Temples

It's already Thursday! Obama is all over the news here, no big surprise, I suppose. He's well liked, or at least that's how the Times of India reports it...though the interviews I've seen are less about platforms and more about his demeanor, the fact that he likes Indian food and that he's not white.

I do, by the way, get a kick out of reading the paper here. This morning my favorite comment (which the Times found on an American blog) was:

"Can we stop acting like it's the second coming of Christ? Like all of us, Obama has his faults, and like many presidents, whether great or mediocre, he will have major stumbles."

On to my corner of the world:

Today was Temple day. Roop offered to take us to a big Hindi temple and believe me it is big. HUGE.

The Chhatarpur Mandir is the second largest temple of India and, per the internet, one of the most popular.

The area around it is painted a lovely shade of peach, and from the road one sees the gorgeous buildings and statues glimmering in the sun.

After parking we ditched our shoes (much to the kids' chagrin -- they're convinced someone's going to steal them) and headed into the Temple.

All signs were in Hindi and there appeared to be no English-speaking guides hanging around waiting to explain the entire Hindu religion to us so we wandered through and absorbed as much as we could. Beautiful jewels, silver and gold embellished statues of gods throughout; the Temple was abuzz with visitors and people praying, though it's so large it never felt crowded.

The Chhatarpur Mandir was built by Swami Nagpal Maharaj, "a great devotee of Goddess Durga." Per the Web, the main shrine is made of white marble and dedicated to Goddess Katyayani (a form of Durga).

(Frankly I had trouble determining which one was the main shrine, but you'll have to forgive my ignorance as I know little of the faith, and each of the many buildings within the Temple -- it consumes about 3 city blocks -- is incredibly large, incredibly beautiful and boasts ornate altars to what I assume to be Hindu gods. Temple campus may be a more apt description.)

I interrupt this temple diatribe to remark on Ava:

Ava decided she was done with the Temple excursion when a man of the Hindi faith gave her something (looked like an offering you would make to a god) and put a red mark on her forehead. (No, I'm not a lax parent who let her be swept up; he held out the white item and she reached for it, then she willingly put her face up to receive the dot. When Claire shook her head "no" Ava THEN decided she did not need the mark and burst into tears.) Poor Hindu man looked like he lost the faith for a minute when she started to howl.

Shortly thereafter Ava decided the bathroom was in order. And no where to be found in this immense complex was an open restroom.

More on that later.

Back to the Temple.

Internet: "The main feature about this temple is that its construction doesn't seek any end.

With a South Indian style of architecture, the Chhatarpur Mandir encompasses many structures made for different activities:

- beautiful gardens and lawns that leave a soothing impact on the souls of the devotees.

- One shrine dedicated to Maha Gauri (form of Durga -- invincible superheroine w/ 10 arms), which is opened for 'darshan' (vision or sight of the divine, says wikipedia) every day.

- Another shrine dedicated to Goddess Katyayani, whose 'darshan' can be availed only on 'ashtami' falling in every month. Otherwise, the 'darshan' of Goddess Katyayani can be made throughout the days of 'Navratri' (Hindu festival of worship and dance). (Katyayani is huge and festooned in rich clothes, striking jewelry and a heavy garland of flowers.)" Good word -- festooned.

Apparently during Navratri, the temple is thronged by thousands of people with lines kilometers long.

Near the shrine of Katyayani Devi there are two rooms meant to be Goddess' rooms (living room with tables and chairs made of silver, the other the 'Shayan Kaksha' (bedroom), with bed, dressing table and table are carved in silver.

Inside the complex there are several shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Radha-Krsihna and Lord Rama. Apart from the shrines, a massive structure has been constructed where 'Bhandara' (food offered to people) is conducted on a daily basis.

Nearly 24 hours a day, notes my Temple resource, various religious prayers and discourses are held in the temple.

After canvassing the campus for an open bathroom and avoiding many camera-hungry Indians seeking to capture Claire and Ava on their film (ok digitals), we retrieved our shoes and were sent to a bathroom in the parking area. (None too soon on the shoes; I got past the bird poop on the ground, skirted spittle and Lord knows what else, but when someone cleaned her nose out -- on the ground -- I did think how nice it is to have soles between skin and dirt/marble whatever.)

Re: the restroom: not your most desirable facility. Ava's bladder seized up at the squatters and I didn't hear another word about needing to go. Claire, on the other hand, expanded her toilet horizons.

From the gorgeous Chhatarpur Mandir we went on to another temple but I'll have to write more about that tomorrow because it's past my bedtime.