It was interesting to visit Shiva Temples in and around Bangalore.
First a little about the Hindu gods. Please forgive my probable inaccurate understanding, but here is my version. There are three main Hindu gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector, and Shiva the destroyer (hopefully the destroyer of evil). It of course is much more complicated than that. Anyway, apparently there is only 1 temple to Brahma because he was cursed by his wife for not including her in an important ceremony - wives are always an important part of ceremonies in Inida. That temple is in Pushkar. I am sure there are many temples to Vishnu but we didn't see them.
We did see several temples to Shiva, his son Ganesha, and Shiva's ridding vessel, Nandi. Shiva is a very powerful god who has many temples in India. Ganesha, his son, has an elephant head because Shiva's wife, Parvati, had a child while he was away. When Shiva came home he thought Ganesha was in intruder, so he cut the child's head off. Parvati was naturally upset, so Shiva promised to restore the child to life by using the head of the first sleeping being thay could find facing north. They found an elephant, and so Ganesha has an elephant head. Ganesha is the destroyer of obstacles. He rides a mouse. By the way, I suggest that you check you bed and make sure that you don't sleep with your head facing north.
Nandi, the bull, is Shiva's ride. There are many temples that have a huge bull just outside a small shrine to Shiva, usually in his linga or phallic form. This can make it a little hard to recognize Shiva. It looks like a closed roman helmet sitting in a shallow trough representing the oneness of male and female as well as creation (and yes Shiva is also the destroyer).
The two temples we saw of Shiva that were so different were the the Kempfort Shiva Temple, built in 1995 and a 9th century Shiva Temple near the Nandi Hills. I didn't take any of my own pictures of the new temple because there was construction, and they were charging for everything. It also felt a little like the Disney version of Shiva. So here are a few I borrowed:
First a little about the Hindu gods. Please forgive my probable inaccurate understanding, but here is my version. There are three main Hindu gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the protector, and Shiva the destroyer (hopefully the destroyer of evil). It of course is much more complicated than that. Anyway, apparently there is only 1 temple to Brahma because he was cursed by his wife for not including her in an important ceremony - wives are always an important part of ceremonies in Inida. That temple is in Pushkar. I am sure there are many temples to Vishnu but we didn't see them.
We did see several temples to Shiva, his son Ganesha, and Shiva's ridding vessel, Nandi. Shiva is a very powerful god who has many temples in India. Ganesha, his son, has an elephant head because Shiva's wife, Parvati, had a child while he was away. When Shiva came home he thought Ganesha was in intruder, so he cut the child's head off. Parvati was naturally upset, so Shiva promised to restore the child to life by using the head of the first sleeping being thay could find facing north. They found an elephant, and so Ganesha has an elephant head. Ganesha is the destroyer of obstacles. He rides a mouse. By the way, I suggest that you check you bed and make sure that you don't sleep with your head facing north.
Nandi, the bull, is Shiva's ride. There are many temples that have a huge bull just outside a small shrine to Shiva, usually in his linga or phallic form. This can make it a little hard to recognize Shiva. It looks like a closed roman helmet sitting in a shallow trough representing the oneness of male and female as well as creation (and yes Shiva is also the destroyer).
The two temples we saw of Shiva that were so different were the the Kempfort Shiva Temple, built in 1995 and a 9th century Shiva Temple near the Nandi Hills. I didn't take any of my own pictures of the new temple because there was construction, and they were charging for everything. It also felt a little like the Disney version of Shiva. So here are a few I borrowed:
It was still really interesting to see. Though with the construction, we had to walk through a parking garage, through a storage area, into a very dark walkway. Since a few of us got there before anyone else who knew where we were going, I was getting a little worried that we were being lead astray. Especially since we got there after 10:30 pm. But it turned out to right. I guess Ganesha was helping us a bit. Note the Himalayan mountains behind Shiva. That is because he only takes his bodily form in the Himalayans. Nandi and Shiva Linga were also there.
The next morning we got up early and had a fabulous South India breakfast and then headed towards the Nandi Hills. We were hoping to find a guide when we got to the ancient Shiva temple at Bhoganandishwara. It turned out that one of our drivers is from a village only a few kilometers from the temple, so we already had our guide. The temple was amazing. There was a small Ganesha, a big Nandi and a Shiva Linga. We were able to attend noon Puja ceremony. The ceremony honors the gods. They burned incense, chanted, rang bells, blessed food and flowers that people brought, and gave us blessed water and milk with butter (I declined both). It was amazing. The temple itself was covered with carvings, and was in the process of being prepared for a festival where groups of family members will camp out at the temple for many days. Here are some of my pictures from Bhoganandishwara (note that I was not able to take pictures of the inner parts of the temple):
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