Tapovan, where Bhageeratha pleased Lord Shiva

View towards Tapovan from Baby Shivling, Uttaranchal

Local legends say that, Tapovan is the place where Bhageeratha Rushi did tapas to please Lord Shiva and brought Ganga to earth.
This place is beyond Gaumukh Glacier, where we get first sight of River Ganga(also called as River Bhaageerathi).

If my memory serves me right, the first peak visible in the pic is named as Sudarshan Peak.

Approximate altitude of this place from where I shot this pic is around 12000ft.

In rememberence of Mahathma...

8/366

In rememberence of Mahathma on 30th Jan...

Pic depicts Mahathma Gandhi's Charaka, his desk and place where he used to meet visitors in 'Hriday Kunj' @Sabaramati Ashrama, Ahmedabad.
Sabarmathi Ashram is situated right next to River Sabarmati.

This ashram houses museum which depicts Gandhiji's life history.
Ashram has a school which runs even today.

This is the place where Gandhiji brought Harijan's into main fold...

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarmati_Ashram

*This photo has been post processed to give ancient look...

Sunrise @ Tonsepar

This pic captures sun-rays falling over Volcanic Rock formations found on "Tonsepaar" (in Tulu).

We had this life time oppurtunity to stay overnight on Tonsepaar (now popularly known as St.Mary's Island) and sleep under stars (Thanks to YHAI, Udupi Unit!) on a full moon day.
This pic was taken during sun-rise on Nov 1st(Kannada Rajyotsava!), which we celeberated on the island.

Hardly one can get to see sun-rise as regular ferrys to island start much later and over-night stay is not allowed.

Since natural hexagonal rock formation made of lava is commonly found here, it is listed as Geological Monuments of India declared by the Geological Survey of India.

Scientific studies indicate that the basalt(common extrusive volcanic rock - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt) of the Tonsepaar was formed by sub-aerial subvolcanic activity, because at that time Madagascar was attached to India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Islands_%28Karnataka%29

Hoysala Symbol @ Kedareshwara Temple, Belligavi

Photo captures Hoysala Symbol found over Kedareshwara Temple, Belligavi.


Belligaavi(also known as Balligave, Belagami, Balligame, Balligrama and Balipura) is located just 2km from Shiralakoppa/20km from Shikaripura in Shivamogga(Shimoga) district, Karnataka.

This place is also known as Dakshina Kedara as per Archeological department due to religious & cultural importance.

As one can figure out from the pic, temple was built in typical Hoysala architecture in Trikootachala Style(triple celled). This temple was possibly built in Eleventh century AD .

This temple situated opposite to huge lake, has Kedareshwara (Lord Shiva) as main deity with beautiful Nandi.
Bramhalinga and Vishnu reside on southern and northern parts.

Belligavi is supposedly birthplace of famous Hoysala Queen, Natya Rani Shantale.
Allamaprabhu the mystic-saint & Vachana poet of 12th century was also born in Balligavi.

This place also contains beautiful museum maintained by Archelogical department and houses many inscriptions of Halegannada.

More info & pics can be found here:
http://karnatakatravel.blogspot.com/2011/12/kedaresvara-temple-belligavi.html

Stanford University, Palo Alto

5/366 Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, US

Picking this pic from my old albums taken almost 8 years back...
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Leland Stanford, a Californian railroad tycoon & politician, founded the university in 1891 in honor of his son, Leland Stanford, Jr., who died of typhoid two months before his 16th birthday.
Stanford University is one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions. It is located in Palo Alto, California.

The university is organized into seven schools including academic schools of Humanities and Sciences and Earth Sciences as well as professional schools of Business, Education, Engineering, Law, and Medicine.
Some of the famous inventions from Stanford students include Digital Sound synthesis, DSL lines, search engine by Google, Genome Sequencing.

Stanford faculty & alumni have founded many prominent technology companies including Cisco Systems, Google, Hewlett-Packard, LinkedIn, Rambus, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Varian Associates, and Yahoo!

http://www.stanford.edu/

Diwan-E-Aam @ Amber Fort

4/366 "Diwan-E-Aam" or "Hall of Public Audience"
Place where Raja(king) of Jaipur used to meet his citizen to hear their grievance & petitions - Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Amber Fort,built in 16th century by Maharaja Man Singh contains blend of Hindu & Muslim architecture.

Built with double row of columns, the Diwan-E-Aam is a raised platform with 27 colonnades, each of which is mounted with elephant shaped capital with galleries above it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amer_Fort

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi

3/366 "ಶ್ರೀ ಮಧುಲಿಂಗ ದೇವರು" [Sri madhu linga devaru" reads inscription below carving of Shiva Linga and Basava(Nandi), in Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi.

Found in Banavasi, Karnataka, which is known as first capital of ancient Karnataka[Kadamba Kingdom]...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banavasi

Bed of flowers...

2/366 "Bed of Flowers" - Haven't we all read fairy-tale of walking over the bed of flowers...
I had this opportunity to walk over the bed of Rhododendrons @ Binsar with my life partner!
It was romantic, thrilling & mesmerizing...

Rhododendrons(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron) have medicinal value and juice made out of it tastes awesome!

Ramadevara Betta

1/366 Ramadevara Betta, Ramanagara, Karnataka, India