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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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Durga Puja at Chembur

Over the last ten days, I have taken you along on a tour through the South Indian celebration of Navaratri in Mumbai. It is now time for something different. I usually try to take Samhith for the Ramleela as well as other Navaratra Pandals. Dandiya is something I havent been able to introduce him to, and that is mainly because I dont dance at all! However, if there is one celebration we manage to catch, it is the Bengali Durga Puja. Somehow, the image of Mahishasura Mardini seems to attract me each year, as do the decorations..... So, here is the Chembur Durga Puja this year......


We were welcomed at the gate by this huge replica of a temple - 



I read in the paper that it was built to resemble a south Indian temple, but I was more impressed by the way the temple had been decorated..... with straw baskets!!



All over were straw baskets - on the walls, they were the decorations....


On the ceiling, they were lamps and chandeliers!



As for the deity, she was as beautiful as ever! Thankfully, we were early and had the entire place to ourselves!



And yes, before I forget - we gorged on Bengali sweets before heading home!

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Location: Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. ArtiOctober 8, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    Such elaborate and beautiful decorations! I just visit the local Durga temple during Navratri and Dandiya raas is something that is avoided by me too..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anu ShankarOctober 9, 2011 at 10:45 AM

    ha! another similarity btw us!

    ReplyDelete

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