Vishwakarma Cave, Ellora

In Ellora the cave numbered as 10 is the only chaitya griha amongst the Buddhist group of caves. This double-storied cave carved stylistically and paleographically dates back to 700 A.D. and has richly decorated facade that has semblance of masonry work.

The facade is decorated with a number of friezes of animals, couples and a beautifully carved window, which allows light in the cave.

The cave consists of large courtyard with a double storeyed apartments on both sides and an apsidal pillared hall on raised platform. The spacious hall apsidal on plan, has thirty pillars octagonal columns with plain bracket capitals arranged in an elongated apse. Above the piilars there are figures in bas-relief.

This cave temple is dedicated to Vishwakarma, the architect of the Gods and the patron saint of many Indian artisans. Hence the name Vishwakarma Cave.

The hall has a vaulted roof in which ribs have been carved in the rock imitating the wooden ones. Hence also the name Carpenters Cave. The ribbed vault gives an echo effect in the hall when a person standing at one end of the columns of the cave creates any sound.

In the apsidal end of the chaitya hall is a stupa on the face of which a colossal 3.30 m high seated Buddha in preaching posture is carved. The Buddha is flanked by two Bhodhisattvas and celestial couples all carved against the stupa which serves as ornamental background. The drum of the stupa is also decorated with panes of Buddha and Bhodhisatvas.

Gwalior, City of Music

From Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh state we left by train in the afternoon to Gwalior. Next day morning we visited Mitavali and two other near by villages before proceeding with local site seeing.



The city has come into existence much before 6th century and has been ruled by dynasties such ad Hunas, Guptas, Tomars and Mughals. The city is known for Hindustani classical music. The city is the final resting place of Tansen, the musical genius and one of the nine gems of Emperor Akbar’s court. For all these reasons the city is known as 'City of Music'.

There are several important tourist places here both new as well as heritage:

• Jai Vilas Palace
• Tomb of Ghous Mohammed
• Tomb of Tansen
• Gwalior Fort
• Sun Temple

There are several interesting places in the the Fort such as

1. Man Mandir Palace (1, 2)
2. Sahastrabahu Temple
3. Teli-Ka Mandir
4. Gujari Mahal

Nearby places that we visited are:

• Mitavali
• Padavali
• Survaya Ki Grahi

Colors of Life

The color have the ability invoke various emotions and memories in us. Here are some of the colorful images that I had captured during my journey across India and they reflect happy memories. Two people Rupam Sarma and Bhushavali promoted me to participate in this Capture the Color Contest by TravelSupermarket and share the colors with you all.

Blue:
This is ancient Jain Basadi on a hillock at Karkala, a small town in Karnataka. The ancient Chathurmukha Basadi built in the year 1586 looks very plain from a distance even though there are small carvings on the ceiling. The beauty of this pillared square structure is enhanced by the encompassing pure blue sky.

Green:The Bangalore Palace modeled on Windsor Castle of England provides lot of photo opportunities. The beauty of magnificent structure is enhanced by the creepers that are growing uniformly on the walls of the palace.

Yellow:On one of the weekends I was awaken by the chirping sweet sounds of the birds. I ran to the roof top with my camera to have a clear view of them. They were small yellow birds flying around from one branch to another. These birds against the green foliage looked great.

White:At Shivgange near Bangalore there are several beautiful water falls which fall from a height. The water gushing down with a force results in a splash. The beauty of the place can be enjoyed much only by looking at it through once own eyes rather than seeing it in a image.

Red:While driving by road back to Bangalore after one of our short trips we got to see glimpse of setting sun between the mountains. The Sun was setting fast and I had to stop the car to get a clear view of gorgeous sunset. The sky was like canvas with various colors and prominent among them was red.

Also I pass on the invitation to 5 more fellow bloggers for their participation:

Indrani of i Share
Jeevan of Jeevan's World
Shiju of Cranium Bolts
Sridharan of Sridharan's Travelogue
Ranjana of Rajana's Crafts Blog

I wish you all Happy participation and All the Best.

Four Seasons - Wine is Fun

“Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.”

― Andre Simon

This Sunday afternoon (19 Aug), I was at the event organized by GingerClaps for Four Seasons at Royal Orchids. The idea was to get a feel of different classical wines of the brand.

The occasion was graced by Four Seasons brand ambassador Miss Earth Shamita Singha who did a small talk on different types of wines and how they are prepared.

Apart from this another important program was live cooking of various foods by the chefs of the hotel by the poolside.

The event was well attended by bloggers who blog on food, travel, photography, lifestyle.

For me take away from the get together are:

• Lingering taste of classical wines of Four Seasons
• To know people behind the blogs that I admired so much for their skill.

“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.”

― Paulo Coelho

Daulatabad, City of Prosperity

From Aurangabad our first destination is Daulatabad on the way to Ellora. We started to this place early morning which is 15 kms away. The city is also known by names Devgiri or Deogiri. Here is the famous medieval fortress, which is visible from the highway. The Devgiri Fort dominates the entire landscape of the city.



The history of the place dates back to 12th century, as the capital of the Hindu Kingdoms in Deccan. The fort was constructed by Raja Bhillamraj of Yadav Dynasty. Later the city was controlled by Sultans and Tughlak of the Delhi. This is the city where Mohammed-bin Tughlak try to relocate the capital from Delhi. The move was unsuccessful leading to mass destruction and Delhi was capital once again.




Even though the decision was reversed, the city grew as important as Delhi. Later city broke away from the rule of Delhi. The old citadel on the isolated hill was further strengthened with by building bastions with mounted cannons and a moat surrounding the fort.



We will further explore this historic fort as I have seen it There are interesting ramparts here that we will explore.

Big Birds of Mysore Zoo - 1

Mysore Zoo is the most popular zoo at Mysore in India. There are various wild animals and birds at the zoo. One of the birds is below:

Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple, Shimoga

In Shimoga in the fort area is the 16th century Shivappa Nayak Palace of Keladi Dynasty. Next to the palace is the ancient temple of Lord Hanuman.

This temple is as ancient as the palace. Once one enters the the main gate of the temple with huge tower, the temple is at the center of the open place.

Here it can be seen the sculptures depicting a scene from epic 'Ramayana'. Sita mata asking Lakshmna to go after the golden deer and bring it to her. 

Ellora Caves

From Aurangabad we left to Ellora via Daulatbad which is 20 kms away. Ellora is the site of famous cave temples.



This cave temples of Ellora belong to three phases of religious systems: Bhuddism, Jainism and Brahamanism. In these caves there are elaborate carvings of Gods and Goddesses representing three faiths. The architecture of caves of each faith is very distinctive. 



The caves on the Southern side 1 - 12 belong to Bhuddism.
The caves 13 - 29 belong to Brahamanism.
The caves 30 - 34 belong to Jainism.

These caves built between 5th and 10th century represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture. This World Heritage site is marvel in rock cut art.

Some of the interesting caves are  2, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16 (1, 2, 3), 17, 21 

Mysore Zoo - Hippo and Baby

Mysore Zoo is the most popular zoo at Mysore in India. There are various wild animals and birds at the zoo. One among them is Hippo.



 

The hippopotamus is one of the largest semi-aquatic animal. Even though it is stocky in shape and has short legs, it can easily outrun a human.

Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Srirangam

On the island-town of Srirangam is the huge Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple. This temple built around 13th and 14th century has 21 magnificent towers around it. These towers are in four directions and one in the South is 236 feet is tall. It is said that from the top of this tower one can see coast of Sri Lanka.



In the temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, apart from the main shrine there are several mandapams, tanks and mini shrines in the temple complex. This temple was initially built by rulers of Chola dynasty. It was further developed by rulers of Vijaynagar and Nayaks.



There are several pillars in the temple with sculptures similar to huge horses with warriors on them. The details on no two pillars are identical. Even at the base of the pillars are several carvings.




There are many more carvings in the temple, each depicting their own tale.



This carving on the side of one of the pillars, depicts Vishnu's incarnation as the man-lion. Here Lord is tearing apart demon with his hands to save his devotee from the daemon.

More sculptures at 1, 2 

Descent of the Ganges, Mamallapuram

This is one of the most important sites in Mamallapuram. This amazing relief, carved sometime in the 7th century. This beautiful work symbolizes "Arjuna's Penance". But another version is that it represents another great story "the Descent of the Ganges".

According to this story, the sage Bhagiratha, offers prayers in extreme conditions in order to bring the river Ganges down to earth.

Bhagiratha is said to have performed austerities so that Ganga might descend to earth and wash over the ashes of his relatives, releasing them from their sins. To break the force of Ganga's fall from heaven to earth, she falls onto Shiva's hair, and is divided into many streams by his tresses.

Mysore Zoo - Emu

Mysore Zoo is the most popular zoo at Mysore in India. There are various wild animals and birds at the zoo. One among them is Emu.

HAL Aerospace Museum - 1, Bangalore

The Heritage Centre & Aerospace Museum at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, is the first aerospace museum in India. The museum has a wonderful collection of air-crafts that were previously used by the nation in defense.





There are also several models of the plane in the museum.