Stupas in Mahabodhi temple- Bodhgaya

The Mohabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, is not only spiritual place for Buddhist , also an evidence of architecture wonder of Mourya dynasty. Its recognized as World Heritage Monuments in India. Stupas play very important role in Buddhism practice. Stupa in Sanskrit means heap. Some of the  major Stupas in India include, Sanchi Stupa, Mabodhi Stupa of Bodhgaya and  Dhamek Stupa of Sarnat. You can read about the details of Stupa here. The stupas are very significant in Buddhism. Its believed building a stupa is considered extremely beneficial in Buddhism.

 

   The main stupa has a beautiful idol of Buddha, and surrounding the main stupa there are many small stupas. If one goes round the main stupa, can find many devotees  engaged in meditation.

The different kind of the carvings on the stupas, attracted me the most.All the stupas have dome shaped structure with carved idols of Buddha.

This one was near the entrance , you can notice Buddha idols of different shapes on the Stupa.

 This is the closer view of the carvings. Some had carvings of very small idols of Buddha in many rows:

This stupa is in front of the Mahabodhi temple, this is small stupa with Buddha idol carved on it.

There are many such stupas in Mahabodhi temple , each telling story of Buddha and leading his devotees towards peace.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

each telling a story about the great Buddha

each telling a story about the great Buddha

Peacock design- carving on Mahabodhi temple

It has been quite sometimes that I had planned to share peacock designs. .  The perfect blend of enchanting colors o the peacock feather, and the pattern have made it used in many forms of arts and crafts.

Image courtesy- Wikipedia

 I had designed a saree using glitter paint  and a dress with peacock design.  I love to work for some more sarees with peacock designs. Almost all forms of Indian arts and crafts are influenced by peacock designs, may be its Rangoli, embroidery designs, jewel designs, mehandi designs, wood work or carvings in temples. Let me start the series of posts on peacock design with this carving on the walls  Mahabodhi temple of Bodhgaya.  

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On the outer walls of Mahabodhi temple  there is carvings of Buddha is different meditation postures. Below that the design of two peacocks heading each other is carved.
In another carving the design is  different , the two peacocks are holding a bead strand together.

Both have very beautiful peacock designs.I'm planning to use in my next project of embroidery. Will share the designs once it is completed. I feel it can be used in Rangolis and paintings too. What do you opine?

I will share many more peacock designs in coming posts, in the section: Mayuri

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Horizontal arrays of sculptures- Beauty of Hoysala Architecture

The sculptures in horizontal arrays at the base of the temple is another unique feature of Hoysala temple architecture .
When I had been to Keshva temple at Somanathpura, I captured the sculptural beauty. The base is star shaped , and on top of the different sculptures in arrays:

The top row has beautiful sculptures of peacocks,

The second row is a imaginary animal. The guide told its combination of pig and rhino:

The third row is warriors on chariot :

And finely carved vine and floral designs:

The guide told us , if its observed carefully, no two sculptures are same in design. That shows the skill of the artists. I could observe some more interesting features in this architecture. Will share about in coming posts.
About another unique feature , beautiful carvings on ceilings  , you can read in my previous post. 

 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Carvings on ceiling -unique feature in Hoysala temples

Hoysala dynasty is one of the powerful dynasties ruled Karnataka. History says , they were brave as well as patrons of arts. There are  many temples  in Karanataka built by Hoysalas which witness their love for arts and architecture.

The Hosysala temple architecture shows many unique features, like intricate carvings, star shaped platform , carving of ornaments on the idols , arrays of stone sculptures and two towers. I had the opportunity to visit two Hoysala temples, Somanathpura and Amrutheshwara temples. I have captured the these features and sharing with you.

Some of the features like star shaped platform, two towers and intricate carvings can be seen in this image:

 

I have shared about the ornamentation on idols ( Somanathpura Temple-Carved ornaments in Hoysala Architecture) and carvings on the walls (Amruteshwara Temple-Rich heritage of Karnataka(India)) Another  feature of Hoysala architecture is symmetrical carvings in circular shape on the ceilings. 

These are the carvings on ceilings of Somanathpura temple:

 Closer view of the carvings :

   The symmetrical designs are carved in circular shape and in the center the bud shape is carved:

 

The patterns are different in each circular carving:

 Does it not look like lotus flower? The craftsmanship is really amazing.

Same kind of circular carvings are on ceilings of Amrutheshwari temple, another temple built by Hoysalas:

Another unique feature of Hoysala architecture is wall panel with  horizontal arrays of sculptures. I will share about that in the next post.

Until then, 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Is it Ikebana?

Recently I visited Bodh Gaya temple. Its a pilgrimage place of Buddhists.  When I visited Bodh Gaya  , I could see  many disciples from all over the world. In that some devotees from Japan, were meditating in front of the Maha Bodhi Tree( where Budha attained enlightenment). Though they were in a group of 25-30, it was very calm there. What attracted me, was the flower arrangement made there.

 

Here are the closer view of the flower arrngement:

The combination of  Orange flowers with Green leaves was eye catching :

You can see the white buds on the tip of the artistically arranged leaves. Here is the close view :

From side also it was looking very beautiful, like temple.

 

This was the flower arrangement made behind Maha Bodhi tree:

 

Isn't this flower arrangement very unique? I don't have knowledge of Ikebana ( Japanese art of flower arrangements) ,as there were many Japanese pilgrims meditating there at that moment, I thought it must be Ikebana. 

Is it Ikebana?Anyone of you know about this kind of flower arrangement ?

 

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Buddha statue at BodhGaya- Personification of Peace

I visited  BodhGaya(in Bihar),the holy place where Buddha attained enlightenment. The stupa(Bhuddist temple structure) was built by Great Emperor Ashoka.

 

This   is an example of architectural genre of the Maurya dynasty. This stupa is one of the 84000 shrines erected by King Ashoka. Around the stupa there is Vihara(or Garden with many small stupas), about which I will share in the coming post. The temple has undergone many renovation.

When I entered the temple I could see the statue of Biddha. When I saw it while entering, I felt its personification of peace.

 

On top of the  statue the roof is also carved: 

And on the seat also some carvings can be seen :

The height of this statue is 2 metres and it is considered as the largest statue of Buddha in seated position.The Buddha statue is carved as seated cross legged , with one hand pointing to the earth .

This statue was created first in black stone then painted with gold by pilgrims.

With all the disciples  , even I started walking towards the statue.I felt , the calm facial expression attracted towards it.

I was unknowingly walking towards that.As I  walked towards the statue, the beauty of the statue filled my eyes.

 

Anybody can be attracted to this face which is filled with peace. I remembered the story of the mad elephant which was rushed towards Buddha. I realized why it returned without doing any harm to him. I took the capture of divinity very closely, we can only see kindness, calmness , peace and love!

With all other devotees I also bowed to the statue. While coming back I turned many times to see the personification of peace again and again.

Still more share about Mahabodhi temple. Wait for my next posts.

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana

Dhareshwara- Don't miss to visit this ancient temple

If you are traveling on NH 17 connecting Mangalore and Goa, then don't miss to visit this small ancient temple- Dhareshwara. I don't know the exact time of construction of this temple. It is one of the five temples which has Atmalinga, so I guess these five temples must be constructed at same time.
Other five temples are :

• Mahabaleshwara – Gokarna
• Sajjeshwar – Near Karwar
• Dhareshwar –On NH 17 between Mangalore and Goa
• Gunavanteshwar –On NH 17 between Mangalore and Goa
• Murudeshwar – This temple is also on NH17, about which I have already written in the following posts:  
• Murudeshwara- Temple on Seashore
• Murudeshwara- The story of Aatmalinga
  
  
  Its a very small temple. This is how it looks ,
  
  There is a small pond, (Pushkarani) in front of the temple:
  
  
  
  Entrance of the temple :
  
  Once yo enter the temple, yo can see beautifully carved interior of the temple 
  
  
  
   
  Some sculptress on the exterior of the temple: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
   Though its small temple, attracts because of its ancient history. What I am feeling is it should be maintained properly.But its worth to give a visit to this temple, if you are traveling on NH17 connecting Mangalore and Goa.
  Many more to share with you, but in next posts,
  
  
   Until then,
  Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,
  -Ranjana
  
  

Interesting Sculptures - Dancing Nataraja Of Badami cave temple

Badami-Aihole-Pattadakallu is the ancient architectural wonder in Karnataka. If you are lover of history, and ancient architecture, you should visit this place. You can read more about Badami-Aihole-Pattadakallu, in this article.
Badami is famous for the cave temple located there. This has four cave temples, situated one above the other.

I have already shared about an interesting sculpture carved on the  pillars of the cave temple in one of my earlier posts.
In this post sharing about another interesting sculpture. The first cave temple has the sculptures related to Hindu God Shiva. This sculpture is located to the right side to the entrance of the temple.

 

You can see Lord Shiva in the form of Nataraja (King of Dance-literal meaning), beside a small idol of Lord Ganesha(Son of Lord Shiva)

Here is the closer view:

 

It can be observed that, there are totally 18 arms, 9 on each sides. The significance of this sculpture is  - each combination of the hands represents Mudras of Bharatanatyam ( a form of Indian classical dance). Totally 81 mudras are depicted in this sculpture.

 And Lord Ganesha is enjoying the dance I guess ! Or is he trying to learn the steps?

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana 

Somanathpura Temple-Carved ornaments in Hoysala Architecture

After another break back to blogosphere. Whenever I take break from blogging, I come back with a decision, that I should not take a break again. But somehow not able to keep it. This time decided, at-least weekly once update my blog with post about my works in arts and crafts, and interesting information about arts and crafts.
OK, this time taking you to see the intricate design of ornaments carved on each idols of Somanathpura temple. Somanathpura Channkeshwara Temple is in Mysore district.This is built in Hoysala Architecture. You can read about Somanathapura temple here. I have visited this temple twice and also shared about the unique Laxmi sclupture  in one of the posts. To really understand the architecture and sculpture I feel , at-least 3-4 visits are required.

                                  Channakeshwara Temple- Somanathapura

 

The Hoysala Architecture of building temple is very interesting. You can read about Hoysala Architecture here.
I loved the intricate ornaments(obvious for a woman to get attracted towards jewels, whether its on sclupture on another woman :-)) carving on  the sculpture.

 

Closer view of the ornaments such as  pendants, necklaces, waistbands etc.

 Who will not be mesmerized by them? So ladies reading this post , aren't the designs very tempting? So you can plan to order the jeweleries with same design :-)

Soon share about some more sculptures and temples I visited. And sure will share about my works in arts and crafts also.

Until then

Love , laugh and live the life to the fullest,

-Ranjana