Temple Trails : Dr Abdul Kalam Memorial

After enjoying the spiritual bliss of morning at Rameshwaram temple and spending the first half exploring some other temples in and around Rameshwaram (you can click here to read about our journey from the beginning) it was time to give a break to temple Trails and move on to something different. Bhai jab Safar per nikle hai toh Sab ki pasand  dekni padti hai....this was for me and my daughter. Both of us are great fan of Dr Abdul Kalam so it was but natural that visiting the Kalam memorial was just on my to do list. As instructed my auto guy was at my hotel by 3:30 pm and we were on our way to Abdul Kalam memorial.

Front of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial

Dr Abdul Kalam needs no introduction but yet I would like to dedicate few lines for him. Dr Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India but before that he associated with DRDO for almost 4 decades as Scientist and Science Administrator with ISRO. He was fondly known as Missile Man of India for is work in Space programs.

on 15th July 2015, while delivering a lecture in Shillong he collapsed and died due to cardiac arrest. 

In case if you want know in depth about the life of Dr Abdul Kalam click here 

The Memorial is built on a 2.11 acre land infact its also supposed to be the grave site of Dr Abdul Kalam  and the bronze life size statue of Abdul Kalam, which was inaugurated in 2016, has been shifted and installed behind the memorial. Inside the memorial there are four halls which depict the life and time of Dr Abdul Kalam. 

Chettinad Door at the memorial.

The entrance of the memorial depicts the India Gate and has a Chettinad door integrated into the structure, while the main dome of the building is a replica of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. However we didn't enter through this as the authorities have kept it closed and instead they use the side entrance.

The Defence Research and Development organisation (DRDO) with which Dr Abdul Kalam was associated for many years, came up with an initiative to construct this memorial. An investment of Rs 120 crores were spent for its construction and it was completed in record time of 9 months.

The memorial of Abdul Kalam is very beautiful and it showcases the entire events during the lifetime of Dr Abdul Kalam. His statue and his office transport you to Kalam world. As photography is not allowed inside the memorial building hence I am unable to share the pictures however I can share my experience.

There was this room where they had displayed the things Dr Kalam was carrying on the day when he died. His clothes, his slippers, his glasses , his comb brush .....looking at  these things, I got goosebumps, I could feel Kalam Ji in my soul. Seriously speaking it was a spiritual experience that I was feeling which was passing through me. I don't know what would have happened to me if I could have simply touched those things that were on display. Then there a room where different awards that he received Dr Kalam received were displayed viz, Padma bhushan, Padma Vibhushan , Bharat Ratan etc. 

I was actually perturbed for not been able to take photos of such lovely memories, I found this very strange because world over people are allowed to take pictures in such kind of memorials. I researched as to why photos were not allowed when I came across an article which gave the Reason for this no photos rule.  (Click on the link to know)

Dazed I came out of the museum, an experience that will always remain with me, because today I brushed with the legend whom I had the good fortune of seeing once when he was  alive, only then I was not knowing how great his personality was.

Outside the museum one is allowed to click pictures so I took the opportunity to make hay where it is allowed 😂

Everyone knows that Dr Kalam loved children, perhaps that must be the reason of putting up copper  statues of children playing and many others can be seen on the outside of the memorial.

There is also replica model of rocket in the lawn behind the memorial. I was told that there is an auditorium, planetarium and a library, however I was not able to visit the same. 

After visiting the memorial we moved on to Pambam bridge, You must be wondering what's so great about this bridge, because a bridge is a bridge. Ab yeh bridge ki baat hi kuch nirali hai

Well friends stay tuned for my next blog on Pambam bridge.

Click here to read from the beginning about our journey on temple trails.

Thank you from our team.

Temple Trails: Ramanathaswamy Temple-Rameshwaram | Day 2

Click here to read about Day-1


Day 2: 06th Oct 2018

The alarm on my mobile was ringing out loudly, jolting me out of my deep slumber.I wriggled out of my soft bed feeling the coldness of the AC, slowly I moved towards the table where my mobile was kept and checked the time on my mobile. I was 4:30 am. Normally I don't wake up so early in Mumbai but then I was not in Mumbai I was in the holy town of Rameshwaram and here the life starts full on at such unearthly hours.

Early Morning at Rameshwaram 

It was 5:30 am when we left our hotel to go to Rameshwaram Temple, Our hotel was at a walkable distance to the temple,so we started walking through the narrow sandy lanes, with small houses on each side and in few minutes we reached at Agni Theerthaam.

You must be wondering what is this Agni Theertham, well let me give you some info on this.

Agni theerthaam is nothing but a  small part of the sea just near the temple where the devotees take a dip in the ocean before proceeding to the Rameshwaram Temple.

Agni Theerthaam

Agni theerthaam is one of the 64 sacred baths in Rameshwaram, it is one of the most important theertham and receives a large number of tourists each day. Located on the beach side of Sri Ramanathaswamy temple, Agnitheertham is the only theertham situated outside the temple complex.

People perform religious ceremonies on the beach
 at Agni Theertham

Holy rituals such as prohithams, yangnya(yaham), tharpanam(ritual for the ancestors who were dead) are performed on the shores of Agni Theertham. Amavasya or No moon day and Poornima or Full Moon day is considered to be the most auspicious day for taking the holy Dip.

Gate at Agni Theertham

Legend and Agni Theertham:

Indian Pilgrim places are never short of myths or tales so naturally how can Agni Theertham escape from it. You see Sea and then you hear the word Agni which means Fire, Baat kuch hazam nai hui bahut confusion tha dimag me, hence I enquired with one of the local guys, so he started to narrate the tale as to how Agni Theertham got it's name,  It so happened that after winning the war over Ravana and saving Sita from the clutches of Ravana, one day Ram overheard a washerman shouting at his wife that he is no Ram that he will accept her just like Sita , who was with Ravana during her captivity. Who knows whether she is pure or not !! Hearing this Rama asked Sita to prove her purity as to whether she was touched by Ravana or not, Sita was hurt and furious but she didnt say anything. She requested Laksham the younger brother of Ram to set up a Funeral Pyre and once it was done She simply entered the flame of fire to prove her purity. 

Sita's Agni Pareeksha (Pic source internet)

She prayed to Fire God to protect her if she is pure and Sinless.Because Sita was pure, the fire didn't burn her and Fire god appeared before Lord Rama and said to Lord Rama "Your Sita is pure Please take her to Ayodhya with you". It is believed that because  Fire or Agni god touched a pure and sinless woman like Sita, thereby committed a sin,The fire god therefore, then prays to Lord Shiva to cleanse him of his sin and takes bath in this ocean waters, Thus the name Agni Theertham. 

Offering prayers at Agni Theertham

We too took the holy dip, hoping to cleanse our sins and soaked in all the energy of the morning sunrise and moved on to go to the temple.

Hired a local priest from outside the temple

As we were going to the temple we were approached by a local priest who ensured us of proper darshans and holy bathing at the 22 Wells of the temple. We paid him Rs.1500 for his service. We could have done this on our own too but just how you take a guide to understand a particular monument I felt, Let the priest be my guide today. 

View of Rameshwaram Temple from my Hotel terrace

Rameshwaram Temple :

Rameshwaram Temple is also known as Ramanathaswamy Temple.

Just like Meenakshi temple here to you are not allowed to carry camera, or mobile phones inside the temple.

Legend:

This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and there is a legend behind the construction of this Temple, accordingly to which Lord Rama while returning from Lanka prayed to Lord Shiva to absolve him from the sin of killing a Brahmin ( read Ravan here) Lord Rama wanted large lingam to pray so he instructed Humuman to get lingam from the Himalayas. However he was late in bringing the lingam so Sita quickly made a small lingam out of the sand available on the nearby seashore.

Some interesting facts:

1.It's one of the 12 jyotilingam in India.

2. It is also one of the dham out of the Chardhams, other three being Bhadrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Incidentally with the visit of Rameshwaram Im done with my Chardhams pilgrimage.

Char Dham of India (Picture source internet)

3.There are two lingams inside the sanctum - one built by Sita, from sand, residing as the main deity, Ramalingam and the one brought by Hanuman from Kailash called Vishwalingam. Lord Rama instructed that the Vishwalingam should be worshiped first since it was brought by Hanuman - the tradition continues even today.

4.There are 22 wells or Theertham inside the temple.beginning from Mahalakshmi, followed by Gayatri, Savitri, Saraswathi, Gavya, Gavyaksha, Nala, Neela, Sethumadhava, Gandhamadhava, Brahmahatya Vimochana, Shanku, Surya, Chandra, Chakra, Shiva, Sarva, Satyamrita, Gaya, Ganga, Yamuna and finally Kodi which is supposedly equivalent to a dip in the Ganges River,

5. Like most of the temples in South India this temple too has a tall boundary or compound wall admeasuring about 865 feet from east to west and 657 feet from north to south.

Colourful Corridors of the temple (Picture source internet)

6. The outer set of corridors is reputed to be the longest in the world, measuring about 6.9 m in height, 400 feet each in the east and west and about 640 feet in the north and the south.

I think I have given you enough information, but if you still want to dig in more click here to read.

Our Journey:

Now let us move on to our journey. We deposited our shoes at the shoe stand near the temple. We then proceeded to buy tickets for taking bath of 22 Wells. Luckily for us, as we had hired this local priest he bought the tickets and we were on course moving from one well to another and the priest pouring well water on us. Even though we were all wet, It was indeed amazing experience for us.

All wet after bathing in 22 wells
at Rameshwaram Temple

 Once we were done with this we changed into the dry clothes that we were carrying with us. (They allow you to carry your clothes) mind you the changing room is just a kind of enclosure with no roof, I wish at least for ladies section they should build a decent changing room.( It's sad that this temples get so many people from all over the places and yet they cannot provide for basic necessities) I changed into the lungi..oops sorry my South Indian friends corrected me,said it was not lungi but veshti.

When in South, be a south Indian !!

 We had darshan of Lord Shiva and moved out of the temple.

As photography is not allowed within the temple premises so sorry I cannot share many photos of the temple itself from inside.

We now decided to explore the local places in Rameshwaram, so please wait for my next blog on our local sightseeing of the Rameshwaram town. Till then have a great time.

PS. If you wish to read about my journey from the beginning please click here

How to Reach Rameshwaram:

By Air: Rameshwaram do not have an airport.Madurai Airport is the nearest airport(149kms)

By Rail : Rameshwaram Station is well connected with most of the major train routes.

By Bus: Rameshwaram is well connected with State Transport running regular buses, There is a regular bus services from Madurai (almost every 30 minutes)

Rukmini Devi Temple | Dwarka | Gujarat Series

After visiting  Bet Dwarka (click here to read) and spending those enchanting moments with the seagulls chasing our boat till we reached Okha port was indeed a memory which shall remain embedded in my mind forever.

Boats leaving the Bet Dwarka

We were given 2 hours time for sightseeing by our auto driver and we were quite late and honestly I was dreading the moment when I have to meet him now. One look and I knew I was in trouble because I could see he was red with rage and he angrily blurted out " Arre kitna time laga aap logo ko, Parking me mere sath aur mere baad wale sab nikal gaye". I somehow pacified him and offered him few more bucks and we were on course. 

It was a long and bumpy drive with me sitting on the edge of the front seat again,but the major problem for me now was no only to sit on the edge but also to keep myself awake. I don't know, but I was feeling very tired and sleepy and sitting on the front seat I was sure that I cannot afford to fall asleep "Pata chala Weekend Wanderer, Auto se bahar wandering karne nikal liye" 😁.

Bumpy ride on auto

This drive of approx. 30 kms almost took more than an hour to reach  Rukmani Devi Temple. Luckily for us there was not much of a crowd at the temple. I thought this time around we will quickly see the temple and come back. Per yeh ho na saka ! because the Pundit at the temple had some different plans! He told us to wait for 10 minutes. I  asked punditji darshan kyo rok diye , He smiled and sarcastically replied " arre mandir me aaye ho kuch der dhyan lagao, 5-10 minute tak bhajan karo, 10 minute aise hi guzar jayenge'. I was wondering why he did this? but soon after some time I got the answer to that. Actually the head Pundit wanted to ensure that there was a sizeable number of people so that he can start his narration about the temple and more importantly he wanted to collect donation for water tanker Yes Water tanker! (They have this system that the devotee can donate money, depending upon the amount one can donate few litres or full tanker , the donation starts from 200 Rs to thousands) I was actually annoyed that he made us wait and waste our time so that he can get audience, just for this money thing.

Rukmani Temple (source Wikimedia)

Before talking about Rukmani temple, Let me give you the backstory as regards to who was Devi Rukmani and why this temple is called Rukmani Devi Temple. As the name suggest this temple is of Rukmani Devi one of the important queen out of  16108 wives! of lord Krishna.

We all know that Goddess Laxmi is eternal companion of Lord Vishnu. So when Lord Vishnu took Krishna Avatar, Goddess Laxmi took the form of Princess Rukmani devi. Princess Rukmani Devi was the only sister of her 5 brothers, She has heard so much about the valour of the Krishna from the visitors who came to their court that she was enamored by the divine beauty of Lord Krishna hence she decided that she will marry only Lord Krishna and no one else. All family members were happy and agreeable to her choice of Krishna except her elder brother who wanted to marry Rukhmani to the powerful king Shishupala.

Cravings on exterior of the temple

When Rukmani came to know about this she was very sad and agitated, she realised that her elder brother wont let her marry Krishna hence she decided to send a message to Lord Krishna professing her love for him and asking him to take her away from here and this forced marriage. She then handed this to her trusted messenger to be delivered to lord Krishna.When Lord Krishna started to read the letter he realised it was a love letter from a anguished soul who was absolutely in love with Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna then eloped with Princess Rukmani and they both came to the village of Madhavpur Ghed and got married at this place. In the memory of this event a temple for Lord Madhavrai was built and every year celebration takes place of this event in a cultural fair. After few days Lord Krishna married Princess Rukmani with great pomp at Dwarka. 

Taking about love letter I remember the Head priest saying that there are only two places where one can see this love letter one is at this temple and other in some scripture.

Well this was the backstory of Princess Rukmani. Now the question arises why the temple of Rukmani is here, I mean 2 kms away from the Lord Krishna's Dwarkadhish Temple.

So another story time here again. As per the legend After the marriage of lord Krishna and Rukmani they wanted to invite Sage Durvasa  for the feast. , He agreed to come for the feast but on one condition that Lord Krishna should sent for a chariot to pick him up and the said chariot must be not pulled by horses but by Lord Krishna and Rukmani, as sage Durvasa was known for his short temper so both Krishna and Rukmani agreed to this condition. As they were pulling the Chariot due to excessive heat Rukmani felt thirst and requested Krishna for the water. Krishna with his feet toe prodded the earth to drew Ganges for providing water.  Rukhmani quickly quenched her thirst with the water however this made sage Durvasa very angry because he felt insulted that Rukhmani didnt ask him first for the drink so in his anger he cursed her she and lord Krishna will live seperately and indeed they lived seperately for 12 years. While Lord Krishna lived in Dwarka and devi Rukmani did tapashcharya in the forset outside Dwarka and Thus we see this temple of Devi Rukmani outside the Dwarka city. 

when you hear all these tales I feel one gets transported to another era. Actually these are the reasons that travelling is something I am so fond of. As far as the temple goes one can see intricate carvings on the outer side of the temple. 

We paid our respect to Devi Rukmani and moved towards Dwarka to visit Dwarkadhish Temple.

Chandori Temples: A Forgotten Legacy

Few days back there was this news in Times of India newspaper which I came across and  which set the ball rolling for my next exploration.

The news was that in the village of Chandori, few temples which has got submerged under the Godavari waters have resurfaced again and that too after 34 years!, The reason behind the resurfacing of these temples were the drought like conditions in the state of Maharashtra  which has lead to drying of the Godavari river bed.

Dry river bed of Godavari river

Once this fact became known to me, I was restless to be there,for the simple reason that if it rains again, its quite possible that I may lose the opportunity to explore this submerged legacy.

Submerged Legacy

It is not everyday that you get an opportunity to witness something which is lying submerged for past 34 years under the flowing waters of Godavari river.

Past glory

Now the next step was to see how I can reach this place, luckily for me my friend Shashi called me and asked can I join him for the visit to Chandori Temples. Well now this is what I call Law of attraction at its best and without blinking my eyelids I said I was in.

We all left on Saturday night taking a last fast Kasara local train and by the time we reached Kasara Station it was 1.30 am. From Kasara we had booked Jeep to take us to the base Village. Following the google map we reached the Chandori Village.Upon reaching the Chandori Village we took a right turn from the highway to enter the village, as it was 3;45 am so asking for direction was itself a task as not a soul could be seem. Anyways a little drive into the village and we were near this Temple.

Temple from where the path from right side leads  to the Godavari river

It was quite dark when we reached here luckily for us we found one villager who informed us that we were on right way and the Godavari river is just behind this temple but one has to take a little walk to the right side from the side of this temple.One thing that was very surprising was the coolness in the weather and the breeze flowing in the village.It was decided that we would go down the river side in the morning and check out the temples as it was dark but then wanderers are wanderers so few of us started to walk to have a sneak preview of the temples.

Sneak preview

Exploration under full moon

I simply cannot describe you the beauty of the place, especially when you are able to see only deserted ruins drenched in the milky moonlight of full moon and with cool breeze humoring you. Well it was a sight to die for. How I wish I could capture that real moment on camera but my camera is not so efficient to do so still here I am.

Deserted temples drenched in the milky moonlight of full moon

We again came back to the temple and decided to catch little sleep, hence we slept on the floor of the temple till the day break.Most of us were not able to sleep as the breeze was blowing very furiously and it was too chilly, mind you all this during the times when average climate in Maharashra is 40 degree furnace hot.

Caught napping 

Oh ! I  simply loved this place. As I was not carrying any bed sheet so for me the sleeping proved to be quite challenging.

Sun was yet to come out, and we were all eager now to go and explore the Chandori Temples Legacy, so we all regrouped and started our walk all over. Moving from the right and a little walk of 2 minutes we come across a this bridge.

River bridge and temples behind it

Walking little further from the temple we come across this bridge which joins the Chandori to Saykheda village and behind this bridge one can see a series of small temples on the river bed and the on the other side of the river the sun was rising in all its glory, painting the scenery all around in golden sheet.

The golden sunlight lit these temples in such a manner that one could feel the magic of bygone era.These temple are in a row one after the other but at little distance.

Temples in a row

Today luckily for us the place was devoid of any water today hence we would be able to explore each and every temple inside out.  

Temples standing as on today

Few of our friends had visited this place 3 weeks back and they found these temple partially submerged in water hence they had little difficulty to check out from inside. I am sharing the pictures they clicked 3 weeks earlier.

Partially submerged temples clicked 3 weeks earlier ( PC:Vinay Y Jadhav)

The interesting thing about all these temples was that each of them had a shivling. In a way we can say that each of the temple is Shiva temple. 

Innumerable shivlings

Another most baffling thing was that there was more than 20 nos of shivling lying here and there and almost everywhere. For a moment I thought Am I I missing something? lots of mystery surrounds this temple I must say viz like how come so many shivlings, rarely I have seen series of temples with only one deity.Indeed I was feeling puzzled.  

Shivling here

Shivling there

Shivlings everywhere

Not much information is available about these temples on the internet and neither the locals could give us any useful information. No doubt they have cleaned the temples from inside and offered prayers too.At some places people who had visited had put flowers and garlands on the deities.

Garlanded Idols

Another garlanded Idol

I could not find much history about this place on the net, matter of fact even the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) has no record of these temples except for the fact that the villagers last saw these temples in the year 1982. According to one of the reports that I read on net was that during the year 1907 Nandur Madyameshwar dam was built (Reference Nashik Gazetteer) resultant to that the water's course went over these temples and they got submerged under the waters.Since last 100 years only twice these temples could be seen this been the 3 time, otherwise mostly their top domes were visible.

3 weeks earlier picture (PC: Vinay Y Jadhav)

It was now time for us to start our exploration. Moving down from the bridge we checked out the temple nearest to the bridge. 

Visit to our first temple

The front portion of the this temple is under debris perhaps due to this reason one can see only the head of the Nandi idol rest of the body buried under the stones.

Sunken idol of Nandi

There were two idols on each side on the outer side of the temple.

Ganpati carved on outer side 

The carving on the temples are quite exquisite 

Exquisite carvings on the temple
(PC: Vinay Y Jadhav) 

Exquisite carvings on the temple 
(PC: Vinay Y Jadhav) 

I am sharing pictures of my friend Vinay Jadhav who had visited this place 3 weeks earlier because that will help you understand how different the whole complex looked with water still being there.

Pic taken on 1st may 2016

 From here we moved on to the next temple. most of the temples were of similar pattern except for the last which is of Indra god.Few temples has this kind of embankment.

Embankment around the temple

A little ahead of these temples we find a proper ghat with well laid out steps, In current times the villager use this spot for washing clothes and bathing.

Ghats been used for bathing

We relaxed here for a bit of a time and then moved on to the last temple which is also know as Indra temple. 

Indra temple with 2 real snakes
( PC: Vinay y Jadhav)

Watching all this neglected historical legacy of temples and idols scattered around like some waste garbage. I was not only pained and hurt but felt helpless and frustrated as to why nothing can be done to protect and salvage such beautiful architecture.

History or garbage

Is this the way to treat the national treasures

Utter Filth 

People worship God, Go for char dham yatra and what not, but are not at all pained to see how brutally these temple embellishments and idols are left at the mercy of nature to be seen floating around in the dirty waters.

Seeing all this I want to make a humble request to, then be it Govt of India or some NGO to come forward and adopt this site. Reconstruction can be done of these temples especially with the modern technology available.The local Sarpanch should make an effort to bring their village on map as a popular tourism spot.

Now that these temples have emerged and can be seen. Every effort must be made to see that this wonderful piece of history don't dissolves away into oblivion and remains only as news that these temples were seen third time during the year 2016.

With heavy heart and lots of questions in my mind  I left from Chandori Village to explore a new destination Kugaon Killa aka Inamdarancha wada( Click here to read out our new journey)  because I believe the journey of Weekend Wanderer is ever ongoing !!

Links:
Shashikant Dumbre Picture set of Chandori

Chandori Temples Journey video ( Click here for the video Film)

Special Thanks to Shri Vinay Jadhav for allowing few of his pictures for this blog.