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...
Returning from our encounter with the python, we chose a
different path back, and came across this....
A stone idol of Ganesha, with a small stone container
(probably a lamp), with a feather lying by the side - doesn’t it look like the
feather might be a quill, and the container might hold ink, ready for the Lord
to pick it up and write? As the one who penned down the Mahabharata as Vyasa dictated it, the sight was appropriate, don’t you think?
The idol was installed outside what we were told, was an
ancient, tribal temple.
The temples were really shrines, built mostly with bamboo,
and in one case, bricks, and they were old, though they didn’t really look
ancient.
There wasn’t much to see or appreciate, especially since the
temples were closed.
The Ganesha idol was
surely the most interesting thing here, and that too by a quirk of nature,
which caused the feather to fall where it did!!!!
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Excellent. The Ganesha must be some 1200 years old. Though there is an ink pot and a quill nearby, I wonder if any material like paper was available to write on during those times. The tribal s did not deem it necessary to place the idol inside their Shrine!
ReplyDeleteThanks PNS, but i somehow felt that the Ganesha must have been a recent addition to the shrine, which is why it was placed outside.
DeleteAt which place is this temple located.
ReplyDeletetranslation ahmedabad
interpretation ahmedabad
Wow! Those temples look interesting. Have never seen such ones. Nice post Anu.
ReplyDeletehttp://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/06/amidst-sea-of-blue.html
Thanks Niranjan!
DeleteWonderful place to explore. Very true Ganesha idol real eye catcher.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what deities are inside the forest shrines. I also find it very interesting that all the shrines are laid out in a row. And, old or new, I like the Ganesha :-)
ReplyDeleteTemples looks weird but have a peaceful and clean atmosphere nearby.
ReplyDelete