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Vadodara - India
Laxmi Vilas Palace - Vadodara
The term Maharaja Palace actually refers to a series of palaces in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, constructed since the Gaekwad a prominent Maratha family started ruling the Baroda State. The first one was a building known as the Sarkar Wada. This building, not really a palace, was given up for the Nazarbaug Palace built in old classical style.
The World Heritage Site of Champaner (Gujarat).
Decorative elements.
The Jami Masjid (mosque).
It is one of the finest mosques of Gujarat. This is a gigantic structure with two imposing minars on either side of the central entrance to the prayer hall. The dome behind the high central screen of the façade is elevated on two extra storeys of open arcades. The roof just behind this dome is filled by a carved slab of great beauty and ingenuity of workmanship. There are seven mehrabs (prayer niches) in the back wall of the main prayer hall, the central being more elaborated. The northern section of prayer hall was separated by a perforated screen, reserved for ladies from where an extra entrance was provided. A pillared corridor goes round the vast court yard opening inside in ogival arches supported by pillars. The Mosque has three entrance porches to courtyard but the eastern porch is most remarkable for its intricate carving and Jaali work. Construction of mosque is datable to late 15th century A.D.
Champaner.
The historical town of Champaner is a city in the Gujarat state of western India. It is located in Panchmahal District, 47 kilometres from the city of Vadodara (Baroda). The city was briefly the capital of Gujarat. It was founded by Vanraj Chavda, the most prominent king of the Chavda Kingdom, in the 8th century. He named it after the name of his friend and general Champa, also known later as Champaraj. By the later 15th century, the Khichi Chauhan Rajputs held Pavagadh fort above the town of Champaner. The young Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada, captured the fort on 21 November 1484, after a siege of 20 months. He then spent 23 years rebuilding and embellishing Champaner, which he renamed Muhammadabad, after which he moved the capital there from Ahmedabad. The town finally succumbed to attacks from the Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1535.
Pic taken during a trip to visit communities in Delhi benefitting from the support of the Young Health Programme.
The Young Health Programme -- a partnership between AstraZeneca, Plan and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health -- aims to help young people improve their lifelong health.
In India it is focused on improving hygiene, infection and reproductive health in five settlement areas in Delhi. The Programme is being implemented by Plan India in partnership with the Community Aid and Sponsorship Programme (CASP).
Find out more about our work in India: bit.ly/AjPT0y
Photo by Paolo Black for the Young Health Programme
A visit to the Lambadi or Banjara tribal people at Raikal village.
Amongst innumerable tribes who have thronged various places of eastern India, Banjara is significant. They are the typical nomads who wonder from one place to another thus leading a life in its own terms and condition. Thus their way of living is quite thrilling and full of adventures. What are equally colorful are their costumes. In fact, a Banjara women`s mode of dressing is regarded to be the most colorful as well as elaborate amongst all other tribal communities that are present at the moment in India.
Mir woman (Gujarat).
Mir is a tribe/caste which has decended from the Butt tribe in Kashmir Valley of Baramulla. It is also in Sindh Gilgit and Punjab provinces of Pakistan and India. Mir are actually of Butt lineage along with Khwaja. Mir are also known as Butt today because they are actually descended directly from the Butt bloodlines. Mir became a subcaste somewhere around 1850 and is actually a name of a person and NOT a tribe.
India - A view of Gujarat.
The Jat - one of the hidden tribes in Gujarat (India).
Dhaneta Jat girl.
The Jats who live in Kutch are particularly conscious of their identity as a group and their sense of unity comes from a perception of shared historical traditions and a belief in common ancestry.
Originally the Jats were herders who lived in an area called Half in Iran. Five hundred years ago these shepherds migrated from Half and came to Sindh and Kutch to search for new grazing lands. They crossed the Rann of Kutch and settled there taking up farming, they became known as Dhaneta Jats. Some have devted themselves to the study of the Koran and are known as the Fakirani Jats. All the Jats in Kutch are Muslims and have similar marriage and dowry customs.
The Dhanetas are the largest of the Jat Communities. They live throughtout north western Kutch. The Dhanetas live in the Banni, herd cattle. The men care for the animals and women remain in camp looking after their families.
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www.flickriver.com/photos/waltercallens/random/
www.flickr.com/photos/waltercallens/favorites/
english.cohga.net/flickr/user/74089637@N00_1.html
The India Gate designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens is a national monument of India. It is located in national capital New Delhi. The foundation stone of India Gate was laid by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught in 1921. The monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later, after India got its independence. The eternal flame burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who laid down their lives in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971.
The India Gate, an "Arc-de-Triomphe" like archway in the middle of a crossroad. Almost similar to its French counterpart, it commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British Army during the World War I. The memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afghan war of 1919.
The entire arch stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge moulding. The cornice is inscribed with the Imperial suns while both sides of the arch have INDIA, flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914 left) and MCMXIX (1919 right). The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries but this is rarely done.
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Khajuraho.
Eastern cluster temples.
The Khajuraho Group of Monuments is a group of Hindu and Jain temples in Madhya Pradesh.
The temples are famous for their nagara-style architectural symbolism and their erotic sculptures.
Most Khajuraho temples were built between 950 and 105 by the Chandela dynasty.
The most famous temples of the eastern cluster are the Adinatha temple and the Shri Shantinath temple.
Dabhoi - Vadodara - India
Hira gate and Impressive sculpture on the port walls
Dabhoi also called as Darbhavati is a city and a municipality in Vadodara district in the state of Gujarat, India. It was originally known as Darbhavati.
Chittorgarh - Kumbha Palace, Ancient Jain temples of great architectural beauty, Tower of Victory, Fateh Prakash Mahal.
The Rani-ki-Vav stepwell in Patan (Gujarat).
The Rani-ki-Vav is situated about 2 km to the northwest of Patan district of Gujarat State. It is the most magnificent stepwell in Gujarat built during 11-12th century. It faces east. A stepped corridor compartmented at regular intervals with pillared multi-storeyed pavilions is a unique feature. The four pavilions which demarcate the stages along the descent have multiple storeys, two, four, six and seven respectively. Sculptures of deities and other images adorn the walls flanking the staircase. Nearly four hundred niches on the walls display images.
Jewellery of a Mir woman (Gujarat).
Mir is a tribe/caste which has decended from the Butt tribe in Kashmir Valley of Baramulla. It is also in Sindh Gilgit and Punjab provinces of Pakistan and India. Mir are actually of Butt lineage along with Khwaja. Mir are also known as Butt today because they are actually descended directly from the Butt bloodlines. Mir became a subcaste somewhere around 1850 and is actually a name of a person and NOT a tribe.
Nawalgarh.
Nawalgarh is famous for his frescoes and havelis an considered as Golden City of Rajasthan.
Visiting of following havelis:
-Bhagton Ki Choti haveli
-Morarka haveli
-Rambath A.podar haveli.
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Young trainee wrestlers take part in rope climbing as a part of their daily exercise routine at 'Akhara Krishan Pehalwaan' in Amritsar city, India, 14 July 2008. Indian form of wrestling which is known as 'Kushti' is an ancient form of warriorship where training is imparted in an 'Akhara', which is more like a temple-gymnasium dedicated to the Hindu God, Lord Hanumaan. Each 'Akhara' has a Guru or the Master whose wisdom guides the training of the wrestlers. In traditional Indian wrestling or 'Kushti', the wrestling match is played in the square dark red clay ground. The young wrestlers usually train two times a day; in the early morning and in the evening, six days a week. Indian wrestlers subscribe not only to a set of wrestling exercises but to a more elaborate way of life, i.e. diet, spirituality, ethics, etc. In the modern times, the gyms are preferred over 'Akharas' and a sculpted body is preferred over skilled fingers of a traditional wrestler. The trend of joining the 'Akharas' has diminished over the years.
I made that weenee suitcase...YES Using cigarette filter boxes :P and a lot of stuff I had from all the incense boxes and chai items I had around..soooo Passage to India..and sorta reminded me a bit of this poem (read it if you want.. is LONG, but eff it is GOOD)
My India
Not where the musk of happiness blows,
Not where darkness and fears never tread;
Not in the homes of perpetual smiles,
Nor in the heaven of a land of prosperity
Would I be born
If I must put on mortal garb once more.
Dread famine may prowl and tear my flesh,
Yet would I love to be again
In my Hindustan.
A million thieves of disease
May try to steal the body’s fleeting health;
And clouds of fate
May shower scalding drops of searing sorrow –
Yet would I there, in India,
Love to reappear!
Is this love of mine blind sentiment
That sees not the pathways of reason?
Ah, no! I love India,
For there I learned first to love God
and all things beautiful.
Some teach to seize the fickle dewdrop, life,
Sliding down the lotus leaf of time;
Stubborn hopes are built
Around the gilded, brittle body-bubble.
But India taught me to love
The soul of deathless beauty in the dewdrop
and the bubble –
Not their fragile frames.
Her sages taught me to find my Self,
Buried beneath the ash heaps
Of incarnations of ignorance.
Though many a land of power, plenty, and science
My soul, garbed sometimes as an Oriental,
Sometimes as an Occidental,
Travelled far and wide,
Seeking Itself;
At last, in India, to find Itself.
Though mortal fires raze all her homes
and golden paddy fields,
Yet to sleep on her ashes and dream immortality,
O India, I will be there!
The guns of science and matter
Have boomed on her shores
Yet she is unconquered.
Her soul is free evermore!
Her soldier saints are away,
To rout with realization’s ray
The bandits of hate, prejudice, and patriotic selfishness;
And to burn the walls of separation dark
Between children of the One, One Father.
The Western brothers by matter’s might
have conquered my land;
Blow, blow aloud, her conch shells all!
India now invades with love,
To conquer their souls.
Better than Heaven or Arcadia
I love Thee, O my India!
And thy love I shall give
To every brother nation that lives.
God made the earth;
Man made confining countries
And their fancy-frozen boundaries.
But with newfound boundless love
I behold the borderland of my India
Expanding into the world.
Hail, mother of religions, lotus, scenic beauty,
And sages!
Thy wide doors are open,
Welcoming God’s true sons through all ages.
Where Ganges, woods, Himalayan caves, and men dream God –
I am hallowed; my body touched that sod.
Paramahansa Yogananda