India is a place of beauty, chaos, squalor, & heat. Most of all it is a place of COLOR and truly great and friendly people. I left India surprised how much I like the place…
Picture content by your humble servant & also Jeff Testa & Ken Haldeman. Produced, as always, by Ken.
Swastikas are a common sight in India. The swastika has been around since the 1st millennium BC and literally means “well being” in the Sanskrit language. Today, it is a symbol of good luck in the Hindu religion, representing the four faces of Brahma, one of their 3 most important gods. Of course, the Nazi party took the Swastika as their own in the 1920s. Today, this symbol is illegal in Germany.
The Pashupatinath temple in one of the most important Hindu temples of Shiva in the world. Shiva is also one of the three most important gods….the third being Vishnu. Here people are cremated within 48 hours of death. First they are washed and blessed in the Bagmati River…
Then the eldest son present shaves his head…..and the bodies are cremated as the families sit and watch. Remember, one philosophy of Hinduism is reincarnation.
…is the Taj Mahal! Located in Agre, India, Emperor Shah Jahan Built it in 1631 as a final resting place for his 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Now that is love…she bore him 14 children & died at 30 – ouch!
The crew…
Not that big, really……HAH!
Entrance through the north gate
Onward to Jaipur tomorrow.