Oldest temple in Goa at Tambdi Surla !

The tiny Mahadeva temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva at Tambdi Surla, is located approximately 65 kilometers from the capital city of Panaji and 12 kilometers from the Mollem border check post. Located amidst serene and picturesque forest area with a beautiful stream flowing by, it has withstood the ravages of time.

According to the Archeological Survey of India, this temple was built in the 13th century by the Kadamba dynasty, which ruled Goa between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. Built of grey - black chlorite schist soap stone, which is weather resistant, it is the oldest surviving temple of the Kadamba Yadava dynasty in Goa

The temple has a pillared porch and three stepped entrances and the shrine is surmounted by a tower.

A notable feature is the stone ceiling, decorated with intricately carved lotus flowers. The pierced stone screen carrying the figures of deities that surround the door of the vestibule signifies excellent craftsmanship. There is a Nandi bull (Lord Shiva’s vehicle) at the entrance of temple.

The symbol of the Kadamba kingdom, an elephant trampling a horse is carved on the base of one of the columns.

It is a perfect picnic spot and one can enjoy the cool and serene ambience surrounded by lush greenery!



Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. - Anatole France

Worlds largest open air museum - Hampi !

Hello Everybody
Check the slideshow and admire the beauty of Hampi, which I will be describing in detail soon in my blog posts !

Where Stone's Cast a Spell ! Slideshow: Aparna’s trip from Goa, India to Hampi was created by TripAdvisor. See another Hampi slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.

Green Record in India !

Just today morning, I was browsing through the latest December issue of the ‘Wisdom’, monthly digest, and one particular article caught my eye, which I would like to share with all of you.

The ‘Cold Desert’ of Leh entered the Guinness Book of World Records after
50, 300 saplings were planted at a village in an hour by 9000 volunteers on October 10, 2010.

The ‘Green Action’ was supported by Buddhist monks to mark the ‘green’ Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The earlier record was held by Peru, where 40,000 saplings were planted in 60 minutes by 8,000 volunteers.

Source: Wisdom, December 2010.

Let's live a Greener Life !

An Ode to India !

Mark Twain, the famous American author aptly described India in his poem below:

“This is India!
The land of dreams and romance,
of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty,
of splendor and rags,
of palaces and hovels,
of famine and pestilence,
of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps,
of tigers and elephants,
the cobra and the jungle,
the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues,
of a thousand religions and two million gods,
cradle of the human race,
birthplace of human speech,
mother of history,
grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition,
whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations
– the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for
alien persons,
for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor,
bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see,
and having seen once, by even a glimpse
would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.
Even now, after a lapse of a year, the delirium of those days in Bombay has not left me and I hope it never will.”
- Mark Twain