Festival Season

I should have made a collage with Lights and Crosses and Moon and Stars and so on to depict all Religions but that will take time.. Soooo..

Papa Vinasanam

Papa Vinasanam

This is after Tirumala- another place to see for the devotees who visit there.

Actually the word is in Tamil, but this is one of those rare words of Tamil which has some Similarity to Sanskrit and hence easy to understand. Papa= Sin. Vinasanam= Destroy. Basically it means the people believe that if you bathe in the water your sins get washed away. Well call me crazy but this is something like I can commit murder and then come and bathe!! Oops! But believe it or not we humans are crazy. All over the world all cultures have such some beliefs that do not make any sense. But then that is why we are Humans! I guess!!

Akash Ganga Teertha
Another belief that most people have is that any water coming out from nowhere is a sign of God. This water is called Ganges of the Sky- because it is in the Tirumala Hills.. and real Ganges is thousand Kilometers away.

Road to Tirumala

Tirumala is a range of seven hills. From Tirupati bus station every 15 minutes there is a bus that goes to Tirumala, a distance of 22 kms to the top of one of the hills where the Famous Lord Balaji Temple is. The road is very picturesque and here are some photos.

Here they actually check the cars by asking people to come out and even have a luggage scanner.

People actually walk up the hills too- and for them these sheds for walking exist.

Tirupati town from above the hills.

Slide show below and pictures of some places inside Lord Balaji's Temple City at Tirumala are here. Natually we are not allowed to take photos inside the temple.

Lord Balaji Tirumala

The Lord Balaji Temple Dome from far using my Telephoto lens. It is fully covered with real Gold Folks!
Lord Balaji is Krishna of North India. Same God you find in ISKCON people worshipping all over the world.

This is the richest God in India with a total collection in donation of more than Rs 1 crore per day.

One cannot take camera inside so you have to do with this from me. Do not think the temple is small. It is only the main dome from afar. The temple is a huge building and the temple city TIRUMALA is India's Answer to the Vatican City, except that the latter is treated as a country and this is just a place in a city called Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh in a country called India.

The size of the Prasad or Offering to God tells it all !!
"Prasad" means  any food offered to God in worship. God is supposed to eat it and bless it. So you eat it later with reverence. Here it is the Famous TIRUPATHI (Tirupati) Laddu (sweet called "Laddu")

Ok. Here are some photos of the Temple City or Town - very much self sufficient with its own adminstration etc.

This was round. I had eaten a part before I remembered to take the Photo. This is not sweet but good! This is also got from the Temple.

Look at those solar panels. This town run by Tirumala Deva Trust (TTD or something like that) and feeds more than a lakh devotees free every day when there is peak rush. They also hve houses to house the devotees who can book their stay in advance. Max one day they can stay.

You have got to see the Laddu Counters to believe it. I went to the temple in the night paying VIP entrance fee of Rs 500/- (that itself is another story. as I said even in VIP category you are different types of VIP. - Basically here VIP means you are not free devotee and so you can avail one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening on Monday to Friday only when it is called VIP break- no free entrance allowed. Hence you get less rush. But do not fool yourself. I was lucky because this was exam time!

You even have a SUPERINTENDENT LADDU! IMAGINE the HR of this Organisation!! Maybe the so called HR professionals can take a leaf out this and learn something.

Here the Ratha or Chariot is taken and people can sit around and see.

This is the backside or behind.. or whatever...

They are offering Coconuts here. Hundi means? Well whatever you understand..

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams

Oh My God!
Tirupathi!
Lord Balaji's Temple!

• Tirumala!  The place where the Temple town is.
• Seven Hills! The hills, one of which bears Tirumala.
• 600 Yrs old!! The temple structure made of stone.
• 60,000 Pilgrims / Visitors on an ordinary weekday when there is NO RUSH to max 100,000 (One lakh) on rush days Or is 3 lakhs!!
• 1.5 Crores (10,000,000 INR) collections in cash alone from the "Hundi" (Collection Pot or cloth made collection bag) per day. Forget the other daily contributions flowing in every day from all over.
• Gold plated temple walls.
• With its Gold collections suspected to be the second largest, if not larger than Indian, Gold Reserve in India.
• A Laddu (round sweet - Tirupati Laddu attains the size of a tennis ball!) distribution area with counters looking like bus ticket counter on ground floor and first floor
• 20 Kms by road if driving, 8 kms if walking from Tirupathi Town to the Temple area on the seven Hills.
• 1 to 1.5 kms height of the  hills.

Stupendous!
I am here! At Tirupati.
I never go inside any temple for one simple reason.. the Crowd!! and of course I also subscribe to the belief that I do not have to visit temples to meet God!
But I came here for work, and due to our connections here I was taken to the Temple and WOW WOW WOW!
When I went inside  awe filled inside me!
I was carried away to a different world!
Amazing!'
I cannot explain without photographs! Because without photographs you will not realise what Tirupathi Lord Balaji's temple is!
I will try to collect photos from booklets sold outside and shoot my own photos from outside and host them here.. but for now.. enjoy the information.

In conclusion I can only say folks.. Tirupathi or Tirupati is the nearest Answer of India to Vatican City! Because it is complete in itself and has a separate administration and earnings and so on.

The only difference is that Vatican City is treated as country while Tirupati is very much a part of India  and also state of Hyderabad!!!

Here are some links
and some more information. These are the official sites.
Pilgrims can visit Tirupati very easily. Everything is well arranged.

You can see the photos exhibited by them since I have none.... here

Let's see if I can get some photos next  Yesss.. I got some photos they are posted in my next post here!

Tamil Religious Procession

Tamilnadu is a state which revels in Worshipping God. Religion was invented by wise men of the past who knew that human beings needed some direction and a common force that will bind them to discipline and keep society intact. So they invented religion. But of course the trouble started in another way.. we discovered too many religions.. and so we now fight each other on basis of religion too.

Anyway, coming back to my point. Tamilnadu is one state in India which has the maximum number of temples and people here are mostly God fearing and always going to temples. Much more that is...

Here is a Procession... and as expected of Tamilnadu.. it is abundant in colours... and flowers! A good photography subject. I saw this on my way back from Bangalore.. and stopped my car to shoot from the car itself..

Trichy Rock Fort Temple

Rock Fort Temple at Tiruchirapalli.
My last leg of South Tamilnadu Tour. I started on 30th from Kodaikanal, drove down to dindigul via Vattalkundu (see the earlier posts for map) and then straight to Trichy or Tiruchirapalli and then to Chennai a straight 500 kms. The road map is here.



I did not go up the temple as it was evening and I did not feel like walking up the hill and by the time I reached Chennai it was night..

Suchindram Temple, Kannyakumari, TamilNadu

Chariot ("Ratha") in front of Suchindram Temple, Kannykumari. I went to this temple on day-2 of my Kannykumari Visit (day-4 of my South Tamilnadu visit: day-1- Chettinad, Day-2: Mandappam, Kurusadai Islands, Dhanushkudi). [My first day at Kannyakumari post is here.]

Suchindram- The presiding deity at Thanumalayan Temple here is a representation of the Hindu Trinity of Siva, Vishnu and Brahma. The temple has a collection of art treasures belonging to various ages. There are inscriptions dating back to the 9th century. Of particular note are the temple tower, musical pillars and the Hanuman Statue.

I went to listen to the musical pillars. It is said the 7 pillars produce tones of different musical instruments when you strike them and put your ears on to them! I heard nothing but metallic sound! God only knows whether I did it rightly. As I keep saying the major problem with this Region is the language.. and though they say english is spoken.. no it is not spoken clearly.. So unless you take a guide you will be lost.. if you want to see all these things and understand, that is. For the story of Suchindram download here.

The gateway to Suchindram Temple Area.

The Temple in white below.

Water tank inside the temple area. Incidentally in South India you are not allowed to take cameras inside the temples and hence no photos! In this temple males also have to remove their uppoer clothes and go bare chested! Do not worry nobody is Salman Khan.. all have larger paunches than you!!

For places to visit at Kannyakumari download this booklet.

India's Tryst with Christianity- St. Thomas Basilica, Chennai, India

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!
India is a secular country. You will find people of all religions cohabiting peacefully side by side here in India. The general mass of people - the vast majority of people in India live side by side peacefully irrespective of their religions.

I, personally, like churches for two reasons-- anybody can enter without being pestered by the "Pandas" or the Touts of Gods as I will call them who will insist on your taking their help for a "Darshan" (View) of the God/ Goddess inside the temple and a conducted tour (Parikrama) AND the utter cleanliness.

Anyway without raising any hackles of anybody by comparing religions in India, which is not my main purpose I post here some photos of St Thomas Basilica at Chennai, India.

St. Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, came to India in AD 52, died as a Martyr in AD72 and was buried at Mylapore, San Thome, Chennai, India. [I am sure San Thome name of the locality came from his name only). The Basilica is built over the Tomb of St. Thomas. This is one of the Only Three Basilicas that have been built in the World over a Tomb of an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

This is also the shrinewhere the next mos famous Missionary to India, St Francis Xavier (whose body is venerated in Goa) spent four months in the year 1545 and used to pray before the Statue known as "Our Lady of Mylapore". Even Marco Polo is said to have visited this Shrine in the 13th century.

When the Apostles dispersed to preach in different parts of the world, St.Thomas left for Parthia and India. His stay and preaching in North and South India is mentioned in two well known thirteenth Century Books: The Acts of Thomas (Acta Thomae) an The Teaching of the Apostles (Didascalia Apostolorum).

The Syrian Christians of Kerala, India strongly maintain the tradition, handed down from generation to generation in their Churches and Families, that their forefathers were converts were converts of this Apostle. According to this tradition, the apostle landed in Kodungallur (Cranganore) in Kerala around the middle of the first century of the Christian era (probably AD52) and founded Christian Communities in several places like Kodungallur (Cranganore), Niranam, Kollam (Quilon), Palayur etc.



The stained glass window which you will probably find in every church was constructed in 1896!!

You can download this mini book on the Basilica here. [Please click the link given to get the pdf file] or the pamphlet giving brief information here.