Southern India - 16 February 2012 (1)

Sightseeing near Mysore

Field of Marigolds

Buffalo Ploughing Paddy Field

The Hotel KVC International continued its singular failure to impress at breakfast.  When we came down, only coffee and juice were available.  Then they brought out papaya, rice cakes and spicy doughnuts.  I had the papaya and forced a rice cake down.  Then they brought out some sambar and, finally, offered omelettes.  I gave up waiting and left without an omelette.  Jen missed out too as she said they didn’t look very appealing.

Then back on the bus where Lukose got us all to pay for our optional extras – the tour this morning, the city tour of Ooty and the Kathakali dancing in Kochi.

Paddy Fields and Egrets

My Near Death Experience

We headed out into the countryside where we saw the real Indian rural life.  First stop was a field of marigolds.  Despite all our visits to flower markets, we hadn’t seen any growing before, so it was good to see the bright orange field and know that it was destined for thousands of garlands.  Next stop was a man ploughing a rice paddy with two buffalo.  He kept going round in ever decreasing squares – and then round a few more times because he could see us taking photos.  We paused on a bridge to see people in coracles, dredging the river for sand.

Elephant Supporting Keshava Temple

A Vimana of Keshava Temple

First official stop was at Somanathapura to see Keshava Temple.  A cart with two buffalo attached was parked just outside the temple complex.  They seemed to be posing, so I took some photos and chatted away to them to try to reassure them as I approached.  I don’t think they spoke English, because the one nearest me suddenly decided to charge.  It must have seemed quite spectacular to the others who were watching, because they kept asking me if I was all right afterwards.  I had been blissfully unaware of the danger I had been in – their horns were rather long and pointed – and was just concerned that I had caused trouble for the owner, because they ended up halfway down the road before they stopped.  According to Bella, I had done the right thing by standing still, so they just went round me.  That wasn’t a conscious decision – I just hadn’t realised that it was probably time to move!

Frieze at Base of Temple Walls

Frieze at Base of Temple Walls

Keshava Temple is made of soapstone.  Lukose explained that soapstone is very soft when it first comes out of the ground and gradually hardens when exposed to the air.  This means that it is easy to carve.  As a result, the temple is covered in the most intricate carvings.  The temple has three shrines, fused into one, each of which is dedicated to a different incarnation of Vishnu.  Each shrine has its own vimana.  We were allowed into the inner sanctums because the images of the gods inside had been damaged to varying degrees and so it was no longer a working temple.

Temple Gopuram or Dalek?

Goddess of Music

We had to wait for a guide to show us round so we spent the time walking round the temple taking photos.  With all the carvings, there was a lot to snap.  I particularly liked the elephants which sat at each corner of the star-shaped platform on which the temple sat.  The lower sections of the walls were similar.  Again, elephants lay at the bottom, then scenes of battle or music and then flowers.  Above them were a mythical animal made up of several different animals, but which mostly looked like a hippo.  Finally, there were birds, probably swans.  Although based on similar ideas, the carvings were all different.  For example, some of the swans had chicks.  In one of the carvings, the chicks were being fed.

Rare Carving of Brahma

Vishnu and Lakshmi

The main sections of the walls had carvings of different gods and goddesses.  These included a rare representation of Brahma, with his four heads so he could see in every direction – though, being a carving, only the three heads to the left, front and right were shown.

There were also carvings of temples, although we initially mistook the gopurams as daleks until the guide told us what they really were.  There were also scenes from Hindu epics – and even one from the Karma Sutra.

On a practical level, lattice work carved into the walls allowed air and light into the temples and drains came from each of the shrines.

Banana Plant Carved in Ceiling of Vimana

When the guide, a Mr S Kumar, arrived, he took us inside the shrines.  The ceilings of the shrine were carved to resemble the different stages in the life of a banana plant.  The columns were either multi-pointed stars or circular with horizontal grooves, which resembled wood turned on a lathe.  Mr Kumar herded us around the site, pointing out any carvings of interest, while make sure that none of us fell off the edge of the main platform.

Buildings around Keshava Temple

When our tour was finished, we wandered around the buildings around the central temple.  These were in various stages of decay, but were being restored by a team of mostly female workers.  I passed some repointing the walls as I went to the toilets outside the complex.  These were in better than many.