sanctuary


Temples attract me as much as nature – especially ancient ones! Read about the beautiful temples of Jageshwar at Binsar – Part 5 – Jageshwar.

The Jageshwar temple complex surrounded by towering Deodhars

An unexpected bonus of our trip to Jageshwar were the prehistoric cave paintings at Lakhudiyar, something we hadn’t even heard of before….Read about them at Binsar – Part 6 – The prehistoric paintings of Lakhudiyar.

One of the paintings at Lakhudiyar


Another memorable visit was one to the ancient caves of Patal Bhuvaneshwar. The stalactites and stalagmites might or might not resemble Gods in your eyes, but they will not fail to awe and inspire you! Read about these wonderful caves at Binsar – Part 7 – Patal Bhuvaneshwar.

The ASI Board at Patal Bhuvaneshwar


Every area of India abounds in temples, and this area has plenty of ancient ones. Read about a couple more temples we visited at Binsar – Part 8 – Some other temples.

A Bell at the Golu Devta Temple


Some of the best experiences we had were completely unexpected! Read about a short stop on the road which turned into the most enjoyable experience for my son at Binsar – Part 9 – A fishy story.

Fishes in the Kosi River


An unplanned halt on the roadside led us to some of the best photographs I have ever taken of birds…. Read about our ‘swift’ experience at Binsar – Part 10 – A ‘swift’ meeting.

A swiftlet in its nest


The end of our journey arrived, but not before a short detour to the tourist hill station of Nainital. Read about it at Binsar – Part 11 – Nainital.

The Lake at Nainital


While these are the main posts which contain information about Binsar and its surrounding places, if you just wish to have a look, there are many more posts with photos taken on the trip, and my thoughts about various things…..Hope they are useful to you!


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Comments

  1. jayasreeMay 17, 2010 at 9:31 AM

    Good job on compiling into one post. This will surely help readers who will come here to find Binsar info.

    ReplyDelete
  2. chitraMay 17, 2010 at 5:39 PM

    Good work , summing up the whole series..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Indian BazaarsJune 10, 2010 at 2:45 PM

    This seems like a nice place to visit. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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