Pictures of Deities

[Namo Narayana]

I want to have this thread be a collection of rare pictures of deities you may find on the web. you may also add collections from your own photography which I think would be rare since we do not ahve the custom of photographing deities.

I will display some of them I have in my collection and update this thread when I get stumble on something.

Please add any extra information you may have on the Kshetra ( location ) of the deity. You may also post pictures related to Dharma.

[satay]

Nice idea. It's okay to post some pictures here on this thread but what would be neat is if we could have a 'photo gallery' on the site. I will see how to do this and program it for our site. This might take a while though so let's just post the pictures here and later I will move them to the gallery.
Please keep the pictures as .jpg to keep the size small.

thanks,
satay

[Namo Narayana]

we can collect photos here. once they are added to gallery, you can delete them in this thread and save some on storage.

[Namo Narayana]

This pic is supposed to be the original photo of Lord Venakteswara in thripathi

[Arjuna]

Venkateshvara stays at Tirumala and not Tirupati ;)

[Namo Narayana]

I think the Andhra government initiated this name. But to all people it is known as Mael thiruppathi or the Upper thiruppathi. the one below the hill is called Keezh thiruppadhi or the Thiruppathi at the foothills. It really doesnt matter, you need not ask where is president's house if you want to visit white house in washington

[Arjuna]

Tirumala as i know means "Shrishaila" (not to confuse with another place with this name), "holy mount". I have been there myself and have know people from Andhra. Most of them call it Tirumala.
Although yes, it isn't much important.

[Namo Narayana]

Tirumala as i know means "Shrishaila" (not to confuse with another place with this name), "holy mount". I have been there myself and have know people from Andhra. Most of them call it Tirumala.
Although yes, it isn't much important.

True Thirumala or thirumalai is a tamil word. I have been there many times in my life and everytime i visit india i make it a point to worship there unless there is a reason.

In tamil it is mostly called vada venkadam or north venkadam. south venkadam is Oppiliyappan temple in Kumbakonam.

But to common people they say " I am going to thirupathi" meaning they are going to worship the Lord on sapthagiri. The Devasthanam is called Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam. Thriumala is exact tamil version of shirshailam. But I believe there is another place in Andhra that is called Srisailam.

[sarabhanga]

Namaste,

Here is a closer view of Shri Venkateshvara at Tirumala.

[Namo Narayana]

is it the real picture of deity in garbagraha ?

[sarabhanga]

Namaste Neela,
I obtained the photograph on Tirumala, and I believe that it is one of Balaji's processional murtis. The single murti in the inner sactum could never be photographed in this way. The image that you have posted certainly is in the Garbhagriha. The processional murti, however, is an exact replica ~ and that pure gold, jewel-encrusted headpiece surely belongs to Shri Venkateshvara!

[sarabhanga]

Dawn in Varanasi ~ please enjoy!

[sarabhanga]

Brahma Giri ~ Shri Tryambakeshvara

[sarabhanga]

Shri Kailasa Darshana ~ Hara Hara Mahadeva! Shambho!

[sarabhanga]

Kailasa-Manasarovara ~ Shambhu!

[satay]

Har Har Mahadev!

[sarabhanga]

Hara! Hara!

[sarabhanga]

ॐ नमः शिवाय
om namaḥ śivāya

[sarabhanga]

:bowdown: Shri Shankara Samadhi

[satay]

:bowdown: Shri Shankara Samadhi

Where is this temple exactly? Could you tell us a little about the picture and the temple please?

[sarabhanga]

Namaste Satay,

It is Shri Kedarnatha, at the source of the Mandakini Nadi, and the Mandir (at 3583m altitude) houses the fifth and only truly Svayambhu Jyotirlinga.

[Singhi Kaya]

Anyone have been to all the five kedars?

Five Kedars (kedarnath,tunganath,matta-maheswar,rudranath,kalpeshwar).

I plan to do the kalpeshwar-rudranath trip this sep. May not be the best time ~ but who cares:).

[sarabhanga]

The idyllic omphalos of Kedarakhanda ~ Shri Madhyamaheshvara.

[sarabhanga]

Bhuda-Kedara Natha ~ Rudra-Shiva Darshana

Adesha! Adesha!

[Proud Hindu]

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one of the greatest Mahatmas in Bengal, and foremost proponents of Bhakti Yoga.

[Proud Hindu]

Jai Shri Ram!

[sarabhanga]

The Ishtadeva of Shri Caitanya is manifest in the serpentine levee that forever joins Radha with Krishna ~ Shri Govardhana.

[sarabhanga]

Gaumukha in extremis ~ Hara Hara Gange ! :)

[sarabhanga]

kRSNa hari

[sarabhanga]

shrIyate kRSNatvam !

[satay]

Shambu!

[Zardozi]

This is a large stone sculpture in the Bangalore depicting Shiva in Meditation

[sarabhanga]

And here is perhaps the largest Shiva murti of all, recently erected and looking towards Himalaya.

[sarabhanga]

Rudravatara Shri Gurudeva Dattatreya Maharaja ~ Hari Om Guruji !

[Kaos]

http://mensa-barbie.com/bloggerimages/250KrishnaNandkumar%20copy.BMP


Hare Krishna!

[Kaos]

http://www.dharmaseva.net/images/visvarupa1.jpg


Hare Krishna!

[Agnideva]

http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/handicr/5295.jpghttp://www.salagram.net/panchmukhahanuman.jpg
Five-faced (Panchamukhi) Hanuman
(Varaha, Garuda, Hanuman, Narasimha, Hayagriva faces)


The five faces signify the five pranas (vital airs or life forces): prana, apana, samana, udana, and vyana.

Jai Hanuman.

[Kaos]

Hare Krishna!

[Agnideva]

http://bhagavata.org/images/bimages/anantavishnu.jpg



Hare Krishna!


Kaos, donde esta Krishna? Did His image disappear, just like the five-faced Ganesha disappeared from my post yesterday?

A.

[Kaos]

Kaos, donde esta Krishna? Did His image disappear, just like the five-faced Ganesha disappeared from my post yesterday?

A.


Namaste Agnideva,

Yes, I noticed too that certain images no longer show up.
Perhaps, it is being deleted due to issues regarding "hot-linking".
Maybe, satay (admin) can shed more light?

Regards,
Kaos

[satay]

Namaste Agnideva,

Yes, I noticed too that certain images no longer show up.
Perhaps, it is being deleted due to issues regarding "hot-linking".
Maybe, satay (admin) can shed more light?

Regards,
Kaos

namaskar,
No, I am not deleting them. In fact, linking an image using a url and IMG tag is the best way as far as database is concerned, however, the drawback is that if the site where you link the image from deletes the image or moves it, the linked image here in a post won't work any longer.

Please check the source site where the image was originally linked from.

[Agnideva]

Namaste Satay,

No, I am not deleting them. In fact, linking an image using a url and IMG tag is the best way as far as database is concerned, however, the drawback is that if the site where you link the image from deletes the image or moves it, the linked image here in a post won't work any longer.
I think there are some sites that don't allow you to post their images elsewhere. The image I posted is still at the original site, but it won't appear if I post it here. I think they have their images somehow protected.

A.

[Kaos]

http://www.salagram.net/KrishnaAnimalFriends.gif

Hare Krishna!

[mirabai]

Dawn in Varanasi ~ please enjoy!

It's beautiful
Were you there?

[sarabhanga]

Namaste Mirabai,

Yes indeed, I have spent much time in Kashi, and that photo was taken on the morning of Shivaratri in 2001. And each time I have stayed in Varanasi, mainly watching Ganga from the ghats, I have seen dolphins in the river. But I recently passed 2 months there without sighting a single dolphin! The Ganges is now dammed in about 50 places, making the dolphin’s normal migrations difficult or impossible. And the newly completed Tehri dam has greatly reduced the normal flow of the Bhagirathi Ganga while the massive dam has been filling up (submerging many villages and towns and destroying the whole valley for about 50 kms). So it would seem that all of this, along with an ever increasing load of pollution, has all but doomed the Gangetic dolphins to extinction. :( All tested Gangetic dolphins contain high levels of DDT, which is freely used all over India as an anti-malarial measure, and this is probably also a major cause for a drastic decline in the number of vultures over recent years ~ there are still plenty of smaller kites and eagles, but vultures have almost disappeared from the northern plains. And I don’t even want to think about recent “global warming” predictions that the Himalayan glaciers (the only source for the Ganges flow in the drier seasons) will have melted away in the next 100 years!

[Nuno Matos]

Namaste All

Hope you find as much interest as i have in the following site:
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution
http://www.asia.si.edu/devi/index.htm

It has some interesting pictures of Devi with introduction;
"Between 1660-1670, an unknown master in the Punjab hills of northern India painted a magnificent series of some seventy paintings which visualize Devi in expressive forms of strength and beauty. Only thirty-two of the original group have survived, of which six, with their accompanying verses, are exhibited here".

[Agnideva]

http://static.flickr.com/50/111183085_5c9c8523c2.jpg
140 ft (40.7 m) Statue of Lord Kartikeya at Batu Caves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves), Malaysia.

|| aum śaum śaravaṇa bhavāye namaḥ ||

[Agnideva]

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/17590/dscn0257.jpg
Statue of Lord Shiva at the Murudeshwar Temple Complex

"A huge towering statue of Lord Shiva, visible from great distances, is present in the temple complex. It is the tallest statue of Shiva in the world. The statue is 123 feet (37 m) in height, and took about 2 years to build. The statue was built by Shivamogga's Kashinath and his son Sridhar and several other sculptors, at a cost of approximately Rs. 10 million. The [statue] is designed such that it gets the sun light directly and thus appears sparkling." (Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murudeshwar))

[Jigar]

Namaste,
Could someone shed light on the story of this character? I think he is called NRI Something.



http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1035/bikahunaym7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

maste nam,
jigar

[sarabhanga]

Namaste Jigar,

nRsiMha (“man-lion”) is the 4th Avatara of Vishnu. :)

[Agnideva]

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/17590/dscn0257.jpg
Statue of Lord Shiva at the Murudeshwar Temple Complex

"A huge towering statue of Lord Shiva, visible from great distances, is present in the temple complex. It is the tallest statue of Shiva in the world. The statue is 123 feet (37 m) in height, and took about 2 years to build. The statue was built by Shivamogga's Kashinath and his son Sridhar and several other sculptors, at a cost of approximately Rs. 10 million. The [statue] is designed such that it gets the sun light directly and thus appears sparkling." (Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murudeshwar))

Whoops! Yet another case of a disappearing Deity :rolleyes:. You can see the Shiva statue at these sites:

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1095175803050212075PWbCtc
http://friendzcoms.tripod.com/karnataka/murdeshwar.jpg

A.

[sarabhanga]

oM namaH shivAya

[sarabhanga]

shiva ardhanArIshvara ~ the lord who is half female (and half male)

[Kaos]

http://vrinda.vaisnava.hu/radhe/fotos/galeria/grandes/radha_krishna_with_flutes.jpg

http://www.mahamantra.it/vs15/13-Jaya%20Radhe%20Jaya%20Krishna.mp3

Jaya Radhe Jaya Krishna

[sarabhanga]

shrI kAshivishAlAkshI darshanam :)