Pilgrim's pace Ghats are steps running down to the river. Together they make a long walkway along the river. The names are painted on the ghats by the fame seekers. And the purifier does not clean the entire river, it purifies water for the townsfolk to drink. If you want to follow the rituals with textbook rigour, there are always dozens of professionals to help you. Dont worry, they will find you. But, anything that doesn't pollute the river is an offering, if you subscribe to the theory that nature, in all its manifestations, is the deity to be worshipped.
I love this story, so romantic and make me feel a pilgrim myself walk along the river bank, hear all noise of the crowd, yet feel the peace. I can’t decide which part I like the most : about the oarsman, about people who come to die, or about Varuna & Asi, or maybe the promise that Varanasi will be busy till the end of time.
I wonder, how each ghat looks like. Is it plain step or carved, do each ghat’s name is printed officially or we have to rely on oarsman’s info ? How big is the ghat?
Also, I can’t imagine the design of water purifier plant which can purify a 100 feet deep river water. And the color of purified water, is it really blue? Not green or brown? Wow.
For the offering, what should we bring : always milk or else? It should be poured into the river or can we place it at the shore?
Well, hopefully I can find out by myself when I visit Varanasi someday....
Chicken-hearted Are bats birds? But the place is named after them and they are strictly nocturnal. To look for birds? I am yet to finish my autobiography, dear. Even our guide hasn't ventured to the deeper levels.
Hell of Birds Lovely piece.
But in the hell of birds, didn't you spot any birds? Or aren't there any anymore? Or did you forget to look?
By the way, about five years ago I stayed at the Thirunelli inspection bungalow, and the closest we came to a trek was a rather tame walk through the wilderness, down the hill and up another, to the temple :)
Journey as destination Hi Anil,
you r right. i dont look for a culmination. but pakshipathalam was too much for my trembling feet. in fact i saw very little of it despite all the trek. even my guide said he would be lost if we ventured further. and its nice to know that the place is not changing despite all the plastic articles we spotted on the way.
Looking back Hi
Pretty good piece on Pakshipathalam. Though I gather you subscribe to the notion that the journey is as interesting as where one is going, wish you had said a bit more about the destination. I went there about 15 years ago (late 1992) and the trek was more or less the way you described it. Looks like nothing much has changed. Good.
Keep going!
Surprise Don, this is a side of yours I didn't know. It's my fault: I didn't bother to find out at a time when you were only a nudging distance away. I enjoyed reading this travelogue; a reportage deftly scripted, exotic sights delightfully framed.
And that spicy meals Had we had prior knowledge that there were seven hills, we would not have dared to climb them - an offering quite often made only by those who suffer from from the worst-ever disease and desperation.
Though we could study the muscles on the lower part of our body, as all of them were aching.
Looking from our hotel room in the temple town (it's the perfect temple town as you can't attach any other adejective to it unlike others as everything belongs to Tirumala Devaswom in Tirupati), the temple looked so near. Only to find later that it deceived us.
Don never complained, except when he came to realise the 'rate' of the variety darshans, and I found it even tougher to digest.
And the free darshan, after being put in compartments, too was something new for us, who are familiar only with the serpentine queues in temples and churches.
We came down, of course by bus, and back in our hotel room we discussed it in detail and left it somewhere. Also did some shopping and went out to the outskirts, and also to a history museum and the terrific rocky rural ambience, which we could enjoy till evening.
Last but not the least, the spicy, hot delicious food. Guys who always savoured the bitter taste of liquor, 'irrespective' of brands, we couldn't just stop eating the meals and the avokkai (mango pickle), majjikapulsu and all others that came along with it.
And that trip leaves behind a lot in memory.
When the bus came to its final halt in Koomankavu, the place did not seem unfamiliar to Ravi. He had never been there before, but he had seen himself coming to this forlorn outpost beneath the immense canopy of trees, with its dozen shops and shacks raised on piles; he had seen it all in recurrent premonitions - the benign age of the trees, their riven bark and roots arched above the earth. (O.V.Vijayan, The Legends of Khasak)
Somewhere around Chidambaram, I was startled awake as the bus took a sharp turn. It was a hamlet trapped in time; mud huts, hay piles, dung cakes, old trees, e... full info
Dejavu
Don Sebastian
Pilgrim's pace
Ghats are steps running down to the river. Together they make a long walkway along the river. The names are painted on the ghats by the fame seekers. And the purifier does not clean the entire river, it purifies water for the townsfolk to drink. If you want to follow the rituals with textbook rigour, there are always dozens of professionals to help you. Dont worry, they will find you. But, anything that doesn't pollute the river is an offering, if you subscribe to the theory that nature, in all its manifestations, is the deity to be worshipped.