Spiritraveller

I had visited the Vasishteshwarar Temple in Tamil Nadu about a decade back. A short car ride from Kumbakonam, situated just before Tanjavur, it’s a lovely journey on a narrow but smooth, well-kept road with trees on both sides and the river Cauvery languidly flowing by its side for many miles. The temple itself is ancient, and unlike Alangudi [also dedicated to Lord Shiva and Guru Jupiter], not visited daily by people in their multitudes. This time the driver took us by a different road – secluded, even prettier, paddy fields unfolding like a soft carpet to the left and different hues of green and emerald soothing the eyes. Unfortunately the river ran dry due to the waters barricaded by state politics. The road itself is narrow with goats and dogs lounging on the highway oblivious to our insistent honking, and the driver having to carefully thread his way through, past them to our destination. Built by the Chola kings in the 12 th century AD, the temple is dedicated to Lord S...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in India, that all who wish to commence a task and keep it obstacle free need to pray to Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed one. Lord Ganesha is the offspring of Lord Shiva and Devi Parvati. It is perhaps not as universally familiar in many parts of India that Shiva & Parvati have another son – Murugan, the dynamic warrior, Lord of action and ruler of the planet Mars, Mangal. However, as soon as one crosses southwards past the Aravali’s the legends of Lord Murugan, also known as Skanda, Kumaran, Arumugam and Karthikeya come into their own.  The first time I visited the Swaminathaswami Swamimalai Murugan temple the doors had already closed around midday. Our taxi had navigated the coconut palm tree lined sleepy back streets to deliver me to Swamimalai. Perhaps the Lord had wanted me to rest awhile in the shadow of his abode. I had booked a room for the afternoon just outside the main entrance of the temple, enjoyed a ma...

I have been going to Tirunallar for almost a decade, and every time with the same sense of expectation. It’s a beautiful journey by road whether you approach it from Kumbakonam or Puducherry. The road is dotted with paddy fields, grain heaps, temples and ponds. It’s a peaceful, verdant landscape that urbanites dream of often but seldom get to visit. Streams and small rivulets accompany the road on its journey. On my first visit years ago I paid my respects at Tirunallar, Swamimalai and Thitai over the same day – 3 very different, very blessed shrines. Tirunallar in Karaikal, Puducherry is the shrine of Lord Shiva and one of the famed Navagraha temples in the Kumbakonam region. The shrine at Tirunallar is devoted to the planet Saturn, Lord Shani – the giver, according to the scriptures, of judgements, rewards, and sometimes punishments. We go past a traffic jam of bullock carts [horns painted red and capped in shiny metal], down the lane to the temple, past a lazy elephant to ...

On the road from the Nimishamba Devi Temple in Srirangapatana to the Chamundeshwari Temple, Mysore a few thoughts come to mind.  Why does the Indian male treat the women in his life so badly? We chant the names of the Goddess with a fervor, we pray in fear because many of Her forms are that of a warrior, destroyer of evil, a clearer of routes. We call to her Maa, mother Goddess! Red bandannas with silver trims are tied to head, wrists and car mirrors as a proof of our devotion – and then we read an endless litany of newspaper stories describing rapes, gang-rapes, juvenile rapes, wife beatings and many such desecrations of the Devis closer home. We climb hills to pay obeisance because reaching Her always requires effort, bhajans are sung all night long in lusty voice - and then closer home, abysmal disrespect? Another   thought is the magical change that topography can undergo in a fairly short Indian road trip. From rivers and canals, red earth and green fie...

I had visited the temple a decade back but the doors had been closed to me. Perhaps I had lingered on for minutes longer at Tipu Sultan’s summer palace at Srirangapatna and He did not want to be kept waiting, anyway it was definitely time for the priests’ siesta and the doors were shut. I reached in time this time, 10 years later. We drove back from Nimishamba temple past small patches of Rose plantations and roadside stalls selling Gulkand, Rose oil and attars. I ignored the verdant appeal of Dariya Daulat Bagh, the lawns and gardens in which is set the Dariya Daulat Palace, Tipu Sultan’s summer retreat that had delayed us the last time. Srirangapatna, Seringapatnam to the British, is a small but historic city almost qualifying for the status of a ‘cute’ city if it hadn’t been so infinitely shrouded in incense and wrapped in war cries from another time – an island situated 14 kilometres from Mysore. The road to the Lord’s abode is narrow but smooth and took me past sna...