Ahobilam Sri Prahalada Varadha Swamy Temple

Ahobilam is a pilgrimage site in Andhra, that hosts the shrines of 9 swayambhu Lord Narasimhas in different forms. Other than the 9 shrines, there is a Sri Prahalada Varadha Swamy Temple, in the plains, which is a full fledged temple with broad prakarams. The sculptures in this temple were quite a treat to the eyes.

Some remarkable aspects of the temple were the huge network of intricately carved pillars in the main hall and the tiny sculptures all along the length of the raised platform.

There were 6 types of birds carved on one such length, which is a very rare sight. Gives us a glimpse of some yet unknown sculptures or some hitherto unseen creativity. I've managed to stitch together individual pics to give an idea of the sight I saw. I was limited by the length of the canvas. The aspects which i could recognize were (from left to right) a yazhi, a simmam, a patchi, a varaham, (bottom row), a sage and a swan.

The time we went to the temple was in the morning and so sunlight was playing a lot of beautiful tricks on the sculptures. Captured one such lighting.

intricacy

 

one of the many temple pillars

a broader view

Last evening I was in Triplicane at Parthasarathy Temple.Thoughts of my school days crowded my mind. How days fly. Where are my friends? Flats have mushroomed in the place of independent houses. The scenes i saw in those days have changed, except this great Temple. Nostalgic moments.

My backyard visitor

Usually cuckoos and small birds mostly locals used to visit the trees located in my neighbours house. On two occasions I noticed this eagle slumbering in the shades.

Mosaic Ganapathy by Mani Menon

This is the work of our friend Mr. Mani Menon.
A Mosaic Ganapathy that looks brilliant and one thats excruciatingly demanding involvement.
A beautiful choice of colours for one of the world's favourite subjects, our very own Pillayar.
Artomania has earlier showcased one of his works, the Mamallapuram Shore temple, done by stippling.
Posting on behalf of him.

lioness and cub.. mom and child

in loving dedication to my mom and all those mothers who make lives wonderful :-)

used a calligraphy pen to sketch these cute pillayars :-)

patch print paint

calvin again...

bird sketch

bird sketch, pencil, post processing with Picasa, sharpened