Poetry in Stone - 21

This is twenty-first in the series on the rich cultural heritage of ancient temples in India. The ancient temples are richly carved and they behold ones attention for their craftsmanship. One of the prominent sculpture of different type are Yali which has a catlike graceful body, but the head of a lion with tusks of an elephant and tail of a serpent. 

This beautiful sculpture of  Yali with a warrior is in  10th century Ranganathswamy Temple at Srirangam.

This sculpture of  Yali is in the 100 pillar Kalyanmantap at 1624 A.D  Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple at Madurai.

This fabulous sculpture of  Yali with a warrior is in  16th century Veerabadhra Temple of Lepakshi.

This sculpture is prominently seen in South Indian temples.  First one is from  1515 A.D Bala Krishna Temple at Hampi,  6th century Thayumanaswami Temple at Trichy and  1010 A.D Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur.

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Rufous Treepie at Bhitarkanika

In Bhitarkanika National Park we hired a boat and cruised in the lake. After cruising for hours we got down from the boat on a different shore. We could spot some birds there and one of them is the Rufous Treepie. 

The main color of the body is cinnamon with a black head and the long graduated tail is grey and is tipped in black.

This is a omnivore bird that feeds almost completely in trees on fruits, seeds, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds. 

It is found mostly in Indian subcontinent.

Monastery - 2, Ratnagiri

The Monastery - 2 at Ratnagiri is dated back to the 7th century A.D. to 14th century A.D. during the Bhaumakaras, Somavamsis and Gangas period. But this monastery is excavated recently in the years 1958-62.

The monastery has three structural phases, as evident from the excavation. It is built using Bricks and Khandolite stone. It is plain and simple, except the balustrade windows in the eastern wall. 

The monastery consists of a central square courtyard, bordered on all sides by a pillared verandah around which are array an inner porch, 18 cells and a shrine chamber. 

Images of India - 67

A glimpse of heritage monument of India in black and white. Check other posts that will give you more details about this monument.

Durbar Hall at Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior 

St. Joseph’s Church, Aluva

St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary at Aluva is a major seminary of the Syro-Malabar Church of the St. Thomas Christians. 

The seminary has a cemetery that is a nice sturdy structure. This is a huge chapel which has been painted white in the interiors.

The church has beautiful and colrful stained glass windows. One of the colorful glass winow has Aeterni Sacerdotii on display.

X'mas is celebrated with great fan fare here.

Sparrows at Rose Garden, Ooty

Government Rose Gaden at Ooty is the largest rose garden in India. Here variety of roses are well planted with plenty of empty spaces.

Here apart from roses one can also see the cute little sparrows in the garden.

Apsidal Structure, Udaygiri

Udayagiri hill 6 kms away from Bhubaneshwar in Orissa is home several caves and monasteries used by Jain monks at the period Mahameghavahana Chedi dynasty during 1st century B.C.

A path to the top of the Udayagiri Hill to the right of Ganesh Gumpha leads to an open area. Here one can see remains of an apsidal structure within which towards the apse-end is a circular wall that was unearthed in 1958 by ASI. This could have been Chaitya hall a place of worship by the monks built using laterite stones.

From here one can see Bhubaneshwar Airport at a distance. Also one can see the Lingaraj Temple across the airport.

Images of India - 66

A glimpse of heritage monument of India in black and white. Check other posts that will give you more details about this monument.

Temple Ruins at Survaya Ki Grahi 

Abbey Water Falls, Madikeri

Abbey Water Falls located in Madikeri area just 8 kms from the town area. This falls is located in a private property at a lower area when compared to the surrounding area and can be reached climb down a set of steep slope. 

The falls cascades 70 ft down  over rocky ravine into calm pools to flow as a small river. The site of  the gushing, roaring scene is a beauty worth attention. 

The water flow is very high during the monsoon season and we were here during this season. A hanging bridge built in front of the falls provides an excellent view of the falls. 

The best time to visit is early winter when the monsoons bring plenty of water and we were here during this time.

Birds in Neighbourhood - 17

I am the few of the fortunate who occasionally get to see few birds of different variety around my house in Bangalore. I have captured few of them in my camera and here they are. One such beautiful bird is Purple-rumped Sunbird. 

They are tiny birds with thin down-curved bills. The males have a dark maroon upperside with a blue-green crown that glistens in some angles. The underparts are whitish with dark throat, maroon breast band and purple/violet patch in the throat which is visible in some angles. 

They are endemic to the Indian Subcontinent. They mainly feed on nectar but sometimes take insects.

Cave No. 10, Ajanta

Cave No. 10 at Ajanta is also a chaityagriha similar to  Cave No. 9. It has a similar shape but larger in size. This is a large chaityagriha and inscription on its facade dated to the 2nd century B.C.

This was the the first cave discovered in Ajanta in April 1819. John Smith, a British Army Officer noticed the arch of this cave and this led to the discovery of other caves here.

It is apsidal on plan and consists of a large central hall, nave flanked by two aisles 

separated by a row of 39 octagonal pillars. The paintings on the pillar contain Buddha figure. 

At the apsidal end is a rock stupa. 

The cave consists of two periods of paintings, the earlier dated to 2nd century B.C and the later 4th – 6th century A.D.

The whole of this cave has been painted but only few painting were retained, which they were at one time completely adorned. There are paintings of Budha poses in the ceiling.

Images of India - 65

A glimpse of heritage monument of India in black and white. Check other posts that will give you more details about this monument.

Entrance gate of Tanjore Temple

Varahi Temple, Chaurasi

During our Orissa trip we covered many destinations that are very popular. But we wanted to see some of the offbeat locales and Chaurasi happened to be one among them. We reached from Konark by traveling a distance of 30 kms with some help from the locals in the area. 

Here one can see Varahi Temple built in early 10th century A.D. This east facing temple was built in Sand stone for Goddess Varahi during Somavamsi rule. 

The architecture temple is comprised of a Khakhara vimana and a rectangular jagamohana having a roof of two terraces with clere-stories.  It has a two tiered hipped roof and has 2 latticed windows on either sides of the Jagamohan. 

The exterior walls of the temple are lavishly embellished with figures of divinities, decorative motifs and and scroll work. 

Bannerghatta Zoo - Deer

Bannerghatta Zoo is part of  Bannerghatta National Park near Bangalore. The zoo has wide variety of animals and birds. One among them is deer.

Elphinstone College Building, Mumbai

The Elphinstone College building on MG Road in Fort area of Mumbai is one of the oldest structures in the city.  

It was designed by Trubshaw and Khan Bahadur Muncherjee Murzban in the 1880s. The imposing building is built in Gothic architecture. 

It has majestic stone balconies, brackets and balustrades. The facade has intricately designed surface motifs apart from other decorative features. 

It was originally meant to house the Government Central Press. But from 1888, it has been used for academic activities.

The College has produced several luminaries like Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Pherozshah Mehta, and Jamshedji Tata.

Images of India - 64

A glimpse of heritage monument of India in black and white. Check other posts that will give you more details about this monument.

Jaigarh Fort at Jaipur

Mahastupa, Udaygiri

At Udaygiri, the Buddhiist heritage site, one can find the Mahastupa in the foot hiil of Assia hill range. As per the inscriptions found in the Stupa this belongs to a period of Somvasi rule between 9th and 10th century AD.

The stupa made of bricks and and Khandolite stone. The stupa is square on plan and measures 10m x 10m x 10m in area. The drum of the stupa had a wide horizontal band of moldings and several bands obtained by insets and offsets of bricks.

The stupa is devoid of ornamentation except the four pillared inset niches that are enshrined with about 1.5 meters high seated stone image of Dhyni-Buddha. 

They are: Aksova in east, Ratnasambhava in the south, Amitava in the west and Amogasiddhi in the northern side.