Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out! Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
At
Sirpur, a dark
room, with every window tightly closed, doubles up as a museum for the rarest
of artifacts discovered here during excavations. Entering the room is like
opening a door into another world, one filled with unimaginable treasures. You don’t
know where to look, what to see first, and what to look closer at – there is so
much to see! My eyes, however were drawn to this one….
She is
no pleasing, beautiful figure. Yet, she is striking. She is emaciated, almost skeletal in appearance.
Her face is terrifying, with teeth so uneven, they look like fangs. She wears a
garland of skulls, and carries two decapitated heads in her hands. She is
seated on a corpse, and jackals are nearby, probably eating it. Entrails hang
from her mouth, and it is evident she has been drinking the blood of her
enemies, the ones she has succeeded in killing.On her stomach, holding the entrails with pincers, is a scorpion! On her matted hair, she wears a
snake, and another snake is coiled around, behind her. In her hand is a khatvanga – a
skull mace.
She
is Chamunda –
the slayer of the demons Chanda and Munda, whose decapitated heads she holds in
her hands. According to the Devi Mahatmyam, she is Kali, who is given the name
Chamunda, to commemorate the killing of the terrifying demons.
I saw
her at Sirpur
in January this year, when I visited Chhattisgarh to attend the SirpurFestival. It is soon going to be a year since I saw her. Yet, her image has
stayed with me.
Recently, in the Indian Aesthetics class
that I am pursuing, there was a discussion on the depiction of the Nava Rasas. When it
came to Bibhatsa, or disgust, I wondered which deity we would look at in such a
manner. And suddenly, she came to mind. She did inspire disgust, and yet we
worship her. Even in this disgust, there is beauty, in the concept itself, so
detailed in imagery; in the symbolism, which extols the virtue of action
against evil, and above all, in the artist, who created her, with such
attention to detail.
Chamunda is believed to be one of the
deities assimilated into Hinduism from tribal societies. She is one of the Sapta
Matrikas, the seven mothers, who are worshipped across the country, in many
forms. I have seen depictions of Chamunda elsewhere, yet this one, has made an
impression, like few others have! Which is why she features today on the blog,
for the third day of Navaratri.
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Really very nice information.. Most of the people are enjoyed this festive. especially in Chhattisgarh more famous of Navaratri time. Really i loved to read this article. thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you Sravani!
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