[day 8]

It was quite hard to say goodbye to Mysore. But soon enough we were already travelling through the beautiful Karnataka's landscapes, having no time to think about what we left, driven into the green hilly lands between Mysore and Belur. Except for a five minutes stop in a local market just outside Mysore, we spent about three hours staring out of our windows life in all its shapes: trees, working farmers, cultivations, earth made village houses... Actually a few of us fell asleep, you know, time optimizers ;) Journey was however pleasant despite of damaged asphalt, police block bars and a huge number of speed bumps along our way, forcing our bus to accelerate, brake and slalom.

Unfortunately we were informed of being late. “To be late” is an expression which is becoming more and more familiar expressions to us ...and we are not even guilty for that, poor things!

Back to the first stop: Belur, former capital of the Hoysala Empire. The sight of the Chennakesava temple was amazing even from the outside. Once we removed our shoes, as required here in almost every religious site, we finally managed to take a closer look on the dark stones depicting many holy hindu divinities and legendary tales in sequence. Inside Chennakesava temple, it was also performed a religious rite called “Puja” in which a few of us took part by pouring on their heads some holy water and by marking own forehead with the classic “Tilaka”.

We then moved to Halebid, “the Dead City” sacked by the armies of Malik Kafur in the early 14th century. Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara temples were quite similar to what we saw in Belur. Our attention was caught by the fact that nowadays no more rites are celebrted in this complex.

Unfortunately, for other unexpected delays along the way, we were prevented from visiting the statue of Gomateshwara in Sravanabelagola...

Goodnight everybody!


pubblicato il 24/07/2011 su summer school india 2011