Essays, Commentaries, Jottings, Photography, Videos – In the Light of Sri Aurobindo
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra Continued from Part 1 “The temple means religious feeling, worship, adoration, consecration.”(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA 30:181) Virupaksha Temple - Meeting the Gods on the Outside Walls We are still outside the Virupaksha temple, also known as Lokeswara Mahasila Prasada named after Lokamahadevi, the queen who commissioned... Continue Reading →
The Avatar "The crisis in which the Avatar appears, though apparent to the outward eye only as a crisis of events and great material changes, is always in its source and real meaning a crisis in the consciousness of humanity when it has to undergo some grand modification and effect some new development. For this... Continue Reading →
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra Continued from Part 2 We continue our exploration of the famous Badami cave temples carved out of the soft red sandstone atop a hill. After exploring caves 1 and 2 we now climb up to cave 3, and the exterior view itself makes us stop... Continue Reading →
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra Continued from Part 1 As we start climbing up the steps to reach cave 2, we turn around and take one more look at the majestic cave temple 1 with Nataraja who has already stolen our hearts! Dedicated primarily to Lord Vishnu, cave 2... Continue Reading →
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra After Aihole (see three parts - 1, 2, 3), we now travel to Badami for a completely different aesthetic experience. Badami was the capital of the early Chalukyas who ruled much of Karnataka during the 6th to 8th centuries. Situated on the banks of... Continue Reading →
Continued from Part 2 Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra After Pulakeshin I established the Chalukya kingdom making Badami its capital in 543 CE, a great phase of experimentation and innovation in temple architecture began in the southern region of Karnataka. In parts 1 and 2 we explored various temples at... Continue Reading →
Continued from Part 1 Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra "...everyone who has at all the Indian spirit and feeling, can at least give some account of the main, the central things which constitute for him the appeal of Indian painting, sculpture and architecture." (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA 20: 261) Aihole, a... Continue Reading →
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra Aihole, also known as Aivalli, Ahivolal, Ilavalapura or Aryapura, is a sleepy village about 140 km from Hampi, or about 450 km from Bangalore. The story goes that after killing the decadent Kshatriyas who had been abusing their power, Lord Parasurama, the sixth avatār of... Continue Reading →
Text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra; some photos by Suhas Mehra, some taken from the website of IIACD (International Institute for Art, Culture and Democracy). Continued from Part 2 In this final part of the series, we zoom in on the magnificent mural paintings of the Veerabhadra Swami Temple at Lepakshi. Many of the murals... Continue Reading →
Photos by Suhas Mehra, text by Beloo and Suhas Mehra. Continued from Part 1 After experiencing some of the splendour that fills the compound of Swamy Veerabhadra Temple, let us now proceed toward the interior of the mandir. As noted before, according to the earliest inscriptions available, the present temple is about 500 years old,... Continue Reading →
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