I was still rubbing my eyes when Mom woke me up on Sunday morning. I told her sleepily: Ma! I woke up at 4:30 in the morning today! She smiled and said: But you went back to sleep again honey I tried to get cute and cuddle up to her so that she would let me sleep a little longer. But she is my Mom. So she kissed me and ushered me to have a bath. My maternal aunt ( my mom's eldest sister) and her family were coming over. We had planned a trip to Tripureshwari Temple, Udaipur about 57 kms from Agartala, the capital of Tripura.
It is one of the 51 pithasthans (a shrine or sacred place of worship). According to Hindu mythology, when Lord Shiva -the destroyer, enraged by the death of his beloved wife Sati, started his tandav nritya,carrying the corpse on his shoulders, Lord Vishnu- the protector directed his Sudarshan Chakra to cut the body into pieces so that the creation ( shristi )could be saved. The 51 pieces fell on earth and each one became a pithasthan . It is said that the right foot fell where Tripureshwari temple is. So much for myth, it is worth visiting just for the sake of reviving old memories. I make it a point to visit the temple every time I come home.
Back to scene 1. I don't think I could see clearly even after the bath. Mom insisted I wear a saree as I am accustomed to when I visit a temple. Lesson 1# for the day: always tie you own saree. I was running late, so my aunts came to my aid and wrapped it around me. I don't pin a gorgette in the fear that I will ruin it. When I was ready and about to leave- the other members of the trip, which included both my maternal aunts, mesho ( my eldest aunt's husband), my favorite cousin , his newly wedded bride, her parents and her cousin sister were waiting to see me at the dining space. I had a severe wardrobe malfunction and my pallu almost fell off when my Mejo mashi came to my aid and saved the situation. I thought to myself, gritting my teeth- I should have worn a cargo.
Anyways , the rest of the journey was almost eventless. By the time we reached, it was 11 am. the time for bali or sacrifice had begun. I wanted to take a few snaps of the ritual but the I thought I could save my readers the bloodshed.
(to be continued)
Next on my itinerary are (1) the rock cuts and stone carvings of Tripura at Unakoti, which is about 178 kms from Agartala, and 8 kms from Kailashahar and (2) Ujyanta Palace.
You can read more about the temple and its history here
It is one of the 51 pithasthans (a shrine or sacred place of worship). According to Hindu mythology, when Lord Shiva -the destroyer, enraged by the death of his beloved wife Sati, started his tandav nritya,carrying the corpse on his shoulders, Lord Vishnu- the protector directed his Sudarshan Chakra to cut the body into pieces so that the creation ( shristi )could be saved. The 51 pieces fell on earth and each one became a pithasthan . It is said that the right foot fell where Tripureshwari temple is. So much for myth, it is worth visiting just for the sake of reviving old memories. I make it a point to visit the temple every time I come home.
Back to scene 1. I don't think I could see clearly even after the bath. Mom insisted I wear a saree as I am accustomed to when I visit a temple. Lesson 1# for the day: always tie you own saree. I was running late, so my aunts came to my aid and wrapped it around me. I don't pin a gorgette in the fear that I will ruin it. When I was ready and about to leave- the other members of the trip, which included both my maternal aunts, mesho ( my eldest aunt's husband), my favorite cousin , his newly wedded bride, her parents and her cousin sister were waiting to see me at the dining space. I had a severe wardrobe malfunction and my pallu almost fell off when my Mejo mashi came to my aid and saved the situation. I thought to myself, gritting my teeth- I should have worn a cargo.
Anyways , the rest of the journey was almost eventless. By the time we reached, it was 11 am. the time for bali or sacrifice had begun. I wanted to take a few snaps of the ritual but the I thought I could save my readers the bloodshed.
(to be continued)
Next on my itinerary are (1) the rock cuts and stone carvings of Tripura at Unakoti, which is about 178 kms from Agartala, and 8 kms from Kailashahar and (2) Ujyanta Palace.
You can read more about the temple and its history here
19 comments:
hi aparna,
got here through Abhinav's.
can you tag this guy please?
his replies should be fun.
and btw, at the cost of sounding cliched - nice blog.
this should be nice story to read...
more greenery pls :-)
nice presentation Aparna.. and thanks for the virtual tour :)
Quite informative i must say...
I wish you had posted it when i was taking a South Asian culture course :)
A good effort in documentary mode
Cool visuals...
Any lessons for guys also?! :P
u got pics ... cool!!!
at least my desire to travel is virtually realized ...
waiting for more
Nice post... We are waiting for some good photographs from Unokuti and Nirmahal.
Hi,Aparna...nice,err,historical post..and,amusing,too,the pallu part,et al..I do hope the visit to the rock cuts and stone carvings is not in a Sari.:)Cheers.TC.
Liked the post. And hence, subscribed it in Google reader. Cheers
interesting... waiting to read more about it & looking forward to more pictures :)
Virtual tour was awesome... Will definitely check out the rest of your blog! You write well...
Good to see u're having a nice vacation back home, getting in touch with your roots.. those are always memorable..
You know, I didn't know there was a Udaipur somewhere other than Rajasthan.. shows how little the rest of the country knows about the North East..
nice blog...n an interesting way of showing pics using the slideshow
commendable writings!!
@zoxcleb, arun, preeti, abir, rizu, srividya
There's more for you guys :)
@raaji
It's never too late :P
@naresh
If guys wear a dhoti, they should tie the knot themselves :D
@ amitl
Lol. No. I kept to jeans
@kalyan , prashant, amit, devesh
Thanks
@ still searching
Still learning.. we all are :)
Hey,brilliant lines. Your writings are worth a gem!!..
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