Off duty priests.
Once I realised that deeper study of yoga needs a closer look at it in its cultural and traditional context, I started to consciously seek out yoga stories and connections in daily life in India. In retrospect, I’ve been doing this ever since I started researching for my book ‘Beyond Asanas’. Perhaps if I hadn’t been on this quest, I wouldn’t have had the unexpectedly special Mahashivaratri experience I had this past weekend…
On the way back from our recent vacation in Coorg, we decided to take the road less travelled.
The road was scenic, bucolic and mostly under construction. We crossed a flower market and picked up some jasmine for our hair. And finally, looking at the map we decided to take a small detour to Shravanabelagola. Shravanabelagola is one of the most important Jain pilgrimage sites in the world. It is marked by the presence of a 58-feet tall statue of Bahubali. I’ve been to Shravanabelagola before and trekked all the way up to the deity. This time we were hard pressed for time and couldn’t do that, but there was another delightful surprise in store for us.
The Jain maṭha that maintains the temples in Shravanabelagola (including the Gomateshwara) also has its own temple, which we visited. I saw some incredible murals on the wall. I hope the maṭha restores them in the future. For now, they’ve put up barricades to discourage the poking of curious fingers.
Some of the murals:
It is no coincidence that NIPSAR is in Shravanabelagola and is also a major attraction for Jains and scholars of Jainism. Most ancient Jain literature is in Prakrit, and this institute was established for the study of Prakrit. It houses many manuscripts, most of which are more than 500 years old. I was very interested in seeing these manuscripts as I had only seen pictures of original texts but had never actually seen one in person.
We were well received at the institute by a few of their scholars, who proceeded to give us a tour of the institute and show us the original manuscript of the ‘Gurudev Charite’, which was from the 10th century. Along with this they showed us the restoration and translation work that is currently underway of the ‘Trishashti Lakshana Mahakatha’ – a collection of talks about the Jain tirthankaras. The ‘Trishashti Lakshana Mahakatha’ is also known as the Chavundaraya Purana and was written by Chamundaraya. Chamundaraya was a military commander, a poet, an architect and a statesman, who lived from 940 CE to 989 CE. He commissioned the building of the statue of Bahubali found in Shravanabelagola. The Trishashti Lakshana Mahakatha is the second oldest existing work in prose in Kannada. Chamundaraya meant for this work to be read by the masses and therefore wrote it in Prakrit and ensured it was easy to read by the masses. It relates the legends of a total of 63 important figures in Jain history.
An original manuscript in Nadugannada or Medieval Kannada.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a card catalogue!!!
Reams and reams of texts – a library such as I have never seen before!
NIPSAR also works on restoration of other artefacts. These are made on parchment made of coconut bark, using natural dyes.
Although I’ve always been interested in yoga philosophy and texts, its only recently that I’ve started to contextualise it. This was partly due to the exposure I got during my master’s at SVYASA (studying the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Patanjali Yoga Sutras in a cultural context). Hence, my interest in not only yogasana but also in everything (peripheral) about yoga. I found that the more closely I look at the society and culture surrounding the practice of yoga, the more insight I gain into the subject.
When I started studying Vedanta, I realised that the Sanskrit I learned at SVYASA came in handy. Although numerous English translations and interpretations of yogic texts are available, to be able to read the original script forges a connection that is highly empowering.
It’s hard to describe what it feels like to hold such ancient literature in your hands. It’s not only what you’re holding, but the fact that this is intimately connected to something you’ve been immersed in for a decade. Which was another reason why I was so keen to visit NIPSAR.
So do you need to learn Sanskrit/Prakrit if you’re interested in yoga? In my opinion no, but if you do then you’ll be privy to a whole new dimension of the subject.
What a beauty.
Getting to Dharamkot is a bit of a journey. There are no direct flights so Medha and I took a late night flight from Bangalore with a long layover in Delhi T3. Thankfully we found a place serving AirrToast and then promptly fell asleep at 2 am. We woke up 4 hours later and boarded the flight to Gaggal Airport, Kangra. It was my first time on a propeller plane and both of us got amazing window seats. Dharamkot is about an hour from Gaggal and we had arranged for a taxi to pick us up.
Today was about walking around looking for a big breakfast and piping hot coffee at the Alt Life Cafe. Then gazing out at the wonderful Himalayas from our room, and catching up on life, outside the mundanity of our actual everyday lives.
Many years ago, on a workation here, Animesh had spent a wonderful evening at the Morgan’s Cafe. In the evening today, we sat there watching the clouds descend to kiss the verdant hills. As the soft rock wafted from the ancient radio into the nippy night air, we discussed journeys and paths, and the confluence of the two.
As I write this, Medha is on a call with her folks back in Bangalore and I’m gazing up at the lone star in the clear skies of Dharamkot. Thinking of the necessity to escape, even if only for a few days…
Clouds descend to kiss the hills.
View from our guest house.
Breakfast with a view.
This blog is part of a four part series. Read the other three blogs here:
…and you should too.
I love the hills. I love the weather, the vibe and the people in the hills. I feel my skin takes on a special glow and my mind a rare calmness when I smell the hill air.
So it was only inevitable that I would take my parents for a vacation up in the hills. Although we are from the Uttrakhand hills, I haven’t spent much time there. But I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the Nilgris. I was in Coonoor a couple of months ago to participate in a run. This past weekend Coonoor was colder, quieter, prettier.
We didn’t have many days and I wanted my parents to love the place as much as I did. So I wanted to do something different and memorable. Also, I have an affinity for all things weird, offbeat and quirky. So, without further ado, here are three offbeat things to do in Coonoor.
Also, we go on vacation to take a break from the frenzy of city life. A cozy little nook helps. It is important to find a comfortable home away from home to stay in. Coonoor has many options and when dusk falls all you feel like doing is putting on some comfortable socks and crawling under a soft blanket with a good book. Luckily, I had the home away from home, the socks and blankets, a good book and family.
Early morning walk around Koregaon Park.
Half the month is over, and, as Anuja pointed out in the car earlier today, half the year is almost over. I bet a lot of people already made their New Year’s Eve plans. I’ve only been able to plan for the first week of December when I may be off for a new adventure.
This should be better by December.
However, while I’m here I would like to experience a bit more of Pune. So this past Saturday I decided to meet up with a friend of mine from my Infy days. While in the UK, Bhavani and I were out frequently clubbing, pubbing, eating or just watching movies. The last time I met up with her we went to Mallaka Spice (Bhavani & Me @Mallaka). Last Saturday we went to a popular hangout here called The Bar Stock Exchange. Nice place. Good music, good crowd and nice drinks :). We headed back to Bhavani’s house with plans of watching ‘Sinister’. Once I realized I’d already seen the film, I promptly fell asleep.
The next morning was Sunday and I’m not one to miss out on a delicious breakfast. Because of the early classes here, I’ve become very frugal with my breakfasts. But I think I’m essentially a breakfast girl. The other day (at Funky Kona in Baner) Anuja and I were discussing how much more fun and romantic breakfasts are over dinners. Show me a breakfast and I’ll show you girl who isn’t afraid to stuff her face. So we drove around a bit to get to our breakfast place. The Yogi Tree is right next to the Osho Ashram. Bhavani had her usual parantha while I had a sandwich. I have to confess, I don’t miss south Indian breakfast, but I do miss the coffee. I’ve started to hallucinate the smell of fresh filter coffee!!! I guess I know the first thing I’ll have in namma Bengaluru.
I 
wanted to indulge in a little bit of street shopping also while here. I did go to Lakshmi road a day before the Ganapati festival. It was crowded and I don’t think I’ll ever willingly go there again. But I managed to pick up two pairs of beautiful Kolapuri chappals, which; for the record; happen to be my favorite kind of footwear.
Many people told me that Koregaon park is known for its small quirky boutiques. Bhavani and I decided to walk around. I was looking for nice spots to take yoga photos. Sadly, couldn’t find a single pretty background. However, we did go to a few of the small boutiques and indulged in some retail therapy. I got a sense of the vibe of the place which is youthful and vibrant. There were interesting little food joints interspersed with the clothing and accessories boutiques. Lots of places for dessert, but I’m keeping my chocolate addiction under control these days.
Once I got home I said hi to Aston. Aston makes a dog’s life look very chic. He moves only if he has to. He sprawls under the TV and sort of rolls around there every once in a while. And he spontaneously has barking fits. Playing fetch is his only form of exercise, but we know he’s in love with the tennis ball. Anuja claims that he sleeps on his back and sometimes dreams about running after the ball. So she says Aston’s legs move, as though he’s running after the ball. Except he’s asleep.
I decided to strike a few poses while Aston was catching his breath.
Sunday evening Anuja and I decided to go back to Koregaon park to Dario’s. I’d heard so much about the place and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. They have delicious food. We decided to taste the vegan cheesecake and had some bruschetta and coffee. We thought we’d go for a round of shopping before we sat down for dinner.
When we emerged from Dario’s it was raining, but the weather wasn’t going to keep a couple of girls away from clothes. We browsed through a few boutiques in Koregaon park. I was looking for interesting quirky stuff while Anuja was checking out the merchandise. We headed home early so that I could be up bright and early for my 7 am.
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