Namaste
A picture of the street sweeper dressed in a sari says it all about India -- the one place where everyone wears a traditional dress that is all at once exquisite, exotic and culturally exclusive ---perhaps this makes it sacred as is so much of what we saw in India.
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| Street-sweeper in Chennai |
An intensely vibrant country of sensory overload---- the chaos of too many people, constant movement of cars and cattle, rickshaws and humanity, horns honking --- constant chaotic movement all going somewhere. And then the smells...the smells of cow dung and garbage, of herbs and spices, of life on the street, and food that is too wonderful. And all of it wrapped in between a pulsing vibrancy from intensely gorgeous color and the glittering magic of the many Hindu gods and the narrations of their mystical life stories.
In most towns the idea of journeying from one place to another seems more than terrifying. Everything was loud and congested with never any respite from blaring horns and the press of people and cars and tuk-tuks and beggars.
Exotic life surrounds you in India but for Indians all of this seems normal.
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| Port of Chennai |
We arrived in Chennai, formerly Madras ---- a major British colonial port on the east side of India. Chennai is India's 4th largest city and capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, the largely Tamil-speaking region in south India on the Bay of Bengal.
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| Street in Chennai |
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| Homes of the fishermen in Chennai |
For our first exploration, we went south to the coastal village of Mahabalipuram – known locally as Mamallapuram to see stone carvings and the Dravidian temples and architecture of southern India as well as a wonderful artist village featuring stone sculptors who are recognized world-wide.
But our initial adventure was simply getting off the boat and negotiating the port gates and then getting out of Chennai. The delays from the bureaucratic Indian immigration/customs provided a constant challenge---it took us over an hour to get beyond port security. The roads and the traffic out of the city were eye openers as well. So was the garbage along the roadside......food for the cows, dogs and many animals and birds--- but a disturbing counterpoint to all the other beauty. Once outside the city proper we were amongst a steady stream of taxis, buses, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, wheeled carts, cows and dogs and masses of people. Our bus driver constantly weaving through the traffic and the animals and pedestrians took us on ride that was more like a Sterling Moss road race through heavy traffic. I am so very glad I didn't have to drive in India - it's daunting even in very civilized and proper New Delhi.
As an art form, stone carving stands out throughout India's centuries old artistic landscape. This is a land blessed with extraordinary rock and extraordinarily artisans who have for centuries skillfully manipulated and carved it. We saw this all over---first in Southern India where much of the carving was done out of living rock, specifically granite. Then again in the architectural motifs and the awesome built stone structures of the great mausoleums and palaces of the north ----in Agra and then in New Delhi and of course in Varanasi. Stone carvings and modeled/ terra cotta icons of the great teachings and figures of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism are national treasures and objects for worship today.
A country with religion so incredibly ubiquitous it is hard not to find statues, reliquary stupas, bas relief and built structures celebrating Buddha standing shoulder to shoulder with great Hindu and Jain temples and their
gods and Islam's rich and fluid iconography and world famous mausoleums and palace structures. This is especially true at Sarnath- the sacred place where Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park delivering the eight fold way of action. Here some of his sacred remains rest in a giant stupa. We spent time there with many pilgrims including the current head of Myanmar who wrapped a celebratory silk around the base of Buddha's gigantic stupa as we watched from a Jain temple around the corner ---not 100 feet from this most sacred of stupas and the pilgrim/King and his huge worshipping entourage.
Just being with pilgrims--- acknowledging the sacredness of this place and the sacredness of the sculptures of the Buddha we saw in the adjacent museum was awe inspiring.
Sarnath by far is a Buddhist's most sacred place.
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| Sacred Stupa at Sarnath |
Mahabalipuram--a seaport for the Pallavas, a Dravidian people who ruled in southern India between the 3rd and 8th centuries BC also called CE, is an amazing legacy of stone temples and carvings. The town sits adjacent to low hills of granite from which several generations of kings had monuments and caves carved out of the rock and later built temples from the granite quarried nearby.
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| The Shore Temple |
The Shore Temple with Nandi (bull) sculptures is a legacy site in Mahabalipuram --- the only remaining temple of an original group of seven --- the rest claimed by the sea in the intervening thousand years. In the temple are two shrines -- one to Vishnu, the protector or sustainer god of the "Hindu Trinity" (Brahma – Vishnu – Shiva), and the other to Shiva. Surrounding the shrine to Shiva are rows of "nandis" – bulls – the traditional mount of Shiva.
I bought an old wooden sculpture of Garuda the eagle -man /mount of the God Vishnu --the preserver.
In Krishna Mandapam & Arjuna's Penance bas relief---the largest bas relief in the world carved in 7/8CE/ BC.--- elephants approach Lord Shiva as Arjuna kneels in penance and the goddess Ganga is represented by a flowing river which empties into a large pool at the base of the massive bas relief when there is water to flow.
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| Krishna Mandapam and Arjuna's Penance bas relief |
From Chennai we traveled north to New Deli and then to Agra and finally to Varanasi. With its roof at least three stories high, the monumental new New Delhi airport introduces a modern city of elegant, English style government buildings, beautiful embassies and a massive military complex with richly designed residential areas. New Delhi looked so different from the other India we experienced.
It is almost as if the real India is sheltered behind a veil.
We took a train from Agra to New Deli at night---the train was delayed and, because there were no benches or chairs in the underground station, we waited standing for several hours along with beggars and rats and many street people who were just bedding down for the night. It was here and in so many of the small towns where we witnessed the real India --India with abject poverty and too many people and garbage and beggars in the streets.
But India is struggling hard to move beyond all of the challenges..... she is building a middle class and has focused on educating her people. And she is a vibrant democracy with Ghandi-ji as her sacred legacy and her inspiration.
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| Wall sculpture showing the mudras -- New Dehli Airport |
The Taj Mahal was filled with Indians celebrating and as we witnessed them in all of their splendor, we saw a full moon rise over the exquisite pristine marble complex. It was movingly spectacular --Shah Jahan's mausoleum to his beloved wife is clearly a monument for the world to cherish and call sacred.
The Taj Mahal, the "teardrop on the cheek of eternity" was completed in 1648 by the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife.
It is the most famous example of Mughal architecture, which is a combination of Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian influences.
Its longest plane of symmetry runs through the entire complex except for the sarcophagus of Shah Jahan, which is placed off centre in the crypt room below the main floor.
This symmetry extends to a mosque in red sandstone that mirrors the Taj Mahal to the West, facing Mecca.
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| Red Fort, Agra |
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| Looking out at the Taj Mahal in Agra |
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| Taj Mahal |
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| Taj Mahal at Sunset |
The placement of the city of Varanasi (Banaras)and its orientation---everything directed toward the Ganges--- serves as powerful ritual progression --- an inexorable movement forward towards the sacred river. Not really knowing where it is-- surrounded by pilgrims, beggars, lepers, shop keepers, monks, tuk tuks, cows, and cow dung, motor bikes and all of life, we are pulled along this route of seekers pulsating with hope and wonder and awe going in one direction until finally we reach the sacred river.
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| Varanasi |
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| Tuk tuks in Varanasi |
Finally meeting the Goddess Ganga in complete awe and submission we can step back from practical concerns of everyday life and look at ourselves and the world with different thoughts and feelings. And because we have finally reached this sacred place, we can imagine what we might become. And for some, in this pulsating sea of humanity-the very old and infirm- it is a very hoped for final act. They breathe a sigh of relief and can finally die assured they will reach nirvana ---their ultimate goal.
And so it was with this profound sense of awe and wonder and respectful curiosity that all of us immersed ourselves in the sacredness of Varanasi and made our way to the Dasaswahmedh Ghat (ghat is the series of steps leading down to the Ganges for bathing and ritual immersion) for the evening Aarti service.
I don't know if it was that so many pilgrims and faithful surrounded us on the great hejira to Mother Ganga or whether truly this is a holy place----either way-- the experience of Varanasi for all of us was the highest level of sacred.
Finally entering the Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi for the Aarti service at the Ganges River,
we arrived before the ceremonies were to start but already many, many pilgrims and the faithful had gathered. We had time to simply sit and absorb what was going on around us – though not easily as we were constantly approached by beggars. One young boy became my friend, looked after me and followed me everywhere. No matter where I was he found me and stuck with me. He called me Mama.
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| My friend |
The Aarti ceremony started at sundown with the faithful bunched together quietly looking out with awe and wonder at seven young Brahman priests as they moved through four cycles, each time lifting a different sacred element to the four directions - a sacred Hindu ritual at the edge of the world' s most sacred river. The exquisite beauty and mystery of the site, the music, the candles floating on the river, the chanting, the hands clapping, the enormous collection of humanity in great awe produced a powerful sense of the sacred.
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| The Aarti ceremony by the Ganges |
After about an hour it was time for us to make our way back up the ghat steps, past the rows of beggars with outstretched hands and cups ---one of the most difficult aspects of India---- so many fellow human beings are in such need. After walking for a while we climbed onto rickshaws, wending our way back through the narrow streets, now choked with the hundreds of people who had been with us worshiping at the sacred river.
Before dawn the next day we made our way back, this time to board a wooden boat to look back on the morning rituals from the sacred water and send off our prayers in little marigold covered floating candle cups.
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| Morning bathing at the Ganges |
Incredibly, my little beggar friend found me walking and once again guided me around cow dung, raised stones and holes and the pulsating sea of humanity. With his presence and the sun rising to my back, transformed into a pilgrim, I too made my way to the river to dip my hands into and bless Mother Ganga. There was both a serenity and the pulsing energy of awe surrounding us. And as the sun came up everything seemed sacred.
To the faithful, the purity of Mother Ganga cannot be compromised by human actions (pollution) and the faithful come to purify themselves by immersing in the waters. Just north of us, at Marnikarnika ghat, we looked at the cremation was under way. For the devout, dying at the Ganga and having one's ashes released into her waters brings moksha – liberation from rebirth into the cycle of suffering. It is the highest act.
With reluctance we left the Ganges after watching the rising sun through a haze illuminating the ghats and the faithful bathing in the sacred waters. I set afloat special candles surrounded with marigolds with a prayer for each of my children and grandchildren.
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| Sunrise |
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| My special candle |
With thanks to Professor Dan Spenser and his research/expertise who accompanied me on my trips around India.
