Ma Durga for all times - Rajpur (near Kolkata)

 

The Durga Puja festival with the worship of the dramatic image of Goddess Durga standing on her lion and fighting the demon Mahishasur has always been the high-point of the year for Bengalis. After the 3 days of festivities, the day of Visarjan as the Devi returns to her heavenly home, is a sad one. The only consolation is that she will be back in a year. 

In Rajpur however, she has a permanent residence. The idol here is really impressive, much taller than the typical idol constructed during Durga Puja. This picture possibly does not do justice to it but for anyone who feels a flutter in his heart on seeing  a grand Durga Protima it is a must see. 

Lighted Krishna Matha (Udupi) at dawn

 

The Udupi Krishna Matha in Karnataka is a very famous temple of Lord Krishna. It was founded by one of the greatest saints in the history of India- Sri Madhavacharya possibly in the 13th century. In the age-old streams of thoughts represented by Advaita(monism), Vishisht-advaita( qualified monism) and Dvaita (dualism) - Madhavacharya was the proponent of the last. His was a religion of pure bhakti. 

The temple is very very crowded and we could not visit during the first day of our visit. The next day we went at dawn and had a wonderful visit. The light of the temple blended with the faint glow of dawn was wonderful to see.