The Linga that Shiva himself consecrated

Lakhs and lakhs of people come to view the Taj Mahal. After the Taj, they make a hurried visit to the Red Fort before either going back to Delhi where a majority of visitors come from or to other places such as Fathepur Sikri, Mathura, Brindavan and Gokul, all places associated with Krishna.
Last year, more than three million visitors poured into Agra to see the Taj. But only a very small percentage of them, perhaps less than a few thousands, realised that Agra where the Taj is, has a  mythologically important monument that is related to both Krishna and Shiva.

Yes, this monument is in Agra and not in any of the famous places associated with Krishna. This is the famous Mankameshwar Temple, which is one of four ancient temples dedicated to Lord Shiva in the four corners of Agra City.

The importance of the temples is derived from the fact that the Linga was consecrated by Shiva himself. What more do you want in a temple where the deity is consecrated by the God himself.

The Mankameshwar temple is situated at Rawatpara, near the Jama Masjid and it is just two and half kms away from the Taj and less than a kilometre from the Agra Fort.

The temple is easy to locate as it is surrounded by many of Agra’s old markets.

There is a beautiful story about how the temple came to be built. Krishna had decided to take birth in Dwapara Yuga in Mathura, which is near Agra. When Krishna made this decision known to Gods, Shiva wanted to see Krishna as a child.

He therefore, came down from Mount Kailash. He decided to rest at a cremation ground near Yamuna river. He rested and meditated here.

Shiva was contemplating the pleasure he would derive in seeing the young Krishna play with him and sit on his lap. He though he would install a Linga if his desire came true.

Suddenly Yashoda arrived at the place and spotted Krishna. She felt that Krishna would be scared if she saw the ash colored Shiva with a serpent around his neck and a Trishul in his hand.

Krishna heard the entire conservation. But he realised it would be difficult to get Yashoda to allow him near Shiva. So he hot upon the oldest trick that a child plays before its mother and the mother invariably falls for it.

Krishna pointed to Shiva and started crying. Meanwhile, a disappointed Shiva was sitting under a Banyan tree and meditating. Yashoda called Shiva and asked him to bless Krishna.

Shiva took Krishna in his arm, blessed him and left the place a happy God. But he did not forget his promise. He consecrated a linga at the precise spot where he had lifted the infant Krishna. This is the Mankameshwar Temple.

Shiva then said people visiting his Linga here would be blessed and all their wishes would be fulfilled.

The linga here is covered with silver.

Only people wearing traditional dress are allowed here. This is a peculiarity here as in north India, the dress code is not rigorously enforced. Therefore, no pants, leather jackets and dress, salwar Kameez here.     

You cannot miss the temple. It is surrounded by a very busy shopping hubs with grocery, cosmetic market, shoe, jewellery and Indian sweet markets. There area around the temple is known for a special pan which you get at Mankameshwar locality.

The pan  is folded in the shape of a pyramid. The pan is then coated with "chandi ki Barak" (Silver foil) and garnished with coconut powder.

Visit the temple and eat the pan. Both have their own devotees. 

The other three Shiva temples in Agar are Kailash Mandir, Balkeshwar Mandir and Prithvinath Mandir.

The Balkeshwar and Kailash temples are located besides the Yamuna. The Kailash temple is situated nearteh Sikandra side of Yamuna. The Prithvinath temple is in Shahganj, on the road to Jaipur.

The annual “parikrama” (circumnavigation) of all the four Shiva temples is a well-documented event in the history of Agra. The route totally covers 50 kms.

So the next time you visit the Taj, make sure to take time off to see the Linga and pray for your desire to come true. Of course, do not forget the pan. You will not get it anywhere else.

The graveyard of Indian Kings

It was the scene of one epic battle and three other battles that changed the course of Indian history. Win this place and you will win Delhi, was the refrain of Kings and Emperors.

Today, the scars of the battles have vanished and the town is known more for its industry than for its heritage. It is better known for its pickles, textiles, carpets and quality blankets.

It is also the city which has one of the busiest handloom weaving industries in the world. This is also the world capital of  “Shoddy Yarn”.  The blankets prepared here  through Handloom and powerloom are extensively used by the Defence forces.

It is also one of the five cities founded by the Pandavas. It was then called Pandavaprastha. But today there is no trace of this. It is now known as Panipat and it is in Haryana.

It is around Panipat that the Kurukshetra war was fought. That epic battle is only a memory now.

It was also in Panipat that the Mughal dynasty began its rule overt India. It is here that Akbar took his first step towards greatness when he overcame Hemu, the Hindu Emperor, and marched towards Delhi.

The third and last battle of Panipat saw an Afghan routing the Marathas and this blow dealt such a blow to the Marathas that it changed the course of Indian history forever.

All the battle are now only a thing of the past as rapid urbanisation and industrialization have overtaken Panipat and surrounding towns and villages.

Today, Panipat is a busy railway junction and the thousands of passengers who alight and board the trains that that steam in endlessly seemed to be in a hurry to move on. Ask them about what they saw in Panipat and more often than not you will be met with a blank stare.

You get more details in textbooks and history books about Panipat and its battles than in the city.

The once historic highway that saw Babur march towards Delhi and other kings and emperors now sees scores of shops selling pachranga pickles. This is a local specialty and it is a mix of lemon, mango, ginger, mango, chilli and lotus stem. All these ingredients are soaked in oil specially made in Panipat.

However, what makes Panipat one of the most historic places in India is that this is the very place that three decisive battles took place and they are called as the first, second and third battle of Panipat.

The first battle of Panipat changed the course of Indian history. An Afghan, Zahiruddin Babur, was at the head of a small army and he met Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi here on April 26, 1526.    

Babur had just 12,000 men as against more than a lakh of Ibrahim Lodi. However, it is in this battle that artillery was used for the first time in India. The vast army of Lodi was no match to the small but highly efficient artillery of  Babur.

Lodhi lost the battle and his life too. More importantly, he lost Delhi to and paved the way for the Mughals to rule India over the next two and half centuries.

This battle has left only a few mementoes. The first is the Baburi mosque in Kabuli Bagh and the second is Ibrahim Lodhi's tomb in Tehsil Camp, very close to the bus terminus in Panipat.

Babur built the Baburi mosque at the very site where he sank onto his knees in thanksgiving after the battle. Babur completed the structure during 1528-29 and even prayed in it. This makes the structure the first Mughal monument built in India.

This monument seems to have been forgotten by the locals. Ask for the Baburi mosque and you are sure to be sent to a 13^th century shirne of Pir Qualandar, a Sufi saint.

The Baburi mosque is near Kutani road. It is located within a beautiful garden. The entrance to the mosque faces north. It is built of Lakhauri bricks. It has ten domes but has no minarats.

Babur's son and the second Mughal Emperor, Humayun,  constructed a brick platform in front of the main prayer hall after his victory over Islam Shah, a successor of Sher Shah Sur. This platform is almost ruined.  

The next important monument nearby is the plain and simple tomb of  Ibrahim Lodhi. It has no dome or any sepulchral structure. The tomb stands on a small platform of  Lakhauri bricks.

In the second battle of Panipat fought on November 5, 1556, Akbar defeated Hemu or Hem Chandra Vikramaditya and reclaimed the Delhi throne.

Hemu was beheaded at Akbar’s camp at Saundhapur on Jind Road in Panipat. After Hemu’s beheading, his head was sent to Kabul to be hanged outside the Delhi Darwaza and his body hanged on a gibbet outside Purana Quila in Delhi.
After a few years,  Hemu's supporters, constructed a Samadhi over the place where he was beheaded. The place and its surroundings are encroached now. This is the only remnant the second battle.

The third battle too sent shock waves in India when the Afghan invader, Ahmed Shah Abdali, routed the powerful Marathas on January 14, 1761. The battle put paid to the hopes of the Marathas to set up a Hindu Rashtra in India and paved the way for the emergence of the British as a powerful force.  

The place where this battle was fought is designated by an obelisk called Kala Amb. Locals say that a mango tree here bears  dark mangoes, a reminder of the thousands of Marathas and Afghan soldiers who died. The Maratha commander, Sadashiv Rau Bhau,  is believed to have fallen at this very spot.

This place is close to the road leading to Sanauli in Uttar Pradesh. It is now a large, tree-lined park. The park hides the dark secret of  the important war that brought the Marathas to their knees.  

The Marathas were winning the war when a stray bullet killed  Vishwas Rao, the son of Peshwa Baji Rao, and he fell
dead from his horse. A roar of anguish arose from the Maratha camp. When the body of  the 17-year-old Vishwas Rao was brought before Sadashiv Bhau, the Maratha commander, his rage knew no bounds. Disregarding all warnings,  he mounted on his horse and rushed into battle, only to be surrounded and killed by the Afghans. This completely shattered the morale of  the Marathas who fled from the battle.
A little away, the Peshwa, Balaji Rao, was crossing the Narmada with reinforcements when a soldier arrived with the coded  message ,“Two pearls have been dissolved, 27 gold coins have been lost and of the silver and copper the total cannot be cast up”.
The Peshwa realised the enormity of the defeat and the death of his son and others. He fell sick and  never recovered from the shock of the  debacle. He returned heartbroken to Pune and died.

An ornamental gate called Bab-i-Faiz (comfort of the world) built by Nawab Sadiq in 1733 AD stands as the  main entrance of the town. Though this did not play any part in any of the wears, it was a mute witness to the third battle of Panpiat.

By the way, Panipat has always gone with the invader. It first favoured Babur against Ibrahim. It also helped Akbar strengthen his position at the cost of the local Hindu kingdom. In the final battle, it proved lucky for the Afghan King and it gave the thumbs down for the powerful Marathas.  

Panipat is just 90 kms from Delhi and 169 kms from Chandigarh, It is very well connected by road and rail networks.

The genius who continues to inspire research even after his death

He was Indian who loved numbers so much that he spent all his life doing them. He lived and died young but his contribution is so enormous that mankind still remembers him as a genius.

Born in a orthodox Brahmin family, he quickly took to mathematics like a duck to water. His progress in mathematics was so rapid that his teachers did not know what to do with him. On his part, this genius lost interest in all other subjects except mathematics.

He is none other than Srinivasa Ramanujam. He  was born on December 22, 1887 in his maternal grandfather’s house in Erode. After his birth, he spent his childhood in a house in Sarangapani Street in Kumbokanam.

His father was  K. Srinivasa Iyengar, a clerk in a sari shop and his  mother, Komalatammal, was a housewife who occasionally sang at a local temple.    

Little Ramanujum went to Kangayan Primary School just across his house on Sarangapani Street in Kumbokanam. This house is now a museum.  Ramanujam was a brilliant child but the teachers then did not know how to deal with him. Both his teachers and his parents soon realised that Ramanujam was no ordinary child.

Ramanujam’s tryst with mathematics began when he was just ten years old. He read a book on Advanced Trignometry by Sidney Luxton Loney (1860-1939) and mastered it (S. L. Loney, a British mathematician, has written several books on trigonometry, including the one called Plane trigonometry).

His interest in trignomeotry led him to discover his own theorems. Moreover, he discovered Euler’s identity independently. At school he was brilliant in mathematics. By 17, he had conducted his own research on Bernoulli numbers (The Bernoulli numbers were discovered by a Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli, after whom they are named. Bernolli is a sequence of  rational numbers in relation to the number theory) and Euler-Mascheroni Constant (The Bernoulli numbers appear in the Taylor series expansions of the tangent and hyperbolic tangent functions, in formulas for the sum of powers of the first positive integers, in the Euler- Mascheroni formula and in expressions for certain values of the Riemann Zeta functions-this is a function of complex variables that analytically continues the sum of  the infinite series).

When still in school, one of his teachers (others say it was a friend) in 1903 gave him a library book on maths by a British mathematician George  Shoobridge Carr with 5,000 equations, hoping that this would satiate the child prodigy’s appetite for numbers.  

The book, called Synopsis of Pure Mathematics (1880), opened a Pandora’s Box for the teenaged Ramanujam.

Ramanujam learnt about religion, Shastras and Puranas from his mother with whom he was close. He also learnt singing from her.

He passed his primary school examinations in 1897 with Arithematic, English, Tamil and geography as his subjects. He then joined the higher secondary school (Town High School) where he came across mathematics.

By 1904, Ramanajum began his own research. He began filling notebooks with his own equations and sums.

None understood them and he did not understand who others could not understand his equations. His interest in mathematics was so deep that he neglected other subjects. His college asked him to leave.

Meanwhile, his mother had arranged his marriage with nine-year-old Janaki. He married on July 14, 1909.  He then decided to go to Madras which then was the biggest city in south. He hoped that someone in this city would be able to understand and appreciate his equations. He took his notebooks with him.   

Even in Madras, none could understand the equations or make head and tail about them. Ramanujam then took to writing letters to mathematicians and one of them reached G. H. Hardy in Cambridge, England.

It was left to Hardy (1887-1947 ) to recognize this genius and call him to England. Now began one of mankind’s most famous collaborations-Ramanujam the genius and Hardy the reformer came up with a formula on integer partitions known as the Hardy–Ramanujan asymptotic formula.
This formula has been applied in physics to find quantum partition functions of atomic nuclei (first used by Niels Bohr) and to derive thermodynamic functions of non-interacting Bose-Einstein systems.
Unfortunately, this collaboration was cut short when Ramanujam contacted liver infection in 1919 and died in Kumbokanam in 1920, aged 32. By then, Ramanujam had left enough of his mathematical genius for generations to pore over. His wife, Janaki shifted to Bombay but returned to Madras in 1950 where she lived till she died in 1984.

He has to his credit over 3900 independently compiled equations and results and some of them are Ramanujan prime and the Ramanujan theta functions. These results have continued to inspire further research.

If Ramanujan's 1916 paper on modular forms created a sensation in the Western world, his last letter to Hardy, written literally from his deathbed in 1920,  on the functions of  “mock theta,” is now creating waves.

Mathematicians have ignored Ramanujan's theory of mock theta as he had not given any specific definition of it. However, he has  listed 17 protypical examples of these new functions. As there was no theory on these functions, the mock theta theory was largely ignored.

It was only in 2002 that the unifying conceptual framework of mock theta was discovered  by  Sanders Pieter Zwegers, a Dutch mathematician, in his doctoral theses. He made a connection between Maass forms (This is a function on the upper half plane that transforms like amodular form but need not be holomorphic. They were first studied by Hans Maass, a German mathematician, in 1949) and Ramanujam’s mock theta function in 2002.

Ramanujam was born on December 22 and the blog takes a bow to this great mathematician who has continued to inspire awe and admiration not only among the mathematical community but all of mankind.

The ten monographs of Madhwacharya

The Sarvamoola Grantha are a collection of 37 works written by Madhwacharya during the 13^th century and early part of the 14^th century.

These works are the fountainhead of the Dwaitha philosophy. It is in these works, that Madhwa refutes the Adwaitha way of life or rather philosophy and takes the Dwaitha Siddantha to a higher plane than the Adwaitha or Buddhist philosophy.

These texts formed the basis for the subsequent saints of the Madhwa order such as Sripadaraja Theertha, Vyasa Theertha, Jaya Theertha, Raghavendra Swamy, Vadiraja Theertha, Raghuttama Theertha and others to base their preachings and also their texts.

It is the very philosophy in the Sarvamoola Grantha that led to the development of Haridasa literature.

The fist ever interpretation of a work of Madhwa is by his first disciple Padmanabha Theertha. The next, and thios was in the form of a torrent, was by Jaya Theertha, whose commentaries on Madhwa earned him the sobriquet Teekachar. His Nyaya Sudha is perhaps the most important interpretation of  Madhwa and this ha formed the core of further interpretations of  Madhwa’s work.

In between Padmanabha Theertha and Jayatheerta, came Akshobya Theertha who took on Vidyaranya in an argument in Mulabagal, Akshobya Theertha based all of his arguments on Madhwa’s interpretation and won.  

All the ten works, except the Vishnu Tatwa Nirnaya, are short. However, the language is tough and one needs the texts of Jayatheerta or Raghavendra Swamy to understand them.

In the Sarvamoola Grantha series, these ten short monographs are also called as Dasha prakaranas. They are:

1. Pramaana Lakshana

2. Kathaa Lakshana

3. Upaadhi Khandana

4. Maayaavaada khandana

5. Mithyaatvaanumana Khandana

6. Tatwa Samkhyana

7. Tatwa Viveka

8. Tattvodyota

9. Vishnu Tatwa Nirnaya

10. Karma Nirnaya.

These ten books too are important as they deal with a variety of subjects. Pramana lakshana talks about the theory of knowledge and various other issues related with it, while Katha lakshana is a book on the subject of debate, its varieties and the rules and regulations governing its conduct.

The next three-Upaadhi, Maayaavaada and Mithyaatvaanumana Prakaranas- take on the Adwaitha tenets and refute them. In Mithyaatvaanumana, the Acharya takes on the Adwaitha theory of “Jagath mythyatva”.

The Tattva samkhyana and Tatwa Viveka deal with the ontology according to the Madhwa school of Vedanta.

The Tattvodyota is belived to contain the arguments that Madhwa actually put to use against two Adwaitha scholars Pundarika Puri and Padmatirtha in Udupi. To the Adwaitha scholars’ argument  “Vishwam mithyaa drshyatvaat”, Madhwa retorts “Chandrapraadeshatvaadivishayam tu

Doorasthatvaadidoshayuktatvaadapatu.”
The Vishnu Tatwa Nirnaya  is the most important work of the Dasha prakranas. It details the concept of Bheda and comes down heavily on Adwaitha concepts.

These books can be easily understood today, thanks to the commentaries on all ten of them by Jayatheertha and subsequently by Vyasa Theertha.

The four main works of Jayatheertha- Maayaavaada khandana Teeka,  Mithyaatvaanumaana khandana Teeka, Upaadhi khandana Teeka and the Tatwa Viveka Teeka-are further elaborated upon and digressed by Vyasa Theertha. Raghavendra Swamy too makes it much more easy for us to understand Madhwa Tatwa.

Raghavendra Swamy wrote Mantrartha manjari to elucidate  Madhwacharya;s Rig Bhashya for 40 hymns.

It is always said that the original is much better than the copy. But in this case, the original has to be read with others as otherwise it would be next to impossible to digest.

As Naarayana Panditacharya aptly pointed out in his biography of Madhwa called “Madhwa Vijaya”,

“Vaadaadayh prakaranasphulingah tanavopyalam.

Vipakshaksham kshinvanti maaruten tvayeritaah.

Maayaavaada khandana “

The day Yamaloka had a holiday

He is one God you will not want to meet either in your lifetime or even after your death. He is one God who has practically no festival named after him. There are not many temples to him too.

Yet, he is on everyone’s lips and whenever a major catastrophe happens he is remembered. He is Yama, the God of Death. But did you know that even he wanted a holiday on a particular day and on that day Yamaloka came to a standstill.

The legend of Yama and his holiday is eloquently told in the Narasimha Temple in Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. Yama, who is always busy in his loka, wanted a day off to visit his sister, two days after Deepavali. Hence, the unexpected holiday.     

Yama is one of the most unique Gods in Hinduism. He is not really a deity like say Vishnu whom people worship. Nor does he ask you to worship him.

He holds the power of death and he is a staunch devotee of Vishnu. Infact, he is one of the twelve Mahajanas (staunch devotees) of Vishnu. He incarnated as Vidura during the Mahabharata period.

IN the Vedas, Yama is mentioned as the first mortal to die. Therefore, by virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the dead world.

With a twist of the rope that he holds in his hand, he can send a person to either hell or heaven or even back to earth. As per the shastras, there are seven narakas (hell) and swargas (heaven).

The seven Narakas are Athala, Vithala, Suthala, Paathaala, Mahaadhala, Rasaadhala, Dharaadhala.

Similarly, the seven heavens are Bhuvas, Swas (governed by Indra), Tharus, Thaarus, Savithaa, Prapithaa, Maha (governed by Brahma.

Yama is generally believed to be the son of the Sun God or Surya and Usha. He is sometimes also called the son of Vivasat and Saranya. 

Yama has entered not only the Indian conscious, he is also the God of Death in Buddhist, Chinese Tibetan, Korean and Japanese mythology and religion. He has a twin sister called Yami.  

Though India has temples to many of its gods, there are only a few to Yama. He is depicted with wide nostrils, sitting atop a black buffalo with a black rope in his left hand.

One of the most well-known of these temples is in Tamil Nadu.

It is located in Srivanchiyam, which is 16 kms from Thiruvavore and 28 kms from Kumbakonam.

This place is also called Thruvarayoor, Bhoo Kailasa or Sandana Vana.

The Puranas equate this place with Varanasi as this is one of the 275 Shiva stalas in India.

As in temples of Tamil Nadu, the Raja gopura is a impressive structure, five stories high. 

The temple has a separate shrine for Yama with Chitragupta standing hear him.
There are idols of Ganesha, Murugan and other deities.

Another temple to the God of Death is in Vellalur, near Coimbatore.

The Yama idol here is seen with a buffalo and faces south. Of course there is an idol of Chitragupta here. Women are barred from entering the Sanctum where Yama is consecrated.

In Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, the Narasimha temple has an idol for Lord Yama.  The God of Death is specially worshipped here on Karthika Bahula Vidiya, the second day of Deepavali.

The locals here say that Yama and his sister Yamuna (river) are the children of Lord Surya and Sandhya. While Yama took over Yamaloka to punish human beings, Yamuna decided that she should help people get rid of their sins and hence took the form of a river.

One day, Yamuna invited Yama to visit her house. Yama told her that he would visit her house on the second day after Deepavali and he declared a holiday for Yamaloka on that day. He visits his sister’s house on that day.
So the second day after Deepavali is also called Yama Dwitheeya day. People, in general, visit their sisters’ houses on that day. Devotees worship Yama at the Narasimha temple at Dharmapuri on that day to get rid of their sins.

They believe that Yamuna helps them get rid of their sins on that particular day.

Monks who mummify themselves alive

Sallekhana is an age old Jain ritual where a person fasts to death. There are similar rituals associated with other religions too. But perhaps the most macabre and punishing of them all is a ritual in Japan called Sokushinbutsu.

Under Sokushinbutsu, a monk embraces death over a period of time. He also allows himself to be entombed alive, much like the Brindavana Pradesha of Madhwa saints.

What is different in Brindavana pravesha, Sallekhana  and Sukoshinbutsu is that in the Japanese method, the monk himself gets ready for the mummification process.

This ritual is generally performed by Buddhist monks. The process commences with the monk going on a strict diet.

Monks who want to go in for Sukoshinbutsu lead a rigid and disciplined life. They eat only nuts and fruits.

The monks undertake a lot of physical activity.  The body loses almost all its fat content. This is the first step of Sukoshinbutsu.

The next step is the most painful. The monk induced vomiting so that there is large scale loss of body fluid. They also poisoned themselves so that maggots would not attack their bodied once they are mummified.

To achieve the level of poison that would deter maggots attacks, the monk drinks poisoned tea for a thousand days  made from the bark of Urushi tree which is generally used for making lacquer. Apart from tea, the monks would eat several barks of trees and roots.

Once this process is completed, the monk enters a stone tomb and sits in Padmasana. This stone chamber is only a little bigger in size than the monk. It has a small air tube and a hole through which a rope for the bell is tied.

around the writs of the monk and whenever he sounds it, it means he is alive. This process is called waiting for death.

When he stops ringing the bell, others would know that he is no more. The air tube would be removed and the hole sealed. However, they would wait for a 1,000 more days before opening the stone tomb.

By then the mummification of the monk would have been naturally completed. This practice was widely prevalent in Yamagata prefecture (province ) in northern Japan.

 Japanese believed that though hundreds of monks have tried to go in for such mummification, only 24 have succeeded.

Japan has banned this practice but yet a few isolated incidents have been reported from time to time.

Today, the practice is not advocated or practiced by any Buddhist sect, and is in fact banned in Japan.

Historians believe that this practice originated from Tang China. It was Kukai, the founder of Shingon school, who first introduced this gory system.

Such monks are followers of the Shugendo stream of Buddhism.

Monks who attained Sokushinbutsu were elevated to the level of Buddha and revered.

The last Sokushinbutsu was discovered in July 2010 right in the middle of Tokyo.

The place where Seetha lost her ring

Every day, there are hundreds of visitors who come to Muthathi near Bangalore to take in the beauty of the Cauvery and the surrounding wildlife.

Home to the Cauvery Wildlife sanctuary, Muthathi draws a lot of people. But not many know that there is temple here which is connected with the Ramayana.

This is the temple of Anjaneya, situated on the banks of the Cauvery. According to  a legend, Seeta, the wife of  Rama,  misplaced her nose ring in the Cauvery river. She was bathing in the river and the nose ring slipped out and fell.

Seetha was very attached to the nose ring and she was particular about getting it back. Hanuman looked for the ring and could not find it. He thought the ring might have fallen into the Cauvery and he began churning the river.

The nose ring soon re-appeared on top of the swirling waters. Hanuman took the ring reverentially and handed it back to Seetha.

The temple is situated on the exact point where the nose ring was discovered.

The Hanuman temple is also called Muthuraya. Muthu in Kannada means pearl and Seetha’s nose ring had a pearl in it. The priest and locals tell me that the temple is famous for helping devotees regain their lost possession.

They say if devotees pray to hanuman with full devotion, whatever they have lost will be restored back.  There is a saying in Kannada that goes like this. Murthy Chikkadadaru, Keerthi Doddadu. This means even if the deity is small, its fame is much bigger than its size. This adage aptly describes the temple and the idol.

Though the temple is small, it is worth a visit. A word of caution though. The temple is full of monkeys and they can be a handful. Take care of your belongings and hold onto them tightly.   

Muthathi is easily approachable from both Bangalore and Mysore and of course from other cities such as Kanakapura, Malavalli, Mandya and Maddur. Muthathi is in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district.

The forests around Muthathi is full of wildlife. You are sure to spot crocodiles, jackals, wild boars and if you are lucky even leopards. If you are an ornithologist, you can keep counting the number of birds that keep on coming here. 

Apart from Muthathi, you can also have a glimpse of the famous Chunchi falls, Gagan Chukki and Bara Chukki-Shivanasamudra, Meke Datu and Sangam and Bhimeshwari.

The fishing camp at Bheemeswari has been rated by the Angler Magazine as among the best in the world. Catch a masher, get it weighed and put it back into the river. I can assure you that even if you are not a fisher, undertake this once in a lifetime experience.

Muthathi and Bheemeswari are  90 kms from Bangalore via Kanakapura and Sathanur or Halagur.

If you want to combine all the places, I suggest you visit Chunchi falls first and then motor down to Sangam where you can cross across to other side of the Cauvery. It is from this place that the road to Meke Datu commences. You have to take buses and are charged Rs. 50 per head. Come back and take in a view of Muthathi. If you have the time, travel further to Shivanasamudra and onwards to Talkad-where you can take a coracle ride on the Cauvery and visit the sand filled temples-the Panchalingeshwara temples of the Gangas.   

If you want to stay back at Bheemashwari, you can contact the Jungle Lodges and Resorts on MG Road. Log onto their website for more details.

Arjuna's Chennakeshava

We have all heard about Arjuna, the renowned bowman of the Mahabharata period and a close friend of Krishna. But did you know that Arjuna visited Kannada Desha after the Mahabharata war.

He is suppose to have visited Bangalore (there was no such city then) and constructed a temple in Anekal which is ear Bangalore.

The temple exists even today and it is known as Arjuna’s Chennakeshava.

Arjuna not only visited Anekal and its surroundings but also Mulabagal, Avani and Kaiwara, all in Kolar. He also consecrated a temple in Mulabagal which was renovated several centuries later by the Mughal nobleman Todar Mal during the period of Akbar.

Anekal is a bustling town just 36 km from Bangalore and it is just a little more than an hour away. Since it is close to the Tamil Nadu border, its name is Anekal which means the place for elephants.

Till a few decades ago, Anekal had several places where there were huge ash mounds. These ashes were the purnahutis (holy ashes) after homas were conducted. Now, you can see such ashes at Budhikote in Kolar district.

The ashes were used by the farmers of the area as fertiliser.

Anekal in olden days was known as Gajasilapuri as elephants roamed the area. Another reason for the name could be because of the frequent hailstorms that lashed the area.

The first mention of the name Gajasilapuri is during the time of the Gangas. The province of Bangalore and its surroundings were part of the Ganga kingdom and the Gangas had their capital at Talakad near Mysore.

The origin of present day Anekal can be traced to 1603 to Chikka Thamma Gowda of  the Sugatur family. The then Adilshah General defeated Chikka Thamma Gowda who was a Palegar of Hoskote. The Adil Shah took over Hoskote and granted Anekal to Chikka Thamma Gowda. He ruled over Anekal for 30 years. His son, Thimme Gowda was the ruler of Anekal for 20 years. 

The Wodeyars conquered Anekal during the reign of  Chikka Thamma Gowda’s grandson, Dodda Thimme Gowda. A few years later Hyder and his son Tipu Sultan made Anekal a part of their kingdom. 

 Anekal has many temples and one of the oldest is the Chennakeshava.

This temple is historically and mythologically important as it was consecrated by Arjuna, one of the five the Pandava. This temple is built in the Vijayanagar style and we can surmise that the structure was repaired during the Vijayanagar period.   

The temple is set in a large ground and the Mahadwara faces south, though the structure (temple) faces East. The temple has been renovated. The idol of Chenna Keshava is beautiful and it is flanked by his two wives-Sridevi and Bhoo Devi.

There are four pillars in the Navaranga and one of them has carvings from the Ramayana. The second pillar has carvings of  Yoga Narasimha. Varaha, Matsya and Kalinga, while the third is carved with Hanuman and  Kamadhenu. The fourth pillars has images of Sugreva, Vali and Balarama.

The idol is also called Janardhana.  The temple is flanked by two beautiful water tanks. 

There are a few other temples in Anekal worth a visit. You can visit Hogenkal which is just a little distance away and Muthyal Maduvu (Valley of pearls), a water fall which falls in the form of pearls.

The Vivekananda Yogashrama is in Jigani, a small industrial town just before Anekal. This a well-known institution which teaches Yoga and Yoga therapy.

Anekal is just a little away from the Tamil Nadu border. Coming back, halt at Bannerghatta and enjoy the wildlife.

The throne of the Pandavas

Ranked among the most popular tourist destination in India, Mysore has several well kept secrets. While many of the sights such as the Amba Vilas Palace, Jaganmohan Palace, Chamundi Hills, Zoological gardens are well-known, there are a few others that people are not aware of.

One of the most important artifact in Mysore  and perhaps the most priceless of all is exhibited every year only during Dassara. This is  the most valuable and mythologically well-known artifact whose history goes back to the times of the Mahabharata.

It is also kept away form public view almost throughout the year except for the ten days of Dassara. This is the golden throne, perhaps the only one in India that gees back to antiquity.

The throne belongs to the royal family of Wodeyars. So while the tourists make a beeline for the Palace, not many know that the golden throne in the palace is on view for the public only a limited period.  

The golden throne has an interesting history that lends an element of mystique to it. Popular legend has it that this throne belonged to the Pandavas and it was used by them when they ruled from Hastinapur. 

After the Pandava dynasty came to an end, the throne disappeared from history and was later believed to have been in the possession of the Guptas and then the legendary Vikramaditya and Bhoja Raja.

After Bhoja, the throne once again disappeared from history only to reappear during the time of  the Vijayanagar Emperors.    

Kampilaraya, is credited with excavating the throne from Hastinapura and bringing it  to Penukonda in Andhra Pradesh. It was once again buried in Penukonda till Vidyaranya, the Raj Guru  of the Vijayanagar Emperors, including its founders Hukka and Bukka, helped retrieve it in 1336 AD.

Locals in Penukonda even today point to the spot where Vidyaranya discovered the throne and directed Harihara I to take it and rule from the royal seat.

The throne then came to be places in the royal palace at Anegundi where the Vijayanagar kings used it. Krishna Deve Raya is believed to have used the throne during the Dassara celebrations in Vijayanagar.

The throne was supposedly gifted to the Viceroy of Srirangapatna by the Vijayanagar Emperors in the 16^th century. Sometime in 1609, the throne came into the possession of Raja Wodeyar who was one of the first rulers of the Wodeyars.

It was from his time that the throne came to be used during the Dassara celebrations. Raja Wodeyar wanted all his successors to follow him in this practice and this continues even today.

When the capital was shifted from Srirangapatna to Mysore, the throne to wended its way to Mysore. There is an interesting anecdote about the throne when Tipu had made Srirangapatna his capital.

Tipu happened to see the throne and he was desirous of ascending it. When this was brought to the notice of  Purnaiah, the Revenue Minister if Tipu, he tried to dissuade Tipu from ascending the throne. When Tipu remained firm in his decision, Purnaiah warned him that if anyone but a Hindu ascended the throne he would be burnt to cinders.

When Tipu dismissed this remark, Purnaiah got a handful of  “ bhatta” and gently put it on the throne. It immediately caught fire, leaving Tipu dumbfounded. Since then, Tipu did not dare to claim the throne, which continued to remain with the family of Wodeyars.

There is another story of the golden throne but this is not all that romantic. It says the throne belonged to the Mughals and that the last great Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, gifted it to Chikkadevara Raja Wodeyar in 1700 AD. However, this is doubtful as there is epigraphic evidence to prove that the golden throne was in the possession of the Wodeyars in 1699.

Yet another story about the throne is that it was found in the palace of Tipu and it was handed back to the Wodeyars after Tipu died in 1799. The throne was then repaired and from then on used on ceremonial occasions.

Unlike other thrones, the Mysore throne is dismantled every year after Dassara. It is mainly made up of three parts. The first is a series of steps that lead to the throne. The second part is the seat and the third is the golden umbrella which protects those seated on the throne.    

The throne is adorned with gold, silver, gems and other precious stones. The umbrella has shlokas engraved on them. There are 24 slokas in Anusthup metre.

The four sides of the throne are decorated with creepers. There are elephants on the east, horses on the south, soldiers on the west and chariots on the north. In the corners of the throne are Vijaya and four lions, two of the mythical Shardulas, two horse and swans in the four corners.

The throne has a tortoise seat (Kurmasana). The four sides of the throne are decorated with Vyalas and creepers. Elephants on the east, horse on the south, soldiers on the west and chariots on the north decorate the royal seat. Gods too are engraved on the throe with Brahma on the south, Maheshwara on the north and Vishnu in the centre.

The throne is further adorned with Naganymphs and Asthadikpalakas or the guardians of the eight quarters

During Dassara, the royal scion-Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar- ascends the throne in a private durbar ceremony which is called Khasa darbar. After this, it is open for public display in the rosewood room. 

The assembling of the golden throne itself is an elaborate and laborious process.

Be sure to visit Mysore during the Dassara to view the throne. It is a once in a lifetime view.

Erasing history

Humans have not been kind to history and a lot many of them right from the time of Chengiz Khan, Timur, Mohamad Ghazni, Mohammad Ghori, the Mughals, some Muslim rulers of India and even the British have vandalized cities, destroyed monuments and torched some of the finest buildings.

In India, the Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan vandalized Vijayanagar (Hampi) in 1565 AD and burnt down the magnificent city. Today all that remains of  the city are mere ruins.

Hampi has become the biggest open air museum in the world, a mute testimony to the brute strength of the invading Muslim forces which were bent upon wiping the city of Vijayanagar or victory off the face of the earth.

The plunder of Vijayanagar went on for several months and the Adil Shahis, Nizam Shahis and other Muslim kings went away after feasting on the riches of Vijayanagar. The city was never to rise again though the Kingdom survived for another century. 

Centuries earlier, Malik Kafur, the general of Al-ud-din Khilji had similarly wiped out Hoysala cities in south India, including Dwarasamudra, and also erased the city of Warangal, which was then under the Kakathias.

In 1294, he waged war against the Yadavas of Devagir and sacked the city. He then turned his attention to Warangal and got vast ampounts of booty from it, including the Koihnoor diamond. A Muslim historian,Ziauddin Barani, says Kafur retuirned victorious to Delhi with a booty of  241 tonnes of gold, 20,000 horses and 612 elephants laden with the looted treasure.
In 1311 AD, he sacked Madurai and took away the vast wealth of the temple city.

The Mughal emperors, from Babur to Aurangzeb, systematically destroyed Hindu temples and buildings. Aurangzeb was such a zealot that he could not tolerate the secular credentials of the Adil Shahis of Bijapur. A devout Sunni, he personally led an attack on Bijapur in 1686 and defeated them. The Adil Shahis were generally Shias in nature and they appointed Hindus to high posts. Shivaji’s father Shahji was a high-ranking officer under Ali Adil Shah.

Aurangzeb erased the paintings in many palaces of the Adil Shahis as he regarded them as unislamic. After Aurangzeb, the Marathas too had a hand in plundering Bijapur.

An year later, Aurangzeb sacked Golconda and took away a vast booty.

Shivaji personally led a campaign against the Raje of Mudhol and he not only killed the Mudhol Raja but also set fire to the City. A graphic account of Shivaji and his animosity towards Mudhol is available. The Chola and Pallava emperors too were known to burn cities down and a Pallava king burnt down Badami, the capital of Chalukyas.

Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala King, is known to have spilled so much blood at Talakad that the Cauvery turned red. The city was fully destroyed.

Another city that became victim of invaders is Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. One of the most ancient cities of India, it was systematically destroyed by the Delhi Sultan Iltumash in 1235 AD.

Both Muhammad Ghori and Muhammad Ghazni plumndered cities and destroyed temples. Ghazni invade Indian no les than 17 times and each time he plundered a city. He destroyed Nagarkot, Thanesar, Gwalior and Kannauj.

He also completely destroyed the holy temple of Shiva at Somnath. At the tome of  its destruction, the Shiva Linga was suspended a few inches above ground. Ghazni believed that the temple had a lot of hidden wealth and he completely destroyed the structure.

Of all the Mughals emperors, the credit for destroying temples, razing Hindu structures and levying Jizaya goes to Aurangzeb. He was a zealot and he wanted his subjects to embrace Islam.

The British too went about systematically erasing Indian history. They looted he state of Mysore after the death of Tipu and handed  an almost bankrupt Mysore kingdom to the Wodeyars. Similarly, they ravaged the Sikh kingdom after the  death of Ranjit Singh and carted away huge treasures to England, including his throne.

The Koinoor diamond, which was in the possession of Dilip Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh. He was deposed in 1849 and he spent his last days in London where the Koihnoor was cleverly taken away from him and given to Queen Victoria of England.

Every tine the British waged war in India,  they made money. They fought wars on behalf of Indian princes and kings for money.  They gave protection to princely states by stationing British troops in the capital. The money for maintaining the troops were to be given by the king.

The subsidiary alliance, introduced by the then Governor-General of India, Marquis Wellesley,  was only a clever ploy by the British to annex a kingdom without shedding blood or going to war. The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to accept it. Over two centuries, the British systematically took away the wealth of India (Tipu refused to accept it),

They also carried away the rich heritage of India and it only after Lord Curzon became the Viceroy of India that the first effort to preserve the rich heritage and history of India commenced.

Nearer Bangalore, an Adil Shah General, completely razed to the ground the beautiful town of Doddaballapur, during his campaign against the Gowdas of Bangalore, Malgudi, Doddaballapur and Anekal. Of course the superior might of the Adil Shah military prevailed and even Bangalore was forced to accept the supremacy of the Bijapur Emperors.