Neminath Basadi, Hiriyangadi

Neminath Basadi at Hiriyangadi has been built in the later half of 14th century. It was constructed during the period of Bhairava 1st of Kalasa dynasty.

It is said that the first pooja should be offered to Neminath Swami before offering the mahamasthabhisheka to Bhagavan Bahubali.

There are beautiful carvings on the pillars of the basadi.

In front of the temple is beautiful and tall Manasthamba.

Kingfisher on Pavagadh Hills

On the Pavagadh Hill which is part of the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park when one stands in the queue to get on to the rope-way one can see lot of birds flying around. One such bird we spotted is Kingfisher bird.

Flowering Trees - Copper Pod

Bangalore is slowly changing from the Garden City to concrete jungle. However, some of the trees that helped it to earned its name, still adorn the streets of Bangalore. One such tree is beautiful Copper Pod flower tree. The name comes from the coppery-red seed cases that are seen in profusion.

The ground under the tree is strewn with a carpet of the yellow petals and is sight to behold. 

This is a semi-evergreen tree that bears clusters of yellow flowers at the end of the branches, together with dark green leaves. The tree is large and very shapely.

It is pleasure to move on the streets of Bangalore with all the trees around you.

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A glimpse of ancient sculptures of India in black and white and they are on display in the museums for the benefit of interested people.

The Hero Stone with inscription at Archaeological Museum in Shimoga

Gir Wildlife Sanctuary

This sanctuary is located at a distance of 43 km of Somnath, 65 km of Junagadh. Established in 1965 it covers a total area of 545 sq miles out of which 100 sq miles is protected area. It is a deciduous forest interspersed with semi-evergreen and evergreen flora, grasslands and rocky hills.

It has lot of water bodies spread across all over the park. It is the only abode of Asiatic lions on the last count they were approximately 523 in numbers. It was once the hunting grounds of the Nawabs of Junagadh until it was declared as protected area in 1900 by Nawab Sir Muhammad Rasul Khanji Babi. Before being declared as protected area the count of lion had come down to as low as 20. 

Apart from the lion other wild life found in this forest are leopard, deer, four horned antelope, Jackal, Striped Hyena, Jungle and Rusty-spotted cat, Langur, Porcupine, marsh crocodile.

The forest is known to have around 250 species of birds. Rare species such as Lesser Florican and the Sarus Crane are seen in the grasslands of the sanctuary.

We reached this place from Diu around 10 in the morning. We had to wait in the queue to get tickets for the jeep Safari to go around the forest. There are lot of online sites where one can book the safari, but it is difficult to identify the genuine sites. Hence we booked the tickets for safari in person. More on this soon.

Nadankanan Zoo - Spotted Deer

Nadankanan Zoo at Bhubaneswar is one of great zoo in India. There are various animals and birds at the zoo. We can also see here Spotted Deer.

Kalika Mata Temple, Pavagadh

This ancient temple is located at the top of Pavagadh Hill within the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park.

The temple can be reached either by a pathway climbing over a distance of 5 kms or by a ropeway.

The small and plain temple is set amidst fortifications. It dates back to 11th century and has 3 images of the Goddesses: Kalika Mata, flanked by Kali on the right and Bahucharamata on the left.

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A glimpse of India in black and white. This is outside Bangalore City Railway station.

Below same image in the color

Ponda

This is a city located in the central area of Goa just 29 kms from Panaji capital of Goa. It is Goa's fastest-growing city and is also known by the name Fonda.

In the 16th century, when Portuguese invaded Goa they started persecuting Hindus. As a result they stared to move into Ponda to escape persecution by Jesuits and the Portuguese. Later Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj seized Ponda from the Bijapur Sultanate. Under Shivaji, Saundekar Raja was the vassal of Ponda. But again Portuguese took control of the place. 

Hindus occupied the forests of Ponda and built makeshift temples for the idols they were able to save from the broken temples. These makeshift temples were slowly renovated as the Hindus gained prosperity. 

The prominent temples in the area are:

• Mahalakshmi Temple
• Shri Nageshi Temple
• Shri Ramanth Temple
• Shri Shantdurga Temple
• Sri Mangueshi Temple
• Mahalasa Narayani Temple
• Farmagudi Shri Ganapati Temple

Nilgiri Flycatcher at Ooty

We came across many birds during our visit to Ooty. We spotted the small beautiful bird Nilgiri Flycatcher in the Botanical Garden. 

The colour of the body is dark steely indigo blue with some violet-blue on the forehead and darker lores. It has long tail with two blue central tail feathers and the dark brown and edged with indigo lateral feathers. The wing feathers are dark brown with a narrow outer fringe of blue. 

They diet includes small invertebrates and some fruit, particularly berries. 

This beautiful bird is found mainly in the higher altitude shola forests of the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris. 

Shiva Temples, Barkur

One of the prominent structure of ancient times in Barkur is Kathale Basadi.  In the same complex one can also see Hindu temples proving that Jainism and Hinduism were all together.

These structures dating back to 12th century located just behind the basadi. There are twin temples that are 30 mts apart from each other. 

In front of one of them is Nandi, that tells us that it was a Shiva temple.  On plan they are almost similar and have a garbhagriha, sukhanasi and pillared mukh mantapa. The pillars in the mukhamantapa are moderately ornamented.

The exterior walls are plain with very few carvings there are few carvings on the temple.

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A glimpse of  India in black and white. 

A Farm house near Bangalore

Poetry in Stone - 29

This is twenty-ninth in the series on the rich cultural heritage of ancient temples in India. The ancient temples are richly carved and each of the carvings surpass each other in their mastery. 

Inside the Kailasa Temple of Ellora surrounding the maim shrine there is a pillar courtyard. This courtyard has several panels depicting various legends of Shiva and Vishnu.

In this courtyard there is a gallery of twelve panels depicting Shiva legends. On these panels there are Shiva and Parvati in various attitudes.

On the external wall of Mallikarjuna Temple, Basaralu there is a beautiful sculpture of Karthikeyan on peacock.

Ooty Rose Garden - Purple Rose

There are many roses of different colors and sizes at the Government Rose Garden at Ooty. 

They differ from each other with very minute differences. One of them is in purple colour here.

Kapu

Kapu is a small village at a distance of 13 kms from Udupi. It is located near the national highway between Udupi and Mangalore.

The best time to visit this village is either during sunrise or sunset to witness the same on the beach.

Other interesting site here is the old light house.

One can get to see beautiful view from the light house.

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A glimpse of  India in black and white. 

Farming

Panikotha, Diu

The Fortress of Panikotha in Diu is a magnificent stone structure in the sea. The structure built in the shape of ship is very unique.

It also has a light house and a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Sea. 

This structure looks magnificent when one observers it from either Diu Jetty or Diu main land or from the Fort.

You can reach this place through a ferry boat from the fort.