KANHA

`Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, In the darkness of the night.' These words come to mind after I finished reading a most interesting book- `Potrtait of an Indian National Park - Kanha Tiger Reserve,' by Carroll Moulton and Ernie Husley. To me it's been an eye opener, mainly because it revealed many facts about this majestic and graceful animal, that I was blissfully unaware of.

Kanha evokes many fine memories, most notable being the sightseeing of six tigers and one panther all in the space of eight hours. Ten parks and a decade later I have still to spot the seventh, though I have seen pugmarks, spotted tiger kill, and heard tigers roaring in estrus. One chilly morning in mid February when the mist had barely cleared and the rays of the sun had just about managed to penetrate the thick forest foliage, we had our first encounter. We had barely entered the jungle when all of a sudden we saw the king of all cats, majestically cross the unpaved road.

 

It stopped. And posed inquiringly. We stood stock still and tried to recover our balance. No one had mentioned `you will see one withing minutes.' Normally it takes a lifetime, thanks to poaching and indiscriminate felling of the forest cover. There she stood, posing in the morning light a mixture of gold and black, with piercing eyes and an erect tail, for a full minute before retracing her steps into the maze of the forest. The next sightings were equally memorable. We spotted a mother and her two cubs in a meadow carpeted with golden grass. Brilliantly camouflauged and perfectly hidden from both the tourist as well as prey, they lay in wait.

 

One of the passengers on our vehicle was a village boy taking a ride in a jeep. He spotted the sudden moment in the grass and asked us to reverse. Moments later the threesome got up grudgingly and headed back. Can imagine the mother telling the cubs, 'Man when you see these creatures on two legs, avoid them like the plague, run for your life, for they feed on every pof our body, private parts included!' `What's the going rate, Mom?' the more inquisitive of the two inquired, hurrying to keep pace with the giant steps of the mother.

 

`It all depends, son, we normally produce about 10 kgs of bone. One kilogram would fetch about USD 3,000 in Taiwan and China. The poachers consider the upper bone of the front legs most valuable.' Then there is the skin, eyes, whiskers, claws and genitals to be considered as well. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses these parts mainly for arthritis and rheumatism, besides being used as an aphrodasiac as well. At times you can find yourself in store shelves of the biggescities in the world, Toronto, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. All in all you are worth about 50,000 bucks. And there are just about 2000 left. It sucks, you know.'

 

We patted the village back on his boy and gave him a big hug, before resuming our ride once again, this time up a steep hill, where we encountered the Great Indian Bison - a huge bull that gets immediately nervous if provoked and will charge. We moved further, and urged our driver to stop when we heard the cough-like alarm calls of the langur, followed by a sambar bell. When a langur calls, there is no doubt a wild animal is at hand. Probably two of the best `chums' in the animal kingdom are the langur and deer. The langur warns all animals of impending danger and the langur forages on all droppings of fruit and seeds from the trees.

 

The jungle was silent, we spotted the sambhar tapping her left foot on the ground repeatedly, a gesture that signifies both danger and nrvousness. The flurry of calls went on unabated, until moments later the panther leapt out from its cover, and strode puposefully into the interiors. The last two sightings were not of our own, instead they were spotted by a group of guides who try to trace tigers on elephant back. After they have been sighted tourists are taken on elephant back and allowed to spend a few moments in the company of the great feline. Its a daily ritual at Kanha, one which is being done with amazing success.

We left the precinits of the forest in a ramshackle bus, our appetites fully satiated by this inexplicable `find.' The book by Moulton and Hulsey only a few weeks ago at a bookshop in downtown Mumbai has been one more of my great finds. Am currently more than 10,000 miles away from Kanha, yet when I turn the pages of this paperback am immediately transported;rucksack, binoculars and camera - back to Kanha!!

KHAJURAHO.......

The body was willing, the spirit even more. Khajuraho is an invitation to experience the unknown form, made visible on stone carvings that capture the celestials in all their moods.

Khajuraho, situated in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, is 55 kms south of Mahoba, 47 kms east of Chhatarpur Town, and 43 kms north west of Panna; and is accessible by surfaced roads from Mahoba, Harpalpur and Satna railwaystation on the Central Railway. For those traveling from Bombay, a direct train from V.T. takes you to Satna, the journey-time being roughly 22 hours. The most convenient mode would be to take a train reaching at about 4.00 a.m. in the morning at Satna, since there is a direct bus service leaving the Satna bus stand at 5.00 a.m. The distance of 117 kms from Satna to Khajuraho takes about 4 hours. A daily air service also links Khajuraho with Delhi, Agra and Varanasi.

In the olden days, Khajuraho was known as Khajivahila which meant ‘Garden of Dates’, and continues to be only a small village, with about 6000 inhabitants- their distinct quality being total nonchalance to the massive daily influx of tourists, with quiet serenity written on their faces. The locals, by their unobtrusiveness, succeed in maintaining thebalance of the on-to-one relationship between man (the wonderful creator), and his creation (the temples) totally undisturbed.

What attracts tourist is the past architectural splendour of the remains of 22 temples built by the Chandella dynasty around a thousand years ago.

Khajuraho boasts of some of the finest temples ever built. Their distinctive feature is carvings of ethereal beauty on sandstone brought from the quarries of Panna on the east bank of the Ken river. The unique temple structure built on a high platform, gives an impression of a vast open promenade round the temple. These temples are interconnected, and built on a single axis running in an east-west direction, and have 3 main compartments namely: the entrance known as ‘ardha mandapa’, the assembly hall – ‘mandapa’ the assembly hall – mandapa’ and the inner sanctum-garbha-griha’ . The central dome is surrounded by balconied windows, which admit light into the interiors, making the interplay of light and darkness a spectacular affair. The compartments have their own roofs, which rise from their lowest over the entrance porch, to their highest over the sanctum. When seen from a distance, these roofs resemble Mount Kailasa with which the Hindu temple is compared.

The temples groups could broadly be divided into 3, namely the western, southern and eastern. The piece de resistance is the western group from which rise the Kandariya Mahadeva and the Lakshmanna temples.“What makes Khajuraho tick?”, you may ask. Or, what draws hordes of visitors to this nondescript place, barely visible on the map of India? The uniqueness of this place is the sculptures in the temples which have been carved in every nook and corner. Sensuous forms of gods and goddesses captured in various poses that maintain their expressiveness to this day. Basically, five categories of sculptures are used; the first form being the use of images designed and made in round form, the second comprises the parivara, parsva and avarna devatas (family, attendants and enclosing divinities) which are seen on the walls of the temples, the third consists of those celestial beauties most frequently seen on the walls of the temples, the third consists of those celestial beauties most frequently seen on the walls of the temples, as well as on the pillars and ceilings: the famed ‘apsaras’ and ‘sura-sundaris’. These figures are shown in various poses which express moods, desires and emotions so akin to human behaviour. In the fourth category are use of secular sculptures performing group activities in which you witness groups of teachers with their students. The fifth and the last category has depictions of animal forms such as the boar, elephant, parrot, etc., and also has the manifestation of the’vyala’ and’sardula’ forms which consist of horned lions with armed riders.

The temples of Kandariya Mahadeva, Lakshmanna and the Visvantha. Temple are the prime examples of completeness in terms of layout and design, as well as their use of various forms of sculptures without parallel. The Lakshmanna Temple has the Ardha Mandapa, and the Garbha-Griha, besides the 4 affiliated shrines places at the corners. Being a developed temple in terms of construction and design, you also see numerous incarnations of Vishnu, besides scenes from the life of Krishna. The borders of the temples have bands that display different themes on day-to-day life life such as street singers, a lady in the act of putting on her make-up, revelers at a gathering, labourers at work, etc. Apsaras and other well-carved female figures also adores these temple forms. The Kandariya Mahadeva temple is structurally different from the other western group temples, where, the style used seems to suggest less of symmetry and more of projections and recesses all carved with a rare sense of rhythm and continuity. The beauty of this temple lies in the creation of grades of ascending order of replicas which culminates in the dome which is delicately carved and is a visual delight. Extensive use of sculptures at every conceivable nook and corner make this the highest rated temple in Khajuraho. Erotic scenes, use of mithunas and dancing gods, well shaped and svelte apsaras in passionate postures adorn the outer walls of temples. The construction of this temple dates back to reign of vidyadhara and is said to have been built in 1025-60 AD.

The Visvanatha temple has the Siva Lingam and, in terms of design, design, displays the characteristics of a complete temple and also has exhibits that are well and delicately carved. Khajuraho depicts the forces of man and woman as the human counterpart of the cosmic function of creation: the pull between the principles becomes the source of all life and creation. Thus, the joy of physical union symbolically reflects the infinite joy of divinity in creation. It is said that an artist’s creation is unfinished as long as he is alive. In the case of Khajuraho, the artists’ striving for perfection is evident from the sculptures that appear alive to this day. This feature alone makes a visit to Khajuraho so appealing.