Feb 5 – Mangalore, India. Once again a new port for us. Here's the inside scoop. Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about 220 miles west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western Karnataka. With its great beaches, broad roads and calm local this coastal city was declared the eighth cleanest city in India. Mangalore ranked India's 13th place in top business destination and in Karnataka it's second after Bangalore.
It developed as a port on the Arabian Sea and is to this day a major port of India. Located on the Netravati and Gurupura rivers, Mangalore is often used as a staging point for sea traffic along the Malabar Coast. The city has a tropical climate and lies in the path of the Arabian Sea branch of the South-West monsoons. Mangalore's port handles 75 per cent of India's coffee exports and most of the nation's cashew exports.
Mangalore was ruled by several major powers, including Portuguese. The city was a source of contention between the British and the Mysore rulers. Eventually annexed by the British in 1799, Mangalore remained part of the Madras until India's independence in 1947. The city was unified with the state of Mysore (now called Karnataka) in 1956.
Mangalore is the largest city of Tulu Nadu region and is linguistically diverse. Tulu, Konkani, Kannada, and Beary bashe are commonly spoken in addition to Hindi and English. The area has rolling hills, coconut palms, freshwater streams, and hard red-clay tiled-roof buildings.
The area that is now Mangalore has been mentioned in many ancient works of Hindu history. The name of this town appears in maps as early as the 1652 Sanson Map of India. In the epic Ramayana, Lord Rama ruled over the region. The Kacek Dance that the Indonesian Crew performs is an episode from Lord Rama's life.
In the third century BC, the town formed part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. Mangalapura (Mangalore) was the capital of the Alupa dynasty until the 14th century. The city became an important trading zone for Persian merchants.
By 1801 Mangalore had become a rich and prosperous port with voluminous trading activity. Rice was the main export. It was sent to Muscat, Bombay, Goa and Malabar. Betel-nut, pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, sugar, iron, saltpeter, ginger, timber and Sandalwood were also among the exports.
European influence in Mangalore can be traced back to 1498, when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at St Mary's Island near Mangalore. In 1526, the Portuguese under the Viceroy Lopo Vaz de Sampaio succeeded in defeating the Bangara King and his allies and conquered Mangalore. The trade passed out of Muslim hands into Portuguese hands. In the mid-16th century, Goud Saraswat Brahmins, and Goan Catholics from Goa migrated to Mangalore fleeing the Goa Inquisition. In 1640, the Keladi Nayaka kingdom defeated the Portuguese and ruled the town until 1762. The Portuguese were allowed to have trade relations with Mangalore. In 1695, the town was torched by Arabs in retaliation to Portuguese restrictions on Arab trade.
The Kingdom of Mysore conquered Mangalore in 1763 bringing the city into that kingdom until 1767. Mangalore was ruled by the British East India Company from 1767 to 1783. The Mysorians retook control in 1783 and renamed it Jalalabad. Mysore and the British waged three more wars against each other. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War ended the conflicts forever. After the defeat of Tipu in the Fourth Anglo–Mysore War, the city remained in control of the British, until Indian independence
The city was largely peaceful during British rule, with urban and infrastructural developments affected during the period. Mangalore flourished in education and in industry, becoming a commercial center for trade. The opening of the Lutheran German Basel Mission in 1834 brought many cotton weaving and tile manufacturers to the city. Roman Catholic missions to Mangalore like the Italian Jesuit "Mangalore Mission" of 1878 played an important role in education, health, and social welfare. The linking of Mangalore in 1907 to the Southern Railway, and the subsequent proliferation of motor vehicles in India, further increased trade and communication between the city and the rest of the country.
Mangalore is a major city of Karnataka, providing the state with access to the Arabian Sea coastline. The late 20th century saw Mangalore develop as a business, commercial and information technology (IT) center, although the traditional red tile-roofed houses are still retained in the city.
Mangalore's economy is dominated by the agricultural processing and port-related activities. The New Mangalore Port is India's ninth largest port, in terms of cargo handling. It handles 75 per cent of India's coffee exports and the bulk of its cashew nuts. Imports through Mangalore harbor include crude oil, edible oil, LPG, and timber.
Major information technology and outsourcing companies like Infosys and Cognizant Technology Solutions have established a presence in Mangalore. When you spoke to Dave from customer service he might have been in Mangalore.
Most of the popular Indian festivals are celebrated in the city, the most important being Dasara, Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Eid, and Ganesh Chaturthi. Kodial Theru, also known as Mangaluru Rathotsava (Mangalore Car Festival) is a festival unique to the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community, and is celebrated at the Sri Venkatramana Temple.
We are on another long tour today, lots of driving but that way I get to see more than just the city.
We drove about an hour and a half to the city of Gomateshwara. This small town is home to a 42-foot tall statue carved from a single piece of the local granite. The statue honors Lord Bahubali. If I have my facts straight, he's the founder of the Jain tradition or offshoot of Hinduism. Jainism is strong in this area and has several distinctives that set it apart from mainstream Hinduism.
While they share many stories and gods, the Jain take things just a little farther in some areas. For example, a good Hindu should be a vegetarian however the Jain add anything that grows underground, carrots, radishes, potatoes, etc., to the forbidden food list. Our guide could not explain why they do this, they just do. I have a feeling it's something like how Judaism has decided to define things that are forbidden on the Sabbath. They define certain acts as 'work' which is forbidden. Things like flipping a light switch or driving a car. Unless you are a professional driver none of us Gentiles define driving as work and we certainly don't think of turning on a light as work. It's just their definition and that's fine. I think the Jain will explain the 'underground vegetable' ban the same way. They have a definition of banned foods that has been expanded to include things like peanuts. Well at least cashews and macadamias are still ok. It's a good thing because this is the cashew capital of the world.
The Jain also think everything about the human body is natural. Really, it's hard to argue with that point of view. So following Jain tradition, the statue of Lord Bahubali is nude. It was carved in the 10th century AD but was not installed at this site until 1432. Probably took that long to figure out how to get it us this fairly steep hill. There was a display that showed how they finally did it, a huge custom built wagon with 40 wooden wheels + manpower. No easy task.
You have to climb just over 200 stairs, 212 if my count is correct, to get up to the shrine, also known as a basadi. I don't know if the Jain are pranksters but the first 20 stairs come in 5 groups of 4 stairs with an 8-yard long level space between them. It's only when you round the slight turn that you find that the other 192 stairs are carved out of the huge granite hill that the shrine is on. It's pretty warm but what's a little heat to this intrepid traveler. Actually it was a lot easier climb than I thought it would be. Don't tell anyone I told you that.
When you reach the top you look out on a sea of palm trees. Across the valley, atop another hill is a Jain temple at a lower height. Of course, before entering you have to take off your shoes before entering the basadi. Just outside the gate to the basadi there's a tall marble column with a seated metal Buddha statue atop. I couldn't tell which Buddha it represents but it did not appear to be The Buddha, this one is too thin. The gate itself is built of carved granite blocks. It's about 8 feet in depth. The ceiling is heavily carved mostly with geometric shapes. The high wall around the compound is constructed of those same red laterite blocks we saw in the forts yesterday. Our guide added one new element to the processing of these blocks. He said that when they are first dug up they are soft and can be easily formed. They are then allowed to cure in the sun which hardens them and makes them very strong.
Just inside the gate, the first thing you encounter is the bronze Ego Pole. To help you get into the proper mindset for your temple activities, this pole is to remind you that you must set your own ego aside to have a successful visit. I think we should have one of these poles in front of every building, house and any other structure used by people all over the USA. Things would be so much better if we could just learn to set our egos aside.
Along the right side of the courtyard is a colonnade that has several stone pedestals of varying heights. These must be used during festivals or rites at the basadi. They recently had a major festival honoring this site. It's only held every 12 years. They build a scaffold around the sides and back of the statue to allow people to climb up and place their offerings on the statues head. There's another 3-foot high wall around the inner court where the statue stands. As we entered the inner gate, a saffron robed monk offered us a red dot on our foreheads just between the eyes. In yoga this is a shakra, and in Qui (pronounced Chi) Gong it's a Qui point. It aligns with the most powerful point that is located at the very top of your head. The lines between these two points meet in the brain. In Qui Gong they teach that if you rub this spot it clears and empowers your brain. Married Hindu women wear a red dot of some kind at this exact point. It's very close to the spot where the priest or minister applies the ashes on Ash Wednesday. On the basis of 'When in Rome' I let him dot me.
It's a little hard to get a good picture of the statue because the scaffold has it in the shade while all around it is bright light. A little fiddling with the camera's controls produced an adequate image. He hasn't got a stitch of clothing on but there are vines carved onto his legs and arms, perhaps signifying the Jain's connection with the natural. There are several fresh red and yellow floral necklaces lying at his feet. That was one of the things that struck me most when we visited out first Hindu country many years ago, all the flower vendors, both shops and pushcarts, selling floral necklaces for use as offerings at the local temples. The come in all sizes and levels of intricacy. I can only assume that the larger, fancier ones help your prayer go through quicker. Or maybe they're a demonstration of your affection for and devotion to the god you honor with the offering. I really should ask someone. The flowers are always beautiful.
Our guide took a few of us, the ones who were paying attention, around the scaffolding to the back of the statue. Here we had to enter the structure to find two rows of smaller statues, each one a little different from the others. Some were finely detailed, others appeared to be unfinished. It's a little embarrassing but I can't remember who he said they were.
One of the little unfortunate coincidences that exist in the world is that the Hindus and also the Jains use a swastika in their designs. The unfortunate part is that it's not backward from the NAZI swastika like the one used by Southwestern American Indians, it's the four overlapping 4's just like Hitler's. I say this is unfortunate because that symbol evokes such an emotional reaction in many people. I just have to remind myself that the Hindu, like the American Indians, had it first.
I headed down the hill to the bus because there was a little stand down there and I wanted to see what I could find. They had a sugar cane crushing machine so cane juice was available. The cane just was kept in a large bowl. That was fine. It was all the flies, dive bombing down to snatch a little sip of carbohydrates that I found unappealing. As you know, I will eat street food but I do draw the line at a certain place and the cane juice bowl was on the other side of that line.
I do like to find something unique or a bit different and this time it turned out to be, of all things, potato chips. Lays has done a wonderful job around the world adapting their chips to the local culture. I found Marmite chips on Ascension Island. (Marmite is some sort of health powder that Brits like to use at breakfast. I'd seen Marmite before but not on chips.) They were good. Here, in typical Indian fashion, it was India's Magic Masala Chips. I had to get some. They were a little hot like BBQ chips in the USA but the flavor was very different. I looked at the bag to find that the chips included onion and chili powders, dry mango, coriander powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder and cumin. This mixture produces a great potato chip. It's a pity that Jain's can't eat them because potatoes grow under the ground.
It was back on the minibus and off to a local farm, Soan's that also serves as a botanical garden. Their main commercial crop is pineapple but they also grow coconuts and bananas. On arrival they served is a glass of the cool, golden liquid. The farm's owner, L.C. Soans, said nothing is added to it. He was serving it just as it was squeezed. With visions of dive bombing flies still in my head I accepted the glass and had a sip. I have to admit it was really good. Drinking the rest was not a problem. The elder Mr. Soans has an MS and Phd. in biology and studied in the USA.
Diana loves this green stuff and I do to but I go on overload after about 10 minutes of plant talk. Here's the down-low on the visit. Almost nothing is in bloom or bearing fruit at this time of year. Thus it was pretty much, "This green tree produces X and that green tree produces Y and it's too bad you are not here when they are in bloom, they're beautiful!" It was fun walking around the grounds in very pleasant surroundings and I did get my first look at the cactus that produces dragon fruit. Diana was hanging on every word the guide said and I was at the back of the pack with most of the men just enjoying the sights. At the end of the tour when we were walking back to the area where we will be having lunch I said I would pay any man $100 who could repeat to me 20% of what the farm guide had said and they all laughed. I'm pretty sure Diana and some, maybe most, of the women could have and that's why I limited it to the men.
Lunch was served out of doors in the shade of some very tall bamboo clusters. White tablecloths topped with a dark red fringed cloth, chairs covered in white fabric with red bows on the back. Looked like formal night on the Rotterdam. The food was excellent. They served some things I'd never seen before. The first three things up were all rice. The first one looked like a little individual corn muffin but it was completely white. The second one was about the same size as a corn tortilla but again totally white. The third looked like a bird's nest, thin strands all intertwined, also white. I took the first and the third because I wanted to see what effect the form had on the taste. Next up was green curry that I think was chicken, then a red dish that may have been a vindalu. Then came a mixture of gherkins and something else in a red sauce. Next was a kingfish steak that had been marinated and grilled. Last but not least, you guessed it, just regular steamed rice.
Our guide had told us on the bus that the food was authentically spiced except for the level of heat. That had been toned down for us. Not good news for me but everyone else seemed pleased. Well, what he said was true except for the gherkin dish. It was pretty warm. Not Thai hot but hotter than most Mexican food in the USA. I thought it was great, I've never had pickles served in a hot mixture, heat or spice wise. The food was excellent. I have to say that HAL has done an excellent job with the on tour lunches on this cruise. Gosh, I hope I haven't just jinxed it. Oh yes, the lunch included another bottle of their excellent Kingfisher Lager. I know, lagers are fairly light beers, but they have a place in the palate of beer, and this one was light, crisp and clean aftertaste, all the things a good lager should be.
The farm has been in operation since the 1920s and has been developing the botanical collection of noncommercial plants and trees for about 35 years.
After the delicious lunch at Soans Farm we headed to Moodabidri, also known as Jain Kashi. Moodabidri in a major center of Jainism in southern India, as it is viewed at the meeting place of both the spiritual and the historic. The area has a plethora of temples and basadis that display several of the areas rulers and their beliefs. They are also a memorial to the architecture of eras gone by. A basadi is a Jain temple that has an image of one of the 24 Jain saints (tirthankaras) on display for worship. The best of the Jain basadis is here in Moodabidri, the Tribhuvana Tilaka Chudamani Basadi, also known as the Thousand Pillars Basadi.
This great example of 15th-century architecture in India was carved and constructed over 50 years. It features many exquisitely carved pillars, each ornamented with different designs and no two pillars are the same. Some tell a story from Hindu history, others record deeds of the saints of the Jain. There are three areas in the basadi but only Jains are allowed to enter two and three. The first area to which we have access is the largest one in the temple and it did not have the required 333 columns needed to reach 1,000 if all the areas have an equal number. This is unlikely as the second and third, especially the second, which we could look into, are much smaller. Apparently it's like the 99-Islands area in northern Japan. There are nowhere near 99 islands, they assigned that number to say there are a lot of islands and I think the 1,000 columns results from the same concept.
Near the main temple entrance there's a library preserving some beautiful 12th- and 13th-century palm leaf manuscripts but it was not open for viewing.
This large temple has a raised, covered forecourt you can enter while still wearing your shoes. This area is not carved or painted. The stone pillars are simple affairs. After crossing the forecourt you come to the temple proper and there you must take of your shoes. The temple's inner gate is richly carved granite. There are two large figures on each side and worshipers or monks have placed an offering of flowers on the head of each one. The gate's large wooden doors have panels, each of which contains the figure of a Jain god or saint. Inside these doors you encounter a very large and ornately carved granite Ego Column. This one shouts, "You think you're something, well look at me and be humble." It has intricate geometric patterns carved on the square base. Above the square section is a ledge with 4 Buddhas carved into it, one facing each direction. Above that the column is round and fluted with occasional bands of ornate carving. The column has a capitol much like a Greek or Roman column with a bell hanging from each corner.
The stairway up to the temple proper is flanked by two large elephants. At this first area there are about 20 columns and each one is indeed intricately carved with unique designs. One of the story columns relates the Ramayana (Rama's Journey). This story is found throughout Hindu territories. The Indonesians have a version called the Kacek Dance. It relates the story of how King Rama (an avatar of the god Vishnu) rescues his wife, Sinta, from the evil, demon-like King Ravana with the help of Valmiki (a monkey)–like humanoid and his army.
Many of the columns are mostly patterned but some others tell a story. I am sad to report that my knowledge of Hinduism falls way short of enabling me to identify most of them.
You go down and then up again to look into the second area. On the outside wall of this part of the structure there's a very colorful painting of a royal person, but I don't know who they are. Inside the locked gate is large golden statue that is only dimly lighted and way across the room. Try as I could I was not able to get a decent picture of it.
We walked out of the temple between the first and second areas to inspect the outside. Here there were some curious features. For example there were carvings depicting African antelope, a giraffe and a perfectly depicted Chinese dragon. The people from this are were not known to have traveled to any of those places so the theory is that traders from those places came here and brought with them drawings or carvings of things that existed back home as part of their trade goods. Interesting conjecture because no one knows for sure.
On the way out of the temple we encountered some Indian school boys taking time out on their way home from school to take a look at the tourists. My experience is that if you ask about a picture and one of you joins them they really seem to like it. This was no exception. The two that were standing there were quickly joined by two others as they noticed D posing with their friends. These are always good pictures.
On the way back to the ship we passed some sort of temple celebration. Orange pendants, like the ones they put up when a small store is having a sale, were strung out all along the street leading up to a temporary entrance that was set up at the side street leading to the temple. Ladies in their fancy saris were coming and going. Could be that whatever is going on was just for women because that's who we saw.
This evening's entertainment was a variety show with two performers we've seen before and again on this trip so we decided to veg out in the room and skip the show.
Your post is a mixture of well defined description of the site and insult of most respected religion Jainism in a sarcastic way . Its an advice to author to be very polite and humble in his words as Jainism is something very pure that you can't even understand with just looking at the holy statues . You have to understand the main idea behind Jainism ideology which can probably bring some quality in your words . Thanks..
ReplyDeleteI just reread this post and have to admit that your comment confuses me. I said that the Jains were about the most pure form of vegetarianism I've seen. "Jains, when it comes to vegitarians, they're the real deal!" This was not sarcasm but a sincere observation. I also said that the Jain's view of the body is very accurate. "The Jain also think everything about the human body is natural. Really, it's hard to argue with that point of view." I could not identify any sarcastic comments in my post so I don't know what I could change. I'm very sorry if I offended you because that is never my intention in my writing with very few exceptions. I never purposely ridicule anyone's religious beliefs. I wish you had not posted anonymously so we could discuss what it was that upset you. The discussion might have been valuable to both of us. From your post, I don't believe that English is your first language, so perhaps the problems have arisen because USA English idiom does not translate well. I've had several friends read the post and they were also at a loss to know where the sarcasm exists. Thanks for your comment. Please contact me if you wish to help me understand your position.
Delete