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...
For a long time, I thought she was Queen Victoria, and I
often wondered why she had a torch in her hand. The only other lady I knew who
held a torch was the Lady of Liberty, and her standing here didn’t make sense
either. After all, this was Victoria Terminus. It should be Queen Victoria
standing up there, right?
That was a long time back, when I was in school, and
Victoria Terminus was just another railway station… a grand and beautiful one,
which awed most of her visitors, but it wasn’t the UNESCO World Heritage Site
it is today, and information about it was hard to come by. It was only much
later that I learnt that she is the Lady of Progress, and that she holds that
torch to show us the path ahead. Her left hand rests on a wheel – her symbol.
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| The statue of Progress seems to be dwarfed by the sheer size and number of turrets.. |
She is not the only woman up there on the beautiful
structure. She is accompanied by three other statues - one representing Agriculture, another Engineering & Science, and the third, Shipping and Commerce - the pillars of progress. And yes, Queen Victoria was there too,
on a niche in the central dome. Unfortunately, we can’t see her any more, since
no one seems to know where she is.
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| A broader view, showing two other statues.. on the gables on either side |
They stand out there, in the open, waiting to be seen, to be
admired, but it isn’t an easy matter, for this is one of the busiest railway
stations in the world, still used for the purpose it was built for – which only
makes me admire it all the more! Unfortunately, I am unable to find information which can help me identify these sculptures. Here is a closer look at two of them.... Do you know which they are? If you do, please enlighten me and my readers by leaving a comment below, and I will update this post.
I managed to click these photographs while on an open decker
bus tour, courtesy Audio Compass, who have launched a new Android App which
helps us appreciate these beautiful heritage landmarks of our city. Also, the
heritage gallery of the station (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) is open
to the public, from 3 to 5 PM on weekdays. Such initiatives are long overdue,
and we need to make the most of them. So, stay tuned, for a photo tour of both,
the Fort area in Mumbai, as well as glimpse into the CST Heritage Gallery, both
of which are coming up soon….. Watch this space!
Wow!! This place is so closed to our heart & still so far as we are busy in our own lives. Crisply written article, which gives all the facets of the place!! Anu pl. elaborate on Audio Compass Bus Tour. have you downloaded some photos from APPS or you could take from the Bus Top ?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dilip! all the photos are ones i clicked on the tour
DeleteFor a long time, I thought the statue of progress was "The Grand Old Lady of Boribunder", till I was corrected. :)
ReplyDeleteThe 3 statues are Agriculture, Engineering & Science, and Shipping and Commerce ? But it is difficult to figure out which is which.
Wow! 'Grand old lady of Boribunder' sounds so much more interesting.. And we could have thought up a few interesting legends around her too :-) but yes, those are the three other sculptures. They are sometimes mixed up, but these are the names according to the CST heritage gallery. We must make a leisurely early morning visit and try to figure out which is which. Am sure there are lots of references to Greek and Roman myths behind their depiction, so we can drag kiddo asking too :-)
DeleteWow Simply Superb
ReplyDelete