Bateshwar mela

 BATESHWAR MAHADEV (another name of Lord Shiva), The temple complex consists of 101 temples of lord Shiva. The all temples are lined along the crescent shaped curve of the Yamuna river-front and  having ghats (steps) leading down to the water of the Yamuna river. It is said to that it is birthplace of Lord Krishna’s mother, Bateshwar is associated with numerous myths and legends. Several ancient scriptures refer to it as Surajpur in honour of its founder Raja Surajsen, Lord Krishna’s grandfather.

Ghat's at Bateshwar

Bateshwar is an important part of the Hindu pilgrimage circuit and is referred to as the ‘son of the Dhams’ – it must be visited once after all four Dhams considered sacred by Hindus (Badrinath in the North, Rameshwaram in the South, Dwarka in the West and Jagannath Puri in the east) have been visited.
Bateshwar is also the birthplace of the 22nd Jain Tirthankar Nemichand and is an important pilgrimage site for both the sects of Jain devotees, Digambar and Shwetambar.

Every year a large cattle fair is held at Bateshwar (the exact dates depends on the lunar calendar and vary each year ). It coincides with the most auspicious period for praying at Bateshwar and is an important fixture for saints, sadhus, tradesmen and villagers alike. The fair attracts large numbers of Camels, Horses, oxen, elephants , goats, and other cattle, as well as a multitude of tradesmen selling everything from traditional cooking utensils and spices to locally made furniture, handicrafts and cosmetics.

Horses mela

Camels mela

Bhaiya how much for this?

Feeding the horse

The fair provides a colorful, vibrant and entirely authentic glimpse of rural Indian life. Bateshwar fair is one of the largest fairs in Northern India. It stands similar in style and magnitude as compared to the Pushkar Fair in Rajsthan. This fair usually starts few days prior to DEEPAWALI (a festival of lights) for a period of almost three weeks. The first week has the animal fair starting with cattle followed by the camels and horses and ending with the donkeys and goats. And in the last week the village fair starts with a multitude of shops and fair ground rides and other attractions as well as special ceremonies.

It's 21 km from Shikohabad

Kumbh mela nasik 2015

Aurangabad

After very long finally I have got a weekend off, for these two days I have packed my bag for Aurangabad, Maharastra which is a big hub of tourism. Aurangabad has very old history it is about 2nd century B. C. to 16 A. D. in Aurangabad, the World Heritage sites, Ajanta, Ellora, Jain Caves, Ghrishneswer Temple, Panchakki, Bibi-ka-Maqbarsa, Daulatabad are the main place to visit. On my 1st day have started with Panchakki.

Panchakki:- Panchakki has an underground water channel, the whole system is a big example  of  mechanical Engineering. The source of water is about 6 km away to the north of the city. Water is made to reach the final reservoir through earthen pipes. It is then raised by a siphon to the top of the rectangular masonry pillar, from where it is made to fall in a large reservoir below. And on the north- west corner, adjacent to the cistern, is the water-mill driven entirely by water power. It is sad that in the olden days, flour was obtained for the people from the mill without human effort. it was built in the year 1744 to commemorate Hazrat Baba Shah Musafir.

Water Fall at panchkki

Bibi-ka-Maqbarsa (The Baby Taj):- Bibi ka Maqbara is believed to be built between 1651 and 1661 C.E. According to the "Tarikh Namah" of Ghulam Mustafa, the cost of construction of the mausoleum was Rs6,68,203-7 (Rupees Six Lakh, Sixty Eight thousand, Two Hundred and Three & Seven Annas) -- Aurangzeb allocated only Rs. 7,00,000 for its construction.  It was commissioned by the Prince Azam Shah son of sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb of his mother,  Dilras Banu Begum (posthumously known as Rabia-ud-Daurani). It bears a striking resemblance to the famous Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of his mother, Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb was not very interested in architecture, though he had built the small, but elegant, Pearl Mosque at Delhi. The Bibi Ka Maqbara was the largest structure that he had to his credit.

Baby Taj

Baby Taj

Grave of Rabia-ud-Daurani

Ellora:- Ellora is an archaeological site 29 km north-west of the city of Aurangabad, built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The Cave Temples of Ellora, are the product of three religious systems-Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Jainism containing elaborate carvings of Gods and Goddesses and Remarkable memorials of the three great faiths they represent. Each system had its individual style of Architecture and Ellora presents the varied styles side by side.The sculptural work, too, reveals the points of contrast. The excavation on a sloping hill-side are spread over an area, from north to  south, of about two kilometres. Cave 1 to 12, making the southern series, are Buddhist. The next sixteen belong to Brahmanism, Caves, 30 to 34 are in the Jain group. The Buddhist caves are the earliest (500-700 A.D.)

Cave no. 30 to 34

A figure from Jain Cave

Cave no. 32: Indrani under mango tree

Lord Vishnu

Cave no.21: Shiva & Parvati playing "Chausar"

Cave no.16: A Dhwajstambh at Kelash Temple

Cave no. 16: Mahabhart yudha

Cave no. 10 Bhuddha in stupa with attendants

Daulatabad Fort:- About Fifteen kilometers from Aurangabad on the road to Ellora rises the famous mediaeval fortress of that name is now all that Daulatabad stands for. The great pyramidal shape is visible from a good distance as it dominates the landscape. The hisstory of Daulatabad goes back to the twelveth century, when it was the capital of the Hindu Kingdoms in the Deccan and was called Deogiri, the hill of the Gods. The fortress of Deogiri was constructed by Raja Bhillamraj, of Yadav Dynasty, who was a grreat gereral of his time.

Canons at fort

Chand minar at fort

Ajanta: The Ajanta Caves are stuated about 104 kilomiters from Aurangabad and about 100 kilomiters from ellora. There are therty caves in the caves arts we can feel the physical beauty of women and the spiritual beauty of the Boddisattva, some of caves out of thirty, unfinished and negligible. Sixteen contain mural paintings, but the best work is to be found in Caves 1,2,16,17 and 19. The best sculptures are caves 1,4,17,19 and 26. The numbering of the cave has been done in consecutive order and has no relation to their chronological sequence. It starts at the western extremity of the rock, near the entrance. The present entrance does not seen to have been the original approach to the excavations. Five of caves, 9,10,19,26 and 29 are Chaitya- halls.

Cave No. 2 Buddha

Cave No.2 Panting shows insidents of budddhas life

Cave No 17, Art on the Roof

Unfinished Cave

Buddha

Waterfall in Ajanta

India: Omkareshwar MP

India: Omkareshwar MP: After very long finally today 18/04/2015, I have got a Saturday off. So to make this Saturday funny I have decided to go to Omkareshwar, w...

Omkareshwar MP

After very long finally today 18/04/2015, I have got a Saturday off. So to make this Saturday funny I have decided to go to Omkareshwar, which is one of the Jyotirlinga out of 12 Jyotirlinga of lord Shiva.

Omkareshwar Temple

In this temple of lord Shiva I have found some thing new this time. The thing is that in normal temple of load Shiva, the Shivlinga always in the middle of the temple but in this temple it is in a corner, it may because of the modification of outer structure of temple, the temple also have three Devi (Maa Saraswati, Maa Lakshmi, Maa Kali) on main gate, in the temple has several number of pillar and every pillar have some kind of art, and when we go down stares there is a cave which has naturally running water from walls and from roof.

The Cave

This beautiful place is situated at bank of Narmada River in Khandwa Distric MP, it is around 80 km in south from Indore city. A 520 MW hydroelectric power station situated, the dam was constructed between 2003 and 2007 with the purpose of providing water for irrigation of 132,500 hectare.

Bridge on Narmada River

Woman with wood

Market

Monkey with family

Narmada River

Ujjain

         Ujjain is the city of central Indian state Madhya Pradesh, it is situated on the bank of Kshipra River in the Malwa plateau. The city has one of the Jyotirlngm called Mahakaleshwar out of 12 Jyotirlngms of Lord Shiva.

The city also famous for Hindu gathering on KUMBH MELA. Up coning KUMBH MELA is in 2016, in Ujjain and at the same time ARDHA KUMBH is in Haridwar, so this may opportunity to be a part of KUMBH MELA again in 2016 at Ujjain. The first written evidence of the Kumbh Mela can be found in the accounts of Chinese monk Xuanzang, who visited India in 629–645 CE, during the reign of King Harshavardhana. My this visit to Ujjain is for meet my sick friend Kshitij, after meeting I plan to visit some place in Ujjain. Kshitij's father take me to Mahakaleshwer and some other places of Ujjain on his scooter.

Radha Krishna Temple

First place that we visited in ujjain that is Radha Krishna Temple, after that we went to RAM GHAT.  Ram Ghat is the GHAT on Kshipra River and this ghat is the legendary for Kumbhmela. The nearest place from RAM GHAT is Harsiddhi Temple to visit.

Ram Ghat:

Shadhu at ghat

Ram Ghat

The next thing that you can see that is  Harsiddhi Temple, at Harsiddhi Temple. Aarty Begins at 7:00 to 8:00 AM and 6:00 to 7:00 PM, after Aarty people can do there own Pooja in the Temple.

Harsiddhi Temple:

Harsiddhi Temple

Devi Harsiddhi

Yantra on the Temple Roof

At the end of the day I went to the destination, that is Shri Mahakaleshwar Temple, in the given Picture you see there was a Muslim guy sealing Lord Shiva's  Photos.

Mahakaleshwar:

"Really it happens only in India" 

Muslim guy with Lord Shiva's stuff

!!!!Har Har Mahadev!!!!

DEWAS

             Dewas is the most beautiful and ancient town situated near Indore, it is around 40 km in Northeast from Indore and on the level plains of the Malwa Plateau, to the South. The beauty of Dewas, it is surround by hills, and on the hills as every where in India there is also a Hindu Temple on it. In Dewas there is not only temples on the hills but with the latest technology there are winds farm also situated, so if  view Dewas from the top of the hills you will enjoy both the technology and the India culture.

Dewas is a small town but it is also have administrative center of Dewas District, and was formerly the seat of two "15 Gun Salute" princely states during the British Raj, Dewas Junior State and Dewas Senior State, ruled by the royal Maratha "Puar" or Pawar. And one more most interesting thing about Dewas is that it has Houses Government's Bank Note Press.

Main Gate Tulja Bhawani Mandir 

        The main hill in the Dewas known as Tekri  these days but the actual name of this hill is the Devi Vaishini hill. This hill has number of temples of Deity Devi Tulja Bhawani, Chamunda Mata and Kalika Mata.The word Dewas is also believed to be a sandhi of Dev deity and Vas Msrathi for abode. thus Dewas means abode of the Deity or God.

Tulja Bhawani Mandir

Bhavani was the tutelary Deity of the Maratha leader Shivaji, in whose veneration, he dedicated his sword, Bhavani Talwar. A temple to Bhavani at Tuljapur in Maharashtra, dates back to the 12th century. 

          The Swami Shivom Tirtha wrote the History of the hill (Tekri) of Dewas in his book - "Sadhan Shikhar". And E. M. Forster wrote a Travelogue named-"The Hill of Devi" in 1953.

Mihir Sharma with his bike

          Mihir Sharma My friend also working in Shakti Pumps, he Invited me to Dewas.

Maa Chamunda Deep Sthamb

Chamunda mandir

Time to fishing

Sun Set at mitha talab lake

The Hill from lake

Agra 570 km

Mahakaleshwar Mandir

Time to go back to Indore