Today we visited Mangalore, India. Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. Mangalore derives its name from the local Hindu Goddess Mangaladevi. It developed as a port on the Arabian Sea remaining, to this day, a major port of India.
200 women work in this plant, opening each cashew one nut at a time. The cashews that we know, actually grow inside a hard shell, which must be cracked open. Just like most nuts.
Our guide is pointing to the special oil that burns in front of the temple for Shiva. This oil is said to extract any bad energy from the people around it.
Our guide tells us about Shiva, the supreme god that is worshipped at the center of the temple. All the Hindu gods have bodies and faces, even animal faces, such as elephants, etc. Shiva, however, has no face. The god is represented by a single scuplture that resembles a farm silo. They put a mask of a face over it, but the statue is of a simple geometry. You can't see the Shiva in this photo, but it sits way in the back.
This Hindu priest prepares a smoke treatment for these worshippers. The smoke rises from a large pit, and is inhaled by the worshippers. It is a healing smoke.
While the Shiva shrine sits at the center of the temple, a number of other gods are sitting in shrines on the perimeter of any temple. Worshippers make an offering to the priest, who, in turn passes the message to the god. He then passes a flame over the god and brings the flame back outside. The worshippers then wave their hands quickly through the flame and then rub their hands over their faces.
There is an interesting exit routine at any Hindu temple. Before leaving, you sit down for at least a minute. Just sit. Look around. Think. Then, you get up and leave. It is not appropriate to walk around, and then just leave. Another interesting ritural in the temple is the ringing of the bells. All around the temple you will find bells, just like you would see on a ship. Every few minutes, someone (anyone) will ring one of the bells. When you hear the bell, you are supposed to stop your thoughts of that moment, and think of the gods and why you are in the temple.
One of the features of every Hindu temple is a pond or pool. This ancient temple is fed by a special, holy water flow from a nearby forest. They claim that if you swim in these pools, and there are exactly 7 of them, you will never have any skin diseases.
Hanuman has a monkey's head and a muscleman's body. He was an ancient "strong man" for the 10,000 year old Hindu god Rama. Rama was an avatar for one of the five supreme gods, Vishnu. I know, this gets complicated. Anyway, consider Hanuman to be the Superman of ancient times. In today's India, the young kids look up to Hanuman as being something to aspire to. He is today's Superman as well.
Kadri Manjunatha Temple - The Trilokeshwara Statue
This statue of Lokeshwara in the seated position with three faces and six arms is said to be the best bronze statue in India. It is just over five feet tall. It dates back to 968 A.D.