First stop: Mysore
My flight landed around midnight in Bangalore, and the very next morning we went to Mysore. So for practical purposes, my first stop was really Mysore.
We went on to see the Mysore Palace. Upon entering the palace complex, first greeted us was Shweta Varahaswamy Temple. The temple facades are adorned with intricate reliefs and sculptures of Hindu deities that are amazing to behold.
Of course, then there was the magnificent palace itself. We were rather hurried along, and no picture taking was allowed inside the palace.
The driver took us to Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, a former palace (and second largest in Mysore) that was converted to a hotel. We could not afford to stay in such a sumptuous place.
Then we were on the way to Chamundi Hills, it was getting to late afternoon already and the golden light poured over the fields below.
It was quite crowded on the hill, a boy was driving a cow and its colorfully painted calf.
There was some festivity going on outside the Sri Chamundeshwari temple, what it was I could not say.
Chamundeshwari temple itself is an amazing work of architecture, with so many reliefs and sculptures to marvel at. This is what I love most about India -- the colors and the texture. Their religion is also very expansive, with many different deities, some taking fantastic and wonderful forms (with multiple limbs or in the form of anthropolized animal forms). Strictly from an artistic point of view, this religion is much more vivid and interesting than the monotheistic ones.
There was a group of monkeys, quite at ease on the temple and in the market place.
Overhead, beautiful Brahminy Kites were soaring over the subcontinental sky.
Other animals we saw include this sacred cow, leisurely walking into the golden light of the fading sun.
We made our last stop at the Nandi of Mysore statue, mount of Lord Shiva and worshipped as a deity itself. It was carved out of a giant boulder.
(Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)
It was only less than 100 miles between the two cities, but here we got our first lesson in India: it takes much longer to go from one place to another. We hired a driver, and it took us hours to reach Mysore.
Even in religion, India is the most diverse: you can find followers of almost every religion and every denomination here. The most widespread is Hinduism, and India is the birthplace of Buddhism, but one of the first places of worship that I took picture of was, interestingly, a Catholic cathedral - the St. Philomena's Cathedral (we did not go in, I took this picture outside the fence).
St. Philomena's Cathedral
Shweta Varahaswamy Temple
Shweta Varahaswamy Temple
Mysore Palace
Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel
Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel
Fields
Boy
Festivity
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundeshwari Temple
Chamundeshwari Temple
Monkey
Monkey
Monkey
Brahminy Kite
Cow
Nandi
