Hidden India : Have you been here

The Thanjavur Wonder

on August 10, 2024

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In the Land of Gods.....a day in Kumaon Uttarakhand

It a break from the routine after a long time. It is the Dev Bhoomi (The land of Gods) this time. The relatively young state of Uttarkhand. Young on records but as ancient as anything given it's culture and history. We are in Kumaon region in Uttarakhand, known for its sleepy hill stations and magnificent vistas of the majestic Himalayan ranges. However, what catches your eye is the godliness in the air. Steeped in traditions, this is a society that seems content with the blessings the gods have bestowed. We are headed to the Jageswar Dham, a group of temples dating back to the 9th and 10 centuries. It is sunny, and the heat is dry but definitely bearable. Our car sways it's way up the roads as they snake up the hills. It is never steep, but a steady climb, with patches of flat runs. An hour into the drive, you reach Jageswar Dham. It's busy but not crowded. It's a small walled area, but it packs in a lot. It has almost 40 structures, all in typical architecture ...

Ring the Bells....justice delivered...

We are a land of beliefs. And we are unabashedly unapologetic about it. Long before modern man created ideology and its supporting fanatic casts, we believed in nature as the all-encompassing power. Even to this date, in some senses we do. To an outsider, we seem to defy logic and rationale. We have thousands of Gods, worship everything, even trees, and animals. Every part of this ancient land has its own beliefs, traditions that live on, and legends that survive to this day. A few kilometers from Almora, in Uttarakhand, in the North of India, such a legend lives on. Deified, revered, and prayed to. Like the myriad tales that abound in this land, this one is as different as the others. The story goes that born to a Queen and cast away into a river after birth by the other wives of the king, Golu as he is called returned to be crowned as Golu Devta. He is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. The devotees believe he fulfills any wish you go to him with. He is worshipped in...

Up the Hills.....A humbling drive through the Himalayan ranges....

It was supposed to be a long drive, the indispensable Google maps said that. Having spent a few days in the sleepy, charming towns of Almora and Kausani, we were headed up the hills. While planning the trip, almost on a whim, I selected Munsiyari, as it was closer to the Himalayas and also looked gorgeous with the imposing snow-capped mountains looming large. The distance from Kausani to Munsiyari is about 165 kilometers and the maps indicated a 6 hour drive, which indicated a slow drive for sure. These long hours would take us to an altitude of 2200 meters. As the morning broke, we drove out of Kausani and headed northwest. Like most of the roads we had traversed, the single road snaked out of the town and dipped down from the hills. It was going to be a roller coaster of a drive this one. We would be descending into the small town of Garud, built around the Baijnath temple, and continue to stay down while we reached Bageswar and continued past it. As we go past...

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