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Bathing the Elephant
Driving down the road to Thanjavur, we crossed a river where a temple elephant was about to get one of her two daily baths.
We leapt from the bus and hurried down to the river side to watch. Olga led the charge and quickly developed a special affinity with Shamala the elephant.
While elephants are partially self-cleaning, and can shower themselves with great trunkfuls of water…
…nothing beats a good old-fashioned scrubbing. With some small assistance from us, the elephant keepers spent about half an hour, meticulously scrubbing every inch of the elephant to the obvious enjoyment of Shamala. Some of us had recently come from the ayurvedic spa and could appreciate the feeling!
Mark and Charlie view the elephant bathing from the bridge
Debbie loves Shamala
Shamala, the elephant, belongs to the Murugan temple in Swamimalai.
Shamala is a Saivite (one of the sects of Hinduism) and after her bath, the traditional markings of a Saivite are placed on her.
Thanjavur’s great temple
This morning on the way to the heart of the Chetinad region we stopped in Thanjavur to visit the temple built by the great south Indian king Raja Raja Chola. The temple’s name is Brihadeeswarar and is an architectural marvel. The 216 feet (66m) tower with its monolithic 80 ton dome is spect...
Read MoreI can’t concentrate!
A question came in to me on email asking for some insights on concentration. “I can’t concentrate. Please help.” Here are some of my thoughts on concentration. Most people can’t concentrate because they have not been taught how to concentrate and they do not practice the a...
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Visiting the home of a Sari Weaver
After our ceremony at the Airateswar Temple in the village of Darasuram we visited one of the local sari weavers. The town is famous for sari weaving and most of these weavers supply the larger stores in the big cities with their stock of saris. We entered a small home to find a loom taking…
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A Deer Friend in Swamimalai
No, it’s not a spelling mistake. I do mean a deer friend. Two years ago we stayed at the Anandham Eco hotel in the village of Swamimalai during one of our spiritual adventures. A day before we had arrived during that trip a baby deer was born on the property. 2 years later we are…
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Inside the sanctum of Chidambaram
Through our close connections with the priests of Chidambaram, we were able to go into parts of the vast temple that are rarely seen by outsiders. From an elevated balcony, we can look directly onto the golden roof that covers the inner sanctum where Shiva Nataraja is worshipped. We were given sp...
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