Hi devotee and chakreshvari, those thoughts have been very useful and I'm in the process of updating my numerous presentation files.
I'll look into Sri Vishwakarma Dev; in this connection here are photos from the Happy Valley Hindu temple in Hong Kong from a few years ago, where I assume Vishwakarma is here again, not a Sikh guru.
The shrine on the left-
About the previous posts, the tilted swastikas were at the Lakshmi-Narayan temple in Delhi, west of Paharganj; I've only seen them once before, on a building in Allahabad. Interesting explanation of conflation with the chakra and samsara.
The balipeetam photo at the base of a hillside staircase was for Chamundi Hill leading up to the 16th century Nandi colossus and the Chamunda temple.
Chamunda is a most interesting figure by the way, with her unremitting representations of death; I read she may have folk origins.
About the oil bottle offerings, yes I think it was a Shani shrine, at the Dejhi Jhadewalan Hanuman temple.
Thanks for the link to the boys names site- I think my name should be Giri, or something new altogether. Any advice on choosing one?
I'm pleased to say I've entered India eleven times since 1997 and in December and January travelled mostly but not entirely in the south-
I wonder if these folks are doing anything more than just praying outside a temple- there's something on the floor plus cows around-
Be without the three gunas, O Arjuna
Arunchaleshwar Temple-
Tulasi shrine at Ram Raja Temple, Orchha near Jhansi
Me and Taiwanese girlfriend at the Taj Mahal-
Another unusual one, a Shankara shrine...
Be without the three gunas, O Arjuna
Namashkar Girisha!
That does not look like Sri Vishwakarma Dev to me. He looks like Sri Jhulelal who was a full incarnation of Sri Varuna Deva who is the Deva of water. If you look at his right arm he holds a book(?), and is seated on a lotus just like Sri Jhulelal.
Sri Jhulelal's image:
Vannakkam Girish ... A real devotee would have joined the Ayyappan pilgrims on their way. (Just kidding) Were they walking? Returning? Tiruvanamalai to Sabrimalai is quite the distance.
Aum Namasivaya
Thanks chakreshvari, I'll do some research on Jhulelal; I wonder if a number of the Vedic gods have a rather Sikhist iconography- Agastya is another that comes to mind. Vishwakarma seems to be an embodiment or prefiguring of the notion of Brahman and hence quite unique and important.
Eastern mind, I came across an Ayyappan shrine outside the big temple at Belur also, nearby the Shankara shrine.
I'll try and post more often in the coming weeks.
Be without the three gunas, O Arjuna
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