Mahadeshwara...

about 4 weeks ago, when I first arrived in Mysore, I went on huge walk...along the way Leah and I happened upon a Mahadeshwara temple, under construction. there were banners for the grand opening, occurring May 4th (international Star Wars Day), 5th and 6th. So, yesterday, Tuesday, May 5th, I happened along again, with Oden, to see what the grand opening was all about.

Mahadeshwara is an earthly incarnation of the Hindu God Shiva, who is said to have lived in the 14th century in an area including Mysore...who was manifest in order to destroy and evil king - Shravanusara...

Oden and I saw a puja being made to a column which was being erected out front of the main temple...I think the column is devoted to a Nandi...I can see why these occasions take days to perform - the Brahman priests were blessing every single part of the construction. I spoke with Andrew about it - the temple has been under construction since they arrived - last January - so about 15 months in the construction...this pic's of Mahadeshwara, on his Tiger. I like Shiva as a God, my take on Shiva, at the moment is that he/ she often takes the form of the destroyer - typically of ignorance, vanity and unhealthy aspects of the ego...with destruction a necessary part of cycles in life. One thing about this that I like is a lesson to not hold on to material things to much - they are transitory and continually subject to change...that's my interpretation at least...or part of it



this next shot's of the column going up...i can kind of see why there's a lot of accidents in India...there were at least 30 people way too close to the column, which had to weigh close to 2 tonnes...i was a safe distance back...



the kids loved the cameras...i was surprised there were only 3 at the event - Oden's, mine and a video camera...thinking I'll get a few shots made into prints and take them down to the temple.