Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Hindu, Temples - II

Kailash Temple,Ellora Caves

Among the prime tourist attraction of Maharashtra tourism one is Ellora caves. The nearest Air port is Aurangabad , vigrously growing city of the Maharashtra state. There are about 34 caves and the most famous one is kown as the Kailash Temple.It is believed that it was constructed under the guidance of King Krishna around 750 and about 200,000 tones of rock were used for the two story construction. This is probably the world's largest monolithic structure. Representing Shiva's Himalayan home, the temple is exquisitely sculpted and is considered as one of the most astonishing 'buildings' in the history of architecture. A crowning glory of the art, Kailash temple at Ellora is indeed unique. Instead of carving down into the face of a cliff and creating underground halls which had been the practice, the sculptors/architects set aside all convention and created a full temple, identical in every detail to a structural, 'built-up' example, by carving vertically down into the living rock. Along with Ajantha caves [situated near Jalgaon, the work place of present President of India, Pritibha Tai Patil and upcoming Metro of the state], Ellora caves were included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in the year 1983. Though the human interference is forcing deshaping of stone craved statues and clours but still the caves are worth to visit for a look in the history. Ellora caves are also part of Buddhism travel of India.

Jwalamukhi Temple

In India there is ample space for religious tourism. It is common faith that Hindus have 33 Karores of Devi and Devtasa.This huge number of Deities has added numerously in the number of temples in India. Among one of the 51 Shaktipeeths of India, the Jwalamukhi Devi Temple, tended by the followers of Goraknath, is set against a cliff. The picturesque temple, built in the Indo-Sikh style, is a modern building whose dome is of gilt, gold and pinnacles and possesses a beautiful folding door of silver plates, presented by the Sikh Raja Kharak Singh.
Dedicated to the "Goddess of Light", the Jwalamukhi temple is one of the most popular Hindu temples in Northern India. The temple located on a small spur on the Dharamshala-Shimla road at a distance of about 20-kms from the Jwalamukhi Road Railway Station attracts lakhs of pilgrims every year. In this temple there is a copper pipe through which natural gas comes out.
After Daksha Yoga Bhagna, Lord Shiva placed the burnt dead body of Sati on his shoulders and started wandering about in a state of madness. To save the world from the destructive wrath of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu started cutting the limbs of the dead Goddess Parvati one by one. The places where they fell became sacred centers for the worship of Shakti. The tongue of Sati fell at the place where the temple of Jwalamukhi is situated. The flames that come out of the openings in the earth?s surface are regarded as the manifestations of the fallen tongue of Sati and are worshipped as "Jwalamukhi Devi" (Goddess, who emits flames from her mouth).

This place is also famous for the natural beauty of mountains. Dharamshala is in the Kangada district of the Himachal Pradesh and have many attractions for the buddhists .Presence of oak and and conifer trees in the bacground of snow capped mountains give the feeling of Haven to tourist.

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