Amazing Rock-Temples of Mahabalipuram Part 2

This second post on the amazing rock-temples of Mahabalipuram from 6-8th century CE is about the ancient ruins in the south-east part of the area known as Arjuna’s Penance. The first part of this post had described the history and rock-cutting techniques of rock-temples in India and presented some monuments from the north-west part of “Arjun’s Penance Monument Park”.

This part presents the monuments from the remaining part of the park starting with the incredible sculptures of Arjun's Penance.

Arjun’s Penance

As you come out of the park-exit in front of Ganesha’s rath, on your right you can see the most beautiful sculptures of Mahabalipuram – this is the famous Arjun’s Penance.

This rich bass-relief of birds, animals, gods, kings and ascetics sculpted on the granite surface, is among the most wonderful art in the world. It is composed of two rock surfaces with a narrow gully in the centre, which is cleverly used to depict the Hindu story about the descent of river Ganges on the earth. During the rainy season, I could imagine the rain water cascading down in that funnel, making the myth come alive in a 3-D spectacle. This amazing work of art faces West Raja street in Mahabalipuram.

The sculptures are spread-out like a wide-screen cinema screen with gods, ascetic sages, kings and queens along with playful birds and animals, depicted in rows, mostly looking towards Ganga’s descent with wonder and reverence. Many of them show their right palms, a sign of benediction, towards the visitors.

Near the top, to the left of Ganga’s descent is the figure of a man with his hands raised up and ribs sticking out, standing on one foot. Some people believe that this figure is of Bhagirath, who according to the Puranic Stories of Hinduism, had done a Tapasya (penance) to bring Ganges to earth.

However, many believe that this figure is that of Arjun, (one of the 5 Pandav-brothers from Mahabharat), doing tapasya to get a boon from Shiva, who is shown standing next to him on his right. I really loved this group of sculptures, it is both majestic and joyful. It has been made in loving details such as the two elephants with many baby elephants on the right side and the two ducks near the penancing Arjun.

Terminology Used for Arjun's Penance

I am not sure if “Penance” is the right word to translate “Tapasya”, which means doing worship while giving suffering to the body (for example, by standing or sitting in a difficult pose for a long time without eating or drinking).

Tapasya was used by people in the Hindu, Buddh and Jain stories to force the God to grant them boons such as special powers or weapons. For example, there are many Buddhist tales about monks closing themselves in small spaces for months to do Tapasya and gain special powers.

On the other hand, the word “Penance” is linked to Catholicism, it means expiation for some sin, which is not how Arjuana or Bhagirath approach their worship. In Hinduism, I think that the word "penance" can be used for doing reparations (by organising yagna, doing charity) after a wrong act, such as killing someone by mistake. However, since everywhere in Mahabalipuram the words "Arjun's Penance" have been used, so I have used that same term in this post, even if I disagree with it.

Krishna Mandapam

Next to the Arjun’s Penance if you walk towards the south, you come across another rock-temple. It is dedicated to Krishna and it also has lovely bass-reliefs related to the pastoral life in Mathura-Vrindavan in north of India.

On one side, it has Krishna holding the Govardhan mountain with his hand while saving the people of Vrindavan from the wrath of the rain god Indra.

It also has a man milking a cow who is licking her calf and other joyful scenes showing dancing couples.

These sculptures depicting life in Mathura and Vrindavan in the north of India are a symbol of essential cultural unity of India even if the different parts of the country were under different empires and kingdoms. Therefore, though we may think of unification of India as a modern nation state only in 1947, we can also think of a civlisational unity of India which goes back to some millenniums.

Trials for Making Arjun’s Penance

As you walk further to the south, you come across another granite surface covered in rough bass-relief sculptures. These are somewhat similar to the sculptures of Arjun’s Penance, though are more roughly carved. This is supposed to be the model where the design of Arjun’s Penance was first tested before their actual execution.

Or, it is possible that initially they wanted to make this sculpture in this location, but the artists were not happy and looked around till they found a more suitable location.

Mahishasur Mardini Temple

Going further along this road, you pass the light house and then come to southern entrance to the Monument park, with rock-cut stairs leading up to the Mahishasur Mardini rock-temple.

The rocky platform in front of the temple has some beautiful boulders, some of them cut and then left unfinished.

Inside, this temple has two finely made bass-relief sculptures - on the left, there is Vishnu lying on the serpent Sheshnaag.

On the right, there is goddess Durga killing the bull-headed demon king Mahishasur, giving name to this temple.

Just across from the temple, you have a nice view of the light house and its entrance.

On the rocks above the older Mahishasur Mardini temple, there is another temple – Onkeleshwar temple. It is built with rock blocks, and seems to be a later construction, probably from the time when the Shore temple was built.

Conclusions

This description of temples and monuments in the Arjun’s Penance Monument Park is incomplete. There are many more structures from the Pallava period in this area (including water tanks and monolithic temples) that I have ignored in my descriptions.

Though it is a world Heritage site of UNESCO, I didn’t find a lot of information about the monuments in the area. I tried to check if there were thesis or specialist papers about Mahabalipuram but didn’t find much. I think that every temple and building of this area merits many a thesis. For example, I would have liked to know more about the epigraphs and strange signs chiselled on some rocks, such as the one shown in the image below (which looks like a compass drawing of an architect).

Apart from the Arjun's Penance area, there are many other important sacred monuments in Mahabalipuram, like the wonderful shore temple and the monolithic temples of Pancha Ratha. It is an amazing place to visit.

To read about some other monuments including Krishna's Butter Ball and to learn about history of rock-temples in India, do check the first part of this post. 

*****

#rockartofindia #rocktemples #mahabalipuram #arjunapenance #hinduism #ancienttemples

Indian Understandings of God

Probably no one can tell when and where did the prehistoric progenitors of humans first thought of God. However, by early historical period, all the human civilizations had some concepts of God. Those civilisations were very different from each other, but the concepts of God they developed were similar. However, around 4 thousand years ago, ancient Indians developed an additional concept of God that was slightly different from the other common concepts. This post is about the evolution of the God-concepts in ancient Indian religions (Indic religions) including Hinuism, Jainism and Buddhism.

Before talking about India, lets first take a look at how different civilisations thought of God.

From the “Sacred Nature” to the “Gods Governing the Nature”

Around the world, the first concepts of God were of deities represented by and governing specific aspects of nature. This way of imaging the God still exists in many communities. It considers as sacred the objects of the natural world. Plants, trees, stones, mountains are seen as manifestations of God and worshipped. The image below has sacred trees (India), trees under which people may place a statue or a stone and worship it as a symbol of God.

Other people imagined God as human-like beings with supernatural powers who controlled specific aspects of the nature. Thus, they had a god for the rain and another for the sea, a god for the war and another for love. From the Amerindians to Romans, Egyptians and Persians, every culture had their pantheon of gods and their stories of creation. The word Pantheon comes from a building in ancient Rome which had all the different Roman deities to which they worshipped. The image below has some of the Indian gods in a temple in Bangalore.

The one God

The ideas of one God arose in the Middle-East, among the Jews, Christians and Muslims, though we had a brief glimpse of this idea during the reign of Akhneton, the Egyptian Pharoah, many centuries earlier. Each of these religions linked it with a specific prophet, and each group claimed that their path to God was the only true one.

This God was imagined as a “benevolent father” – who was merciful and loving, but he asked to be worshipped regularly and properly. He also laid down a set of rules for his followers, including rules about dressing, eating, praying and resting. If you did not follow his norms, he could also punish. He did not like and thus refused to tolerate that people follow other “false gods” and prescribed different roles for men and women.

These concepts led to the birth of the three organised religions that are also known as the Abrahamic religions - Jewish, Christianity and Islam. Among these, Christianity and Islam became actively proselytising, going out to convert persons of other religions, because they felt that it was their sacred duty to save the souls of others who were on a wrong path and were going to finish in hell.

James A. Michener in his 1965 book “The Source” has beautifully described the evolution of the concept of one God in the middle east, leading to Jewish religion, Christianity and Islam.

Evolution of the God concepts in ancient India

What about the Indians? How was the evolution of the God-concept in India? Ancient Indians had many different ideas about God – considering nature as sacred, having a set of divine human-like beings with special powers and having a father-like God. However, they also went a step further and thought of God as “Parmatma” or the “Universal Consciousness” that underlies every particle of the universe.

Another unique Indian feature was that all these different ways of conceptualising God co-existed. One idea about God did not replace the other ideas, instead Indians sought explanations that could justify each way and look at them as “different paths” to reach the same eternal truth. This was necessary because geographically Indian subcontinent is a huge landmass, for most of its history sub-divided into kingdoms, that changed boundaries and alliances across the centuries. Thus religious ideas were not marked for their differences, but rather, they sought explanations which helped them to be perceived under one over-arching umbrella.

The first Vedas, the earliest texts of Indians about the divine, were written around 2000 BCE, that means around 4000 years ago. These books presented all these different concepts of the God. This colourful mosaic of belief systems, sometimes contradictory, constitutes Hinduism and its other Indic religions, including Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism (though individuals who have learned to see the world under the lens of monotheistic religions, tend to focus more on differences and try to separate each sub-group and divide them into sects and separate religions).

Examples from Vedas to illustrate different ways of conceptualising God in the Indic Religions

Vedas use different words for God such as, Ishwar (Lord of the desires), Parmatma (ultimate soul) and Brahman (universal consciousness).

(1) The first example is a shloka (verse) from Atharv-veda (11-7-21):

It says: “Red earth, sand, stones, medicinal plants, creepers, blades of grass, clouds, lightening and rain, they are all interconnected and are all based in the God.”

While considering everything in the universe to be interconnected, it also explains the sacredness of nature. A couple of years ago, while on a walk in Guwahati in the north-east of India, I had met a Sadhu Nobin baba, who had talked to me about the calming of mind till you could feel the energy coming out of some points of the rocks. For him, that energy coming out from the earrth and rocks and which he could perceive, was the God (Nobin baba in the image below).

(2) The second example is a shloka from Rig-Veda (1-164-46):

It says: “Some call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna or Agni, for some he is a bird with beautiful wings; Agni, Yama or Vayu, all represent the same truth called by different names.”

This shloka explains how the different divinities worshipped by people are all expressions of the same God.

(3) The next example, also a shloka from Rig-Veda (10-82-3), describes the God as a father-figure, closer to the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions:

It says: “God is our father, he gives birth to us and controls us. He knows this and all the other worlds. All the different gods are part of him, all the worlds go to him with their questions.”

Thus in this verse, God is a father. However, instead of saying that other gods are false, as in monotheistic religions, here there is an explicit acceptance of praying to other gods, since they are all understood to be the expression of the same God.

(4) The last example is a shloka from Yajur-veda and is about God as universal consciousness:

It says: “Searching for the truth, the sage went all around this and other worlds, went in all directions and even to the land of gods. He found that everywhere there was the same all-pervading truth. After knowing this, he became part of that truth and then understood that he had always been a part of that truth.”

This way of describing God as an all-pervading presence in both animate and inanimate world is the unique feature of the ancient Indian thought. It denotes the presence of God in all its creatures and thus becomes the logic for respecting life and nature in all its forms. It is a call for recognising the dignity and equality of all human beings.

The concept of Universal Consciousness and India’s Social Realities

I love the concept of universal consciousness, that everything in the world is interconnected and expression of the same God. However, I also wonder, why in spite of such an inclusive thinking, did India develop a social reality marked by caste hierarchies that exploited and oppressed millions of persons?

Through the centuries, there were many social reformers in India, from Buddha to poet-saints such as Basvanna, Meera, Kabir, Rahim and Nanak to social reformers like Mahatma Gandhi, who promoted equality of all human beings, but they did not manage to demolish this system. Why?

Perhaps one of the answers to this question lies in the words of a 15th poet-saint Kabir who had written that: It is not by reading of books that one gains knowledge; only when you learn love, you become knowledgeable. Our communities have this age-old knowledge, but perhaps it is seen as an abstract concept and not as the living truth? Or, perhaps for most persons, the abstract concept of God as an all pervading consciousness is too difficult to understand and follow, and they feel more secure in thinking of God as a specific deity or a father-figure who can help them or punish them?

I want to conclude this post with a picture from Kannur in Kerala in the south of India, in which a person from a "lower caste" gets ready to welcome the God (Theyyam) in his body. For the few days of the temple festival, his caste will not matter and everyone in the community will bow before him, looking at him as the manifestation of God on earth.

Our challenge is how to change our thinking so that we can first see the God in all the persons and all the God's creatures, big and small.

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#god #prophets #religions #hinduism #india #veda #sacredbooksofhinduism

Searching for the red India

Many decades ago, I was visiting a friend's home in Italy. Her young son asked me, "You are not red, why do they call you red Indians?" He had been told that I was from India and the only Indians he had heard about were the red Indians from America.

This post is not about those red Indians. It is about pictures from India where red colour plays a special or dominating role.

I love photography and have thousands of images in my picture archives. Writing this kind of blog-post is an opportunity for me to dig into those archives and in the process, relive my past journeys and the people I had met - a very pleasurable past time!

Among the Indic religions, red is the colour of sacred and of happy occasions like marriages. Let me start this post with a very striking image from a religious ceremony.

1. Theyyam, Kannur, Kerala: The first image of this post (above) is from Kannur in Kerala at the southern tip of India and it is from a Bhagwati theyyam ceremony. "Theyyam" is a Hindu traditional religious rite in which the God comes down to the earth and manifests in the body of a human being. Persons playing Theyyam or the living gods, often belong to the so called "low castes" and while they are the living god, everyone from the community bows to them. Theyyam takes place in the temple and the surrounding courtyards. Most theyyams are dressed in red.

Theyyam is unique for the elaborate makeup and rituals linked with this tradition.

2. Dollu Kanitha, Bangalore, Karnataka: The Dollu Kanitha folk dance from Karntaka. It has persons carrying the god statues on their heads as they come out of their temples and go out in a procession in the community. In this occasion, some of the persons dress up as different gods. The next image has a Dollu Kanitha dancer dressed as one of the gods.

Thus, the idea of God coming down to speak to humans through the medium of a person is not unique to Kannur, rather it is seen in different forms in different parts of India.

3. Person dressed as Goddess Kali, Guwahati, Assam: West Bengal and Assam in the north-east of India have a strong tradition of mother-goddess (Shakti) worship through Saraswati puja, Durga puja and Kali puja. There is also a tradition of persons dressing up as mother Kali, the angry manifestation of the goddess. The next image has a boy dressed as Goddess Kali at the Kamakhaya temple during the Ambubashi festival.

Almost always, the persons taking up the role of gods are men, while women get to play such roles only rarely.

4. Dashhera prayers in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh: Dashhera festival is linked to the story of Ramayana in the north and to the story of goddess Durga in the north-east.

The Dashhera celebrations in Kullu valley surrounded by mountains are different from the rest of India. During this festival, the patron gods and goddesses of mountain villages are brought out of the temples in processions and they travel down to the Kullu valley for their Dushhera holidays. Mountain communities come to live in Kullu with their gods and the whole period is full of religious ceremonies.

The image below shows the chief priest officiating at the Dashhera celebrations in Kullu, praying in front of the deity for the initiation of the festival. As in the above images, the red colour predominates.

5. Hanta Koi statues, Nicobar island: Tribal groups in Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal have a tradition of making wooden statues called Hanta Koi to represent the spirits of dead family members. This reminded me of a similar tradition among the Toraja people in South Sulwezi island of Indonesia, where they call them Moi Moi.

This image comes from the Manas Sanghrahalaya museum in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), one of the finest museums about the lives, myths and culture of tribal communities in India. I find the red in the caps of the Hanta Koi very striking.

6. Rajasthani puppets, Delhi: While the above five images were linked to religious and spiritual spheres, the remaining five images of this post are non-religious.

The next image is of a puppet from Rajasthan at the Dilli Haat market of Delhi. Rajasthan with its Thar desert, craggy forts and proud people, is also a land of colourful costumes, as seen in the dresses of the puppets, among which red dominates.

7. Monsoon, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh: Monsoons are usually not associated with the red colour, instead they are seen as dark clouds and verdant foliage washed clean of the dust by the rains.

The next image is about the monsoon but it has a man dressed in red, walking in a field. It has a lot of green and very little red, yet I think that the red colour plays a key role in this image.

8. Village woman, Kesla, Madhya Pradesh: The next image is also from the monsoon period in central India and has a village woman surrounded by lush green fields.

The colourful saris of the women in rural areas are the most common source of bright colours in the Indian landscapes.

9. Police women, Guwahati, Assam: Even the khaki uniforms of the Assamese police women can have a nice touch of bright red colour.

10. Lenin statue, Kannur, Kerala: I am concluding this post with another picture from Kerala where red colour is strongly associated with communism and where the communist icons like Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Chairman Mao, forgotten in most of the world, still continue to have some relevance.

Orderly processions of people walking with red flags and shouting slogans to protest against something are ubiquitous in Kerala. This image has the red communist flag along with a paper-mache sculpture of Lenin.

Conclusions

Think of the above ten images about the red colour as part of an Indian thali. They represent the amazing variety, colours and traditions of India.

All over the world, globalisation is helping in spreading a culture where people wear similar clothes, watch similar films and eat similar food. Even in India, the globalisation mono-culture is making in-roads. However, fortunately our diverse and distinctive cultures and traditions continue to be alive, especially in smaller towns and villages. Our challenge over the next decades will be to safeguard these while we embrace other aspects of modernity.

I hope that you will like my selection of images from India where red colour plays a special role. Do tell me which of these red images you liked most!

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Legends and stories of Orchha

Orchha is a tiny town in Madhya Pradesh (India), known for its beautiful palaces, temples and cenotaphs of the Bundela Kings from 16th and 17th centuries. It is also linked to many popular legends and stories that spice its history, and are sung in the local ballads and folk-songs.

The image above is of a wall-painting showing Praveen Rai, part of one such legends. This post is about four legends related to medieval Orchha. You can read more about Orchha and the Bundelkhand region of India in my other posts.

Oral cultures of India

When India became independent in 1947, 88% of its population could not read or write. We do not have similar data for the past, but probably for the majority of Indians, oral traditions always had a significant importance. Though today the literacy levels have improved, oral traditions conserved through sacred texts, ballads and folk-songs, continue to play an important cultural role in the popular transmission of history, especially in smaller towns and villages.

Myths and legends are usually understood as old stories about gods and supra-natural events. However, myth-building is an on-going process and through our oral traditions, even the recent events of our history can become part of myths. Indic ideas about cyclical nature of time, karma and reincarnation influence its popular culture, in which history and myths are both equally important and freely intermixed.

Different folk-art forms and rites during social events, from marriages to celebration of festivals, keep alive these legends in the communities. These include overarching stories, especially about the Hindu Gods and Goddesses, that are common across different states and languages of India, as well as, more regional or local stories, such as the legends and stories of Bundelkhand and Orchha.

For example, in the Bundelkhand region, the ballads and nautanki-theater about the 12th century story of the brave warrior-brothers Alha and Udal continue to be very popular. This post is about legends specifically linked to the kingdom of Orchha in Bundelkhand.

Historical background of Orchha

In the beginning of  the 16th century, Bundela king Rudra Pratap had his capital in Gadhkundar. As he won new territories, to better control his expanded kingdom he decided to build a new capital at Orchha, 52 km to the south of Garhkundar. For more than a hundred years, the descendants of Rudra Pratap ruled from Orchha. During later parts of 17th century, their influence gradually waned, though they continued to live in Orchha till late 18th century.

This post looks at four legends linked to Orchha - queen Ganesh Kunwar's desire for a Rama temple; the love story of the courtesan Praveen Rai and the king Indrajit Singh; the legend of Jujhar Singh, and his brother Hardaul; and, the legend of the Muslim pir Sundar Shah.

Queen Ganesh Kunwar and the statue of Lord Rama

Madhukar Shah ruled Bundelkhand for 38 years, from 1554 to 1592. Ganesh Kunwar was his queen. The king was a follower of Krishna, while the queen was from Ayodhaya and a follower of Rama. This was the time when Gosain Tulsidas had written his Ram Charit Manas and had popularized the public celebrations of Ramlila during Dushhera festival.

Ganesh Kunwar wanted a Rama temple in Orchha and thus, Madhukar Shah started building the Chatturbhuj temple. The queen herself went to Ayodhaya to get the Rama statue for this temple. At that time, she dreamed that once outside Ayodhaya, the statue will get stuck wherever it will be put down and then it can not be shifted. So the queen took care to never place the staute on the ground during her journey back to Orchha. However, when the queen reached home, the Chatturbhuj temple was still incomplete and thus, it was decided to keep the statue in her palace. Later, when the temple was completed, they found that the statue had become stuck in the palace and it could not be moved from its place. Thus, her palace had to be converted into a temple. The image below shows Chatturbhuj temple and the queen's palace (yellow) converted into a temple, seen from the Orchha fort.

There are many variations of this legend. For example, in one story, Ganesh Kunwar was doing a tapasya along the banks of Sarayu river in Ayodhaya. After long prayers, when lord Rama did not appear, she jumped in the river, threatening to kill herself. There, in the water, Rama appeared to her, brought her to the river bank and told her to build the temple in Orchha.

These stories serve to reinforce the beliefs in superhuman godly powers in the Rama statue and strengthen the sanctity of Ram Raja temple of Orchha, which is an important pilgrimage place in Bundelkhand.

Historical background: The rational explanation behind the story could have been a war between emperor Akbar and Madhukar Shah, so that Chatturbhuj temple was left incomplete. Some historians believe that the temple was completed during the reign of his third son, Bir Singh 15-20 years later, by which time the queen's old palace had already been converted into the Rama temple.

The wall paintings in Raja Mahal inside the Orchha fort, built by Madhukar Shah, like the one shown in the image below, are mostly about Krishna, supporting the idea that he was a Krishna-devotee.

On the other hand, the wall paintings inside the Laxmi temple built under Bir Singh, have scenes about both, Rama and Krishna, showing that by his time, the cults of both the gods had become popular in Orchha. The image below shows one such wall-painting panel where on the left an episode of Ramayana is depicted while on the right, there is Krishna.

The beautiful courtesan Parveen Rai's love story

The second legend about Orchha is linked to king Indrajit Singh and his favourite court poet and dancer, Praveen Rai. Emperor Akbar heard about the beauty and singing skills of Praveen and asked Indrajit to send her to Agra to the royal court. Indrajit was in love with Praveen and did not want to leave her, but she convinced him to send her to the emperor. Struck by her strong love for Indrajit, Akbar gave her gifts and sent her back to Orchha.

The story of Indrajit, Praveen Rai and Akbar was written down by the Orchha poet Keshav Das in his book "Kavipriya".

Hindi author Maitreyee Pushpa had also written about this legend. According to her story, Praveen's original name was Savitri and she was the daughter of a courtesan Kanchana from Gwalior, who was invited to Orchha by the king Madhukar Shah. The king fell in love with Kanchana and asked her to stay in Orchha. One of the ghats on Orchha river is dedicated to Kanchana.

Savitri was a good dancer and was given the title of Praveen Rai. She shared the love for poetry with king Indrajit and the royal poet Keshav Das.

Another story about Praveen is that she was the beautiful daughter of a blacksmith. When Indrajit saw her, he was smitten and brought her to his palace. Since she belonged to a "lower caste", they did not have a proper wedding. With the help of Keshav Das, she learned poetry, studied dance and became good at both. She wrote the "Ramkaleva" of Ramchandrika.

Similarly, there are stories regarding Akbar's curiosity about her. Indrajit's cousin Pahad Singh had told Akbar about Praveen and suggested that such a beautiful and good dancer should belong to the emperor's court. Pahad Singh wanted the throne of Orchha and hoped that the love-lorn Indrajit will die without Praveen.

Indrajit refused to send Praveen to the emperor and an angry Akbar asked him to pay a huge fine. Praveen convinced Indrajit to let her go. He was disappointed, thinking that his beloved was greedy and wanted to be the concubine of the emperor.

In Kavipriya, Keshav Das wrote that in Akbar's court Praveen was asked to sing. She sang about being a daughter of Orchha and about her love for Indrajit. Then she said: "Vinati rai praveen ki suniye chatur sujan, juthi patar bhakhat hai bari, vayas, svan" (O wise and good man, listen to this request from Praveen Rai. Left over food is eaten only by low-castes, crows and dogs). Thus she called herself "left-over food", implying her relationship with Indrajit and thus being unfit for the emperor. The emperor, ashamed by her words, gifted her money, pearls and jewels, and sent her back to Orchha.

Yet another legend says that after coming back from Agra, Indrajit wanted to marry Praveen but his family did not allow him. Frustrated, Parveen immolated herself and Indrajit committed suicide.

The historical Background: The fort of Orchha includes Praveen Rai palace, also known as Anand Mahal. It was built in the 16th century. Indrajit Singh was the younger son of Madhukar Shah, who ruled Orchha during the final years of the 16th century.

Some of the wall paintings in Laxmi temple, built under Bir Singh in the early 17th century show Praveen Rai. Poet Keshav Das lived during the last years of Madhukar Shah, during the reign of Indrajit Singh and during early years of Bir Singh. Thus the events linked with the legends of Praveen Rai and Indrajit had probably occurred around the end of 16th century.

Story of King Jujhar Singh and his brother Hardaul

There is also the story of Jujhar Singh, his wife Champawati, his younger brother Hardaul and their sister Kunjawati. The popular legend says that Jujhar had forced his wife Champawati to poison and kill Hardaul because he had suspected an illicit affair between the two.

Jujhar Singh was the eldest son of Bir Singh while Hardaul was the youngest. Since Hardaul's mother had died when he was young, his elder sister-in-law Champawati had raised him. In 1627, when Bir Singh died and Jujhar Singh became the king, 19 year old Hardaul became his Dewan. One year later, in 1628, Hardaul was married to Himachal Kunwari and in 1630 his son Vijay Singh was born.

In 1931, Hardaul and some of his soldiers died after eating the Dushhera feast in Orchha. It is said that Jujhar told his wife that she was having an affair with his brother and asked her to prove her faithfulness by giving poison to Hardaul. The legend also says that Hardaul loved his sister-in-law, because he thought of her as his mother, and he knowingly took the poison from her.

People of Orchha, indignant about the killing of Hardaul, built a shrine to him. This story is a common theme in the folk songs and Nautanki-theater in Orchha.

Another related legend is about Hardaul and his sister Kunjawati. When Hardaul died, his sister took his body to Datia for cremation. A temple was created at this site. In 1715, a pond was also built in Datia near this temple, which is called "Lalla ka Talab".

It is said that Hardaul was very close to Kunjawati. According to this legend, some time after Hardaul's death, it was the time for the marriage of Kunjawati's daughter. During the marriage, when the time came for the rite where the bride's mama (mother's brother) offers bhat (rice) to the bride, everybody was astonished to see Hardaul, whose ghost had come to offer rice to his niece. This legend is still kept alive in Bundelkhand marriage ceremonies, in the rite of giving "Hardaul ka bhat" to the brides.

Historical events linked with Hardaul's legend: In 1631, an enemy of Mughal empire called Khanjahan Lodhi, fleeing from Shahjahan's army, passed through Orchha. He was Hardaul's friend and thus, Hardaul did not try to stop him. This earned the ire of Shahjahan who blamed Jujhar Singh and forced him to send his son Vikramjit to go after Lodhi and kill him. 200 Bundela soldiers had died in this war. Jujhar Singh blamed Hardaul for creating this problem.

Hardaul was a very popular military commander. He had created a personal group of warriors who listened to him. Thus, it is possible that Jujhar got him killed because he was angry with him or perhaps, he was insecure about him.

Many Bundelkhand persons do not like the version of this legend, where Jujhar suspects an illicit relationship between his wife and his brother. They blame Vincent Smith, the British collector of Hamirpur in 1875, for not having understood the real story and for having created this legend about the illicit love story.

The legend of Pir Sundar Shah

There is another legend linked with the royals of Orchha but I could not find much information about it.

According to this legend, one of the sons of Jujhar Singh, prince Dhurbhajan, had fallen in love with a Muslim girl. To marry her, he had converted to Islam and taken the name of Sundar Shah. They had lived in the building known as Sundar Mahal, built on the top of a hillock near the Laxmi temple. Some people say that the girl he loved was princess Mehrunnissa, the daughter of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Another story says that Sundar Shah was the love child of king Indrajit singh and princess Mehrunissa, daughter of Aurangzeb.

In his old age, Sundar became famous as a Pir, a local saint and thus, even today the Sundar Mahal is visited by people wishing to pray at his tomb.

Historical background: According to the history books, emperor Aurangzeb had 4 daughters - Zebunnissa, Zeenatunnissa, Badrunnissa and the youngest, Mehrunnissa, who had married Izad Baksh, son of Shahzada Murad Baksh, in 1672 and had died in Delhi in 1706.

On the other hand Jujhar Singh had died in 1636 and in 1641, his brother Pahad Singh was placed on the Orchha throne by the Mughals. Aurangzeb became the emperor many years later in 1658. Thus, it seems unlikely that Jujhar Singh had a son who was young enough to marry princess Mehrunnissa. However, this does not mean that the legend had no historical basis. It is possible that one of the sons of Jujhar Singh had indeed married a Muslim girl and taken the name of Sundar Shah, though his wife was not the daughter of emperor Aurangzeb.

Later, two sufi saints, Syed pir and Zahar pir also lived here and their shrines were built inside. At present, it is seen as a religious place for the followers of the different pirs.
Conclusions

The legends of Orchha are part of oral-history traditions that are still alive and popular among the people. For example, if you search for "Hardaul ka bhat" on Youtube, you can find many versions of the ballads and nautanki performances linked to this story.

These legends have kernels of history embedded in them around which myths have been build up. For some parts of the legends, there are material proofs like the Ram Raja temple which is not built like a temple and is clearly an old palace building with fortress like walls. Other parts of the legends, such as the story of "Hardaul ka bhat" have very strong emotional echoes in the community traditions and are a matter of people's beliefs.

Local persons have always experimented with their legends, adding embellishments and interlinking stories to them. Thus the legends take different forms and have many local variations.

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The Prince of Ayodhaya & Ramayana

The stories about Rama, the prince of Ayodhaya in north India, trace their roots in the oral traditions of antiquity. From India, the stories of Rama spread to neighbouring countries. Even today, the echoes of the stories about Rama's life are part of living cultural traditions of India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

This post presents some of my favourite images related to Ramayana, the story of Rama.

Rama's Story

The central theme of Rama's story is that of obedience and respect of the parents. The widespread enduring popularity of this story after so many centuries continues to surprise people.

Rama was a prince, the eldest son of king Dasharath of Ayodhaya in north India. He married princess Sita.

However when the time came for Rama to become the king of Ayodhaya, there was a problem. His step-mother Kekayi wanted her son Bharat to be the king.

King Dashrath had three wives. Kekayi was his youngest wife. She asked the king to send Rama to exile for 14 years and in his place, install Bharat as the king of Ayodhaya. The old king was bound to Kakayi by an old vow and was forced to accept her request, even if he felt that it was unjust.

Rama assured his father that he will obey and live in exile for 14 years. His wife Sita and another borther, Laxman, decided to follow him in his exile. The old king died. Bharat, who was away and did not know what had happened, came back to Ayodhaya and discovered that he was supposed to be the king. He refused and instead went to the forest to seek Rama and asked him to come back.

However, Rama said that he had promised their father to live in exile for 14 years and he can not break his promise. Thus, Bharat went back to Ayodhaya and governed it as a caretaker king, waiting for Rama to come back.

In the forest, Sita was kidnapped by the Rakshas king Ravan. With the help of the Ape king Sugriva, his Ape army and the Ape warrior Hanuman, Rama foght with Ravan and killed him. In the mean time 14 years had passed and thus, Rama returned to Ayodhaya and became the king.

Other Characters from Ramayana

While the images above are about Prince Rama, his Sita and his younger brother Laxman, below you will find some images of other characters in Ramayana.

Rakshas king Ravan: People unfamiliar with Indian way of reasoning, think of the Ravan as a kind of demon. However, in Ramayana, Ravan is also a learned Brahmin and there is a tradition to praying to him. The image of Ravana below is from Kalakshetra in Guwahati (India).

Hanuman and the Ape army: Hanuman is the chief helper and supporter of Rama. He is the son of the wind god and can fly. He is also considered as the patron saint and defender of unmarried young men, to whom he teaches celibacy. The image of Hanuman below is from a Ramlila procession in old Delhi (India).

Here is  another image of Hanuman from a Kathakkali performance in Bologna (Italy).

Jatayu Garuda: The Garuda bird named Jatayu is a friend of Rama in the forest. He tries to save Sita from the kidnapping. Below you will find images of his sculptures from Assam (India) and Bangkok (Thailand). Garuda is also the name of the Indonesian airlines.

Kevat, the boat man: Ramayana has different characters of simple tribal persons such as Kevat, the boat man, who play an important role in the story. During Rama's exile from Ayodhaya, Kevat organises their crossing of the river Sarayu. The image below has Kevat and Prince Rama from a Ramlila in a village in Gurgaon, not far from Delhi (India).

Rama's Stories in Different Languages

The oral history traditions of India credit a sage-poet called Valmiki for having written the first version of Ramayana. Valmiki's Ramayana was written in the ancient Indic language Sanskrit and has 24,000 sholokas (verses) divided into seven chapters.

Another version of Ramayana written in Avadhi, a dialect of Hindi, in the 16th century called "Ram Charit Manas" made it more accessible to common persons. This was written by Tulsidas Goswami. It is commonly read aloud in village squares and along the rivers in different parts of India. The image below is from Varanasi where Ram Charit Manas is being recited on the banks of river Ganges.

Each language of India has its own version of Ramayana. For example, Shri Ranganatha Ramayana in Telugu, Katha Ramayana in Assamese, Tulsi Krita Ramayana in Gujarati and Dandi Ramayana in Oriya.

Outside India, Indoensia has Kakawin Ramayana, Thailand has Ramakien, Cambodia has Reamker, Laos has Phra Lak Phra Lam, Myanmar has Yamayana and Sri Lanka has Janakiharan. In Nepal, the Dashain festival celebrating the win of Rama and the defeat of Ravan is the most important religious event in their calendar.

In Thailand, the kings take on the name of Rama and the ancient capital of Thailand was called Ayutthaya. Many Asian countries have living traditions of presenting the Ramayana stories through dance, theatre, puppets and other art forms. The image below has Rama, Sita and Laxman from Thailand.

In India, many Hindu homes have a copy of Ramcharit Manas. In villages there are traditions of singing parts of Ramayana during festive occasions. In autumn each year, India celebrates the ten days of Dusshera, symbolising the ten days of war between Rama and Ravan, described in Ramayana. During these ten days, towns and villages organise popular plays called Ramlila, to present the story of Ramayana. Most images of Rama in this post are from these Ramlila celebrations.

The tenth day of Dusshera, coincides with the death of Ravan, and is celebrated as Vijaya Dakshmi. Twenty days later, the return of Rama to his kingdom in Ayodhaya is celebrated as Diwali, the festival of lights.

Even the other Indic religions, including Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism include references to the stories of Rama. For example, the stories about Buddha describe him as a prince of Ishvaku dynasty, the dynasty of Rama in Ramayana.

Perhaps the first oral traditions of Ramayana had started when the urban settlements and agriculture were still new and the memories of ancient hunter-gatherer societies was still alive. Rama's exile in the forest to the hunter-gatherer way of living must have touched deep feelings of identification in the persons.

Thus, the story of Rama, a tradition going back at least a few thousand years ago, still continues to resonate with millions of persons around different countries. Rama is considered an Avatar of Vishnu and Ramayana is part of the sacred texts of India. Even today persons in rural India greet each other with a "Ram-Ram" and say goodbye with a "Jai Ramji ki". The name of Rama was also there in the last words of Mahatma Gandhi when he was shot and killed, he died saying "Hey Ram".

Conclusions

As a child, I grew up in the narrow streets of Old Delhi. Reading the stories of Ramayana in a children's magazine called "Chandamama" and listening to the chowpais (verses) of Ram Charit Manas in community readings in the neighbourhood.

Why did Rama's story had such a deep impact on the communities in India and other Asian countries? One of the reasons could be that its values - love and respect for the parents, obedience, respect for brothers, were all values necessary for the survival of agricultural societies based on extended family systems. Thus, the story found acceptance in different countries of Asia. (Another image of Thailand Ramayana below).

Another aspect of Ramayana is the understanding about the spiritual dimension of life along with renunciation of material comforts and living in isolation, which is also seen in Prince Gautama's abandonment of his palace and his wanderings in the forest to become Buddha. Material comforts versus renunciation is a common and enduring theme of different Indic religions, sacred stories and mythologies.

Ramayana and the story of the prince of Ayodhaya has survived for centuries, growing like a tree with a common root but branches going in different directions.


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