Our trip to Rajasthan

[Guest guest]

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam.sulekha.com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar..The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008

We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins.

Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble.

We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit.

The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern.

16-9-2008

We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though.

There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja.

There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple.

 

17-9-2008

We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food.

18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world.

Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive.

Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock.

 

19-9-2008

We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara.

In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me.

We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur.

20-9-2008

We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen.

Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening.

In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects.

21-9-2008

We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls.

After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

 

[Guest guest]

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.

The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20 Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources.

 

I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur.

 

Sevel Krishnan.

 

From: sarojram18Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam.sulekha.com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar..The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008

We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins.

Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble.

We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit.

The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern.

16-9-2008

We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though.

There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja.

There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple.

 

17-9-2008

We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food.

18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world.

Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive.

Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock.

 

19-9-2008

We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara.

In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me.

We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur.

20-9-2008

We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen.

Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening.

In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects.

21-9-2008

We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls.

After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

 

[Guest guest]

The vivid description of each and place of interest makes one feel as if, he /she himself/herself are physically present. Kudos! to You, Saroja mami. Keep up the good work.Namaskaram!

 

 

 

 

Just leaving

.....oooO................

......(....)...Oooo......

......)../.....(....)......

......(_/.......)../.......

................(_/.........

My

footprints here.

Have

a gr8 day!! $Ãthr¬

 

 

 

 

 

GanoVASAN

= --- On Wed, 1/10/08, sarojram18 <sarojram18 wrote:sarojram18 <sarojram18 Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Wednesday, 1 October, 2008, 7:08 AM

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut . We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including

parking and toll charges and we had to take only enough for our food and shopping. 14-9-2008 We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays

of the Sun is astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century. Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed. 15-9-2008 We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins. Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble. We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit. The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern. 16-9-2008 We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though. There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja. There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple. 17-9-2008 We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food. 18-9-2008 We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world. Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive. Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock. 19-9-2008 We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara. In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals

your heart with His childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me. We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur. 20-9-2008 We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen. Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice. Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening. In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects. 21-9-2008 We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls. After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd. Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now.

[Guest guest]

Dear Krishnan,

Thank you for your ao ppreciation of my traellogue. You have asked me the details of cost etc of the tour arranged by Rajasthan tourism Dept. For us the cost amounted to 28000 approximately. The amoount will vary according to the type of room and car and trainreservtion etc.We booked threetier sleeper coach and non AC rooms everywhere and our car was a tata indigo. I will give the email address of the dept concerned in Chennai and the name of the person who will give you all particulars.

 

Ramesh Subramaninam,

Rajasthan tourism ,

allajah road,

Chennai.

phone: off. 25365554

Mob.9884240179

email:surameshs

 

Saroja Ramanujam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

 

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940RE: Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 9:36 AM

 

 

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20

Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources. I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur. Sevel Krishnan.

 

sarojram18 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take

only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a

complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008

We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins.

Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble.

We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit.

The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern.

16-9-2008

We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though.

There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja.

There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple.

 

17-9-2008

We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food.

18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world.

Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive.

Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock.

 

19-9-2008

We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara.

In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike

charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me.

We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur.

20-9-2008

We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen.

Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening.

In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects.

21-9-2008

We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls.

After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling

7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Ramesh

 

whether Rs 28000 is per head pr for your group. If it is a group how many people pleaswe replyregards

 

 

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

CC: krishnan1940From: sarojram18Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 05:15:15 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Krishnan,

Thank you for your ao ppreciation of my traellogue. You have asked me the details of cost etc of the tour arranged by Rajasthan tourism Dept. For us the cost amounted to 28000 approximately. The amoount will vary according to the type of room and car and trainreservtion etc.We booked threetier sleeper coach and non AC rooms everywhere and our car was a tata indigo. I will give the email address of the dept concerned in Chennai and the name of the person who will give you all particulars.

 

Ramesh Subramaninam,

Rajasthan tourism ,

allajah road,

Chennai.

phone: off. 25365554

Mob.9884240179

email:surameshs (AT) (DOT) co.in

 

Saroja Ramanujam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

 

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>RE: Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 9:36 AM

 

 

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20 Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources. I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur. Sevel Krishnan.

 

sarojram18 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008 We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins. Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble. We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit. The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern. 16-9-2008 We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though. There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja. There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple. 17-9-2008 We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food. 18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world. Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive. Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock. 19-9-2008 We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara. In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me. We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur. 20-9-2008 We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen. Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening. In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects. 21-9-2008 We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls. After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

[Guest guest]

Only myself and my husband and 28000 is the total cost of the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

 

--- On Fri, 10/3/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940RE: Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Friday, October 3, 2008, 3:23 PM

 

 

Dear Sri Ramesh whether Rs 28000 is per head pr for your group. If it is a group how many people pleaswe replyregards

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

CC: krishnan1940@ hotmail.comsarojram18 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 05:15:15 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Krishnan,

Thank you for your ao ppreciation of my traellogue. You have asked me the details of cost etc of the tour arranged by Rajasthan tourism Dept. For us the cost amounted to 28000 approximately. The amoount will vary according to the type of room and car and trainreservtion etc.We booked threetier sleeper coach and non AC rooms everywhere and our car was a tata indigo. I will give the email address of the dept concerned in Chennai and the name of the person who will give you all particulars.

 

Ramesh Subramaninam,

Rajasthan tourism ,

allajah road,

Chennai.

phone: off. 25365554

Mob.9884240179

email:surameshs@ .co. in

 

Saroja Ramanujam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs. com/asrama3

 

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com>RE: Our trip to RajasthanWednesday, October 1, 2008, 9:36 AM

 

 

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20

Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources. I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur. Sevel Krishnan.

 

sarojram18 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take

only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a

complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008 We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins. Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble. We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit. The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern. 16-9-2008 We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though. There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja. There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple. 17-9-2008 We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food. 18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world. Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive. Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock. 19-9-2008 We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara. In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His

childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me. We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur. 20-9-2008 We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen. Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening. In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects. 21-9-2008 We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls. After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after

traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

[Guest guest]

Madam

Thank you for the information. I hope and pray that we will make the trip to Rajasthan..

 

Regards,

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

From: sarojram18Date: Sat, 4 Oct 2008 02:18:30 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only myself and my husband and 28000 is the total cost of the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

 

--- On Fri, 10/3/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com>RE: Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Friday, October 3, 2008, 3:23 PM

 

 

Dear Sri Ramesh whether Rs 28000 is per head pr for your group. If it is a group how many people pleaswe replyregards

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

CC: krishnan1940@ hotmail.comsarojram18 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 05:15:15 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Krishnan,

Thank you for your ao ppreciation of my traellogue. You have asked me the details of cost etc of the tour arranged by Rajasthan tourism Dept. For us the cost amounted to 28000 approximately. The amoount will vary according to the type of room and car and trainreservtion etc.We booked threetier sleeper coach and non AC rooms everywhere and our car was a tata indigo. I will give the email address of the dept concerned in Chennai and the name of the person who will give you all particulars.

 

Ramesh Subramaninam,

Rajasthan tourism ,

allajah road,

Chennai.

phone: off. 25365554

Mob.9884240179

email:surameshs@ .co. in

 

Saroja Ramanujam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs. com/asrama3

 

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com>RE: Our trip to RajasthanWednesday, October 1, 2008, 9:36 AM

 

 

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20 Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources. I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur. Sevel Krishnan.

 

sarojram18 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

 

 

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

 

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

 

 

15-9-2008 We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins. Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble. We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit. The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern. 16-9-2008 We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though. There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja. There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple. 17-9-2008 We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food. 18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world. Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive. Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock. 19-9-2008 We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara. In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me. We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur. 20-9-2008 We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen. Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening. In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects. 21-9-2008 We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls. After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!

[Guest guest]

My best wishes for the same

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs.com/asrama3

 

--- On Mon, 10/6/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940 wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940RE: Our trip to Rajasthan Date: Monday, October 6, 2008, 11:44 AM

 

 

MadamThank you for the information. I hope and pray that we will make the trip to Rajasthan.. Regards,

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

sarojram18 Sat, 4 Oct 2008 02:18:30 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only myself and my husband and 28000 is the total cost of the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs. com/asrama3

 

--- On Fri, 10/3/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com>RE: Our trip to RajasthanFriday, October 3, 2008, 3:23 PM

 

 

Dear Sri Ramesh whether Rs 28000 is per head pr for your group. If it is a group how many people pleaswe replyregards

S.V.KRISHNAN

'GSR Business Services Pvt Ltd

VJ Flats, 64/1 Fourth Main, Gandhinagar

Adyar, Chennai 600020

Phones 42115625/22415626

® 2448 8560

mobile 99400 95670

 

CC: krishnan1940@ hotmail.comsarojram18 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 05:15:15 -0700RE: Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Krishnan,

Thank you for your ao ppreciation of my traellogue. You have asked me the details of cost etc of the tour arranged by Rajasthan tourism Dept. For us the cost amounted to 28000 approximately. The amoount will vary according to the type of room and car and trainreservtion etc.We booked threetier sleeper coach and non AC rooms everywhere and our car was a tata indigo. I will give the email address of the dept concerned in Chennai and the name of the person who will give you all particulars.

 

Ramesh Subramaninam,

Rajasthan tourism ,

allajah road,

Chennai.

phone: off. 25365554

Mob.9884240179

email:surameshs@ .co. in

 

Saroja Ramanujam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Saroja Ramanujam, M.A., Ph.D, Siromani in sanskrit.

 

www.freewebs. com/asrama3

 

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com> wrote:

Krishnan Sevel Venkataraman <krishnan1940@ hotmail.com>RE: Our trip to RajasthanWednesday, October 1, 2008, 9:36 AM

 

 

Excellent narration of the tour and which makes me to feel to undertake the tour with my wife Mythili. What is the total cost of this tour, arranged by the Rajasthan Tourism Dept, at Chennai.The Vaikundanatha swami Temple is maintained by Shri group oif companies and the family is totally devoted to Vaishnavism and Lord Vishnu. Percentage of the profit earned from their entire business is donatesd to their family trust which maintains this temple. It is one of the 8 places where the idol is swayambu one. Brahmins ( Bhatacharyas) from South India have migrated to this temple and they have been taken care for the education of their children, marriage of their daughters. When they want to retire and settle back at rtheir native place in South, a lump sum is given to them as retirement benefits. I am told that this business group has planned the expenditures for maintanance of this temple for another 20

Years and made a provision for the same. The templke doesn't derive any income from any resources. I had been to this temple. The garbagruham is fully decorated with jewels and precious stones and vastrams. One should not miss visiting Pushkar if they plan a visit to Jaipur. Sevel Krishnan.

 

sarojram18 Wed, 1 Oct 2008 01:38:48 +0000 Our trip to Rajasthan

 

 

 

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in www.sarojaramanujam .sulekha. com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to

take only enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

 

 

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is astounding and provides a

complete study of Astronomy. This was built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

 

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of Jantharmanthar. .The architectural beauty of the palace displays both rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

 

 

15-9-2008 We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which has fallen into ruins. Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India. Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid works in marble. We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were more interested in development of their state rather than opposing the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being lacking in Rajput spirit. The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern. 16-9-2008 We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this sort in Srimadbhagavatham though. There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja. There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small but impressive temple. 17-9-2008 We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had a taste of real Rajasthani food. 18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of the world. Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios. The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive. Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock. 19-9-2008 We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am. Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of Nathdvara. In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it was! He simply steals your heart with His

childlike charm. Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me. We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went around Udaipur. 20-9-2008 We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial. Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani padmini can be seen. Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore garh in the evening. In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects. 21-9-2008 We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was demolished thrice by the moguls. After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai. It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after

traveling 7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity, devotion and adventure!