The first photo is of the base of Chamundi Hill, and the second is of the seven tiered, inticately carved really high bit of the Chamundi temple. Read all about it below ... ... ... ...
This photo is taken inside the Shiva cave temple adjacent to the Nandi bull. You are looking at half the temple in this photo. Next time we will get a photo of the swami too.
Felix’s Post: Chamundi Hill!
This morning we woke up and had breakfast then we went to the foot of a huge hill called Chamundi Hill. There is a big temple called The Chamundi Temple at the top. Halfway up there is a statue of a big black bull. At the foot of the hill we saw a lot of monkeys. I saw one monkey steal a banana from a beggar. There are one thousand steps to the top of the hill. When we went to the black bull we got a mark on our foreheads. Next to the statue there was a cave. In the cave lived a swami. The swami gave us some sugar that was a blessing from Shiva. Further up some cows with big horns were walking down and because cows are sacred we had to get out of their way. When we got to the top we saw a cow eat flowers from the front of a truck. The flowers were for decoration. On Chamundi hill there is a village. We had a coconut then went around the big temple. After we walked around it we saw baby monkeys playing in the bushes near their parents. We saw the dad come and lie down in a funny way. Then the mum walked over and checked the dad for lice as if he was the king of monkeys. In a nearby tree we saw a monkey jump from the tree to a power line, and then jump back to the tree. We say about three other monkeys hanging off branches upside down. They were hanging on by only one foot. On the way back to the steps we saw a monkey sitting on top of a car opening a coconut. When we got back to the black bull lots of kids asked us what our names were. When we got back to the foot of the hill we saw a few more monkeys then went to the pool and had a swim and a burger each for lunch. Then we went back home and played cricket with the boys again. When we finished cricket we had a yummy dinner.
PS: the queue into the temple was very big.
This morning we woke up and had breakfast then we went to the foot of a huge hill called Chamundi Hill. There is a big temple called The Chamundi Temple at the top. Halfway up there is a statue of a big black bull. At the foot of the hill we saw a lot of monkeys. I saw one monkey steal a banana from a beggar. There are one thousand steps to the top of the hill. When we went to the black bull we got a mark on our foreheads. Next to the statue there was a cave. In the cave lived a swami. The swami gave us some sugar that was a blessing from Shiva. Further up some cows with big horns were walking down and because cows are sacred we had to get out of their way. When we got to the top we saw a cow eat flowers from the front of a truck. The flowers were for decoration. On Chamundi hill there is a village. We had a coconut then went around the big temple. After we walked around it we saw baby monkeys playing in the bushes near their parents. We saw the dad come and lie down in a funny way. Then the mum walked over and checked the dad for lice as if he was the king of monkeys. In a nearby tree we saw a monkey jump from the tree to a power line, and then jump back to the tree. We say about three other monkeys hanging off branches upside down. They were hanging on by only one foot. On the way back to the steps we saw a monkey sitting on top of a car opening a coconut. When we got back to the black bull lots of kids asked us what our names were. When we got back to the foot of the hill we saw a few more monkeys then went to the pool and had a swim and a burger each for lunch. Then we went back home and played cricket with the boys again. When we finished cricket we had a yummy dinner.
PS: the queue into the temple was very big.
The Nandi bull
I went away for 2 minutes and when i came back Dani, Tai, Felix and Barney had attracted a crowd!
Barney’s Post: Chamundi!
When we woke up we caught a rickshaw too Chamundi Hill. Chamundi is the Goddess who protects Mysore and she slayed two demons called Chanda and Mundi on this hill. (That’s how it got its name.) When we got to the bottom of one step (there’s a 1000 steps) we were greeted by a heap of cute little monkeys about the size of a small microwave. When we had just started to climb the steps an evil little monkey stole a beggar’s banana in a hilarious manner.
When we got halfway up we saw a huge statue (4.8m long) of the Nandi bull. After we had walked around three times we went into a Shiva temple that was next to it and got some yummy blessed sugar. Then we kept going until we reached a market place with one huge and beautiful Chamundi temple at the back of it. The queue to get in was enormous so we had a coconut and walked around instead. When we got about half way around we saw a family of monkeys having a few hilarious episodes, then we kept going, looked at some stalls and went’ back down.
When we got back down we caught a rickshaw to the hotel and went for a swim, then went home and played cricket until dinner.
PS: The traffic is crazy!!
When we woke up we caught a rickshaw too Chamundi Hill. Chamundi is the Goddess who protects Mysore and she slayed two demons called Chanda and Mundi on this hill. (That’s how it got its name.) When we got to the bottom of one step (there’s a 1000 steps) we were greeted by a heap of cute little monkeys about the size of a small microwave. When we had just started to climb the steps an evil little monkey stole a beggar’s banana in a hilarious manner.
When we got halfway up we saw a huge statue (4.8m long) of the Nandi bull. After we had walked around three times we went into a Shiva temple that was next to it and got some yummy blessed sugar. Then we kept going until we reached a market place with one huge and beautiful Chamundi temple at the back of it. The queue to get in was enormous so we had a coconut and walked around instead. When we got about half way around we saw a family of monkeys having a few hilarious episodes, then we kept going, looked at some stalls and went’ back down.
When we got back down we caught a rickshaw to the hotel and went for a swim, then went home and played cricket until dinner.
PS: The traffic is crazy!!
The flowers are hung as a 'blessing' and are everywhere, part of a Hindu's daily life. they are hung on vehicles, houses etc. The woman in the photo below didn't want the cow eating the flowers, even though the cow is sacred
The picture of the goats was taken just down the road from our house, in upmarket high class Gokulam!Tai’s Post: Chamundi Hill! (Monkeys! Monkeys! Monkeys!)
After breakfast we caught a cool, fast rickshaw to Chamundi Hill and the thousand steps to the amazing temple at the top. The gigantic temple represents where the goddess Chamundi, protector of Mysore, killed two demons, Chanda and Munda. That’s where she got the name Chamundi. As soon as we got out of the rickshaw we saw monkeys every where. I was so excited I almost jumped up a tree as well. ‘There were so many monkeys: big ones, small ones, male ones, female ones. One even stole a banana off an old beggar.
After all that we started to climb the thousand steps. After we had climbed a tiring 700 steps we came to a giant bull, which represented Nandi, the carrier of another god, Shiva. After that we carried on another 300 tantalising steps to the amazing huge looking, easy to climb for a monkey like me, temple. After having a scrumptious coconut we walked around the temple. Then we say the highlight of the whole trip so far; they were baby monkeys tackling. It was so funny because two of the three monkeys would come running at the other one, then it would scramble over the other two, in a funny sort of way. They were actually quite like our family because there were three crazy kinds and the mum had to keep checking them for nits. After that we went back down the 1000 steps, caught a rickshaw to the pool. After the pool we went back, played cricket until dinner.
Aaaaaahhhh!!
Dani took this photo from the back of the auto-rickshaw on our waty to the pool. Can you see Felix' reflection in the side mirror?
Peter’s Post: Chamundi – what the guide book says.
This hill is named after Durga (Kali) the consort of Shiva and the deity of the Wodeyar family (who ruled the roost around here many centuries ago). The summit is 1150m above the city and commands a great view. The Nandi bull carried Shiva around somewhere and the Shiva temple and the Nandi bull are adjacent. The Shiva temple is a cave in the side of the hill and only just big enough to swing a cat, except you can’t stand up inside there. The 1000 steps and Nandi are 300 years old and the temple at the top is 12th Century. Legend has it that the Bull was created overnight!!
This hill is named after Durga (Kali) the consort of Shiva and the deity of the Wodeyar family (who ruled the roost around here many centuries ago). The summit is 1150m above the city and commands a great view. The Nandi bull carried Shiva around somewhere and the Shiva temple and the Nandi bull are adjacent. The Shiva temple is a cave in the side of the hill and only just big enough to swing a cat, except you can’t stand up inside there. The 1000 steps and Nandi are 300 years old and the temple at the top is 12th Century. Legend has it that the Bull was created overnight!!
four demons!!
Peter’s Yoga
The first day (from conversations I’ve had since arriving) takes us all by surprise. I was conscious of needing to ‘take it easy’ having traveled for 48 hours and from not practicing as assiduously as I usually would in more clement weather during the last four cold, dark winter weeks on Magnetic Island. However it was though I was regenerated back to the height of summer and the best asanas of my practice. There is something about the energy/vibe/atmosphere of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute building: the Shala. I felt great! Enlivened!
The next day I was like trying to turn an ironing board into corrugated iron. Ouch! So stiff. So sore! It was a led class and I was relieved to be able to leave the room 20 or 30 minutes before everyone else. (Sharath has always stopped me at Marichyasana B, this day I did it voluntarily!)
We then had the Saturday off, and Sunday was New Moon day (another day off practice). Today was led practice again. Dani to the early class me to the later, with minimal down time for boy patrol. I tried to stay and do my (much modified, stretch-those-hammies) version of Marichyasana B but Sharath smiled his bright wry smile at me and sent me packing with a single hand gesture toward the change rooms and off I go.
I’d only been in there 2 minutes when a Pommy chap came in too. “I’m glad I’m not the only one,” he said, and proceeded to explain how after his first week of practice at the Shala he had damaged his right knee and been unable to go past (you guessed it) Marichyasana B! [His knee, when I say ‘damaged’, is strained; he can still walk etc, there are no visible signs, no bandages or hobbling, but the yoga practice calls for stretches to the hips and hamstrings that can place pressure on the knee joint if pursued to vigorously or unwisely. You need to marry find a good yoga teacher] He seemed aggrieved, burdened by his bad luck. It was a curious counterpoint to what I had experienced today [What Bokonon calls a sinwat, I believe].
Yesterday, we walked up Chamundi hill, as the boys have explained. Aware of my inevitable stiffness after 1000 steps up and down, and the ongoing limitations to my practice of asanas, I was doubly aware to ‘take it easy’. This day, however, I turned my focus to the breath and the bandas. I know I’m supposed to do that anyway. [I can be very lazy.] Today however, I used it as a tool to avoid straining and as a way to more fully involve myself in the practice of yoga, despite my limitations. I found my mind drifting, as it does, but I feel like I experienced the Ashtanga series as a meditation for the first time. Part of my mind on moving the limbs, part of my mind on the breath and the bandas, and the last part of my mind thinking about breakfast and – whoops! Ahm, bringing my attention back to the breath.
I have been moving my limbs through the same sequence for about 4 years now. I have spent quite a few practices finding, feeling and holding my bandas (but probably only 20%) and I long ago understood that I am unlikely to achieve the great flexibility and strength exhibited by any of my teachers (lotus can just be a flower, maybe a salad but not something I expect to sit in) and yet there is more to experience.
I had a clear picture today of the meditation of asana practice; that there is stillness in the essential depth of all the huffing and puffing and sweating and straining and relaxing and gazing.
Later in the day, discussing my experiences, Dani said that Saraswati (Sharath’s mother) has said something like, “Only stiff people really do yoga, all the rest are doing (something else)”.
Of course tomorrow my mind will probably be like a monkey, jumping all over the place and getting me into trouble!
The first day (from conversations I’ve had since arriving) takes us all by surprise. I was conscious of needing to ‘take it easy’ having traveled for 48 hours and from not practicing as assiduously as I usually would in more clement weather during the last four cold, dark winter weeks on Magnetic Island. However it was though I was regenerated back to the height of summer and the best asanas of my practice. There is something about the energy/vibe/atmosphere of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute building: the Shala. I felt great! Enlivened!
The next day I was like trying to turn an ironing board into corrugated iron. Ouch! So stiff. So sore! It was a led class and I was relieved to be able to leave the room 20 or 30 minutes before everyone else. (Sharath has always stopped me at Marichyasana B, this day I did it voluntarily!)
We then had the Saturday off, and Sunday was New Moon day (another day off practice). Today was led practice again. Dani to the early class me to the later, with minimal down time for boy patrol. I tried to stay and do my (much modified, stretch-those-hammies) version of Marichyasana B but Sharath smiled his bright wry smile at me and sent me packing with a single hand gesture toward the change rooms and off I go.
I’d only been in there 2 minutes when a Pommy chap came in too. “I’m glad I’m not the only one,” he said, and proceeded to explain how after his first week of practice at the Shala he had damaged his right knee and been unable to go past (you guessed it) Marichyasana B! [His knee, when I say ‘damaged’, is strained; he can still walk etc, there are no visible signs, no bandages or hobbling, but the yoga practice calls for stretches to the hips and hamstrings that can place pressure on the knee joint if pursued to vigorously or unwisely. You need to marry find a good yoga teacher] He seemed aggrieved, burdened by his bad luck. It was a curious counterpoint to what I had experienced today [What Bokonon calls a sinwat, I believe].
Yesterday, we walked up Chamundi hill, as the boys have explained. Aware of my inevitable stiffness after 1000 steps up and down, and the ongoing limitations to my practice of asanas, I was doubly aware to ‘take it easy’. This day, however, I turned my focus to the breath and the bandas. I know I’m supposed to do that anyway. [I can be very lazy.] Today however, I used it as a tool to avoid straining and as a way to more fully involve myself in the practice of yoga, despite my limitations. I found my mind drifting, as it does, but I feel like I experienced the Ashtanga series as a meditation for the first time. Part of my mind on moving the limbs, part of my mind on the breath and the bandas, and the last part of my mind thinking about breakfast and – whoops! Ahm, bringing my attention back to the breath.
I have been moving my limbs through the same sequence for about 4 years now. I have spent quite a few practices finding, feeling and holding my bandas (but probably only 20%) and I long ago understood that I am unlikely to achieve the great flexibility and strength exhibited by any of my teachers (lotus can just be a flower, maybe a salad but not something I expect to sit in) and yet there is more to experience.
I had a clear picture today of the meditation of asana practice; that there is stillness in the essential depth of all the huffing and puffing and sweating and straining and relaxing and gazing.
Later in the day, discussing my experiences, Dani said that Saraswati (Sharath’s mother) has said something like, “Only stiff people really do yoga, all the rest are doing (something else)”.
Of course tomorrow my mind will probably be like a monkey, jumping all over the place and getting me into trouble!
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