Hampi

When you write about Hampi, cliches threaten to swamp you. It is so very splendid! Stories come rushing at you from everywhere, pleading to be written. Photographs cry aloud to be published. What do you include, and what do you leave out? There are so many monuments, temples, buildings, bazaars, all in granite, all testimony to a past civilisation.

Finally, I've chosen two photos to start with: both from the Vithala temple.
The first photo is of an ornate Kalyana Mantapa, with pillars carved out of single stones. But this itself, although impressive, didn't amaze me as a much smaller panel at the base of the Mantapa.

It's a simple panel, showing a man leading two horses.

The dress and the beard suggest that the man is not a local. This, you see, is a Persian dealer of horses - bringing the finest Arabian horseflesh to Hampi's markets!

Vijayanagara had a thriving trade with Persia. Hampi was famous for its bazaar where the Persians brought horses to be traded. Abdur Razak, a Persian trader who visited Hampi in 1443 says "The city of Bijanagar is such that eye has not seen not ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. The bazaars are very broad and long...sweet-scented flowers are always available fresh in that city...The jewellers sell their rubies and pearls and diamonds openly in the bazaar."

- Deepa

P.S. The guide told me that if an Arab horse died in transit while being brought to Hampi, the trader would cut off the tail and bring it to the king as proof, and the king would make full payment for the horse.

Turtlerama

Banganga in Mumbai is dotted with little temples, so it kept my camera busy. Of all the photos I clicked, though, this is the one that made me most curious.

A Shiva temple, with a turtle?

The turtle, of course, is the second incarnation of Vishnu. So what's Vishnu doing in a Shiva temple, I asked myself.

And then I realised - Vishnu is praying to Shiva! This is the legend from the Shiva Purana, when the gods and the demons churned the ocean for nectar. When the sea spewed the deadly poison halahala, the gods despaired and even Vishnu the turtle could not bear the fumes.

Here is the turtle's prayer to Shiva:

"O Creator with Fire in your mouth, the Earth your feet, Time your motion, the Sky your navel, the Wind your breath, the Sun your eyes! Only you can save us from the halahala!".

A persuasive prayer indeed!

And as many of us know, Shiva quaffed the poison, which turned his neck blue, earning him the name Neelakantha. But did you know? A few drops of the poison dribbled from his lips, says the Shiva Purana, to be shared by serpents and scorpions to be their venom. If you'd like to read the original story, try Ramesh Menon's 'Siva - the Siva Purana retold'. It's fascinating.

In the district of Kanchi, near Chennai, there's a village called Tirukkachur. Literally, Turtle Village. The village temple is 1200 years old, and in the temple, there's a sculpture of Vishnu as turtle, praying to Shiva.

Can you see the four-armed Vishnu, with the rounded turtle lower half?

Amazing, this country of mine, where legends endure in stone...

- Deepa