The Twin Lingum Temples
Omkareshwar and Mamaleshwar are two parts of one Jyotir Lingum as I understand it. Mamaleshwar is on the mainland, and accessible year-round, even when the Omkareshwar island, home of the other half of the lingum, cannot be reached due to the flooding of the Narmada River.
Our group spent most of our time at this sacred place on the mainland side, since the Mamaleshwar temple could accommodate 3 dozen people. It was a rare opportunity for me to take a lot of photographs of the temple structure and its wonderful
details, since time was required inside the temple for the individual pujas.
Childhood, married life, date with the hereafter...you get the idea.
Goddess forms that were venerated at some time, as indicated by the red and orange stains from kum kum and sandalwood powders.
A beautiful engaged sculpture of Lord Shiva vanquishing demons. Notice his mount, Nandi the bull, in the lower left hand corner of the picture.
More sculputral details of Nandi-esque bull's heads.
Nandi, Lord Shiva's vehicle, waits attentively at the door of this temple.
The gate entrance side of the temple must get the earliest morning light since it was in shades the entire time our group was there.
I believe I gave this temple Baba a few rupees. He gave me a nice picture in return!
From certain angles, this temple was very photographically dramatic.
This portion of the temple complex is not currently used for worship, but it remains a magnificent structure. Outside, I see a lion sculpture on the left, the vehicle of the Divine Mother Durga, and Nandi on the right, I can make the educated guess that both male and female aspects of the Divine were venerated here.
These are shrines for individual dieties, but I am not certain whether they are currently in regular use.
The Omkareshwar temple is the white structure in the middle of this picture.
I love this picture of the Omkareshwar shoreline on the other side of the Narmada River.
The group got into several boats and crossed over to the Omkareshwar island to see the other half of the Jyotir Lingum. The inner sanctum there was so tiny that only a small handful of people could squeeze their way in for a brief darshan. (Darshan means "to see and be seen" loosely speaking.)
You can see the boat landing in the lower right hand corner of this picture.
Another view of the Narmada from the mainland shore.
In the midst of the Narmada...
I think next time I post pictures, it will be your turn for darshan inside Mamaleshwar.
posted by Lydia at 7:40 PM
