Hello all! Anybody miss me? Ah well, I did. But life happens and we cannot always have everything can we? Anyway I snatched a few moments and thought of marking my attendance with Cee’s Black and White Challenge which is Bricks or Stones. As I mentioned in my earlier Ivory post, I had a selection of statues and idols.
And here they are – hope you like 🙂
Devi Durga the vanquisher of Evil (Mahishasur) – her strength, her shakti (power) comes across despite the desecration does it not? Just like it does from the millions of women oppressed and abused all over the world.
A stone idol of perhaps a warrior princess? These images are from the collection at Salar Jung Museum at Hyderabad, India.
I had initially thought this idol to be of a king – Chandrasekhara. But four arms and the lack of any jewelry and simple attire made me rethink. He is Lord Shiva the one who wears the Moon on his matted locks. Apologies for the blurred picture.
Nandi the sacred steed, constant companion and ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. It is said that even if the Lord does not hear your prayer anything that is whispered in Nandi’s ear is sure to reach the ears of the Lord Himself. The white color apparently symbolizes purity, righteousness and devotion. Although I am not so convinced for most of Nandi’s idols are in black stone.
The more famous form of lord Shiva as Nataraja (the Lord of dance). Did you know that at CERN the European Council for Nuclear Research there is a statue of the Nataraja? As a plaque alongside the statue explains, the belief is that Lord Shiva danced the Universe into existence, motivates it, and will eventually extinguish it.
The Nataraja idol typically shows Shiva dancing in one of the dance poses, holding fire (as he is the God of destruction) in his left back hand, the front hand is raised in blessing, the front right hand with a wrapped snake that is in abhaya (fear not) mudra while pointing to a Sutra text, and the back hand holding a damru (a small drum like musical instrument) the sound of which created the universe. He is surrounded by a ring of flames, standing on a lotus pedestal, lifting his left leg (or in rare cases, the right leg) and balancing over a demon dwarf Apasmara (not a child!) who symbolizes ignorance.
A second century stone idol of Lord Buddha.
The much loved and popular Lord Krishna. Again apologies (a blanket apology!) for the poor quality photos 😦
A 13th/14th Century AD sandstone idol of Lord Vishnu in Dhyanmudra (meditative pose)
Another statue of Lord Vishnu the Preserver in the shayanmudra (reclining pose) with his ten avatars carved on top. At least that is what it looks like. The one on the horse (on the extreme right) is the Kalki avatar (destroyer of filth) foretold to appear to at the end of the kali yug the present epoch.
That’s it from me – at least in this post 😉 Do share your thoughts in the comment section – thank you for visiting.
Marvelous detailing. And apologies for the shadow work 😦 Must learn how to avoid that – any tips/resources?
Look at the petals, the hairdo, the design on the robes…
Ivory art work from China
Gods and Goddess from India
Even a whole chair
From what are just teeth.
Dinner with family with everyone agreeing it was a great meal 🙂
Waiting at the airport! For it usually means that I am off to a new place or going back home – both are welcome 🙂
Meeting and chatting with friends and families 🙂
Goofing off in the office
Or just catch a glimpse of my favorite blue tractor 😀
I like my own little space to ruminate, and count all my blessings and gifts that are
Gift wrapped
or virtual.
Perhaps not the traditional Diwali sweets but they are yummy and sweet nonetheless. Thank you for your wishes Ferdi and happy Diwali to your too. Hope you like the sweets! 🙂 Feast as much as you like, leave aside your calorie counter 😉
A lush green lawn with a fountain in the middle. There are lots of trees too and oh they are green too 😉
The generous tree offers to share her colors with the lackluster lawn (thanks Ruma for the photo 🙂
A green hatted building 😀
Going down the steep flight stairs is my lil sister loaded with shopping bags. I was busy clicking pics you see 😉 Psst would you care to see the loot?
Elegant don’t you think?
A A pink and green saree
Chota Bheem – part of my gift to her. Another story for another day 😉
We didn’t buy this doll but we did buy a doll. Why didn’t I include that here? Oh but Khushi didn’t fit into the challenge you see, Elena did. She has beautiful eyes (eyelashes too) and sports a range of colors, white red pink yellow and green!
Dahlias – need I say more 😀 Now for some fun stuff
A dancing tree on top of the other trees!
A depressed lion in Hyderabad outside the Salar Jung Museum
Another depressed lion at Lucerne, Switzerland. Perhaps they are long lost brothers, separated by continents…
A duck, just to prove I know what the challenge is all about 😀 Unless this is not a duck…
The deserted streets at dusk
A designer house or is it a cafe restaurant? And don’t miss the redefined green wall-to-wall carpeting.
Dancer balancing on an earthen pot balanced on another earthen pot on the head of another dancer…whew
Dancers on stilts. I have featured these dancers before and if you missed them the first time or would like to revisit, click 
I find it fascinating (and a bit eerie) when I capture the propeller blades in mid-flight 😀
Did you see the tiny airplane against the cottony clean (happy) clouds?
And in contrast we have here dark rolling clouds ready to erupt into a storm any minute.
Contented clouds float lazily over the Vltava river, Prague
And follow it up by a sightseeing trip to Old Castle, Prague 😉
Before rushing off to Chidambaram India. Only some of them managed to make it so far. 😀
Or perhaps they preferred to visit India’s Tinseltown 😉
Before regrouping at the Kolkata airport to catch the return flight.
Back to cloud 
A blue train from the window of my train 😀
A black buffalo with two black crows taking a little rest between flights.
Bare brown branches amidst the lush greenery. Not everyone flourishes at the same time.
Trying to catch the egrets from between two brown seats. Stretching it a bit too far eh 😀
The brown mud of a dried up stream. Had enough of the train journey? Let’s climb down shall we?
Down the stairs with brown wooden paneling
A battered brown screen. Wonder why only the lower portion is damaged?
A blue peacock painted on the wall of a roadside restaurant. Pretty neat huh?
Time to fly back home braving thick black ominous clouds over blue mountains.
Must be hungry after that long round trip? Go on have a doughnut, it’s free. But make sure to choose only a brown one otherwise you are sure to get a rap on your knuckles. What say Cee? 😉 😀
When the going gets tough, the tough get going 
One tiny single room house in the midst of nowhere – quite a reversal from the cities!
On the way back by car we were caught in a torrential blinding downpour. I thought it was the perfect way to capture the rain 😀
Another way of capturing rain is by focusing on puddles – can you make out how heavily it was raining?
As the rain gathered intensity, some sought shelter…
But unlike the birds, these three didn’t have any choice and hence they bore it stoically and came out squeaky clean 😀
After the rains – clean fresh and sparkling! Yet the monsoons which bring relief from the sweltering heat and also wrecks havoc in many parts of the country.
The flower pots are a good indicator aren’t they? And this was just after two hours of rain. Thankfully the rain eased and the water receded. I wonder what would have happened if the rains hadn’t stopped…
Stories and more 