#virupaksha

[desicinema]

Occult is being conducted in the village. If we don't take action now, these deaths will continue until the village is annihilated.

VIRUPAKSHA (2023), dir. Karthik Varma Dandu

[philoursmars]

Mi-mai, mon cousin Olivier et sa compagne franco-américaine Bonnie, sont venus me voir. D'où une visite obligatoire au Louvre-Lens :

Chen Mi Zang (Virupaksha en sanskrit), Roi-Gardien de l'Ouest - provinces d'Ü et de Tsang, Tibet centre et Sud, 1400-1500

Giuseppe Arcimboldo - "L'Hiver" et "Le Printemps"- 1573

Dietrich Schro - "Le Prince Electeur Ottheinrich Von der Pfalz" - Mayence, 1555

Giuseppe Arcimboldo - "L'Eté" et "L'Automne - 1573

Li Zhiyi - Songdi Wang, roi du Troisième Enfer , le Diyù - Chine, 1517

Giuseppe Arcimboldo - "L'Hiver", "Le Printemps", "L'Eté", "L'Automne" - 1573...et mon cousin !

Jean de Bologne - statuette de singe - Florence, 1570

Giuseppe Arcimboldo - "L'Automne" - 1573

[famousplacesinindia]

The Virupaksha Temple is located in #Hampi in the Ballari district of #Karnataka, India. It is part of the Group of #Monuments at Hampi, designated as a #UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple is dedicated to #LordVirupaksha, a form of Shiva. The temple's history is uninterrupted from about the 7th century. The Virupaksha-Pampa sanctuary existed well before the Vijayanagara capital was located here. Inscriptions referring to Shiva date back to the 9th and 10th centuries. What started as a small shrine grew into a large complex under the Vijayanagara rulers. Evidence indicates there were additions made to the temple in the late Chalukyan and Hoysala periods, though most of the temple buildings are attributed to the Vijayanagar period. The huge temple building was built by Lakkana Dandesha, a chieftain under the ruler Deva Raya II of the Vijayanagara Empire. Under the Vijayanagara rulers, in the middle of the 14th century, there began a flowering of native art and culture. When the rulers were defeated by Muslim invaders in the 16th century, most of the wonderful decorative structures and creations were systematically destroyed. The religious sect of Virupaksha-Pampa did not end with the destruction of the city in 1565. Worship there has persisted throughout the years. At the beginning of the 19th century there were major renovations and additions, which included ceiling paintings and the towers of the north and east gopura. #hampi #hampifocus #gopuram #Karnataka #travelkarnataka #lordshiva #virupakshatemple #hampidiaries #shivatemple #mahadeva #templesofkarnataka🙏🙏 #indiantemple #templesofindia #incrediblekarnataka #virupaksha #karnatakafocus #indianarchitecture #archaeology #unesco #unescoworldheritage https://www.instagram.com/p/CmsOfm1Bl8g/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[praveenmohantamil]

😍👌

[indianpanoramatour]

May all your wishes be fulfilled with the blessings of Nature and all beautiful living beings in 2021. Location: Hampi, Karnataka Follow @indianpanorama Visit www.indianpanorama.in #STravelORIES #templetuesday #hampi #elephant #virupaksha #vittala #karnatakatourism #hampidiaries #ancientruins #blessings #elephantblessing #indianpanorama #travel #travelphotography #travelblogger #travelgram (at Hampi, Karnataka) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJG6xABnjHY/?igshid=126pobnx46hip

[kalyan-gullapalli]

Post # 130

Hampi : A riches-to-ruins story...

Hampi is a small village/town, on the banks of River Tungabhadra, in Bellary district of Karnataka. It doesn't even boast of a railway station - the nearest train halts in Hospet, about 13 km away. However, it is a UNESCO World heritage site, known for its ruined remains of more than 1600 temples, shrines, royal and sacred complexes, forts, pillared halls, mandapas, memorial structures and other architectural marvels.

Hampi was, from the 14th to the 17th centuries AD, also called Vijayanagara, and was the capital of "the last great Hindu empire in South India" - The Vijayanagara empire. Infact, Persian and Portuguese chroniclers say that in 1500 AD, Vijayanagara (Hampi) was the second largest city in the world, extremely prosperous, beautiful and grand. It is rhetorically said that pearls and other precious stones used to be sold on roadsides like coconuts and bananas are today. Curious to know which was the largest city in the world? From the 15th to 18th centuries, the largest city in the world was Beijing.

This is how large the Vijayanagara empire was in its zenith. And Hampi, also known as Vijayanagara, was its capital.

How then did the second largest city in the world get reduced to a rumbling ruin? Therein lies a tale.

Actually, the story of Hampi begins not in history, not even in pre-history, but in mythology. It begins with a lady called Pampa, also called Parvati, doing immensely intense tapas, in order to woo an ascetic recluse called Shiva. She does her tapas on the Hemakuta hills nearby. Finally, Shiva comes to Hemakuta, sees Pampa's (Parvati's) resolve and agrees to marry her. The Sanskrit word Pampa becomes the Kannada Hampa and over time gets corrupted to Hampe or Hampi. The region is also called Pampakshetra. Aeons pass. Temples are built on Hemakuta hills to commemorate the lore. The ruins of the Hemakuta temple complex still stand.

Next, this region is believed to be the same as Kishkindha, the Vanara kingdom of Vali and Sugreeva, from the Valmiki Ramayana. It is also considered to be the birthplace of Hanuman. Hence it has gained a significant religious value over time.

Now, let's come to recorded history. Rock edicts suggest that this region seems to have been under Ashoka's Mauryan empire in the 2nd century BC.

From the 6th to 10th centuries, this place was called Pampapura and was ruled by the Chalukyas. Sometime during this period, the Virupaksha Shiva temple was built and patronized by the Chalukya kings.

In the 14th century, the armies of the Delhi Sultanate, particularly those of Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq, invaded and pillaged South India. Two brothers, Hakka and Bukka (Harihara I and Bukka I), resisted and founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336, with its capital in Hampi. A sage by the name Vidyaranya took them under his protection, mentored them and established them on the throne. So the city was called Vidyanagara for a while, morphing into Vijayanagara in due course - the City of Victory. The Amar Chitra Katha titled on them beautifully explains their trials and tribunals.

Vijayanagara reached its zenith under the rule of its most iconic emperor - Krishnadeva Raya, who ruled from 1509 to 1529. Under his rule, Hampi-Vijayanagara became the world's second-largest city, and one of India's richest. Its wealth attracted traders from across the Deccan area, Persia and Goa. He ushered developments in intellectual pursuits and the arts, maintained a strong military and fought many wars with sultanates to its north and east. He invested in roads, waterworks, agriculture, religious buildings and public infrastructure. According to historical memoirs left by Portuguese and Persian traders, Hampi was of metropolitan proportions - they called it "one of the most beautiful cities in the world". 

Now comes the tragic part.

In 1565, the five Sultanates north of Vijayanagara united and attacked the reigning king Aliya Rama Raya in what is called the Battle of Talikota, about 80 km southeast of Bijapur.

The Vijayanagara army was winning the battle, but the tide turned when two Muslim commanders of the Vijayanagara army switched sides and turned their loyalty to the Sultanates. They captured Aliya Rama Raya and beheaded him on the spot. The Sultanate army then reached Hampi, looted, destroyed and burnt it down to ruins over a period of several months. This is evidenced by the quantities of charcoal, the heat-cracked basements and burnt architectural pieces found by archaeologists in Vijayanagara region. 

Robert Sewell, a historian who worked for British India and a scholar on Vijayanagara Empire, wrote in his book,  A Forgotten Empire - Vijayanagar: A Contribution to the History of India, "With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day, their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description."

Such is the glorious story of Hampi - the historical and religious city-in-ruins, that was one day prosperity personified.

[shinymoonbird]

https://www.davidgodman.org/bhagavans-deposition-on-arunachala/

A 1949 view of the path to Skandashram on the eastern slopes of Arunachala.  Near the top of the photo is the clump of trees around Skandashram. 

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In the late 1930s Bhagavan made a legal deposition on behalf of the Arunachaleswara Temple which was fighting to retain control over a portion of Arunachala. In his submission Bhagavan spoke about his own relationship with the hill and provided evidence of the historical sanctity of the mountain.

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Bhagavan’s Deposition on Arunachala - I

Until the 1930s the eastern slope of the mountain of Arunachala was administered by the Arunachaleswara Temple in Tiruvannamalai. Prior to 1934, its right to do so had been accepted by everyone on and around the hill. From time immemorial the temple authorities had maintained the tanks and temples on the mountain, put out any fires that broke out, and arranged for all the forest produce to be sold in an orderly manner. The unquestioned authority that the temple authorities had wielded over this area had arisen because of the local tradition that the hill was Siva Himself manifesting in the form of a lingam. Since the belief was widespread and largely unchallenged, the local people felt that it was natural and correct that the main temple in Tiruvannamalai should administer all affairs pertaining to the hill.

This traditional arrangement was challenged by the Government of India in 1934. In May that year the Government issued a notification in the district gazette which stated that the whole of Arunachala was a reserve forest and was thus the property of the Government of India. The temple authorities challenged the Government’s order in court, maintaining that the temple was the legitimate owner of 1,750 acres on the eastern side of the hill. This area included all the tanks and temples on the slope of the mountain that begins at the back of the Arunachaleswara Temple.

One of the temple trustees approached Bhagavan and requested him to give evidence to the court that would support the Arunachaleswara Temple’s claim to the land. Bhagavan agreed and in 1938 lawyers for the plaintiff and the defendant came to the ashram to hear his evidence and to cross-examine him on it. Bhagavan’s initial evidence took the form of a written deposition. A small part of this deposition was recorded in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, talk no. 492. The full text is given below.

I came to Tiruvannamalai in the year 1896 and lived on the hill from 1899 to 1922. In that year this ashram was started, and since then I have been living here [at Sri Ramanashram]. From the time I first lived on the hill, all the hill areas have been in the possession of the Devasthanam [the Arunachaleswara Temple authorities]. The ashram on the hill where I used to live was started in 1902. The building which is there now was completed in the year 1916. This particular ashram was built with the permission and kindness of the Devasthanam. [The permission was oral, for no written Government order or permission was ever received]. From the year 1899 until a date a few years after I left Skandashram, the front side [the eastern slope] of the hill was never in the possession of the Government.

Having given his views on the ownership of the hill, Bhagavan then cited a few examples of how well the temple authorities had administered the hill during the period when he had been living on it.

[Many years ago] a man called Saraswathy Swami lived on the hill. That Swami advertised that he intended to perform a ceremonial worship of an image of Lord Subramania [on the hill]. The Devasthanam objected and stopped it. In an official notice they said that the hill itself is linga swarupa [God in the form of a lingam] and that to perform worship of another deity on it, and to celebrate a festival there, was against the tradition of the sastras. On another occasion, when my mother attained [samadhi], they raised a precautionary objection that her samadhi should not be on the hill. They feared that we might build her samadhi on the hill itself. On this occasion also their objection was that the hill was Iswara swarupa [God’s own physical form].

In those days the Devasthanam authorities gave out orders that the wood cutters should not cut the trees on the hill. Every year during the time I was on the hill the Devasthanam gave licences to various people to cut the grass and to collect the other forest products. Whenever there was a fire on the hill, it was put out at the expense of the Devasthanam. On one occasion when we happened to cut some of the cacti that were causing an inconvenience to the ashram, and then burned them, the Devasthanam objected, saying that we should not have a fire in that place. All these incidents took place on the eastern slope. This eastern slope has fixed boundaries.

Bhagavan then went on the describe why the hill was sacred and why, in his opinion, the temple authorities should be allowed to administer it.

There is an aitikya [tradition] that this hill is linga swarupa, that is to say, that this hill itself is God. This aitikya is not to be found anywhere else. That is the cause of the glory of this place. The tradition of this place is that this hill is the form of God and that in its real nature it is full of light. Every year the Deepam festival celebrates the real nature of the mountain as light itself. Authority for this is found in the Vedas, the Puranas and in the stotras [poems] of devotees. Because this tradition maintains that this hill is Siva swarupa, the practice of giri pradakshina, walking clockwise around the mountain as an act of reverence or worship, has arisen. I also have faith in giri pradakshina and have had experience of it.

There is no sastra to separate the hill from the temple. The inseparability of the hill and the temple can be observed during Kartikai Deepam when the festival [of kindling the light] is conducted simultaneously in the temple and on the summit of the hill. Further proof of the tradition that the hill is the form of God can be found in the bi-annual festivals in which the image of Arunachaleswara in the temple performs pradakshina of the hill.

In the account in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi Bhagavan is reported to have also said: 

‘Siva always remains in three forms: 1) as parabrahman; 2) as linga (here as the hill); and 3) as siddha.’ 

The third category refers to Siva in the form of Arunagiri Yogi whom Bhagavan said resides on the north slope of the hill. Although this quotation summarises views that Bhagavan had expressed on other occasions, there is no record of this remark in the court transcript.

The bare eastern slope of Arunachala around 1980. The trees midway up the photo on the left are the ones at Skandashram. The gopuram in the centre, near the bottom of the photo, is the entrance to Guhai Namasivaya Temple.

Bhagavan continued:

In accordance with the tradition that the hill is Iswara swarupa, the Devasthanam performs abhishekam to the top of the hill in the same way that it would do to a lingam. For the last ten to twelve years the cauldron that contains the Deepam light on the top of the hill is carried to the summit every year during the festival. Prior to this, for many, many years, the cauldron was left there throughout the year.

I am a devotee of Arunachaleswara. I have composed a poem in Tamil which says that the Arunachala hill is Iswara swarupa.

The Government’s lawyer objected to Bhagavan introducing this poem as evidence, but the objection was overruled. It seems that no one recorded the original Tamil verse. It now only exists in the following English translation:

Lord Arunachala appeared out of the hill and at the request of Brahma and Vishnu merged back in the hill. Simultaneously he manifested as the lingam at the bottom of the hill. The hill continues to represent the Lord.

A similar idea, which may be derived from this verse, can be found in the account in Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi: 

‘Siva originally appeared as a column of light. On being prayed to, the light disappeared into the hill and manifested as [a] lingam. Both are Siva.’ 

After Bhagavan had submitted his verse, the case was adjourned for five days. On its resumption, Bhagavan added a few extra comments on the traditions and mythology of the hill.

Even after this [the time when Siva appeared to Brahma and Vishnu in the form of Light] Ishan [Iswara] appeared to Devi in the form of Light before disappearing graciously into the form of the hill.

There are many ancient tirthams [sacred tanks] that exist on the hill. Among them the Mulaipal Tirtham and the Pada Tirtham, are important. There is a tradition that these tirthams were created by Siva and Parvati for the sake of Guhai Namasivaya.

The Government’s lawyer then began his cross-examination of Bhagavan, questioning him in detail on some of the statements he had made. Only Bhagavan’s answers are recorded in the court transcript. I have separated the text into paragraphs in such a way that I hope each paragraph constitutes a different answer. I leave the reader to infer what the questions might have been.

I lived in Virupaksha Cave for sixteen years. I lived in Skandashram for six years. I have stayed at this place [Sri Ramanashram] since 1922.

I constructed a building at Virupaksha Cave. No written permission was obtained from anyone for the construction of the building.

Skandashram was started in 1902. The building was completed in the year 1916. Even after that date some construction work was carried on.

At first it [Skandashram] began as a tirtham. Later it developed into a place of residence. Before Skandashram came into existence, moisture was found in another location nearby. Its source was in a rock that was twenty yards away. This tirtham is now located between Skandashram and Virupaksha Cave. It was only later that the Skandashram tirtham came into being.

Because it [Skandashram] was built by a person called Kandan who lived in the ashram, by his own hands, it became known as Skandashram. That tirtham [I just spoke about] is attached to that ashram.

No order was received from anyone for building this ashram [Skandashram]. Because I was staying there, no one objected. On the contrary, they approved of it.

During the time I lived on the hill, no written order was ever obtained from anyone to make living facilities. Nor was any order obtained when repairs were carried out in some of these places.

They were not done on my authority; others did them as their own work. I did not tell them to build, nor did I prevent them. In this manner Skandashram, Virupaksha Cave and Sri Ramanasramam came into being. The other ashrams on the hill also came into existence in this way. No written orders were received for their construction.

I knew about the notice issued to Saraswathy Swami by the Devasthanam. But I do not remember the year in which it happened. I heard that the notice had been given.

During the period I was on the hill, a vel [spear] and a statue were in the temple [of Subramania]. They [the Devasthanam] did not object to the statue being kept in that place; their objection was to popularising it through public celebrations.

There are places to stay both at Virupaksha Cave and Guhai Namasivaya Temple. It is not known whether they contain the samadhis [of the two saints who founded them]. In Guhai Namasivaya there is a lingam. In Virupaksha Cave there is an altar. In Guhai Namasivaya puja and abhishekam are done to the lingam. At the altar in Virupaksha Cave, only puja is done. It is the popular belief that both of these places are samadhis.

The time when Virupaksha Deva and Guhai Namasivaya attained samadhi may be around 300 or 400 years ago. I do not know when the buildings were first started in those places.

It is stated in the Upanishads and in the Skanda, Linga and Siva Puranas that this hill is Iswara swarupa.

I cannot say without referring to the books in which Upanishad and in which place it is stated so.

There was a jadai swami [a swami with long matted locks] who used to live on the hill. He died there. His body was brought down to the foot of the hill and interred. The same thing happened to Palaniswami. A samadhi cannot be made on the hill for anyone who dies there. They can only be burned after bringing them to the foot of the hill. Once a person died near Seven Springs [two thirds of the way up the mountain]. His samadhi was also made at the foot of the hill.

Jadai Swami attained samadhi about four of five years ago. The others attained samadhi after 1901 and before 1920.

I had no thought of having my mother’s samadhi on the hill. I did not tell anyone that the samadhi should be made on the hill.

I have omitted several of Bhagavan’s answers. Some of them merely repeat what he said earlier while others pertain not to Arunachala but to rather mundane matters of ashram administration.

~ David Godman 

☀ ☀ ☀ Continues in “Bhagavan’s Deposition on Arunachala - II”

The path from Skandashram to Ramanasramam before it was reforested in the 1990s.

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[42soul]

Hampi: Monkey Family Time by StudioBubba