DevPrayag - beginning of mighty, holy River Ganga

DevPrayag, is a holy place, where two beautiful rivers - Alakananda & Bhagirathi meets.
This merger plays an important role in the forming one of the mightiest rivers on earth. From here onwards, this sacred river is known as "Ganga".
In this picture, River Bhagirathi, seen in light green colored & River Alakananda is brownish.

I have been lucky to visit this place twice. First time, when I was studying class 7. Back then River Bhagirathi was also brownish in Color! Now it is looks clear & has turned in to light green color.
Are you thinking, I am cooking some sort of story here?
Well, no! This color change is due to Tehri Dam built recently across River Bhagirathi.

River Bhagirathi begins its journey in Gaumukh(also pronounced as Go-Mukh). Gaumukh, is considered as birth place of holy Ganga river. But, until this river reaches DevPrayag, it is referred as "Bhagirathi" and not Ganga.

River Alakananda is considered to rise at the foot of Satopanth & Bhagirath Kharak Glaciers.

DevPrayag is amongst "Pancha Prayag" or Five Confluences of River Alakananda. From this point onwards, Ganga still has more than thousand kilometer journey to reach Bay of Bengal.

Ananda Bhavan, Allahabad

056/366 Ananda Bhavan, Allahabad

November 14th is celebrated as 'Children's day', in rememberance of "Chacha" Jawaharlal Nehru.

Last year, I happened to see "Anand Bhavan", bought & renovated by Motilal Nehru, in which Jawaharlal Nehru & Indira Gandhi spent their childhood days. Motilal Nehru supposedly spent considerable amount of money to renovate this place.

Indira Gandhi, turned Anand Bhavan into museum in remembrance of Indian Independence related activities and renamed it as "Swaraj Bhavan". Since the day I visited was holiday, I did not have opportunity to see inside.

Aihole - Cradle of Temple Architecture

055/366 Aihole, is famously known as "Cradle of Indian Temple Architecture". This historic town, which was also known as "Ayya-vole" & "Aryapura" has over 125 temples. It appears that, Aihole was used as place to experiment in rock cut architecture. Temples have been built in unique style and experiments have been done with cave architecture as well. These temples dates from 5th century AD to 12th century AD built by Chalukya Dynasty.

Aihole was prominent city during Chalukya Dynasty & it was also early capital for Chalukyas. Over the period when Chalukyas grew in power, Badami became their new capital.

Durga temple depicted in the pic is one of the prominent temple. This temple was probably built around 7th-8th century AD. One can find famous inscription by court poet Ravikeerthi, which depicts Immadi Pulakeshi's win over famous emperor of Kanauj, Harshavardhana. This inscription is in Sanskrit and Old Kannada.
In one of the temples, one can also observe famous Chalukya's Royal Emblem depicting Varaha(Wild boar). Chalukyas were Vaishnavas(devotees of Lord Vishnu).

More details on Aihole:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aihole

More details on Chalukyas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalukya

Maha Nandi - Lepakshi

054/366 Nandi - Lepakshi

Nandi in this picture is biggest monolithic Nandi sculpture in entire India. It is close to 15 feet high & 27 feet long. This lovely Nandi is made of single granite stone. Nandi faces huge Nagalinga, which is in the main temple at some distance.

Main temple was built by Vijayanagara rulers has Veerabhadra as main deity. Temple ceilings contain many beautiful paintings. Hanging pillar inside the temple is interesting one to see. Pillars in the temple contain many beautiful carvings depicting Brahma, Vastu purusha etc. Temple also contains huge idol of Lord Ganesha. Many Kannada in inscriptions can be found on temple walls.

As per local legend, massive Nagalinga was built by sculptors while they were waiting for their mother to prepare lunch. Another interesting legend is about Viroopakshanna. Viroopakshanna was main sculptor of this temple and due to some misunderstanding between him and King, King ordered him to be blinded. Upon hearing this, Viroopakshanna plucked his eyes and threw them at the wall. One of the wall has two red colored/blood colored marks and is known as "Eyes of Viroopakshanna".

Name of this place "Lepakshi" has links to Ramayana. When Ravana abducted Seeta in flying chariot, bird Jatayu fights with Ravana. Ravana cuts the wings of Jatayu during the epic fight. Jatayu falls down on the ground. Subsequently, when Rama comes in search fo Seeta, he finds Jatayu lying on the ground. With his divine touch & magical word "Le(vu) Pakshi" - "Rise Bird" heals Jatayu. With Rama's touch, Jatayu rises again. Since then, this place is known as "Lepakshi". But now it is pronounced as "lepaakshi".

More info & pics about this place can be found here:
http://thetravellerweare.blogspot.com/2012/06/lepakshi-perfect-blend-of-archaeology.html

Lepakshi is 122km away from Bangalore and is close to the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Baijanath Mandir, Baijanath

053/366 Introduction to Baijanath, Himachal Pradesh would have been more apt during Dasara.

Baijanath is located on the banks of River Binwa (tributary of River Beas) in Kangra Valley. This place is to the east of Dharmashala. Baijanath town has famous temple of Lord Shiva - Baijanath/Vaidyanath. This temple has many scripts written in 'Sharada' style and it depict that 'Baijnath' was earlier known as 'Keeragraama'. As per the script, this temple was built in 1204 A.D.
Temple built in typical North Indian Nagar style, has 'Vaidyanath' as main deity. West facing temple contains 4 pillars in the center. Attractive idol of Ganesha is on to the left of main entrance. Temple wall contains attractive statues of Subramanya, Kali, Parvati etc.

I would like to share on interesting info about this town.
Most of us are familiar with 'Rama-leela' event performed during Dasara festival in North India.This is an event in which, people create dummy idols of Ravana, Kumbhakarna & Meghanada and burn them to celebrate the destruction of evil. But this town does not celebrate this, because people belive that, Ravana did penance in this place to please Lord Shiva. Couple of times, people of this town tried to break this custom by attempting to start 'Rama-leela'. But, each such event ended up in some kind of mishap. Hence, people stopped celeberating 'Rama-leela' here.

Baijanath, surrounded by hills is indeed an interesting place to visit.

Sakrebailu Elephant Camp

051/366 'Surya' plays in Sakrebailu Elephant Camp near Shivamogga(Shimoga), Karnataka

Sakrebailu Elephant Camp is located 14km away from Shivamogga on Thirthahalli road. Camp is on the banks of Tunga river & has more than 15 elephants.

'Sakrebailu' or 'Sakkare-bayalu' means 'Sugar Field'. This name might have come because of Sugarcane fields though I did not notice much of this. But I can surely say people here are as sweet as Sugar!

In this camp, One can get to see, Mahut's washing elephants in Tunga river. This camp has elephant rides to the visitors. Gajanur Dam is very close to this camp.

Birth Place of Mahatma Gandhi

50/366 I had the opportunity to visit Porbandar few years back.
As pic depicts, this is main entrance to home in which Mahatma was born.

Very little to be said from my side about the great soul as he is well-known around the world.
Hence I am picking few famous Quotes from Mahatma Gandhi:
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong"
"The future depends on what we do in the present"

Berijam Lake near Kodaikanal

048/366 Berijam Lake is located 21km from Kodaikanal, and is in the midst of Palani Shola forest. This route takes you towards Munnar, another famous Hill Station. This route is quite popular amongst trekkers/hikers.

World Famous University - Nalanda

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I got goose bumps when I visited this world famous university! It is probably 1500 years old, at least!.
Now, you might be wondering which place is this. It is Nalanda University (pronounced as Naalanda locally).

It is said that, Nalanda was in its prime during Lord Buddha’s time frame (5th-6th Century BC).
Jain scripts mention Vardhamana Mahavira, spent many years here. But archaeologists are able to find proofs only up to Gupta period(5th century AD).http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Renowned Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang had visited this place and notes that, Nalanda University housed around 10000 students and 2000 teachers. Courses included Medicine, Logic, Grammar, Vedas & Buddhism. It is said that, total of 108 blocks were present here, but only 11 have been found during excavation.
Mohammed Bhaktiar Khilji in 12th century AD is said to have burnt & destroyed this world famous place, which was already in its decline at that point of time during Muslim invasion.

Picture depicts Main Temple & Stupa, Nalanda, which is 75km from Patna, Bihar.

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

Naina Devi Mandir, Nainital

029/366 Nainital, a beautiful hill station earns its name from eye-shaped lake called Naini Lake.
"Nain"(or Nayan in Sanskrit) means eyes, "taal" means lake, resulting in name "Nainital".

In the northern part of lake(called as 'Mallital'), Naina Devi Mandir is situated.
It is believed that The Naini Lake is one of the 64 Shakti Peeths, or religious sites where parts of the charred body of Sati (Parvati) fell on earth while being carried by Lord Shiva. The spot where Sati's eyes (or Nain) fell, came to be called Nain-tal. The goddess Shakti is worshipped at the Naina Devi Temple.

In pic, devotee worships Lord Shiva Linga installed in Naina Devi Mandir early morning.

Lakhota Palace, Jamnagar

025/366 Lakhota Palace, Jamnagar

Small yet beautiful palace is built in the middle of Lake in Jamnagar.
Name for this city is after King Jam Rawal, earlier this town was known as "Nawagarh" was renamed as 'Jamnagar' during Jam Dynasty.
Though I could not figure out the date of this Palace, this city is supposedly built in around 1540.
This palace currently houses lovely museum(with collectibles from 9th to 18th century), though I was not fortunate to see them since it was closed on the day of our visit.

For more info:
http://www.indiasinvitation.com/monuments_jamnagar/

Nageshwara - Jyotirlinga

020/366 Nageshwar, Gujarath is one of the Dwadasa(12) Jyotirlingas.
It is located near the holy city of Dwarka in Gujarat.
Legend says, Krishna the King of Dwarka worshipped at this shrine.

Normally linga is made from black stone and resemble pillars rounded at the top.
The linga at Nageshwar is, however, unique. It is made from a stone known popularly as Dwarka Stone, which has small wheel imprints on it. The linga is shaped like a three-faced oval Rudraksha, which literally means the tears of Shiva.

The Legend

In the Rudra Samhita of the Shiva Purana, Nageshwar is addressed as “DarukavaneNagesham”. This refers to the legend of Supriya. Supriya was a devotee of Shiva who was attacked by the asura Daruka, while she was traveling in a boat. Supriya was then imprisoned by the demon along with many other captives in his capital city of Darukavana. Daruka wanted to get additional powers from Shiva and so he asked Supriya to teach him the correct way to worship Shiva. Supriya knew that Daruka was a tyrant and would use the powers for destructive purposes so she refused to help. This enraged Daruka and he decided to kill Supriya. In order to rescue his devotee Shiva appeared in the form of a Jyotirlinga and killed the demon with his Pashupatastra. Daruka’s wife Daruki, however, continued to torment Supriya. Therefore Shiva emerged again from the Jyotirlinga to kill Daruki as well. It is this Jyotirlinga that is worshipped as Nageshwar.

More info

In rememberence of Mahathma...

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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...