Hanuman Tok in Gangtok is a highly reverred and holy temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman, located at an altitude of 7200 ft.
As per legend, Hanuman while on his way to Lanka fro the Himalayas with the Sanjeevani herb to cure Lakshman, took a moments rest in this palce. In 1950 a political officer named Appaji Pant erected the idol of Lord Hanuman here.
There is a temple of Sirdi Saibaba here as well just right of Lord Hanuman Temple.
Lachen is a small remote village in the state of Sikkim. This beautiful place is at a elevation of 2750 meters. When the name is translated into local dialect means "Big Pass". We reached this scenic place from Gangtok.
One can get to see snow capped Himalayas from anywhere in this mountain village.
The place has lot of small and big accommodations for people who want to see places around. This forms the base for people who want to see other beautiful destinations:
- Chopta Valley
- Gurudongmar Lake
This village is painted with freely growing wild flower plants and we did a get a glimpse of some flowers.
Sayaji Baug Zoo at Vododara is one of the biggest zoo in the country. There are various wild animals and birds at the zoo. One among them is Crimson Rosella.
It is a medium sized bird. This bird has mostly red plumage and bright blue cheeks. The feathers of the back and wing coverts are black broadly edged with red. While the tails blue, the flight feathers of the wings have broad blue edges.
They feed on seeds of eucalypts, grasses and shrubs, as well as insects and some tree blossoms.
For most people Goa is the place to visit churches and relax on the beaches. But there is more to this place if one is interested to discover. One such place is Aravelam.
This place is close to Bicholim town in North Goa just 31 kms from the state capital Panaji. one can see here:
Panchakuta Basadi in Kambadahalli built during 8th century exhibits Dravidian architecture that was popular during the rule of Western Ganga Dynasty. Some of the artwork shows the influence of Chalukya-Pallava time.
This magnificent temple was built in two phases. In the first phase, three shrines were built with individual halls and three-dimensional superstructure. The halls of these three shrines open to a large common open hall.
They are constructed in such a way that the first tier measures a third of the total height of the tower, and the second tier measures one half the height of the first.
The main central shrine houses the image of Adhinatha. The other two shrines have the images of Shantinatha and Neminatha.
In the second phase two more shrines were built that were facing each other. They have individual hall and they open into a common open pillared porch. The temple has beautiful sculptures and carved door frames.
The entire complex is oriented towards the impressive Brahmadeva pillar and faces north.
In Gir Sanctuary went for Safari in an open jeep and we could see animals going around the forest. We spotted the Indian Grey Mangoose in the mud tracks in the forest.
This is a medium-sized animal that is around 40 cm in length that is yellowish grey in colour with a lighter underside. It has darker feet. The length of the tail equals to the body length with red tail tip.
It is commonly seen in open forests, scrublands and cultivated fields. It's home is burrows, hedgerows, groves of trees. It's diet mainly comprises of rodents, snakes, lizards and variety of invertebrates.
This place inside the Citadel of Champaner, in Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is one of the pleasure places of the Royal people between 15th and 16th century.
In the Kabootar Khana or Pigeon House located next to Large Pond, Sultan had a personal collection of pigeons and he would relax watching the pigeons fly around.
This was the summer pavilion of the royal family and they would relax in the cool breeze that blows through the pillars in the summer.
When Junagadh was under the control Nawab Mahbat Khan in the 19th Century he had a wazir by name Bahaduddinbhai Hasainbhai in his court. This beautiful mausoleum was built for this wazir and it shares the space with the Nawab in the same compound.
It is adjacent to another beautiful mausoleum Mahbat Maqbara. This exhibits fine piece of 19th century architecture that is a fusion of Indo-Islamic-Gothic styles that has beautiful marble jalis.
This magnificent maqbara in all 4 directions has stunning corkscrew minarets.
Sadly today it is in a state of neglect. If this is not addressed immediately it will be only in pictures we will see them.
In Gir Sanctuary went for Safari in an open jeep and we could see some birds flying around. We spotted the Indian Peacock in open areas of the forest.
It has iridescent blue and green plumage. The fan-shaped crest on the head is made of feathers with black shafts that are tipped with bluish-green webbing. Above the eye it has a white stripe and below the eye it has a crescent shaped white patch formed by bare white skin.
The whole of the body measures around 2.4 meters including the train that is around 1.6 meters in length. Each feather of the train is marked with an ornamental ocellus or eye-spot and possess long disintegrated barbs, giving the feathers a loose, fluffy appearance.
It lives mainly on the ground in open forest or on land. They mainly feed on berries, grains. They also like eating snakes, lizards, and small rodents.
Samdruptse Hill in Sikkim state is just 7 kms away from Namchi. In Bhitia language it means 'Wish Fulfilling Hill'.
The Samdruptse hill is actually a dormant volcano. It is believed that in olden days the Buddhist monks have been going to top of the hill and offering prayers to the volcano to keep it calm.
This major tourist attraction in this place is the tallest statue of Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche.
One can also get to see lot of flowers and beautiful birds in this place.
Through out the state of Karnataka one can find more than 24000 Kannada inscriptions. Most of these relate to Buddhism and Jainism. They were inscribed during the rule of various dynasties such as Ganga, Rashtrakuta, Chalukya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara Empire.
At Shravanbelagla such inscriptions were written on the granite rocks of the two hillocks.
On Vindayagiri the 7th century Old Kannada inscriptions.
On Chandragiri the 7th century Old Kannada inscription.
