Ratnachakarma- the carvings in the shape of lotus at Mahabodhi temple

Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya is not only religious place for Boudhas, also an architectural wonder. This is declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. Its built in Gupta Architecture. There is a main Stupa, which has beautiful Budha idol  and many small viharas.
After enlightenment, Goutam Bhuddha spent seven weeks in meditation here. One of these is,  Ratnachakarma. Budha is said to have walked between Animeshlochana temple and Mahabhodhi tree in meditation.Along the path, where Budha walked,it said that lotus sprung.These lotus shaped , cavred rocks make us to visualize the same :

 On a platform also the lotus flower shape is carved:

This was decorated with flowers, so the carvings cannot be seen properly. This is also called Ratnachakarma or the jewel walk. Soon will write about some more carvings in this temple.

 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Model of village and forest - by a crafty woman

I often get emails from many, asking tutorials about crafts, especially on making models. A year ago I had received an email from Ms. Lalita , asking instructions for making street light and forest model for an exhibition in her daughter's school. I had replied that email with some instructions also had shared the links of the posts , 

Model made for an exhibition in School and  Another model of forest made by a creative Mom. 

Though I had requested to send her photos of the model, I didn't receive that. Gradually with time I had forgotten about Lalitha's email . 2-3 days back, I received an email from Lalitha, with the photos of the model she made for Bombehabba. I'm happy to read the reason she had delayed to reply, "She is blessed with baby boy". God bless both mother and the child. 

Thanks to her for sending the pictures of the model. I just loved those models.

 Here is the little village, with little houses, market, temple etc. The Worli painting behind is very attractive.

A small farm , with animals:

A forest, and you can see a tribal couple there :-)

The models of the moral stories ," Monkey and crocodile " and " The thirsty crow":

In all the models here Lalitha's creativity and passion for craft are  seen.  Lalitha with her daughter and dolls arrangements:

Thank you Lalitha , for sharing the photos. I don't know , to what extent the instructions , I had shared with you was helpful to you. But definitely the models you made will help many crafty people.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Ghats of Varanasi-Bank of Ganges

Varanasi , an ancient city of India, famous for temples, spirituality , pilgrims, the river Ganga( Ganges) , and of course the ghats on the banks of Ganga. Ghat is long stretch of steps leading down to the water on the western bank of the Ganges. There are approximately 80 ghats on the bank of river Ganga.
Normally people visit ghats during sunrise. We visited ghats in the evening, because we wanted to attend Ganga Arti . I could click some photos of ghats from the boat:

 

The guide was explaining about many ghats, in that I remember very few, one of those is Scindia Ghat.

  Shiva temple lying partially submerged in the river Ganga.

This is very famous Manikarnika Ghat, where the cremation of dead bodies takes place here throughout day and night:

And the below one is the Dashashwamedha ghat, where, every evening Gaga Arti is performed:

But I feel, the cleanliness of Ganga water is really a serious concern. Hope this will be resolved soon. 

 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Bobbin lace- Desire unfufilled

 When it comes to crafts, I have learnt quite a few of crafts. Some are inherited from my mother, like sewing , crochet, hand embroidery etc. Some I learnt from different craft teachers. Painting and sketching - I never learnt  from anybody, just tried it, sometimes it was good sometimes disaster. I can say,I'm still practising pencil sketching . Every time I make pencil sketching, I  feel I have achieved not even 10% of perfection : (.  While learning tatting , I literally begged a lady to teach tatting. I know , still more to learn, and very long way to go in this arts and crafts world!
Today, when I was trying to clean my crafts materials. I found this kit .This is a bobbin lace making kit I had bought 3 years ago. Hmm... I never got a teacher from whom I could learn this art of converting thread into beautiful laces. I know , you all will suggest me to go through some online tutorials. But I feel, some arts require teacher, who will be  with us to guide  whenever we are stuck, give easy tips to learn fast. Especially in crafts involving threads, there are chances that patience will be lost in case of knots.   I have gone through some of the online tutorials too, tried but in vain.

You may wonder, why I'm so much murmuring about not learning bobbin lace. Any craft lover if sees the bobbin lace would have the desire to  learn this art.

Image courtesy-Wikipedia

Image courtesy-Wikipedia

Bobbin lace making is an amazing craft of converting threads into beautiful laces. Bobbin lace is woven with pairs of threads which are woven on these bobbins.

 The magic of threads getting converted into laces :

Image courtesy-Wikipedia

Its an European art , which spread to many parts of India by Christan missionaries. Now also, in Kanyakumari its an industry, and the laces are exported to Italy.
When I visit Kanyakumari, I will explore more about this craft. Hope, I will find a teacher to fulfill my desire of learning "bobbin lace making"

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Krishna Radha - Beaitiful Idol in bronze.

I'm planning to post tutorials to make different models for school projects. In between, I got an opportunity visit a craft fest . There this beautiful idol of Radha -Krishna was exhibited.

Amazing ! Isn't it? In the image you can see, beautiful Radha -Krishna idols standing on lotus. An arch, on which all the events of  Shri Krishna's life can be seen. 

This is made  by a process- lost was casting of bronze, and ancient metal work practiced in India. About different kinds of metal work I will write in my coming posts.   

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana