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Interesting Sculptures - Dancing Nataraja Of Badami cave temple

Badami-Aihole-Pattadakallu is the ancient architectural wonder in Karnataka. If you are lover of history, and ancient architecture, you should visit this place. You can read more about Badami-Aihole-Pattadakallu, in this article.
Badami is famous for the cave temple located there. This has four cave temples, situated one above the other.

I have already shared about an interesting sculpture carved on the pillars of the cave temple in one of my earlier posts.
In this post sharing about another interesting sculpture. The first cave temple has the sculptures related to Hindu God Shiva. This sculpture is located to the right side to the entrance of the temple.

You can see Lord Shiva in the form of Nataraja (King of Dance-literal meaning), beside a small idol of Lord Ganesha(Son of Lord Shiva)

Here is the closer view:

It can be observed that, there are totally 18 arms, 9 on each sides. The significance of this sculpture is - each combination of the hands represents Mudras of Bharatanatyam ( a form of Indian classical dance). Totally 81 mudras are depicted in this sculpture.

And Lord Ganesha is enjoying the dance I guess ! Or is he trying to learn the steps?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Somanathpura Temple-Carved ornaments in Hoysala Architecture

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After another break back to blogosphere. Whenever I take break from blogging, I come back with a decision, that I should not take a break again. But somehow not able to keep it. This time decided, at-least weekly once update my blog with post about my works in arts and crafts, and interesting information about arts and crafts.
OK, this time taking you to see the intricate design of ornaments carved on each idols of Somanathpura temple. Somanathpura Channkeshwara Temple is in Mysore district.This is built in Hoysala Architecture. You can read about Somanathapura temple here. I have visited this temple twice and also shared about the unique Laxmi sclupture in one of the posts. To really understand the architecture and sculpture I feel , at-least 3-4 visits are required.

Channakeshwara Temple- Somanathapura

The Hoysala Architecture of building temple is very interesting. You can read about Hoysala Architecture here.
I loved the intricate ornaments(obvious for a woman to get attracted towards jewels, whether its on sclupture on another woman :-)) carving on the sculpture.

Closer view of the ornaments such as pendants, necklaces, waistbands etc.

Who will not be mesmerized by them? So ladies reading this post , aren't the designs very tempting? So you can plan to order the jeweleries with same design :-)

Soon share about some more sculptures and temples I visited. And sure will share about my works in arts and crafts also.

Until then

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Interesting Sculptures -Badami Cave temple

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Badami - a place in Karantaka, very famous for cave temples. Last year I had been to Badami and Pattadakallu( a village nearby Badami- I will write about this in coming posts.)
In Badami cave temple, all the sculptures are very beautiful. Among those sculptures, I found two sculptures very interesting.
One is the "Elephant and Bull, with common head" sculpture:

If the left side of the body is covered its a Bull and right side covered it is elephant.

It is clear in the below cropped images:

Left side-Elephant

Right side-Bull

When I browsed about this sculpture, I found, this kind of sculpture is present in Airavateshwara temple (Darasuram-near Tanjore, Tamilnadu)and the world famous heritage centre Hampi (Karnataka). Quite interesting!

Another sculptures is of Shiva and Parvati, on Nandi (Bull)

It may look normal Shiva Parvati , sculpture. If you observe closely, you can see, Parvati sitting in side saddle position. Parvati's one hand is holding Shiva's waist and another is on the shoulder. Something similar to double riding on a Motor bike :-) Isn't it very interesting?

There are many sculptures in Badami cave temple. I will share about those in the coming posts.

-Until then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Murudeshwara- The story of Aatmalinga

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In the previous post you have read about Murudeshwara Temple. As I've mentioned , the piece of Aatmalinga thrown by Raavana fell here. What made Raavana to throw the Aatmalinga? This story is narrated through sculptures made of Plaster of Paris, near Murudeshwara temple. There is cave like construction at the base of Lord Shiva statue:

You can enter the cave by paying 10 Rupees as entry fee.( The collected amount is used for Annadaana-feeding the visitors of the temple). Once entered, a colourful magnificent sculptures take you to a different world. There is audio narration of story. You can move seeing each of the sculptures and listening to the story.

Raavana's mother was a devotee of Shiva. She worshipped, Shiva Linga made of sand.She wished to worship Aatmalinga and conveyed her wish to her son Raavana.

Raavana promised his mother, that he would get the Aatmalinga from Lord Shiva.

As promised to his mother, Raavana prayed Lord Shiva.

Naarada approached Shri Vishnu and requested him to divert Raavana's mind, thinking , Raavana would use his power to cause evil to the world.

In spite of Raavana's severe penance , Lord Shiva did not appear. So Raavana became furious and lifted the Kailasa Parvata.

Satisfied by Raavana's worship, Lord Shiva appeared with wife Parvati. By this time, Vishnu had played his trick to divert Raavana's mind. Because of this trick, Raavana asked Parvati from Shiva. And Shiva let Parvati go with Raavana.

On the way back to Lanka( Raavana's Kingdom), Naarada met Raavana. He told Raavana that, Lord Shiva had not given him real Parvati and she was in Paatala Loka( world below earth). When Raavana turned back, Parvati appeared as Mahakaali. Horrified by this, Raavana went to Paatala Loka.

In Paatala Loka, Mandodari, daughter of the King looked like Parvati to Raavana and he married her.

When Raavana returned with his wife, his mother scolded him for not bringing the Aatmalinga.

Raavana again went and prayed Lord Shiva. He started sacrificing himself to Lord Shiva,

cutting every organ. Finally when he started cutting his head, Shiva appeared and gave him the Aatmalinga.Lord Shiva, warned him, the Aatmalinga should not be kept on ground.

This time as instructed by Shri Vishnu, Naarada approached Shri Ganesha, to take Aatmalinga from Raavana.

As Raavana nearing Gokarna, Vishnu made it appear like evening, by masking the Sun. Raavana had to perform his Sandhya Pooja( rituals to be performed in evening),he found Ganesha in disguise of a boy.Raavana requested him to hold the Aatmalinga till he completed his worship.Ganesha told Raavana, as the Aatmalinga was very heavy, he would call Raavana thrice. If Raavana did not come within that time, then he would place the Aatmalinga on the earth.

As planned , Ganesha, called Raavana thrice and placed the Aatmaling on the earth. Raavana became very furious and hit Ganesha on his scalp.

Raavana realized, this happened because of the trick played by Shri Vishnu. He tried to uproot the Aatmalinga.

Different parts the Aatmalinga were thrown towards Southern direction.

The case of the Aatmalinga fell in Sajjeshwara,

The lid of the case fell in a place called Gunavanthe(Gunavatheshwara)

The thread of the Aatmalinga fell in a place called Dhareshwara and

The cloth covered to Aatmalinga fell on Kanduka hill, or now its called Murudeshwara.

The place where Aatmalinga placed, is called Gokarna.

Murudeshwara.

Did it not take you to mythological world? The sculptures are built so nicely that expressions on the face are very clear. In coming posts I will share about all five temples. If possible try to visit these places and temples.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Murudeshwara- Temple on Seashore

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This temple is known as one of the oldest temples in India, as it dates to the time of Ramayana. I can say this is blend of beauty of nature with divinity. This is a Shiva temple, and the legend says,the piece of Atmalinga thrown by Ravana fell here.
Many times I had visited this temple, because its hardly 60 Kilometres from my native place, Kumta. This time during visit to my native, I visited Murudeshwara temple.
The doorway of the temple which is painted with Silver and Gold color

As you come close to the temple, cool breeze and roaring sound of the sea welcomes you.

Mesmerizing beauty of Coastal, where the temple is situated.

Oh Lord Shiva !protecting all his devotees. This is the second highest Shiva statue in the world.

Look at the Gopura of the temple

This is the highest temple Gopura in India. It has 20 floors and we can go to 20th floor by paying 10 Rupees. The collected money is used for Annadana. ( feeding the visitors of the tmple)

Entrance of the temple and the Dwajastambha.

The temple has many sculptures, depicting several stories about Lord Shiva.

Parvati Kalyana(Marriage ceremony of Shiva and Parvati)

Ravana lifting Kailasa

Outside the temple also you can see many sculptures :

Shri Ganesha writing the great epic Mahabharatha

Nandi- Lord Shiva's Vahana(Vehicle)

Ravana giving the Atmalinga to Ganesha in disguise

Geetopadesha- Krishna preaching Bhagavadgeeta to Arjuna

Soorya Bhagavan(The Sun God)

By the time we completed visiting all these, the Sun was setting. How could I miss capturing that:

That's why, this is the perfect blend of beauty of nature with divinity. You can see nature in God and God in nature.

Did I miss anything?Oh! forgot to tell about the story about this temple! Sorry. But don't worry, I will share about that in the next post.

Till then,

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

I could not share all the photos, so those are here.

Wood carvings on ceiling of a temple

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This is the temple I have been visiting since years ,which is in our native place Kumta. In fact everybody in Kumta, know about this temple "Shri Shantika Parameshwari Devi". This is "Grama Devate" of Kumta (In Karnataka most of the villages and towns have temples , which is called Grama Devate- Diety which protects a village or place).

This is very near to my parent's house ( before marriage my house :-)). As I've told , I've been visiting this temple from my childhood. Everyday when I was going to school I used to visit this temple. Prayed "N" numbers of times in front of the deity( while going to school most of the time it was for getting good marks:-)). Whoever crosses this temple , though in hurry, stops for a minute bows to this temple from outside and then moves. I've seen my mother always saying "Taayi Shantika Parameshwari , Kaapaadu" (Oh mother, Shantika Parameshwari , Protect us). Most of the Kumta residents have strong faith in Shantika Parameshwari.

Every-time, I go to my native place, I visit this temple, in spite of tight schedule. This time also I visited.

It was already night; So the photo is not so clear.(I'm not good in photography, I don't know most of the functionalities of my camera. One thing I know to click the photo, that's all:-)

Shri Shantika Parameshwari Temple- Kumta

The entrance of the temple:

When I entered the temple, I noticed a major change in the temple. The ceiling is completely covered with wood carvings. Unknowingly I said "WOW, beautiful!".