MM

Why did they send Meenakshi’s pendant to Queen Victoria of England?
Why did Madurai temple pillars go to the Philadelphia Museum in USA?
Why did an English collector present gold shoes to Goddess Meenakshi?
Why did Victoria and Albert Museum in London hang a Meenakshi curtain?
Why does the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford have Madurai pillar replicas?
Why does the India office Library keep pictures of Madurai Temple?
How did the Houston (USA) Meenakshi temple receive a Madurai idol even after the plane crashed?

Madurai Meenakshi Temple is an architectural wonder. 

Meenakshi temple’s old pictures or objects can be seen in India Office Library, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Houston Meenakshi Temple, Texas, USA.

The pillars of one of the Madurai temples, “Madana Gopala Swamy Kovil” are in Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA. A lady from Philadelphia visited Madurai in 1930s and got interested in the temple pillars .They were just lying there without any care. She knew the value of art work in the pillars and shipped them to USA. Now a mandap/hall is reconstructed with those pillars in the museum. The temple was built in the fifteenth century in Madurai.

Queen Victoria wanted to see one of the jewels of Goddess Meenakshi. It was a pendant with ten big sapphire stones. It went to London and came back to Madurai to decorate the goddess.

British collector of Madurai Rose Peter, Shipping merchants Scotch Brothers and East India Company –all donated gold and jewels to goddess Meenakshi.

India Office Library, London has a haunting series of glass plate photographs of Pudu Mandapam opposite the temple taken in the 1850s by Captain Edward Lyons.

Ashmolean Museum at Oxford has the copper copies of some of the pillars of Madurai Pudumandapam.

Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a curtain where in Meenakshi temple’s daily activities are painted.

 The Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple is in the centre of the town Madurai in South India. The streets are arranged in squares within squares- a beautifully planned city keeping the temple at the heart of the city. Ancient Tamil literature compared this plan to a lotus flower.

 Each street carries the name of a Tamil month. That means goddess idol will be taken through that street during that particular month. 

Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple was built by King Kulasekara Pandya. Kulasekara Pandya was also a poet and he composed a poem on Meenakshi named Ambikai Malai.

The temple is a major pilgrimage destination within the Shaivism tradition, dedicated to Meenakshi Devi and Shiva. However, the temple includes Vishnu in many narratives, sculptures and rituals as he is considered to be Meenakshi's brother. This has made this temple and Madurai as the "southern Mathura", one included in Vaishnava texts.The Meenakshi temple also includes Lakshmi, flute playing Krishna, Rukmini, Brahma, Saraswati, other Vedic and Puranic deities, as well as artwork showing narratives from major Hindu texts. The large temple complex is the most prominent landmark in Madurai and attracts tens of thousands visitors a day. The temple attracts over a million pilgrims and visitors during the annual 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, celebrated with much festivities and a ratha (chariot) procession during the Tamil month of Chittirai (overlaps with April–May in Georgian calendar, Chaitra in North India). The Temple has been adjudged best ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ in India as on October 1, 2017 under Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi's Flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

to be continued.

Kavisurya Baladeva Ratha

was an Odia poet and litterateur. He wrote in both Sanskrit and Odia. His works are known for devotional quotient. He is the credited founder of the Dhumpa Sangita.
He composed poems as a Vaishnava, in devotion to Lord Vishnu. Ratha was a musician and scholar.  He was associated with a group of poets, which included Dinakrushna Dasa and Abhimanyu Samantasinghara. His best-known works include KavisurYya Granthavali, Kabisurya Geetabali and Kisora Chandrananda Chaupadi-Chautisa, which combines the two literary forms of chaupadi (a poem having four stanzas (though the term came to refer to any short song in latter times), and chautisa (a 34-stanza poem where every stanza begins with a new letter of the Odia alphabet). Kishora Chandrananda Champu is noted for its emotional quotient and the role it played in enforcing the riti school of Sanskrit literature. He was also the author of several champus including Ratnakara Champu, Premodaya Champu and Kishora Chandrananda Champu. Kishora Chandrananda Champu has both Odia and Sanskrit compositions and it was the Odia part of the work that has been credited with cementing his literary reputation in the language.
Ratha is thought to have invented the dhumpa, a bamboo percussion instrument, that accompanies the Odia folk art form of dhumpa sangita. The dhumpa accompanies recitations of his poetic satires called dhumpa geeta. Many of his poetic pieces, especially the champu are set to dance in Odiss

praise the guru

 viditākhilaśāstrasudhājaladhe mahitopaniṣat kathitārthanidhe 

 hṛdaye kalaye vimalaṁ caraṇaṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [1]

The knower of the nectar-ocean of all the śāstra-s, the teacher of the upaniṣadic treasure, I meditate in my heart on your lotus feet; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara

 karuṇāvaruṇālaya pālaya māṁ bhavasāgaraduḥkhavidūnahṛdam 

 racayākhiladarśanatattvavidaṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [2] 

O abode of oceanic compassion, my heart is afflicted with the pain of the bhavasāgara (ocean of births, i.e. samsāra), make me the knower of the truths of all the darśana-s; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara

 bhavatā janatā suhitā bhavitā nijabodhavicāraṇa cārumate 

 kalayeśvarajīvavivekavidaṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [3]

People find joy through You, who has the noble intellect for inquiry into the nature of the Self, teach me the knowledge of Iśvara and jīva; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara

 bhava eva bhavāniti me nitarāṁ samajāyata cetasi kautukitā 

 mama vāraya mohamahājaladhiṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇaṁ [4]

You are Shiva himself, knowing this I am filled with joy. Protect me from the vast ocean of delusionary attachments; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara

 sukṛte 'dhikṛte bahudhā bhavato bhavitā samadarśanalālasatā 

 atidīnamimaṁ paripālaya māṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [5]

When virtuous deeds have been performed in abundance, only then arises the desire for the samadarśana (vision of sameness, i.e. the knowledge of non-duality). Protect me who is extremely helpless; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara.

 jagatīmavituṁ kalitākṛtayo vicaranti mahāmahasaśchalataḥ 

 ahimāṁśurivātra vibhāsi guro bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam  [6]

To save the world, great men wander around having assumed various guises. Among them, You shine like the Sun; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara.

 gurupuṁgava puṁgavaketana te samatāmayatāṁ nahi ko 'pi sudhīḥ 

 śaraṇāgatavatsala tattvanidhe bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [7]

O best among teachers, the Lord who bears the bull as his emblem, who lovingly accepts those who seek refuge, who is the ocean of truth; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara.

 viditā na mayā viśadaikakalā na ca kiṁcana kāñcanamasti guro 

 drutameva vidhehi kṛpāṁ sahajāṁ bhava śaṁkara deśika me śaraṇam [8]

I do not clearly understand any branch of knowledge, nor do I possess any wealth. Grant me the grace that is natural to You; be thou my refuge, O preceptor Śaṁkara.

nemi

Dasharatha was the son of King Aja of Ayodhya and Princess Indumati of Vidarbha. His birth name was Nemi, but he acquired the name Dasharatha as his chariot could move in all ten directions, fly as well as come down on earth and he could fight with ease in all these directions.

Dasharatha became the King after his parents died. He was a great warrior who single-handedly conquered the whole earth with his prowess and defeated and slew many Asuras in war.

Dasharath had three queen consorts, namely, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. Kaushalya was from the Kingdom of Magadha. Sumitra was from Kashi. Kaikeyi was from Kekeya Kingdom. Having an immense desire to beget a son, Dasharath promised Kaikeyi that the son she bore would succeed him as King of Ayodhya.'

to be continued.

comes in two's.

There is an intimate relationship between asking and answering, between inquiring and discovering, between learning and teaching, and between wonder and revelation. This is a thread that runs through much of Hinduism’s religious scripture and philosophies: that divine wisdom is inherent within each of us, and that the sincere and determined quest to discover it is a hallmark of its latent presence. In some formulations, Absolute Reality conceals itself from itself, differentiates itself into male and female, student and teacher, and so on, only to delight in the play of re-integration and Self-discovery. God and Goddess hide themselves from themselves, and then ask each other the fundamental questions that form the basis of all religion and philosophy. What is the nature of this mystery and our place within it? Wisdom is not found only in the answers but in the questions; not only in revelation but in inquiry.

• a) Kali (8)
• b) Tara (3)

who followed who.

emotional results.

The law of Karma binds all. Everybody is born to experience the effects of his past deeds good and bad. None can escape from facing the fruits of ones action. This truth is clearly visible to Dasharatha. Mind you not every one is able to analyse and know what is happening to him when one faces sorrow. Dasharatha is a noble realized soul Truth clearly flashes in his mind when he sees Rama leave  to the forest. He is in the grip of extreme sorrow and also realizes that his life is going to end. He is with Kausalya and seeks solace in her presence. He accepts that he deserves every word of her hard accusation which reflects her sorrow.  The King pacifies her humbly and asks her to refrain from committing any further sin of blaming her husband. He sees clearly that people easily commit sins when giving  vent to their emotions like anger desire etc., unmindful of the terrible and fearful effects that quickly get attached to each ones individual Karma account. The suffering experienced by individuals is not something targeted on them indiscriminately it is their own earnings from their past deeds. He recalls the act of a karma he had commit ed long back when he was young and unmarried.