Difference between revisions of "1872"
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| − | Only some places retain | + | Only some places retain a charge that you can experience when you walk their land. Trymbakeshvar is one of those places, known to give a possibility of that holy awareness, the one that lets you walk, further, deeper, into your own consciousness. |
The majestic mountain Meru had suffered being used as a churn by the greedy gods and demons. Still children to existence, they had encountered the spectre of death while at play. Fear had given a desperate ferocity to the manner in which the many demons and gods lined up on either side of Meru and pulled at the rope that was the giant snake, Vasuki, that moved their churn. They were hoping to get Amruta from the bottom of the ocean. Amruta was the elixir that could keep the frightening shadow they had encountered, away from them forever. | The majestic mountain Meru had suffered being used as a churn by the greedy gods and demons. Still children to existence, they had encountered the spectre of death while at play. Fear had given a desperate ferocity to the manner in which the many demons and gods lined up on either side of Meru and pulled at the rope that was the giant snake, Vasuki, that moved their churn. They were hoping to get Amruta from the bottom of the ocean. Amruta was the elixir that could keep the frightening shadow they had encountered, away from them forever. | ||
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All manners of gems were thrown up into the skies from the raging waters that Meru was burrowing deeper and deeper into. | All manners of gems were thrown up into the skies from the raging waters that Meru was burrowing deeper and deeper into. | ||
| − | There was the cow that gave all, Kamadhenu with eyes like dark black pebbles from a river bed, there was a white horse that could fly...The sky was resplendent with her new constellations, but for the gods, they were still searching for the elusive amruta, which once tasted, would keep the scythe of death away. Still new to life, they had already experienced the ogre of death who had interrupted their games on the playground. They wanted to defeat him and play and fight eternally. | + | There was the cow that gave all, Kamadhenu, with eyes like dark black pebbles from a river bed, there was a white horse that could fly...The sky was resplendent with her new constellations, but for the gods, they were still searching for the elusive amruta, which once tasted, would keep the scythe of death away. Still new to life, they had already experienced the ogre of death who had interrupted their games on the playground. They wanted to defeat him and play and fight eternally. |
| − | In the machinations, the fights, the interventions that were made to distribute the Amruta when it finally appeared, a few drops fell. Trymbakeshwar was one of those places where a drop of the nectar of the gods entered the grain of the soil and did alchemy on | + | In the machinations, the fights, the interventions that were made to distribute the Amruta when it finally appeared, a few drops fell. Trymbakeshwar was one of those places where a drop of the nectar of the gods entered the grain of the soil and did its alchemy on it. |
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Revision as of 18:50, 29 May 2009
The sky was large over Trymbakeshvar. The town looked upto the Brahmagiri hills, which flowed over the sky like a watercolour stroke gone loose. In the small town stood an ancient stately temple of a soft black stone that turned dark in the rains. Its spires quietly remade the hills that it lived under.
Only some places retain a charge that you can experience when you walk their land. Trymbakeshvar is one of those places, known to give a possibility of that holy awareness, the one that lets you walk, further, deeper, into your own consciousness.
The majestic mountain Meru had suffered being used as a churn by the greedy gods and demons. Still children to existence, they had encountered the spectre of death while at play. Fear had given a desperate ferocity to the manner in which the many demons and gods lined up on either side of Meru and pulled at the rope that was the giant snake, Vasuki, that moved their churn. They were hoping to get Amruta from the bottom of the ocean. Amruta was the elixir that could keep the frightening shadow they had encountered, away from them forever.
All manners of gems were thrown up into the skies from the raging waters that Meru was burrowing deeper and deeper into. There was the cow that gave all, Kamadhenu, with eyes like dark black pebbles from a river bed, there was a white horse that could fly...The sky was resplendent with her new constellations, but for the gods, they were still searching for the elusive amruta, which once tasted, would keep the scythe of death away. Still new to life, they had already experienced the ogre of death who had interrupted their games on the playground. They wanted to defeat him and play and fight eternally. In the machinations, the fights, the interventions that were made to distribute the Amruta when it finally appeared, a few drops fell. Trymbakeshwar was one of those places where a drop of the nectar of the gods entered the grain of the soil and did its alchemy on it.
In a time when there was no plough, what did it take to have a greener field? Rishi Gautam flung seeds here and there on the ground like everyone else, and still when the crop came up, his made a beautiful field. This got Gautam a lot of respect on earth, and it got him the jealously of the gods.
They plotted and sent a hungry cow to his field. Some say that they prayed to Ganesh and while he detested their lowly plan, he was bound by the self flagellation and the ritual of the prayers by which they had an appointment with him. The elephant god disguised as a cow went on rampage, eating his crop.
Gautam saw a large cow lumbering among the radiant crop, looking isolently at him, her jaws slowly making mulch of his farm.
He would wonder for a long time after, he had merely flung a piece of straw at her as he chased her out, how did she die?
Gohatya is a crime with no easy penance. Gautam prayed deeply and desperately to Shiva, his body still as a corpse. Shiva knew his bhakta had to first bathe in the Ganga to do penance. Feeling tender towards Gautam, he asked Ganga to help him.
Ganga would not refuse the blue skinned god, whose wild hair had been set as a trap for her, but had become a voluptuous experience. She came to Trymbakeshvar as the Ganga-Godavari.
And then Shiva, charmed by the presence of two whose thoughts he often lived in, came to live at Trymbakeshwar.
Shri Trymbakeshwar Jyotirlinga
The Indian Charivari appears. "The turbanned Mr. Punch of Calcutta smokes a hubble-bubble while being entertained by dusky maidens in scant clothing. The cover includes baby Punch being fed pale ale by an Indian nanny... Since wood engravers were in short supply the magazine had restored to lithography"
" The Indian Charivari shared mild jokes about English social life with expatriate readers. Art exhibitions and other topical issues, treated in the style of Punch, were also included. One fails to discern any political consistency of the paper other than a general conservatism. It look a protectionist line in its cartoons of the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook, a Liberal and a supporter of free trade. He is depicted as a menacing bully, who keeps India, a comely young woman, manacled. The semi-nude females personifying India, had its precedent in Punch; symbolic figures and personifications were the mainstay of political cartoons in the West. Other cartoons of Northbook the bully include him dragging a reluctant Indian Nawab to be presented to the Prince of Wales. The Indian Charivari also took over the Delhi Sketch Book practice of publishing witty poems based on Sanskrit Literature.
Mookerjee's Magazine is offering trenchant political criticism. It will speak against Lord Lytton's Dramatic Performances Bill. It is one of the earliest Indian magazines to print lithographic cartoons. The cartoons are not necessarily funny, but they offer political comment.
