Shadows

Hell, 
covering all with its gloomy vapors, 
has cast shadows 
on even the holiest eyes 

( Jean Racine) 

Clear waters

Wish relationships could be so transparently clear, simple!

Unnamed

At the moment I came

there was no moon on the seaside horizon

but I knew you were there

There was a moon when you left

but you took my heart away

and I have never been the same

This is a cellphone shot of a painting displayed at the footpath outside the Jehangir Art Gallery. I regret that I could not find the artist and not knowing who he or she was.

A forest trail and the Kanheri caves

This is a favourite watering hole for the fast dwindling forest denizens, and yes, panthers too! They have also erected a watch tower nearby.

 Apart from the solitary woodcutter, we encountered a group of students with large sketchbooks and a shooting crew! But of course, you are bound to run into shoots anywhere in Mumbai, even schools, polytechnics or the suburban railroad stations:)

We left the trail and went up to the Kanheri caves. Originally called Krishnagiri or black rock, these are a group of 108 caves carved out of basaltic rock from the 1st to 9th century A.D. They were all very industrious buddhists

A Chaitya hall with pillars, which served as the congregation hall for Upasana, or worship. The Stupa in the far centre usually contained some relic.

One of the earlier caves, quite bare. Most of the caves have a stone platform for bed. Later day caves have stone carvings, reliefs. They also had a system of water ducts and storage, and some inscriptions speak of royal donations. 

The Kanheri caves were a centre of Buddhism in the western India, a centre for learning and Atish Dipankara, the sage who carried Buddhism to Tibet, came here for studies.Over the next ten centuries, Buddhism might have disappeared from India but it remains ingrained in us, having been absorbed into the Indian way of life and thought. 

One hundred and ten years ago, Swami Vivekananda came here and meditated on the hill.  

Bhandardhara

Somewhere on the Sahyadri hills 

Motley bunch loaded up in a van and started at 5 a.m. It was cloudy in the hills and when we stopped for breakfast, saw a lizard in the brush, and a shrike

                      

End of Part I 

PART II

A magical world, serene and existing by itself. Rich, glorious, content..

 Temples cant be far. This one, dedicated to the Lord Shiva, dating from 1000 A.D, the sacred pond in the near vicinity 

This place had a few shacks nearby, serving steaming hot rice and vegetable curries in thirty minutes flat and with fire in our bellies, everything vanished in no time, including raw gooseberries and green guavas! And then, the final leg of the trip ..

Adios!

Ramtek

The Ramtek hill is a short distance from Nagpur and a wonderful drive through the countryside.

Believed to be associated with the Prince Rama of Ayodhya who tarried a while here on the hill Ramgiri during his exile, the clutch of  temples date from the time of the Gupta dynasty or precisely the regency of dowager queen Prabhavati Gupta ( 390 to 410 AD) , the daughter of the mighty Chandragupta II based on a copperplate inscription. It is also said that the poet Kalidas wrote his opus Meghdoot ( The Cloud Messenger ) on these hills, surrounded by a dense forest, looking up at the first monsoon clouds sailing across the sky.

The Lakshman temple at the far end of the stronghold dates from 1400 AD. All these temples were extensively renovated by the Bhosle chieftains from the 18th century.

Its been a while. Even then, cant stop wondering how was it like on the hill during the time the dowager queen, the daughter of Emperor Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, arrived on horseback and sat on a platform and perhaps, just perhaps, sighed in peace.

18th century school and temple in Nagpur

Its been a while since my trip to Nagpur and I came across these pictures in my PC in a moment of introspection and idle browsing, listening to some mind numbing Trance :)

Its actually the oldest school in Nagpur and still retains the wooden pillars in the central courtyard

The design of this assembly hall as it is in use now, clearly suggests that this room was once used by the early Bhosles of Nagpur (mid to late 18th century)as a durbar hall, with galleries providing for the attendance of ladies of the royal house

These classrooms on the terrace looked terribly cute, the building palpably ancient with slightly uneven floors and wooden stairs!

From the terrace, I noticed a dilapidated temple at the back of the school, beyond the playgrounds, its peak or the shikhar, proudly standing tall among a tangled mass of jungles and hovels clinging to it like parasites

I found it truly amazing that the temple was built entirely of wood including the still shining pillars and a wonderful ceiling which was too dark to be shot with an ordinary cellphone

And this is the seven storeyed well or baoli, so common with medieval indian royal establishments, with the bottom stories all flooded and sealed off now, and redolent of stories of secret passages and buried treasure :)

Clearly, the entire property including the present school, was the first royal establishment. Unfortunately, there is not the slightest murmur of conservation efforts and the ASI was nowhere in sight. Sigh ( and that's definitely not the first sigh of the day!