Invaders

When you see the title, if you think of  people like as Alexander, who created vast kingdoms by invading kingdoms far and wide, then you are out of luck. I’m talking here about invaders of a different kind. Bio-invaders.

I still remember the time in the late 1970’s when there was no Parthenium (Linn: Parthenium hysterophorus) in India. Apparently introduced to India through wheat imports from the United States, the weed has taken over large tracks of India that it is hard to find a place this does not grow. Parthenium is linked to many respiratory allergies and illnesses that have become more common after it was introduced into India.

When I visited the Nagara Hole national park in Karnataka a few years ago, I was surprised and shocked to see Parthenium becoming the major component of ground cover in the forest. It must have displaced manly local species of plants, and other organisms that depended on them.  There is no better illustration of what an alien species can do to a new ecosystem than this.

An elephant in Nagarahole national park, India

(Click on the above picture to get a larger view. All the greenery, and the small white florets you see on the ground are Parthenium plants)

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This year, when I came back to town after a few weeks of vacation, I was greeted with some icky, sticky, waxy stuff on some of  the hibiscus plants in my front yard.

 

 

There were some small white moth like flies flying around these sticky spider-web like thread on leaves. I went to the local garden store, and described the symptoms. The person in the listened to my description, and said it might be an infestation of  spider mites. I came home, washed the plants and sprayed them with the pesticide prescribed at the garden center, hoping that it would all be gone the next day.

It did not take too long for me to realize I was wrong. The insects, and the sticky threads came back each time I washed and sprayed the pesticide. Then I was sure that the diagnosis was wrong in the first place.

Some more on-line search, and help from Facebook friends pointed me in the right direction. This was an infestation of  an insect called Giant Whitefly, which came in from Mexico to California sometime in the early 1990s, and came in to the Bay area much later – around 2005.  And apparently it loves hibiscus plants, and is very hard to get rid of this pest.

One of the website said -”If you don’t care for your hibiscus plants in your garden, it is best to get rid of those plants rather than trying to get rid of the pest”. However, I do care about my hibiscus plants and the color they add to my front yard. So I’m doing other things such as using a systemic insecticide (which is slow to act, but hopefully keeps the insect population under control) and trimming branches (anyway, with winter around the corner, there won’t be many more blooms).

I’ve also come to terms with the fact that I can’t totally get rid of this pest from my yard. Oh fate!

-neelanjana

Two years of ’ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ’

Time moves very fast.

Really? Not true, since we know that the earth is revolving around the Sun at a steady rate (for all practical purposes, that is!). So it is all in our perception of time.

Whatever the facts are, one more year has passed really fast for ‘ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ’. Today, ’ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ’ is stepping into the third year after finishing two years. I can still recall me writing the very first post on this weblog, and the post when the blog turned one year, as if it happened yesterday!

It’s been a good year for ’ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ’ so far. The very first image at the top of this blog was from the navaranga, inside the temple in Halebeedu, I thought it would be apt to change the image to another view of the Hoysaleshwara temple on it’s second birthday too.

Thanks for coming by ’ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ’!

-neelanjana

ಮೌಂಟ್ ಮಡೋನ ಮೇಲಿನ ಸಂಕಟ ಮೋಚನ

ಮೊನ್ನೆ ಮೊನ್ನೆ ತನಕ ನಾನು ಸಂಕಟಮೋಚನ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಗುಡಿಯ ವಿಷಯ ಕೇಳೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಈಚೆಗೆ ಇಬ್ಬರು ಮೂವರು ಜಾಗ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ಕೇಳಿಬಂತು. ಇಲ್ಲೇ ಹತ್ತಿರದಲ್ಲೇ ಇದೆಯಲ್ಲ, ಒಂದು ಸಲ ಯಾಕೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಬರಬಾರದು ಅಂತ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದಾಯಿತು. ವೆಬ್ ಸೈಟ್ ನಲ್ಲೆ ಎಚ್ಚರಿಗೆ ಹಾಕಿದ್ದರು – ಯಾಹೂ ಮ್ಯಾಪ್ಸ್ ಹಿಡಿದ್ರೆ ಎತ್ಲಾಗೋ ತೊಗೊಂಡು ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೋ ಕಳಿಸ್ಬಿಡಬಹುದು. ಇನ್ನು ಜಿಪಿಎಸ್ ನೂ ನಂಬ್ಲೇ ಬೇಡಿ ಅಂತ. ಸರಿ ಅಂತ ದಾರಿಯನ್ನೇನೋ ಒಂದ್ ಚೀಟಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಗುರುತು ಹಾಕ್ಕೊಂಡಾಯ್ತು.

ಇನ್ನೇನು ಹೊರಟೇ ಆಯ್ತು ಅನ್ನೋ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ ನೋಡ್ದ್ರೆ ಭಾನುವಾರ ಬರ್ಲೇಬೇಡಿ ಅಂತ ಹಾಕ್ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದಾರೆ! ಸರಿ. ಬುತ್ತಿಗೆ ಅಂತ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೂಟವನ್ನ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ತಿಂದಿದ್ದಾಯ್ತು.

ಪುಣ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ, ಈ ವಾರ ಲೇಬರ್ ಡೇ ಅಂತ ಸೋಮವಾರ ಕೂಡ ರಜಾ ಇತ್ತಲ್ಲ ಹೊಸದಾಗಿ ಬುತ್ತಿ ಕಟ್ಟಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೊರಟ್ವಿ.

ಒಂದು-ಒಂದೂಕಾಲು ಗಂಟೆ ಪ್ರಯಾಣ ಸುಮಾರು ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೇ ಇಂದ. ಗಿಲ್ರಾಯ್ ದಾಟಿ ಹೆಕರ್ಸ್ ಪಾಸ್ ಹೈವೇನಲ್ಲಿ ಪಶ್ಚಿಮಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರುಗಿ ಹೋಗ್ತಿದ್ರೆ, ಎರಡೂ ಕಡೆ ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಿ ತೋಟಗಳ, ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಾರಸ ತಯಾರ್ಸೋ ವೈನರಿಗಳದ್ದೇ ಕಾರುಬಾರು.

ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಿಯ ತೋಟ

ಒಂದೊಂದು ಗಿಡದಲ್ಲೂ ಜೊಂಪೆ ಜೊಂಪೆಯಾಗಿ ನೇತಾಡ್ತಿರೋ ಕರೀ ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಿ.  ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹತ್ತಿರ ನೋಡೋಣ ಅಂತ ಹೋಗಿ ಹಣ್ಣಿನ ರುಚಿ ನೋಡಿದ್ದೂ ಆಯ್ತು.

ದೂರದ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹೇಮಂತ ಋತು ಬರ್ದೇ ಇದ್ರೂ, ಆಗಲೆ ಅಲ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಬಣ್ಣ ಕಾಣ್ತಾ ಇದೆ.

ಕೊನೇ ಹತ್ತು ಹದಿನೈದು ಮೈಲಿ ಬೆಟ್ಟಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ.  ಸುತ್ತ ರೆಡ್ ವುಡ್ ಮರಗಳ ಕಾಡು. ಪುಣ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ರಸ್ತೆ ಕಡಿದಾಗಿದ್ರೂ, ತಲೆ ತಿರ್ಗೋ ಹಾಗಿಲ್ಲ ಸದ್ಯ. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೌಂಟ್ ಮಡೋನ ಕೌಂಟಿ ಪಾರ್ಕ್ ಅನ್ನೋ ಗುರುತು ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಬಿತ್ತು.

ಒಳಕ್ಕೆ ತಿರಿಗಿಕೊಂಡ ಮೇಲೆ, ರಸ್ತೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಇನ್ನೂ  ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾಯಿತು. ಕಾಡು ಮತ್ತೂ ದಟ್ಟ.  ಅದೇ ರಸ್ತೆಯಲ್ಲೇ ಕೆಲವು ಮೈಲಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋದ ಮೇಲೆ ಮೌಂಟ್ ಮಡೋನ  ಸೆಂಟರ್ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು.  ಹೋಗಿ  ವಾಹನ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿದರೆ, ಪ್ರಶಾಂತವಾದ ಜಾಗ.

ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ ನೋಡಲು ಪಹಾರೊ ನದಿಯ ಬಯಲು.

ಪಹಾರೊ ನದಿ ಬಯಲು

ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಕಡೆ ಕೆಲವು ಮೆಟ್ಟಲನ್ನೇರಿದರೆ ಸಂಕಟ ಮೋಚನ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಮಂದಿರ.

ಸಂಕಟ ಮೋಚನ ಹನುಮಂತನ ಗುಡಿ

ಪುಟ್ಟ ಗುಡಿಯೊಳಗೆ ಬೆಟ್ಟ ವನ್ನು ಹೊತ್ತಿರುವ ಹನುಮಾನ್.

ಹನುಮಾನ್

ನಂತರ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸುತ್ತಾಡಿದ ನಂತರ ಆಸರೆಗೆ ಏನಾದರೂ ಸಿಗುವುದೋ ಅಂತ ಹೋಗಿ ನೋಡಲು ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ್ದು ಆಂಜನೇಯಾಸ್ ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ಕೆಫೆ. ಆದ್ರೆ ನಾವು ಹೋದಾಗ ಮುಚ್ಚಿತ್ತು.

ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ಕ್ಲಾಸ್ ಕೆಫೆ

ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ಕ್ಲಾಸ್ ಮೆನು

ಸರಿ. ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಹನುಮಂತನಿಗೆ ಕೈಮುಗಿದು ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದಾಯ್ತು. ದಾರೀಲಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕ ರೆಡ್ ವುಡ್ ತೋಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಬುತ್ತಿ ಊಟ ಮುಗಿಸಿದ್ದೂ ಆಯ್ತು. ನಂತರ ಎತ್ತರದ ಮರಗಳ ತಣ್ಣೆಳಲಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಸುತ್ತಾಟ.

ಎಲ್ಲಾ  ಆದ್ಮೇಲೆ ಇನ್ನೇನು? ಮತ್ತೆ ಇನ್ನೊಮ್ಮೆ ಬರಬೇಕು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಅನ್ನುವ ಮಾತುಗಳೊಡನೆ ಮನೆಗೆ ಪಯಣ!

-ನೀಲಾಂಜನ

Ranga of Mavina Kere

The name ‘Ranga’ may bring several things to your mind. At least it does to my mind! If you are a fan of Dr Rajkumar, you’d definitely know this song from one of his movies in the 1980s.

Although the movie is from the 1980s, the song predates it by a few centuries. This is a composition of Purandara dasa, and the tune used in the film pretty much sticks to how it has been sung traditionally, in shankarabharana raaga.

Ranganatha @Srirangam

If you are a history buff, I bet you’d think of Sriranga pattana – The capital of Tippu Sultan. The town takes its name from the the temple of the presiding deity Ranganatha. Sriranga Pattana is an island in the river Kaveri. In fact there are three such places where the river branches off into two parts creating a large island. There is a temple dedicated to Ranganatha at each of these places – Sriranga Pattana and Shivana Samudra in Karnataka, and Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.

In all these three places, Ranganatha is depicted in a reclining position on his serpent bed, the seven- hooded Adishesha.

Ranganatha Temple, Mavinakere

However Sriranga Pattana or Srirangam is not the first place that comes to my mind when I hear that name Ranga, but instead it takes me to memories of Mavina Kere. Perched atop a hill in southern Karnataka, a little temple houses the deity well known to locals as “Mavina Kere Ranga” or the “Ranga @Mavina Kere”. The view from the top of the hill is very nice, showing the countryside.

Steps up the hill

I’ve visited Mavina Kere several times. In fact one of my early memories is of a trip to Mavinakere which I did not make! I was probably 4 years old then. I was really looking forward to going to the hill with all my cousins, during one of the yearly summer gatherings. But as luck would have it, I did not wake up in time. Rather than trying to wake me up, the party had left me home, with a few others who could not climb the hill for health reasons!

At every visit, I have enjoyed climbing the hill at Mavinakere. During my latest visit a few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see a road to the top. However, not to miss the joy of climbing the hill, I climbed down and went up again . Back in those days, the path up the hill was patchy. Now, there are nice steps all along.

Unlike the Ranga at Srirangapatna, and Sriranga, the Ranga of Mavina Kere is not in a sleeping position. Actually, he is not even depicted in a human form. Instead, a saligrama represents him. The inscription in the temple calls him ‘TiruvengaLa natha’ – another name for Venkateshwara (The master of Venkata hills). The floral decorations done around the saligrama also support this name.

Mavinakere Ranga

I’m not sure how the name Ranga caught up with Tiruvengalanatha. In general it is said that during the time of Hyder Ali’s and Tippu Sultan’s rule over Mysore, devotees often called their temples by the name of Ranganatha, to save it from any possible attack or damage. I too thought that was a very reasonable explanation, till I came across this song of Purandara Dasa.

ರಂಗನ ನೋಡಿರೆ ರಾಜಕುವರ ನರ-
ಸಿಂಗದೇವ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇವಕಿ ಸುತನ ||ಪ ||

ಹಮ್ಮಿನ ತಾಯಿತ ತೋಳ ಬಾಪುರಿಯೊ
ಘಮ್ಮನೆ ಘಲ್ಲೆಂಬ ಗೆಜ್ಜೆಯ ಧ್ವನಿಯೊ
ಸುಮ್ಮಹಿಮನ ಕಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಚೌಕುಲಿಯೊ
ತಿಮ್ಮರಾಯನಿಟ್ಟ ಸೊಬಗಿನ ಬಗೆಯೊ ||

ಶುಕ್ಕುರವಾರದ ಪೂಜೆಗೊಂಬುವನ
ಸಕ್ಕರೆ ಪಾಲ್ ಮೊಸರು ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಮೆಲ್ಲುವನ
ಘಕ್ಕನೆ ಸುರರಿಗೆ ಅಮೃತವಿತ್ತವನ
ರಕ್ಕಸಕುಲವೈರಿ ರಾವಣಾಂತಕನ ||

ಪಾಪವಿನಾಶಿನಿ ಸ್ನಾನವ ಮಾಡಿ
ಪಾಪಗಳೆಲ್ಲವು ಬೇಗ ಬಿಟ್ಟೋಡಿ
ಈ ಪರಿ ದಿನ ದಿನ ಮೂರುತಿ ನೋಡಿ
ಶ್ರೀಪತಿ ಪುರಂದರವಿಠಲನ ಪಾಡಿ ||

Here the references to Papanashini and the name Timmaraya, clearly indicate that the song is about the deity at Tirumala (Tirupati) – However, at the same breath, Purandara Dasa calls the deity at Tirupati as Ranga too!

So, that makes me come back to thinking the validity of any theories involving Tippu Sultan, and Lord Ranganatha!

-neelanjana

ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮ ಲಕುಮಿ ವಾಸುದೇವಗೆ?

I had the good fortune of witnessing the Kalyanotsava (Wedding celebration) of Lakshmi and Keshava at the Lakshmikeshava temple in Kowshika a few weeks ago. I could not help remember this song when the wedding of the divine couple was going on:

ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮಾ ಲಕುಮಿ ವಾಸುದೇವಗೆ?

ಹಲವಂಗದವನ ಹವಣೆ ತಿಳಿದೂ ತಿಳಿದೂ ತಿಳಿಯದ ಹಾಗೆ!

|| ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮಾ ಲಕುಮಿ?||

ಕಮಲಗಂಧಿ ಕೋಮಲಾಂಗಿ ಸುಂದರಾಬ್ಜವದನೆ ನೀನು
ರಮಣ ಮತ್ಸ್ಯ ಕಠಿಣಕಾಯ ಸೂಕರಾಸ್ಯನು
ರಮಣೀಯ ಸ್ವರೂಪಿ ನೀನು ಅಮಿತಘೋರ ರೂಪನವನು
ನಮಿಪರಿಷ್ಟದಾನಿ ನೀನು ದಾನವ ಬೇಡುವವನಿಗೆ

|| ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮಾ ಲಕುಮಿ?||

ಲಲಿತೆ ಚಾರುಶೀಲೆ ನೀನು ಕಲ್ಕಿ ಕಲಹಪ್ರಿಯನವನು
ಕುಲದ ಕುರುಹು ಇಲ್ಲ ಗುಣದ ನೆಲೆಯು ಕಂಡಿಲ್ಲ
ಹಲವು ಕಾಲದವನು ಅವನ ಬಂಧು ಬಳಗ ನಿಷ್ಕಿಂಚನರು
ಜಲಧಿ ಆಲದೆಲೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಲಗಿ ಬೆರಳ ಚೀಪುವವನಿಗೆ

|| ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮಾ ಲಕುಮಿ?||

ಸ್ವರತಾನಪೇಕ್ಷಾಕಾಮಿ ನಿದ್ರಾಹೀನ ಅನಶನಿಯು
ಪರುಷರೂಪ ವಾಚ್ಯ ಶಬ್ದ ಅಮಿತ ಭೋಕ್ತನು
ಗುರುಗೋಪಾಲ ವಿಠ್ಠಲನು ನಿರುತ ತನ್ನ ವಕ್ಷದೊಳು
ಅರಮನೆಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ಮಾಯಾವಿಗೆ

||ಒಲಿದೆ ಯಾತಕಮ್ಮಾ ಲಕುಮಿ||

In this song, the composer Dasappa Dasa asks Lakshmi – “Why did you fall for this man called Vasudeva? Weren’t you aware of the deeds done by this fellow”? and then he goes on contrasting between Lakshmi and Narayana and tells how mismatched they are as a couple. While the beautiful Lakshmi is gentle, and smells of lotus flowers, her beau is fish-smelly, tough skinny, and looks like a pig! While her beauty is without bounds, he is ferocious like a lion. As the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, she gives to anyone who asks , but he goes around begging for alms.”  He further goes on with other aspects of different incarnations of Vishnu, and finally wonders may be Lakshmi settled for the fact that Narayana made Lakshmi a home in his heart! May

But if you ask me, Narayana may not be all that lucky, and Lakshmi did not get a bad deal at all! Didn’t some author say that women are very intelligent by nature, and can’t be taken for a ride so easily?

In fact, the following song of Purandara dAsa would have been the perfect reply to the previous song, had it not been Purandara Dasa preceding Dasappa dasa by a few centuries.

Anyway, here is the song, addressed to Lakshmi once again, in this case praising her for taking her husband for a ride !

ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ ಮಾಯಾದೇವಿಯೆ |
ಇರುಳು ಹಗಲು ಏಕವಾಗಿ ಹರಿಯು ನಿನ್ನ ಬಿಡದಿಪ್ಪಂತೆ || ಪಲ್ಲವಿ||

ಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳು ನಿತ್ಯ ಪಾನಾದಿಗಳನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು
ನಾನಾ ವಿಧ ತಪವಿದ್ದರು ಧ್ಯಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಲುಕದವನ|| ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ಸರ್ವ ಸಂಗವನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಸನ್ಯಾಸಿಯಾದ ಕಾಲಕ್ಕು
ಸರ್ವದಾ ತನ್ನೆದೆಯಮೇಲೇ ಬಿಡದೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಧರಿಸಿಪ್ಪಂತೆ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ಪ್ರಳಯ ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಲದೆಲೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಲಗಿದ್ದಾಗ
ಹಲವು ಆಭರಣಗಳು ಜಲವು ಆಗಿ ಜಾಣತನದಿ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ರಂಗನು ಭೂಲೋಕದಿ ಭುಜಂಗ ಗಿರಿಯೊಳಲಮೇಲು-
ಮನ್ಗಪತಿಯಾಗಿ ನಿನ್ನ ಅಂಗೀಕರಿಸುವಂತೆ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಪಡೆದರೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಚೊಕ್ಕತನವು ಪೋಪುದೆಂದು
ಪೊಕ್ಕುಳೊಳು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಪಡೆದು ಕಕ್ಕುಲಾತಿ ಪಡುವಂತೆ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ಎಡಕೆ ಭೂಮಿ ಬಲಕೆ ಶ್ರೀಯು ಎದುರಲ್ಲಿ ದುರ್ಗಾದೇವಿ
ತೊಡೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಲಕುಮಿಯಾಗಿ ಬಿಡದೆ ಮುದ್ದಾಡಿಸುವಂತೆ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ಮರೆಯ ನಿನ್ನಾನಂದದಿ ಜನರಿಗೆಲ್ಲ
ತಂದು ತೋರೆ ಸ್ವಾಧೀನ ಪುರಂದರ ವಿಟ್ಠಲರಾಯನ ||ಮರುಳು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆಯಲ್ಲ||

Here Purandara Dasa is praising the ingenuity of Lakshmi in casting a spell to making Hari her own, never letting him waver in his thoughts! Lakshmi intelligently made herself stay in Narayana’s heart, so that even if he left the entire creation, he can’t just be alone!  When Narayana came to the earth, Lakshmi did not leave him alone, but made him marry her once again, my taking the form of Alamelumanga.

So bewitching is the spell on Narayana is , Purandara dasa says,  that Lakshmi was successful in making him bear a child from his navel, and thus got herself out of all the troubles of childbirth!

Lakshmi-Keshava of Kowshika during Kalyanotsava

So no wonder Purandara Dasa addresses Lakshmi as “Maya Devi” – The Goddess of Illusion

नमस्तेस्तु महामाये !

-neelanjana

(p.s: I had written about one of the two songs mentioned here in this article in my Kannada blog sometime ago – “Why do men listen to their wives?” )

Lakshmi Keshava of Kowshika

Hoysalas were master temple builders. They have built temples all around in southern Karnataka. The temples at Belooru, Halebeedu and Somanathapura are very well known. You’ll find a wealth of information about Hoysala’s temple architecture on the wikipedia, here and here.

However, what is not so well known is that there are several temples where the temple architecture does not typically look like a Hoysala work, but the idols inside looks like a Hoysala work of art. The temples of Keshva at Kowshika, and at Haasana, Varadaraja at Kondajji are examples for such temples.

The temples do not have the stamp of typical Hoysala architectures, but the main idols do. Were the temples built later on to house original Hoysala images? May be yes. Folk tales also say (at least with respect to the temple at Kondajji), that the idol was buried under sand to protect it from invaders, and temples were built later on when the images were unearthed.

Kowshika is a village about 8 km away from the Haasana, in the heart of southern Karnataka. It has a temple of Lakshmi Keshava. The temple is very simple in structure. As per the information on www.karnatakatemples.com, it is built in the Vijaya Nagara style. You can see the front view of the temple at the top of this blog today. It is also available on here .

Here are few pictures from Kowshika.

Lord Lakshmi Keshava:

A close up – Who doesn’t fall for such a beautiful smile?

Kowshika village as seen from the temple entrance:

Utsavamoorti of Lakshmi keshava getting ready for Garudotsava:

Here is the main idol, decorated in flowers, for a special occasion :

(Picture courtesy: The first three are mine; The last two are by Dr Shreekanth Murthy)

Why am I writing about Kowshika of all places, when there are so many Hoysala temples?

Because it is my ancestral village, and this is the place which I wrote about in some of my earlier posts, here and here.

-neelanjana

‘Star’ Conversations

No. This is not about Bollywood or Hollywood stars, but about two stars in my own life!

We have two stars right at home, because we named our kids after two bright stars in the sky – one, a bright blue-white star and the other, a bright orange-red star.

This was the conversation I overheard on the morning of Mothers Day, when the ’stars’ were wishing my wife.

Star 1 : “amma, The day I was born, I loved you!‘

Star 2 : “It’s supposed to be “From the day I was born”, and there is should be a comma after that, but that’s OK..“

Star 1 : “There is more to Mother’s Day than correcting people’s mistakes!”

How true! I wish a happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, a day belated.

On second thoughts, I think I am not late at all..

Because mothers indeed deserve every day of the year to be Mother’s Day!

-neelanjana

One Hundred Posts :)

ಯಾಹೂ!!!!!!!!!

This is my 100th post on ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ.

I wrote my first post on September 11th, 2007. You can be sure I did not consult the panchanga for a good day to start the blog!

However,  the 100th blog entry post happens to be a good day. Yugaadi.

Yes – I know every day is a good day, but Yugaadi a tad bit more I guess

As luck would have it, ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ has seen 25000 hits as of today. Yippee……..

25000 hits does not sound like large number as for as blogs go- but considering the breadth of my posts, I consider this as a good achievement. If I don’t feel happy, then who will ?

And, I would like to thank each of you  for coming by ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ!

-neelanjana

A Chain Story

You have obviously heard of chain letters. They came in a variety of ways, back in the days of the postcard and the inland letter. These letters typically instructed you to copy the letter and mail to some number of people, and also describe you the misfortune you would face if you did not comply to the instructions therein.

Except for the post office, I wonder who would have made money of such a scheme. Now things have changed. You get spam e-mail with a picture of Lord Venkateshwara or Lord Manjunatha (You can fill in your favorite deity here!) that directs you to forward to some number of people. At least, these we can comprehend as attempts to get hold of e-mail addresses.

But a chain story?  Don’t worry. This is no scam.A chain story is one where a story writer picks up where the other left, and so a group of people come up with a short story which is, hopefully, interesting.

I made an attempt to start such a ‘chain story’  in Kannada. I am posting a link to that story here- for any of those who come by, and might be interested in writing a part of this chain story.

Click on the link to go to the story.

ಹತ್ತು ಮನಸುಗಳು ಹೆಣೆವ  ಕಥೆ

-neelanjana

Govinda Smarane and Blog Hits

Of  late, I have seen a surge of  traffic to my blog. People are visiting my blog from all corners of the world. Now don’t ask me how come there are corners in a world which is a spherical!

This increase in hits is  in spite of the fact that I not writing so often. I was perplexed with this influx of traffic. If you think the quality of my writing has improved, then I would not stop you from thinking so. At least I would like to think so too   If I don’t make assumptions favorable to myself, who else will?

My parents have always said:  Everything in this life, good or bad, is due to ‘God’s grace’. Old habits die hard – So now I say that the blog hits are just plain ‘God’s grace’ too.

Do you find hard to believe it?  But wait till I provide you with documentary evidence! I noticed that this traffic increase started once I wrote a post about Tirupati Timmappa last month.

This single post “Lord Venkateshwara and Udupi Restaurants“  attracted lots of hits in the last month. You might ask what is so special about this post.  Didn’t you notice the name of  ‘Lord Venkateshwara‘? I wonder if that was the reason why Purandara dasa said “ಸ್ಮರಣೆ ಒಂದೇ ಸಾಲದೆ?  ಗೋವಿಂದನ ನಾಮ ಒಂದೇ ಸಾಲದೇ?” (smaraNe onde sAlade? gOvindana nAma onde sAlade?)- Isn’t just remembering not enough? Isn’t merely reciting Govinda’s name not enough?

But then,  I am reminded so many other posts of mine, which don’t seem to get so many visitors – Why is the Almighty not showering his blessings on those poor posts of mine? And some of  those also carry his name, if I remember correctly!

May be it is time to do some more ‘nAma smaraNe’ to solve this puzzle – No. Not the names you are thinking. A more contemporary one.  One and the only big brother.  GOOGLE.

This is the next table I see in the blog stats. Almost every hit on “Tirupati Venkateshwara and Udupi Restaurants” has come from a Google search for an image of Lord Venkateshwara

Now, I am sure you would agree it is indeed God’s Grace . I would leave it you to decide which one!

-neelanjanawhi