Here's one more, sprouting under a peepul tree on the extension of Flagstaff Road. Someone cares enough about this Nandi to smear turmeric and vermillion on the treetrunk around it. From the looks of it, a few people have already begun to regard this Nandi as a fulfiller of wishes; notice the coloured ribbons tied around the roots of the tree (top of picture)? Those must be the reminders of favours sought. A few more years of this and then a structure will start coming up around it, regular pujas will be performed, donations will be accepted, the works. Then, the legend of the temple will have to be created, with stories of how prayers to this idol were miraculously fulfilled.... in fact, I'm tempted to come up with a story or two myself!
6 comments:
Strange but true. In the land where people found ganesha embodied in a potato.
hey this is great moment captured - the beginning of something that may grow into a large temple. this gets sanctified every day with new stories and legends. while there is a romanticism about it, this also sjows how gullible we are as a society. conversely, it shows the closeness of our culture with nature.
@ Maya: Ah, but did that Ganesha drink milk?
@ Moochhi: Thanks, Moochhi - though I hope it does not grow into anything big - wasn't there a story about a stone Nandi in Mysore that kept growing until someone fixed a copper plate to stop it?? :)
That rings a bell from my childhood in Thanjavur; the urban legend was that the great stone Nandi in the 'Big' Temple used to go out and forage every night. The priests pulled out its tongue an nailed it to the jaw, a pose you find the Nandi in even today. The 'treatment' worked apparently as the nandi stopped roaming as well growing in size!
@ RiverMaker: Maybe it was not Mysore but Thanjavur... heard the story as a child at the Basaveswara temple in Bangalore, so places are all mixed up!
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