Parvati Part II

Navel gazer, that’s what a good friend accused me of.  I had reason to feel hurt and offended.  But then the accusation came from a budding politician who has the lofty aim of ‘greater human welfare’ in mind, so anything that does not concern human life directly is a luxury for him!

History, Heritage, Culture, Conservation, Restoration, Preservation are luxuries for a developing country like India. Is it so? Can Maslow’s theory for a human be applied to a society, a nation? In that case, should the nation move at the speed of the least evolved or the most evolved?

So next time anyone gives you spiel on priorities and urgency as far as human development is concerned, be assured that’s the only excuse he could find to hide his ignorance.These navel gazers, I say!

Now that, I have got it out of my system let me get back to the subject. One visit to Parvati wasn’t enough; curiosity to find the real dateline of the caves was very high. So we went there to pop some more pictures. Existence of Pune dates back to 230 BCE (Before Common Era), which is an era of Satavahana Dynasty. The archaeological evidence says that the Satavahanas ruled from Junnar (Pune) and Pratishthan (Paithan) in Maharashtra later. The habitants of that period followed the Hindu religion and worshiped Vishnu and Shiva but also respected Buddha. The caves at Parvati, Pataleshwar and Chaturshringi in Pune do point to this part of ancient history.

These caves situated at the South-East part of the hill largely lie neglected as very few know the significance and the heritage value of these grottos. The residents nearby and the regulars can take some initiative to preserve this.

We were transcending through 230 BCE to 1700 CE (ancient to medieval era) as we were moving up from the caves towards the Parvati top. The tall fortification wall (Tat & Buruj) was now visible. Parvati also follows the same architectural design of a land-fort with two fortification walls. Only parts of these walls are intact now, enough to give an idea of the old structure.

The sun was already high up and we had not yet reached the Vishnu temple. My photographer friend was more than a little anxious! A frenzied photo session followed, what you see here is the real thing. This temple is truly BEAUTIFUL. The colors and carvings on the dome are any photographers delight!

The representation of Garuda, Vahan (divine vehicle) of Vishnu carved in marble stone alone can be a subject for someone interested in Hindu iconography.

What fascinated me at the Kartikeya temple, were the recently done paintings, depicting the life of Kartikeya. I would love to know the identity of this/these artists. They’ve done a wonderful job with colors. The Kartikeya temple, they say was struck by lightning twice so the idol had to be replaced and the dome reconstructed. The stone structure which hides behind the colorful facade is intact and extremely beautiful.