Closing the series with this last picture of Bada Ganpati Temple, Ujjain.
Although I have a few more elephant pics to go, I will share them eventually, when I have regained the elephantine patience to tell the stories again.
Bade Ganesh ji sada sahaay.
And the ornate elephants are so friendly and curious, they often come too close to moving cars. Many a time, they take away the food items too. Like the one above came very close and looked inside the car but luckily, no food was visibly around.
I love the level and sanctity of detailing in South Indian temples.
Some more from the South coming soon.
And this is a special one.
This is from the outer wall of the temple of Shreenath Ji from NathDwara. The temple is special because it houses the original Moorty of Shreenath Ji from Vrindavan from ancient times. The priests took the Moorty from Vrindavan to Mewar to save the destruction ordered by aurangzeb the rascal.
The most well-known face and the story from Rajasthan - Maharana Pratap and Chetak. Did you notice - Chetak has a pseudo-trunk on his face? This was to trick the elephants into thinking of the horse as a young elephant and therefore, not attacking it. This is a scene from the battle of Haldi Ghati, which ended in a stalemate, and soon after, Maharana Pratap regained the whole of Mewar. Interestingly, Mewar was the only region in the whole of Rajputana, which never submitted to the mughal invaders. If you visit Udaipur and Chittor, the opulence is less than Jaipur but the valor and pride are a million times more (and deservingly so).
The lower carving is from the Patrika Gate of Jaipur. These are the fighting war elephants.
Jaipur is full of elephants in various forms and roles. This one is at Patrika Gate, Jaipur - the four elephants are worshipping Vaibhav-Lakshmi in the middle.
Question - can you guess who are those at the top, riding on a horse and a chariot pulled by twin blackbucks?
The expression on this elephant is so vivid as if he is laughing. This is from a painting inside a cave in Ajanta. While only few paintings remain in a good shape, the sample is good enough to imagine the evolved senses of ancient Indians.
Although there were no elephatns in the zoo, there were these outside the Phily Zoo.
This is a special Ganesh Ji for today. Why? Because.... !!!💖
This is from my small puja place at home.
May this year bring peace, prosperity, and progress for all devotees!
Krishna Ji defeated Narakasur today and liberated 16000 captive queens from him. That is why Ganesh Ji is playing the flute today, like Krishna Ji.
This is from the home in Lucknow. Each year, a fresh set of Murtis would be brought in. With that, the last year's set reached the ledge.
You would ask why back to home when we just started? Well, it's Deepawali's 5 days from tomorrow and I think those will go to Ganesh ji only. So I returned to this one sitting at my home, next to my computer table.
This is a heavy bronze elephant, gifted by Masoom and Pradyun on my birthday. Crazy kids <3
And this was also in Hyderabad. I loved this place and frequented there, as much as I could.
Now, let's see some ele-phantastic pics from my many more travels.
This used to be at the entrance of Salarjung Museum Hyderabad, circa 2007. Must have grown a lot now ;) :P :D
When I thought of the elephant series, I did not realise I would have so many pictures of elephants in so many different forms that I would be left totally confused. But well, let's see how far does it go, albiet in a chaotic way.
As I said, I will post elephants in different ways for a month starting today.
तो चलिए, करते हैं श्रीगणेश इस हस्तिमयी यात्रा का! और ये श्रीगणेश आज क्यों?
क्योंकि हिन्दू पञ्चाङ्ग के अनुसार आज हमारा जन्मदिन है :)
So here is the Vighn-harta Ganesh on a car dashboard - signifying the onset of an auspicious journey.
I have been thinking of doing a series of elephants' pictures. I find them very much like me (fascinating and adorable and sensitive and fat and never forgetting). So with the next post around Deepawali, I will start a herd (!) of daily elephants pics for almost the whole month.
