[SmartCat]

Oh really? The Pujari who took Rs. 101 from us said Pushkar had the only Lord Brahma Temple in the world!

[ampere]

That hole is called the Azure window. May be part sea water and part other elements of nature made it. Looked hear huge and larger than life when I stood in front of it. Run an image search in Google for Azure window and see the results. Folks have taken amazing snaps of the structure. Mine is a humble point and shoot.

[sammymane]

uh... are the 100,000 kms up? Gee hope not, ye dil maange more dude! Believe me, if I did have some cheerleaders I'd have them cheering for you this very minute for more.
So where were we

[SmartCat]

After the Rajasthan travelogue, all the big trips are done - but we have lots of other chota mota ones. Upcoming travelgoues -

- Two 3000 km trips to Mumbai/Goa and Rameshwaram/KK/Kovalam

- 3 more trips to Goa

- 2 trips to Ooty

- 5 treks in Karnataka

- Three 1500 km plus trips to Hampi/karwar (KA), Kumarakom (KL) and Yana/Gokarna (KA)

- Twelve less-than-1000 km trips to BR Hills (KA), Chennai (TN), Chickmagalur (KA), Chitradurga (KA), Horsley Hills (AP), Madikeri (KA), Mantralaya (AP), Pondicherry, Tirupati (AP), Yelagiri (TN), Gopalaswamy Hill (KA) and Yercaud (TN)

- Ten less-than-200 km trips close to Bangalore.

I think all this will take some time

[MX6]

Originally Posted by smartcat

After the Rajasthan travelogue, all the big trips are done - but we have lots of other chota mota ones. Upcoming travelgoues -

- Two 3000 km trips to Mumbai/Goa and Rameshwaram/KK/Kovalam

- 3 more trips to Goa

- 2 trips to Ooty

- 5 treks in Karnataka

- Three 1500 km plus trips to Hampi/karwar (KA), Kumarakom (KL) and Yana/Gokarna (KA)

- Twelve less-than-1000 km trips to BR Hills (KA), Chennai (TN), Chickmagalur (KA), Chitradurga (KA), Horsley Hills (AP), Madikeri (KA), Mantralaya (AP), Pondicherry, Tirupati (AP), Yelagiri (TN), Gopalaswamy Hill (KA) and Yercaud (TN)

- Ten less-than-200 km trips close to Bangalore.

I think all this will take some time

And a pending trip to Pune?

[SmartCat]

I would like to completely explore Gujarat one day - especially Diu, Rann of Kutch, Dwarka, Gir National Park etc. Then we go via Pune. I hope you will buy a 4WD vehicle by then!

[MX6]

Originally Posted by smartcat

I would like to completely explore Gujarat one day - especially Diu, Rann of Kutch, Dwarka, Gir National Park etc. Then we go via Pune. I hope you will buy a 4WD vehicle by then!

I've already started looking for MM550s and gypseys (second hand). started putting around a monthly amount to buy in 2 - 3 years time!
we'll do it.
We can explore the beautiful Sayaji rao gaekwad gardens of Vadodara, the modhera sun temple, swaminarayan temple (akshardham) at ahd.
Also diu is a haven for the thirsty. I loved the beaches of diu. the route from diu to dwarka is amazing with history inscribed every km of it.
Somnath is home to the magnificent jyotirlinga. Prabhas patan houses the death place of Krishna and a stone's throw away is the gufa where balaram is believed to have transformed to shesh nag and went to patala.
Porbandar is where one connects with the great Mahatma. A person who was born in a massive haveli, got married to a girl 6 months older and more richer than him, but spent 80% of his life in self imposed penury and simplicity, fighting for other people's freedom. His house and kasturba's house are museums now. Gopi houses a 6000 year old temple of radha and krishna. The place so idyllic, it looks like just out of a poster showing krishna, radha and other gopikas indulging in ras leela. many temples prayed and built by pandavas during their agyatvas here.
Madhavpur is another landmark temple housing a very old 5000 years may be of lord ganesha, which krishna persnally prayed it seems. Also this is the place where Krishna kidnapped Rukmini and married her!
Dwarka is amazing. One of the char dhams as well. and the great aarthi at Dwarkadeeshwar temple is a sight to behold. As I type, every strand of hair in my body is standing up, reminising what I saw in april 2000.
Mangoes at talala is damn famous. We used to buy bagful (20 - 25 mangoes) at 40 -50 rs those days.
Not to forget the great gir. My first train ride 11 years back from ahd to veraval I was nonchalantly brushing my teeth at the washbasin, looking out.
9:30 am, when the train was going through the gir, I saw two lioness and a lion besides the track. I've seen cows, buffaloes and dogs. Seeing a lions was the most perplexing thing ever. I came back and asked my co-passengers whether a menhir fell on my head when I was sleeping.
7 trips to gir forest was amazing.
there's another hidden gem, the girnar. people claim it has 9999 steps. it has close to 8500 in reality and a 1000 temples. Amazing climb and trek. Amazing temples enroute.
We'll do that when you come to pune. And yes, the 4wd is in my agenda for long!

[SmartCat]

wow man! Looks like somebody has been making plans to explore Gujarat from a long time

Rajasthan Trip Continued:

Pic 1: From Pushkar, we then headed to salt lake called Sambhar Lake - a poor man's Bonneville Salt Flats, to try out some offroading in our car.



Pic 2: The road to Sambhar Lake looks promising. Mostly barren, with those desert shrubs here and there.



Pic 3: Hey! We finally spot the Asiatic Wild a s s. Or is that just a white donkey? We were looking for this in Gujarat near Little Rann.



Pic 4: We look around a way to get into the lake bed.



Pic 5: Found this temple, and we found out a way to get into the lake in a low ground clearance car near the temple.



Vid 1: We tentatively go offroad, but close to the temple. The ground is hard and dusty - which is good!

YouTube - Sambhar Lake Salt Flats

Pic 6: All of us sit inside, and decide to get to the centre of the lake, where we see some tractors (probably for mining salt, no idea) far way.
And then we get stuck after few minutes of driving!



Pic 7: Although the surface looks hard, it's not. Note the ground clearance between the underbody and the lake bed. If the car beaches itself, we'd have to swallow our pride and go get the help of those tractors far far away.



Pic 8: We tried going forward, turning the steering, using reverse gear, using flat stones on both the front tyres - all this while three of us pushing the car. The wheels spin like crazy but the car won't budge. This clay like material is a bit similar to what Top Gear presenters faced in their adventure across Makgadikgadi Pan in Botswana. If our car had been lighter, we could've have gone further. Our next attempt will be on a Tata Nano or a M800!



Pic 9: We go to Plan B. The mats! Naveen doesn't look happy because we have been stuck for 20 mins here. "Whose bright idea was it to come here?". The first few times we put the mats under the wheels, the car tyres simply spit it out from behind.



Pic 10: Finally, we are free! I'm obviously the happiest to see my baby free. We use a combination of engine power, human power, mats and flat stones (at the back of the wheel) to get out of the mess.



Pic 11: Although we freed ourselves, we had already moved too far into the centre of the lake, and there was a big possibility of getting stuck again. We got close to the lake border, where the bed looked dry and dusty. We managed to make it back to the temple without any more hitches. We had to drive a few kms to get rid of the 3 cm thick goopy stuff from the front tyres.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Pic 7: We reach Pushkar - which has the only temple in the world for Lord Brahma.

Originally Posted by MX6

There are many such "only temples" for brahma in the world. One very famous temple is at Suchindram near Nagercoil. It's called Thanumalayan temple.
Thanu - Brahma
Mal - Vishnu
Ayan - Shiva
May be one day I'll do a documentation of all the "only temples" and plan a trip as well.

I remember visiting one such temple dedicated to Bramha in U.P. when we visited Kanpur and Lucknow in '97. We were taken there enroute to the Valmiki Ashram. The place even had metre gauge a railway station named "Bramhavarth".

As for the Thanumalayan temple, I think it is one single deity embodying all three murthis. Correct me if I am wrong.

[BurningHeart]

Very captivating tales! Happy to see the Optra going shipshape. And she must be really happy that she is possibly the only Optra sold in south that ever did the dunes of Rajasthan.

Also, please tell your 1.5L lensman, that I would like to have the honour of keeping his capture of the moon from the Borra caves for a day on my desktop. Don't crucify me. The pics were drool-maal.

BH.

[SmartCat]

Very captivating tales!

I suppose you mean optravating tales

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I remember visiting one such temple dedicated to Bramha in U.P. when we visited Kanpur and Lucknow in '97. We were taken there enroute to the Valmiki Ashram. The place even had metre gauge a railway station named "Bramhavarth".

As for the Thanumalayan temple, I think it is one single deity embodying all three murthis. Correct me if I am wrong.

There are quite a few temples in India dedicated to Brahma as per the info in Wikipedia. See them listed below

Pushkar in Rajasthan
Thirunavaya in Kerala
Kumbakonam, (Thanjavur District) in Tamil Nadu
Kodumudi, Erode district, Tamil Nadu
Nerur village in Kudal taluka of Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra
Kheteshwar Brahmadham Tirtha in Asotra village, Balotra Taluka of Barmer district, Rajasthan
Brahmā-Karmali village in Sattari Taluka in Goa
Khedbrahma in Gujarat
Khokhan in the Kullu Valley

[aargee]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Guys sitting in office wasting time looking at a travel blog during office hours. Hmm. Sounds familiar. No need to mention your profession - we know!

Yes, you, me, we are all sitting in the same boat writing & reading all the 13 pages in the travelogue. But keep them coming.

[SmartCat]

From Wikipedia again -

Various stories in Hindu mythology talk about curses that have supposedly prevented Brahmā from being worshiped on Earth.

According to a story in the Shiva Purana (dedicated to Lord Shiva), at the beginning of time in Cosmos, Vishnu and Brahmā approached a huge Shiva linga and set out to find its beginning and end. Vishnu was appointed to seek the end and Brahma the beginning. Taking the form of a boar, Vishnu began digging downwards into the earth, while Brahma took the form of a swan and began flying upwards. However, neither could find His appointed destination. Vishnu, satisfied, came up to Shiva and bowed down to him as a swarupa of Brahman. Brahmā did not give up so easily. As He was going up, he saw a ketaki flower, dear to Shiva. His ego forced him to ask the flower to bear false witness about Brahmā's discovery of Shiva's beginning. When Brahmā told his tale, Shiva, the all-knowing, was angered by the former's ego. Shiva thus cursed him that no being in the three worlds will worship him.[citation needed]

A depiction of Khambhavati Ragini, A lady worshiping BrahmaAccording to another legend, Brahmā is not worshiped because of a curse by the great sage Brahmarishi Bhrigu. The high priest Bhrigu was organising a great fire-sacrifice (yajna) on Earth. It was decided that the greatest among all Gods would be made the presiding deity. Bhrigu then set off to find the greatest among the Trimurti. When he went to Brahmā, the god was so immersed in the music played by Saraswati that he could hardly hear Bhrigu's calls. The enraged Bhrigu then cursed Brahmā that no person on Earth would ever invoke him or worship him again.[citation needed]

[StarVegabond]

One of the story about Lord Bramha, why not being worshiped is as below.
i read this story in a book at my aunt's place when i was an teenager and enjoying my summer vacations. I do not remember the book name.

Mother Bhagavati or Mahadurga, created three Lords viz Bramha, Vishnu and Mahesh

Bramha was assigned the role to creator, Vishnu, the manager, and Mahesh the terminator.

Bramha created Saraswati, but fell in love with her, married her.
Symbolically, Saraswati being Bramha's daughter, Bramha committed Incest.

That is the reason he is not worshiped.

There might be more tales as well.