It’s all about dedication, I tell you. It was a perfect 3 day streak of posting even when I was on vacation. It appears that my streak ended along with it. Yesterday on the 4th of April, I was supposed to write the post for the letter D. I can give you the excuse of being tired after driving a car for 5 hours in this burning heat. But that would be a lie.
I faltered with my dedication to keep writing is the only truth. And I am not ready to give up. Wise people say, it’s not a bad thing to make mistakes, it’s bad to repeat the same ones and not learn from them.
It’s time to relearn
I am learning once again about the need and importance of dedication and determination to achieve your goal. And it’s not just about being consistent at blogging. This relearning is helping me with my other goal too for which I have made a social commitment in my earlier blog.
But I am glad that I am a part of this thriving community of my lovely fellow bloggers, Blogchatter. Their constant encouragement keeps my morals high and I am here writing this one instead of leaving the A2Z challenge after this first hurdle.
This post started with my understanding of the importance of dedication and determination to achieve goals for improvement but seems like it has turned into my appreciation of the lovely folks of the Blogchatter community! And I have no regrets about this.
But wait, I think an idea is brewing in my head for my next post which is supposed to be the ‘E post’. Just to give you a hint, a lot of shout outs are coming your way!!!
So stay tuned to know, if you’re getting lucky in this post or the next one.
I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z and this is 4th post in my “Mobile Blogging” series. Do let me know what you think about this in the comments below.
It’s this time of the year when a blogger starts panicking about what should one write throughout the month of April as their entries for April A2Z. Because April is just around the corner and you have no clue about what to write. If you are a part of a community, then a pressure might get more. Few of your fellow bloggers have already scheduled half of their posts. I am one of those who is panicking at the last moment. However, my favorite thing in life has come to the rescue like a best buddy. Yes, I am talking about books cause I can’t write 26 posts about coffee alone.
Good fellows at Blogchatter; our lovely blogging community; have decided to dedicate this A2Z for “Blogging and Friendship”. And for me, books are the perfect friend who will be with you when you are alone. In fact, a book is a friend who lets you be alone even if you are surrounded by a crowd.
My love for books is a well known fact for my close friends and family. It has gone to that level that now I don’t get anything but bookish stuff as gifts on various occasions. (I am thinking how no one has thought about the Kindle e-reader as a gifting option? 😉) So I thought it would be a great idea to talk about 26 books which I enjoyed reading during this year’s April A2Z.
If you have also read the book, we all can talk about it in the comments. Share our notes on what we enjoyed in the book or didn’t. So, don’t forget to join me on this bookish trail for the month of April and enjoy my 26 book recommendations. and for more bookish content, click here.
North-Eastern India is blessed with the sheer beauty of nature. Small towns and villages snuggled in valleys of Himalaya are little heavens on earth. Today we are visiting one such heaven in Arunachal Pradesh. Ziro Valley, a heavenly town in Lower Subansiri District.
About Ziro Valley
Ziro is a district headquarters of Lower Subansiri District. It is one of the oldest towns of Arunachal Pradesh. Rice fields surround this small yet beautiful hill station. The town of Ziro is nestled between a cluster of beautiful pine trees. This plateau is at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level. As a result, Ziro is full of a distinguished and rich flora and fauna and its biodiversity. This makes it an ideal destination for nature lovers. Thick forest covers this entire region and is a home to tribal people.
The ApaTani tribe which calls these lands as their home is not a nomadic tribe, practicing permanent wetland agriculture. This is very different from the prevalent jhoom farming. Other than wetland farming, they earn their livelihood by making handicrafts and handloom products. They worship nature gods. The tribe is known for their colorful culture with various festivals. Apa Tani people have vibrant traditional village councils called bulyañ. This has made Ziro Valley a good example of a living cultural landscape where man and environment have harmoniously existed together in a state of interdependence even through changing times, such co-existence being nurtured by the traditional customs and spiritual belief systems.
Gallery
Ziro Valley Festival Photo by Sandro Lacarbona Copyrights CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Paddy fields at Ziro – Photo by Ashwani Kumar – Copyrights CC BY-SA 4.0
Ziro valley in summer season Photo by Arunachal2007 Copyrights CC BY-SA 4.0
Tourist attractions
The major tourist attractions of Ziro are the green serene Talley Valley, the hillock Ziro Putu, Tarin fish farm, the tall idol of Shiva Lingam at Kardo. ApaTani people celebrte several festivals namely the Myoko Festival in March, the Murung Festival in January and the Dree Festival in July.
Ziro is also known for its outdoor music festival. First festival happened in the year 2012. Members of the ApaTani tribe host this festival. Festival celebrates the independent music scene of India. Festival is celebrated on two stages, Donyi(Sun) and Polo(Moon), constructed by local artisans and made almost completely of bamboo. As a result, it is noted to be one of the most eco-friendly festivals in India employing locally sourced material for the infrastructure. The festival has a zero plastic policy and encourages attendees to be responsible for leaving behind no waste.
I am participating in the A2Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on the ‘Z’ challenge. “Z is for the Ziro Valley, Lower Subansiri, Arunachal Pradesh”. You can find my other posts from this challenge here.
Medieval India had witnessed very powerful centres of learning spreading light of knowledge. Today we are visiting ruins of one of those knowledge hubs. Vikramshila is one of the two important Mahavihara of the 8th century.
From the pages of history of Vikramshila
By the 8th century, people started believing the quality of scholarship of Nalanda was going down. Responding to this belief, Emperor Dharmapala of the Pala Empire established the Vikramshila University. According to the Tibetan sources, Vikramshila grew to prominence in this period and formed an elite club with four other important knowledge centers, Nalanda, Somapura, Odantapura, and Jagaddala.
The university prospered for the next four centuries. It contributed to the Buddhists body of knowledge through its large number of thousand scholars and hundred teachers. During the invasion of Turko-Afghan military gemera; Bakhtiyar Khilji Vikramshila University was destroyed.
Gallery
Pillars of vikramshila Photo by Rakesh Ranjan Copyrights CC VY 2.0
Seating and meditation area at Vikramshila Ruins
The view of the entrance from the Stupa
Main Stupa at Ruins of VIkramshila Photo by Prataparya Copyrights CC BY-SA 3.0
About the ruins
Today, we can visit the ruins of Vikramshila in Antichak village, Bhagalpur district in Bihar. Prof. B. P. Sinha of Patna University undertook the first methodical excavation of this site in the 1960s. A few years after that, the Archaeological Survey of India started a second excavation. Over the period of two decades, archaeologists revealed a site spread over more than a hundred acres. Huge monastery with a cruciform stupa in its centre, a library building and cluster of votive stupas formed the campus of this medieval university of India.
Residential quarters of the monastery is a huge square structure with 52 cells on each side opening in a common verandah. They also found few brick arched underground meditation chambers below few residential cells. Main stupa is at the center of the monastery. It is a brick structure with mud mortar. Archeologists also found a few Hindu and Tibatian temples on the northern side of the monastery.
I am participating in the A2Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on the ‘V’ challenge. “V is for the Vikramshila University, Bihar”. You can find my other posts from this challenge here.
Ladakh is one of the beautiful regions of India. And Buddhism is an integral part of Ladakhi life. There are many Gompas (monasteries) scattered all across the region. Today we are visiting one of the glorious and important Gompa of Ladakh. Thiksey Gompa, situated on top of the hill in Thiksey near Leh. This monastery is attached to the Gelug sect of Tibatian Buddhism.
Something from the history of Thiksey
Founder of Gelug sect tasked one of his students, Jangsem Sherab Zangpo, with seeking permission of the King of Ladakh to spread the teachings of Gelug Buddhism in Ladakh. Soon he reached the King with the message and gifts from the founder of Gelug sect. King was pleased with the gifts. He directed his minister to help to set up a monastery of Gelug sect in Ladakh. This is how the first monastery was built in Stagmo village.
Legend of the Thiksey tells a story of start of Thiksey Monastery. Once Sherab with his disciple Palden Zangpo was performing sacred rituals of torma offerings. Suddenly, two crows appeared from somewhere and took away the offerings. Palden and other disciples went on the lookout for torma offerings. Soon after, they reached Thiksey. As soon as they reached Thiksey, they found out that crows had put the tormas on a rocky outcrop in perfect orders and in an undisturbed condition. Considering this as a divine direction, Palden decided to build the monastery at this place. And this is how Thiksey monastery came in existance.
Glory of the Thiksey monastery
Situated at an altitude of 3600 meters in the Indus valley, Thiksey Gompa is a huge twelve storey complex. It houses many buddhis items like stupas, wall paintings, thangkas (fabric paintings), weapons, sculptures, etc. Buildings in the complex are in ascending order on a hill slope and have a good spacing between them. This monastery shows an architectural resemblance with the Potala Palace in Lhasa. As a result, Thiksey Gompa has title of “Mini Potala”. This house of 60 lamas is red, ochre and white in color. This is a fort monastery of a Central Tibatian Pattern.
Maitreya buddha Thikse Photo by Redtigerxyz Copyrights CC BY-SA 3.0
The monastery has a temple erected to commemorate the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to the Thiskey Gompa. The temple houses a 15 meter high statue of Maitreya Buddha. This is the largest statue of Maitreya Buddha in Ladakh. Generally, we find Maitreya Buddha in a standing position or seated on a high throne. However, the statue in Thiksey is an unusual depiction of Maitreya seating in a lotus position. Shilp Guru Nawang Tsering of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (Leh) guided the local artists to make this statue in clay, copper and gold paint. In addition to this temple, there are temples of goddess Tara and several guardian divinities including Cham-spring – the protector deity of Thiksey.
Recently, the Archeological Survey of India completed the activities of restoration the monastery. However, it created some controversies. Hence, they achieved a balance to the restoration and renovation works to retain the old order in consonance with the new works.
Glimpse of Thiksey
Front of the Thiksey Monastery Photo by Caesardeka Copyrights CC BY-SA 3.0
Shakyamuni Buddha in inner sanctum of the assembly hall Photo by Redtigerxyz Copyrights CC BY-SA 3.0
Thiksey Monastery Gompas Photo by Anilsh59 Copyrights CC BY-SA 4.0
Festivals
Monastery celebrates its annual festival from the 17th to 19th day of the ninth month of the Tibetan calendar (October–November). People perform sacred mask dances as a part of the rituals. Villagers from all over the Ladakh gather at the base of Thiksey monastery and trade their goods during this festival.
I am participating in the A2Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on the ‘T’ challenge. “T is for the Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh”. You can find my other posts from this challenge here.
In the Vedic tradition of Hinduism, people worshiped forces of nature in the form of various deities. The Sun god Surya was one of the important deities of the era. However, Indians built many temples to worship this god. Today we are visiting the most prominent sun temple out of many in India. We are going to Konark to see the ruins of one of the oldest Sun temples of India which once was a magnificent temple complex.
Watercolour drawing of the north side of Surya Temple Konark (1820)
A lithography plate from James Fergusson’s Ancient Architecture in Hindoostan (1847)
Konark sun temple Photo by Chaitali Chowdhury Copyrights CC BY SA 3.0
From the pages of history of Sun temple
Though sun god is a Vedic deity, we have built its temples since the 7th century. Narasimhadve I of Eastern Ganga Dynasty built this particular temple around 1250 CE. The historic documentations of the planning and construction of this temple is written in Sanskrit with Odia script. This writing is in a form of preserved palm leaves manuscripts. These scripts surfaced during an excavation in a nearby village during the 1960s. The king sponsored the construction of the temple on which Siva Samantaraya Mahapatra was the overseer. This new temple site was near the old one. They re-consecrated sculpture of deity from old temple and established in this new larger temple complex. Many copper plates describe the development of the complex and address the temple as “great cottage”.
“Here the language of stone surpasses the language of human”
Rabindranath Tagore about Sun temple Konark.
What can we see at Sun Temple today
Temple had two parts, one mandapa and one inner sanctum called Deul. However, today only mandapa survives the tests of time and stands there with very intricate carvings and sculptures. Old documents suggest that shikhara of deul was around 225 ft high. It is enough to give us an idea about the glorious temple which once stood these grounds. The shape of the temple was that of a giant stone ornamented chariot pulled by 7 horses with 24 huge stone wheels. Wheels are very elaborately carved. If one looks at the temple at dawn from inland, it looks like the chariot is emerging from the ocean. Last standing part of Deul succumbed to the neglect and forces of nature around late 1800.
Chariot Wheels illustrative intricate carving, Photo by Andrew Moore Copyrights CC BY-SA 2.0
Sculpture of a young woman on sun temple konark Photo by H. Grobe Copyright CC BY 3.0
Bansuri player and ghana player at Photo by Mike Prince Copyrights CC BY 2.0
Konark Temple Panorama Photo by Alok Prasad, Copyrights CC BY 3.0
Carvings
Walls are full of carved intricate motifs. There are many sculptures of male and female musicians holding various musical instruments including the vina, mardala, gini, sculptures of Hindu deities, apsaras. You can also see images from the daily life and culture of the people (artha and dharma scenes), various animals, aquatic creatures, birds, legendary creatures, and friezes narrating the Hindu texts. Along with these Konark temple is also famous for its erotic sculptures of maithunas. There are large statues of lions subduing elephants, elephants subduing demons, a warrior and a horse, etc. There was an intricately carved pillar dedicated to Aruna, a chariot marshal of Surya. This piller was in front of eastern stairs of the poarch. But today, the pillar stands in front of the Jagannath temple in Puri.
In popular culture
If you happen to visit this glorious place, don’t forget to check the chariot wheel which appears on the reverse side of our 10 rupees currency note. This signifies the importance of this temple to Indian heritage and culture.
Stone wheel at Konark Sun Temple Photo by Subhrajyoti Copyrights CC BY-SA 4.0
I am participating in the A2Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on the ‘S’ challenge. “S is for the Sun Temple, Konark”. You can find my other posts from this challenge here.
