Category: India
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Showing off
This priest can boast of looking after the biggest lingam and – matching – yoni in Hampi, once the capital of the old Vijayanagar Empire. It looks as if he is suffering under the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. At the Kalinjar Fort in Uttar Pradesh (see earlier post) I once let myself be talked into…
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Lingam and yoni
or Shiva and Parvati The blissful union of Shiva and Parvati finds its ultimate expression in the combination of their sexes. In an earlier post you can read a short citation from the Brhaddharma Purana explaining the essence of the lingam and yoni idea. It is the form in which life, creation, the universe, is venerated by hindus…
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Shiva and Parvati
In last few weeks’ posts we have identified the creative aspect of Shiva in his ithyphallic representation. But without his female half, Shiva is incomplete and deprived of his creative powers. In the image above, Shiva’s consort Parvati is seated next to him. Together they are the two complementary poles of one whole, and it…
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Ithyphallic Shiva Nataraj
In last week’s post we saw the ancient sculpture of an ithyphallic dancing Shiva inside Kalinjar Fort in Uttar Pradesh. Here we have one on a 9th century temple in Bhubaneshvar, Orissa. It is better preserved, with the erect phallus clearly visible. This may be due to its high placement on the temple wall, out…
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Kalinjar Fort
Kalinjar means ‘the destroyer of time’ and thus refers to Shiva, who next to Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver, takes care of this part in the eternal cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. However, apart from being the destroyer, Shiva is at the same time very much regarded as creator, which explains his prominent…
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Sex room
Bars, restaurants, toilets, smoking rooms, prayer rooms, ….. : Airports cater to all kinds of human needs. But a – tax free – sex room I haven’t come across as yet. Photo of the week: New Delhi International Airport, India 2015
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The road herd, cushion-footed
This time, for a change, we were not obliged to dangerously zigzag between cows ruminating on the road; not pushed to the roadside by a train of Ambassador cars with flashing lights of some politician and his retinue; but, to our surprise, held up by a fleet of ships of the desert, quietly swaying forward…
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Natural beauty
Tanned by the burning rays of the sun weather-beaten according to age breathing pure mountain air marked by culture and tradition slightly amused, somewhat concerned ………….. Two living feminine faces of Kumaon. Photo of the week: Almora, Uttarakhand, India 2013
καιρός remembered 