GOA BEYOND BEACH TOURISM : THE MANGESHI SHIVA TEMPLE

                                         

    ( Deepstambha of Mangeshi Shiva Temple )

       ( The blogger  at  Mangeshi Shiva Temple )

      ( Art installation " Boat With Hindu Gods" of Subodh Kerkar in Museum of Goa )

                                          

          ( "Boat with Hindu Gods "   Art installation of  Subodh Kerkar has these details ) 

                    ( Surla Mahadeva Temple ) 

THE MANGESHI  SHIVA TEMPLE , GOA, LATA MANGESHKAR   AND PANDIT JITENDRA ABHISHEKI

We were told that more than  300 ancient temples were demolished and raised to the ground by the Portuguese in Goa right from the 16th   century. A few like the ancient Surla Mahadeva Temple survived this destruction. However, some new temples also came up in the 19th and 20th centuries mostly by Maratha warrior Kings. Presently some highly venerated temples thronged by Hindus of Goa are;  Shantdurga Temple,  Nageshi Maharudra Temple and the Mangeshi Shiva Temple. The Mangeshi Shiva Temple falls in Mangeshi village, Ponda about 21 km from the capital city of Panjim. I liked the magnificent Deepstambha of Mangeshi  Shiva Temple ."Deepstambha" (Lamp Towers) also called as Deepa Jyoti is a common site in temples in and around Maharashtra. Lighted during the pooja and special occasions, this element of temple architecture was used in temples built by  "Yadavas of Devagiri" and later adopted by Maratha rulers adding to the temples across the Maratha Empire. 

We saw the painful history of Goa in its art, literature and inside its museums. We find broken idols of Hindu deities retrieved from demolished temple  sites  inside the ASI  Museum, Goa.Further ,  as you enter Museum of Goa ( MOG)  , there is a huge art installation done by  Sudhir Kerkar ,the well known  Goan artist showing Hindus fleeing in a boat along with their deities removed from temples destroyed by Portugese Inquisition squads.  

 

                                          

      ( A broken Idol inside ASI Museum, Goa)

We were also informed that the Portuguese destroyed the original Shantdurga temple in 1566. Later, Maratha warriors under the leadership of  Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj, the grandson of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj built a new temple that looked like a church from the outside to avoid further persecution. More so, the Office of the Goan  Inquisition had put a total ban on the construction of new temples. Shantdurga was the holiest amongst some holy Hindu temples in Goa for which even converted Christians felt sad. One must read Goa Inquisition to know the truth.  I came to know that the well-known artist Mario Miranda's ancestors were  Sardesai Saraswats before their forcible conversion by the Portuguese. They were attached to Shantdurga as their Kuldevi or family deity. I came to know that Mario's family continued to give annual groceries for the Temple fair even though being Christians. And Mario had wished that after his death, he should be cremated.

The Surla Mahadeva is the only old or ancient stone temple that survived destruction and demolition at the hands of Portuguese Christian missionaries. The temple is small, peaceful, and active.  It is a 12th-century-old, Kadamba-style structure that sits calmly in the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary.  It is close to the Karnataka border.

The Nageshi Maharudra Temple was built in 1413 when the region was under the rule of King Veer Pratap Devaraya of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire. The temple underwent an extensive renovation process in the days of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj the Maratha ruler of Satara. The Shree Nageshi Maharudra Temple, home to the Swayambhu shrine of Lord Shankar, is known to citizens all across India.

Inside the Mangeshi Shiva Temple, a  local person  told us this:

" The original ancient temple has faced plunder after the 14th century when the Muslim invasions started in  Goa. From the early 16th century, when the Portuguese arrived and constituted the infamous 'Office of Inquisition' to aggressively convert Hindus to  Christianity,  they raised to ground all the ancient temples to build Churches at these sites. The original site of the Shiva Mangeshi Temple was near the banks of the Zuari River in the village of Kushasthali. The Portuguese destroyed that Temple and changed the name of the village to Cortalim.   However,  the deity of this Temple was always hidden and kept safe by the people of the village. The  Maratha rulers renovated the Temple in 1763. It was again renovated by Marathas in 1890.  The Marathas also built a 7-storey Deepstambha in the temple compound. You can see this lamp tower or Deepstambha done in typical Maratha-style temple architecture. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj gave tough resistance to the Portuguese in Goa. 

We hold a Rath Yatra on Magh Purnima when the Mangeshi festival is celebrated here. The main deity is Lord Mangesha or Shiva. There are shrines on the back side dedicated to Mulakeshwsar, Virbhadra, Saanteri, Lakshminarayana, Suryanarayana, Garuda and Kaal Bhirava. Every Monday before the evening Aarti, the idol of Lord Mangesh is taken out in a procession in a Palki with devotional music being played by singers. There is a dress code instituted by the temple management.  

The  Mangeshkar family is from this village. Lata Ji's grandfather was Ganeshbhat Bhikaji Abhisheki. They write Mangeshkar to remain connected to their roots.  The Brahmins of this village have ancestry that is linked to this temple. They have been devotional singers of Shiva Mangesha, the deity. Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki the renowned classical singer is from our village. An event called Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki Mahotsav, which is named after him is celebrated in Goa every year, around September or October. He was a vocalist, music composer, and music teacher who made a massive impact on the history of classical music and the Marathi music industry.  "

( Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

RUSSIANS IN GOA ..JANUARY 2025

                                        

RUSSIANS IN GOA ..JANUARY 2025

 Russians and Ukrainians are seen everywhere Goa. You can see them in hotels,on  beaches, on roads, inside shops , in stores and in residential  apartments. War ravaged countries are making people run to peaceful locations .I met a Russian couple at Inferno restaurant in Candolim market  . I was told this :-

" I am teacher in higher education in Moscow school. I earn about 1.15 lakh Indian rupees per month as my salary. My wife is a nurse.  She earns about  92000 rupees per month. We came here for 2 months after saving about 4 lakh . A  two way ticket per person is 42000 approx in economy class from Moscow to New Delhi. We booked Airbnb one room apartment  set in Candolim;  which is  bed room with attached bath , dining cum sitting room and  kitchen@ 2200 per day. One can also book  private one room set  through brokers also @ 25000 to 30000 per month . Many people do it like that.   We cook our food and buy all eatables from Newton's Arcade  Mall.We will spend about 250000 in total for 2 months. Some shopping   will add another 50000 . We will end up saving about  100000  from 400000. We could have saved more had we booked apartment room privately through property agent  .That is how most of the people from our country live here. It is peaceful and good place . The cultural contrast interests us. "

( Avtar Mota)

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

BOOK REVIEW : KASHMIR EK PREM KATHA BY MAHARAJ KRISHEN SANTOSHI

                                                             

KASHMIR: EK PREM KATHA

(A Collection of Short Stories in Hindi)

by Maharaj Krishen Santoshi

Published by Antika Prakashan,Ghaziabad

Price Rs300/= ( Available on Amazon India )

Year of Publication 2024

 

 Presently living in exile, Maharaj Krishen Santoshi is a noted Hindi writer from Kashmir. He has published more than eight books, be they poetic collections or short stories centred on Kashmir that he has lived, loved, and missed. His books have been translated into English, Punjabi, Telugu, Gujarati, Kashmiri, and Dogri. He has been honoured and awarded by the Central Hindi Directorate (GOI), J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, and the UP Hindi Society.

 It requires the skill of Anton Chekhov to talk about something that gives nothing but pain yet remains unforgettable and is intensely missed . Santoshi comes close to this art in stories covered in the book under review. At places in some stories, one finds him close to Manto’s style that leaves nothing unsaid while exploring themes of loss, displacement, and the dehumanizing effects of violence. In the stories covered in the book the reader also comes across vivid imagery, some dark humour, and a good understanding of human psychology.

 In this compilation, 15 short stories and a write-up based on pages from the diary of the author are spread over 96 pages.The short stories have been titled as Darashikoh Ki maut  ,Pandit Kashi Nath MA ( History ),Mitti Ki Gawahi ,Chinar ,Teen Kisse ,Kashmir:Eik Prem Katha, Saanp Aur Boodi Aurat, Antaratma, Bhaand Aur Bhagwan, Pahalwan Ki Moonchh,Poshmaal Ka Bageecha,Vrishabh, Jannat Ki Sair, Rinn-mukt,  Eik Tha Comrade and Hum Kahin Bhool Na Jaayein ( pages from the diary of a displaced Kashmiri ).

 Set in Kashmir, the stories narrated by Santoshi are full of nostalgia, human displacement, longing, and issues of exile. A reader of these stories gets the feeling of a phoney life that the characters of these stories lived in Kashmir. This is visible through their conduct and behaviour and Santoshi's art of presentation. These stories also open a window to look at the historical perspective of the tragic displacement of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley in the 1990s after the arrival of Pakistan-supported terrorism.

 In the story Dara Shikoh Ki Maut, Santoshi uses the technique of contrasts by knitting his story on two opposing beliefs; religious bigotism and humanism represented by Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh respectively. The tragic death of ‘Kashi Nath MA (History )’  in Jammu camp after his displacement from Kashmir moves the reader. Kashi Nath had planned to live a peaceful retired life when terrorism uprooted him and his family from their native place. In the story Chinar, a Kashmiri Pandit family tries to plant a Chinar tree in their compound to remain mentally close to their roots. The tree doesn't grow as magnificent as a Chinar tree seen in Kashmir and it starts silently extending its roots to the foundation of their small newly built house in Jammu. The tree had to be cut and uprooted painfully. The story ‘Bhaand Aur Bhagwan’ is woven around the practice of performing Puja of their Devi by the Muslim Bhaands in the Kashmir Valley. This practice comes into clash with religious fanaticism brought into the peaceful valley by Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Rinn-mukt ( free from the )loan is a story about the life of a  Kashmiri Pandit cut off from his roots and living a lonely life after settling his children in places within or outside the country.  Through the story Poshmaal ka Bagicha, Santoshi conveys how deeply the Kashmiri Pandits were attached to Jaffur or marigold flowers. This flower was put to use daily in the morning Puja, apart from being used in other events and rituals like Homa, marriage, Yagneopavit (sacred thread ceremony ), death, and birthdays. Poshmaal, a Kashmiri Pandit woman grows these flowers in pots in her tented accommodation in Jammu and breathes her last looking at these growing flowers.

 Some stories reveal sharp observations of Santoshi and an equally engrossing style to present crisp and brief stories on issues other than displacement from the Kashmir valley. These stories are based on mixed themes like corruption, selfishness, struggle for existence and other topics with a sprinkling of humour. In this category, one can include stories like Pahalwan Ki Moonchh,, Saanp Aur Boodi Aurat, Jannat Ji Sair, Vrishabh and  Mitti Ki Gawaahi.

 Eik Tha Comrade is another story that paints a picture of communism as it was practised in the Kashmir valley. On Friday, the communist party meeting has been rescheduled as comrades have to attend Friday prayers.

In the chapter ‘Hum Kahin Bhool Na Jaayein’( lest we forget), the author truthfully presents the events that unfolded in the valley after the arrival of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism that brought nothing but pain and suffering to innocents in general and Kashmiri Pandits in particular. Tearing apart the centuries-old spirit of tolerance and composite culture, it made religious minorities leave Kashmir to save their lives and honour after a campaign of hate and killings was unleashed upon them. The events and incidents reported in this chapter are from the author's diary. Every incident is a truthful depiction of the pain and misery that Pandits faced in their day-to-day life; both while living in Kashmir during those dark and agonising days and then in the heat and dust of the plains to establish themselves once again.

This book is history. It is a compilation of varied perspectives on pain and suffering. It is a documentation of what befell the exiles. Call it anything, it is worth possessing, reading and discussing. A note of optimism comes through many stories that make the reader believe Jalaluddin din Rumi's lines;

 ‘hamchoo sabzeh bar baarha roedha-em’

(Like green turf, we shall appear again and again in every spring)

 

( Avtar Mota)

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

THE UNFORGETTABLE MARIO MIRANDA

                                              

A Visit to Mario Miranda's Gallery in Calangute Goa.                                         

               ( Outside Mario Miranda Gallery )

In my youth, I would see cartoons of R K Laxman, Shankar( K Shankar Pillai )  and Mario Miranda ( 1926-2011). I could easily relate to Mario's observations, humour and caricaturing. Mario was born in 1926 in Daman, then a Portuguese enclave, in a Goan Roman Catholic family of Saraswat Brahmin ( Sardesai ) ancestry . His family was part of the local aristocracy as senior government officials and the senior Miranda was the Administrator of Daman. Consequently, the young lad imbibed the best of two cultures - that of distant Portugal and the Indigenous Goan ethos and this rare multi-cultural empathy is more than evident in his later work. Mario didn't formally study Art but began his career as a cartoonist for the Times of India Group in 1953. Later, he moved into illustration and fine art. A friend of  Shyam Benegal, Gopi Gajwani, Satish Gujral, Manohar Malgaonkar, Dom Mores, Vinod Mehta, Gerard da Cunha,  Marcellus Baptista, Charles  Correa, Behram Contractor, Khushwant Singh and many more, his name and fame spread from Kashmir to Kerela after Khushwant Singh brought him to The    Illustrated Weekly of India that he edited. Although he drew cartoons based on urban life, his creative output always remained the essence of Goan life with its vibrant images of markets, beaches, and everybody's busy and hectic life.

                                      

Mario's warm-hearted, often comic drawings of local characters and culture helped to popularise his native state, both across India and overseas. Besides cartooning, Mario has done murals on various buildings in Goa and other parts of the country, taking to painting, as he did, in the later years of life.

The Mario Gallery and Museum in Calangute and some other places in Goa sell and display his work. His house in the quiet village of Loutolim in South Goa is also a museum. It is roughly 10 kilometres from Margao and about 35 kilometres from Panaji. Mario's family house mirrors the traditional surroundings of Mario Miranda’s art. From the  Calangute gallery, one can buy prints of his work printed bags, wall plates,  coasters, prints on crockery, prints on tiles, prints on T-shirts and other items with prints of his work.  This is a family-managed business. A lesson for some artists to broaden their reach. Art can be made affordable and transferred to the middle class in this way as well.I bought some books of Mario, some prints and clicked photographs after due permission from the gallery manager. From his Paris drawings,   I could easily relate to Mario's sketches of Cafe de Flore, Shakespeare And Co, Pompidou Centre and Seine River ferries, the spots/ places that were visited by me in 2023. I could also relate to his wonderful sketches of Manhattan,  New York.

                                       

                                          

Among his most admired sketches,  one can include;  Man at the Corner, A Bachelor Apartment, Mangeshi Temple, The Village Bus, Strange Heaviness, and 'Street In Fountainhas'. Mario's cartoons like Miss Fonseca(A modern woman who works in an advertising agency), Bundaldass   (A minister) , Rajani Nimbupani (A Bollywood star)and Khushwant Singh Drinking became immensely popular after he drew them. He also authored books like Goa with Love, A Little World of Humour, Sketch Book and Germany in Wintertime. Besides his books, he illustrated books penned by  Dom Moraes ("A Journey to Goa"), Manohar Malgaonkar ("Inside Goa"), Mario Cabral de Sa ("Legends of Goa"), children's books authored by Uma Anand like "Dul-Dul", "The Magic Clay Horse", "The Long-tailed Langoor" and "The Adventures of Pilla the Pup".

                                      

In south Mumbai's famous Mondegar Cafe, Mario was commissioned to paint murals which adorn the cafe's walls even today. His calendars, year-planners for various publications, private and government organisations, illustrated diaries and books continue to be treasured possessions.

                                       

Though the artists’ community did not consider Mario to be one of them, it did not affect his creative urges, which found expressions in colour, pen-and-ink and charcoal. His range of styles, and command over different mediums, made him a bit of an enigma. Some believe, that though Mario gained huge popularity during his lifetime, his true genius is yet to be recognised.

An avid traveller and music lover, Mario married an artist, Habiba Hyderi. The couple has two sons: Rahul, a hairstylist in New York, and Rishad, a cartoonist based in Goa.

Like most cartoonists, Mario de Miranda appeared to be a serious, shy, no-nonsense but soft-spoken person to a first-time acquaintance but gradually warmed up. Among Mario's admirers, one can include JRD Tata, Pandit  Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and IK Gujral. He travelled across continents. Mario was bestowed with several honours, including the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the All India Cartoonist’s Association. He received a posthumous Padma Vibhushan in 2012, a few months after he passed away at the age of 85, he died peacefully in sleep. As per his wish, the mortal remains of Mario Miranda were consigned to the flames at a  Hindu crematorium at Pajifond in Margao in south Goa. Like her husband Mario, Habiba Miranda had also wished to be cremated. 

( Avtar Mota)

PS

Holidaying in Goa since the 15th of January 2025.

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.