[MX6]

Originally Posted by aargee

Knowing about you, I deliberately did not pen down the story; I'll let you go.

You do the honours sir. I shall fill in!
Here's a 5* from my side. Was just waiting for the blurry images to stop

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Venom_rider

Just stumbled on this awesome log aargee... Looks like you had a great vacation.Cheers!

Yes I did; it was a sudden plan & done in a great dilemma. Trust me, when you'd called the previous weekend for RX, I still didn't have this plans.

Originally Posted by Anandg

I wonder how it would be 400 years back!!

Awesome simple life; except that there was no knowledge sharing & cars

Originally Posted by Anandg

Thanks to you guys for reminding us the greatness of this culture. Keep posting more.

Thanks for your kind words

Originally Posted by MX6

Here's a 5* from my side. Was just waiting for the blurry images to stop

Thanks you very much MS; I'm really honored now Blurry images? Which one?

[MX6]

@aargee: There was knowledge sharing. It was mainly in the form of music/ dance and other art forms which had a theme, a story to tell in a nice way that captivated the audience and spread the message. There was also gurukula which was for knowledge dissemination. Above all, there were great philosophers, gurus and sants who were in search of knowledge.

There were other animal powered wagons. And there were palanquins for the rich and aristocratic which were human powered. There was always some other the other vehicle in the world ever since man invented the wheel.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by MX6

Swamiye kandaal motcham kittum.

Originally Posted by aargee

MX6 is a typical TN guy; its his knowledge on travel that makes people think if he belongs to KL (Kerala or Kulalumpur)

Well, that's surprising, I had a faint doubt regarding the same when I read the above statement. It must have been "moksham" in Malayalam, I presume it is "motcham" in Tamil, am I right? Anyways good to know, please continue with the travelogue.

Spike

[aargee]

Well, what meant to say was, the intense of knowledge sharing was less due to lack of technology; same applies to cars.
No computers, so the reach out was less
A caste system that prevented the knowledge flow across the mankind
No CD's, hence strong evidences or writings were only in the rocks

Cutting long story short - Yesterday's simple life, less excitement, monotonous & longer life span compared to today's complicated life, hyper excitement, ever changing routine & shorter life span

Originally Posted by SPIKE_ARRESTOR

Anyways good to know, please continue with the travelogue.

Yes; I'm formatting the pics. Coming up - the patashala in Kalady

[MX6]

Moksham is in Malayalam.
Mokshamu is in telugu.
Moksha in Sanskrit and Kannada.
Moksh in hindi
Most of the north indian languages will have similar word!
See, when it comes to the ultimate need, every language refers to it in one similar word!

Anyway, I'm a person who don't belong to one place. Yadhum oore, yaavarum kelir.

Aargee. The story please.
Interestingly, there was a recent celebration in Kalady with the Sringeri acharya spending time there IN kalady.

[aargee]

So we turn left towards Lord Krishna temple & this is how the pathway towards Kalady river looks


To the right hand side on the way, Kalady the veda school/patashala is located


A board on the gate of Patashala


This is how the river appears


As usual, someone upper hand has to inaugurate


Right side of us


One can spot the bridge that connects Perumbavoor-Kalady-Angamaly


I decided to test my limited zoom


Left side of the river


This is how the temple will appear when one sees from the river bank


Once we were out of Kalady temple, we got split into two groups; myself & cousin as one, Wifey, Mother, children & cousin as two. By the time we finished out photo shoot on Sri Krishna Temple, they'd gone back to Aunt's home. While taking more pics on river, we'd received 2 calls asking to come back as we were on short visit to Kalady on our way to Wadakkanchery. Hence we started walking back to our Aunts home.

[aargee]

As we walked back, I thought I'll capture this info for people who want to visit Sringeri so that they could have some contact


We went home & had lots of photo session; it has our Aunt's typical village styles home; I would like to post, but for the masked faces. So I'm not sharing it for now.
This is the entrance at Sringeri village


A view of village


View of village from my Aunt's home


Another view of the village including the temple's view


We bid bye now & start driving towards Wadakkanchery. The drive was good one, smooth roads but with a slight disturbance due to road construction work. However, we reached Wadakkanchery when the ODO clocked 46985. This is about 68 Kms from Kalady.

Just one enroute pic

[MX6]

Guess they were afraid that you guys might wade in the river and insert your leg in to a crocodile's mouth. Hence the 2 calls.
Kaladi is a dangerous place for men you see.

[addyhemmige]

Hey aagee, nice travelogue you started going. I hadn't seen it until today. Keep 'em coming!!!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

Guess they were afraid that you guys might wade in the river and insert your leg in to a crocodile's mouth.

Haha; on a serious tone, there're no more crocs in Kalady river. My cousin used to swim from this end to the other end. I remember him telling this sometimes when we I was doing grade 8 or so. He's 2 years younger to me.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Hey aagee, nice travelogue you started going. I hadn't seen it until today. Keep 'em coming!!!

Thanks Addy; Sorry that I wasn't able to keep up the route you suggested. But we're determined to do it at a wink of an opportunity.

[aargee]

After having a sumptuous lunch at my Aunt's home at Wadakkanchery, we started planning for the next day's trip. There was a slight disappointment that was on the way which we didn't realize until we came back from Uthraalikavu that evening & the entire twist happened.

Uthraalikavu is one of my favorite & a must visit temple for me in Wadakkanchery for several reasons. One should ideally visit this temple early morning or evening during sunset; trust me, you'll forget the IT, manager, job, company, car & every material aspect of life. The scenic of the temple is so beautiful to look at & its much more than mesmerizing. I've loads of pics to share, but to begin with, see this


source of information on Uthraalikavu
Uthralikavu Pooram, Uthralikavu Pooram Festival, Pooram Festivals, Uthralikavu Pooram Festival Kerala, tour packages to Kerala
Hindu Devotional Blog: Uthralikavu Pooram Festival 2010 in Kerala
Uthralikavu Pooram
Uthralikavu Pooram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[MX6]

What is the connection between Uthralikavu temple and Nepal? The entrance looks more like a nepali pagoda than a Kerala temple.

[Gansan]

A really nice thread with some beautiful pictures, aargee! I have rated this five star. Except sabarimala, I have not seen the other temples shown here. Here are some of my thoughts.

Originally Posted by aargee

Finally we start around 8:08 after darshan & time for some breakfast. We go to Hotel Soorya in Kotayam around 8:58 when ODO clocks 46783 by mistake thinking its Aryaas;

There was one Arya restaurant near the old bus stand at Kottayam where we had lunch during a lightning visit in 2008, and it was rather good. This does not seem to be the same one.

Originally Posted by aargee

@MX6 - To all your multiple post, there's only one answer I can give, it depends on people who're following. Wait until you read my entire thread. All these penance is not observed in KL in form of walking bare foot etc. It has become a mere fashion especially in AP & TN, though I'm not sure of what is prevailing in KA.

No, it a custom and belief system in TN and AP. But we can say it has become fashionable for some frivolous people to undertake pilgrimage to Sabarimala, and they wear it on their sleeve and make a mockery of this. I remember my grandfather observe all this penance for going to Sabarimala when I was barely 10, so it is not a new custom. That it is not followed in KL does not take anything away from it!

Originally Posted by aargee

Err...even with bare foot the organisms get killed isn't it? I think it was for a different reason altogether; The hill was considered sacred & hence people avoided wearing sandals over the hills.

IMO this is the correct reason.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

5. Restriction for Women folks and Celibacy : This was basically could be due to the fact that accompanying women folks on such long and tedious journey through forests etc was next to impossible. hence they were left behind at homes and Celibacy was natural consequence of that. 15-50 age profile might be due to the fact that this age group is more prone to attacks from the robbers and dacoits.

The age restriction is to allow only women who have not reached menarche / have attained menopause.

Originally Posted by aargee

This time, we didn't undergo the irumudi also & skipped the Friday rituals & hence the reason for not taking the holy 18 steps; however we'd a good darshan of Lord Ayyappa, which is what we consider the ultimate.

I also visited Sabarimala like this and had repeated darshan 7 - 8 times in 2008! I am not a very religious person and visited more out of curiosity. Whether I visit Tirupathi or Sabarimala, the deities do not hold much of my attention, but rather the entire hills and surroundings seem to represent the Godhead for me!

I wonder you did not mention about vavar swamy. He represents a puzzle for me. We are told the events mentioned in our mythology took place many thousands of years ago. Which should hold good for the Iyappa legend too - I refer to the war of the Devas with Mahishi, who is ultimately killed by the lord.

If we accept Vavar was a Muslim, the Iyappa legend could not have taken place before the 5th century AD, when Islam was founded by prophet Mohammed, which is just a century before Adi Sankara.

But on the other hand, sea trade between Arabia and India had been taking place for thousands of years. So Vavar could have been an Arab who arrived on Indian shores during those times, but then could not have been a Muslim. So, which is correct?

Originally Posted by aargee

A pigeon; if it were TN, people would've fried all of them now

So you think people don't eat pigeons and quail in KL and KA? If you were a non-vegetarian like me (don't tell my wife), you will know better! Take it from me, whether it is TN/KA/KL/AP, only those pigeons & fish that are within temple /Ashram premises will escape ending up on a dinner plate!

If you visit my office premises, I will show you at least a hundred, if not hundreds, of pigeons! Nobody harms them either!

Originally Posted by aargee

Blurry images? Which one?

I think he means the blurred out faces! In future, please just black out the faces or make them blank, instead of what you did this time. They appear rather grotesque!

[MX6]

Well, the footwear discussion is still going on.
I've seen people climb tirupati wearing reebok and adidas shoes. The hill is considered holy and they've banned liquor and cigarettes there.
With Ayyappaswamis smoking beedis and having onion uthappa in sabari hills, why not they go ahead and wear footwear as well?
Then can convenietly keep it behind the pathinettam padi, have darshan and walk away with any better looking pair.
It's a part of the arduous penance to walk barefoot in the forests. It's a belief that especially TN people have.
They walk on fire.
They lug chariouts with ropes pierced to their skin.
They carry heavy kavadis and climb stair

So they walk the forest barefoot chanting Kallum Mullum Kaalukku methai.
The lord protects them from pain of any kind and comforts them is their belief.

But from age old tenets of Sanathana dharma, we always keep seeing sadhus going around barefoot or on wooden padukas when the are initiated. Guess the Ayyappaswamis decided to keep it simple walking just barefoot.

People carry the footwear on their sleeves, because the moment the not so pious have their darshan, they wear the footwear and walk back.

I remember seeing a third rate Dhanush movie in which he goes to Sabari mala, comes back removes his mala and drinks bottles and bottles of beer and does a kuthu song dance sequence with skimpily clad women. He says that he's been too desperate after all these days. sick.