Bylakuppe: Another world built peace by peace

Wish I could have got to spend more time at Namdroling monastery. It is not the place for a whirlwind tourist excursion. Here you need to sit silently for hours and hours and just be. When in the monastery, I spent my maximum time in the Golden temple. Sitting quietly there with my eyes resting upon the imposing Buddha idol, I felt like strolling within myself. No, perhaps not even that rather a feeling of stillness and quietness pervaded my being. Sixty feet tall  idol of Buddha flanked by Guru Padmasambhava and..Amitayush........  in sparkling gold, white, red and green cloths looped and festooned in front of idols, colorful paintings and carvings on walls and pillars, pictures of the gurus high on the three sides of walls of hall and hoards of tourists entering and exiting, posing in front of idols, cameras and cell phones clicking, flashes shining......any of these things could have easily distracted me anywhere else but here as if all these things were a part of scheme and hushed calm prevailed above everything. Even the birds flying near the idols were not making noise. Many birds rested on the pillars and carvings around the main idols. We have always encountered those boards and planks with the inscription' photography not allowed ' on almost every religious place like temples.Even at the places, which have almost nothing worth clicking such signboards are displayed. But at this magnificent seat of tranquility one can use camera freely and believe me these neither disturb nor distract.

                                                    Inside the main temple in the monastery

                                                             closer look of the idols

                                                             dragon on the pillar

Murals and paintings on the walls. Almost all the walls of all the three temples in the premises were covered with the bright colored paintings of mythological references. Wish could learn more about these. The book shop in the premises was closed at the time we visited otherwise may be could have got some book about their mythological tales and creatures.

                                  Entrance to the temple. These are the wooden beads hanging as a curtain.

                                                            outside the main temple

 

 Another smaller temple in the premises. This had many prayer scriptures kept there lined, many instruments and was adorned with many symbols. Wish could learn more about those symbols.

 The long wind pipe looking instrument inside the temple. We were told monks blow it when prayers are conducted.

                                        A closer look of an instrument and prayer scriptures inside this temple.

 This is the first temple we behold while entering the monastery. The moment I laid my eyes on it, I stood there awestruck, resplendent in the afternoon sun, it's high golden shikhar with the rainbow arch appeared to be in commune with the simmering blue sky above. It was not just splendid and magnificent. It beckons you to take into another world.

                                                          inner view of this temple.

                                                        another view of this temple

The young disciple, walking towards his settlement. Many monks dressed in their traditional attires can be seen in temple premises, busy in their chores.


We visited Namdroling monastery while our way back from Coorg to Bangalore. Namdroling was established by His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche. He laid down the foundation stone of the three storeyed main temple and the place was consecrated by His Holiness Dalai lama. The name Namdroling was bequeathed to the monastery by him only. His holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche was the eleventh throne holder of Palyul lineage of Nyingma. He attained Niravana in 2009.

Namdroling monastery is located in Bylakuppe, which falls in Mysore district . Bylakuppe is approximately two hours by road from Mysore and about five hours or so from Bangalore. The nearest town Kushalnagar is about six Km from Bylakuppe.

Bylakuppe is a Tibetan settlement housing many monasteries, university, educational institutions and residential quarters. Way back in fifties when relations between Dalai Lama and Chinese government strained due to Tibet, he took political asylum in India and there was great exodus of Tibetans from Tibet to India. In 1961 the first Tibtan settlement Lugsung Samdupling was established in Bylakuppe to accommodate Tibetan refugees. As refugees from Tibet continued to come steadily, eight years later in 1969 another settlement Dickey Larsoe was established next to the first settlement. Now it is an important center of Tibetan Buddhists rather than a refugee settlement.

As we headed towards highway after visiting monastery, the colorful prayer flags fluttering in the cool wind over the houses, buildings, lanes and trees appeared to me , trying to stop me. I felt as if they are trying to tell me that there is a lot more to know and feel in this place.
We had a very short visit but the experience left an impact on me which I shall cherish for a long time. I definitely felt more at peace with myself.

The present moment
contains past and future.
The secret of transformation,
is in the way we handle this very moment.

— Thich Nhat Hanh – Understanding Our Mind



Pics by Sunder Iyer

Paintings at Bheembetka caves

Historians and archaeologists  tell us that paintings at Bheembetka caves dates back as early as to 300 B.C. or even older than that. It is also said that these petrographs belong to  the periods of history stretching from Paleolithic to medieval. I don't know much about the classification of paintings to different eras but their longevity and the lives of the people of that time definitely fascinate me. The clarity of images on the rocks filled me with a sense of wonder. What medium the man of that time used to draw the pictures which provided them such a long life span ? Did they extract the colors from plants ? Perhaps yes..only nature is capable of leaving such immortal imprints. Who drew the paintings? Were the women used to draw when men folk went out deep into the forest to hunt, gather food etc.?or both men and women indulged in this creative pursuits. These rock shelters must have been their home. Were these pictures drawn for decorating their homes or the pictures were drawn on the occasions of certain festivals,celebration, worshiping their deities etc. As I stood there trying to locate the various images on the mammoth size of rocks several questions kept on popping .The images do answer certain questions but it's the charm of the unknown, the fathomless that make the experience so unique.

Man always loved to tell stories. Man has this desire to preserve and propagate his time, era, activities and life of his own time and what better way than to weave stories comprising all the details. Paintings too are a form of story telling. The petrographs at Bheembetka are stories in carving. They have a power to transcend time, language and culture. They transmit culturally and adaptively appropriate and useful information.

There are war scenes depicted in these paintings, battles between two armies, animals like elephants and horses used in war, the weapons, soldiers on horses fighting with swords. There are figures dancing, playing instruments, celebrating  and then there are images of Gods and Goddesses. Such pictures convey socially relevant information. They create historically relevant documents.

Art in any form is an integral part of man's being. Art, its appreciation and its role in the aesthetic development has always been an extremely early characteristic of human being. Art and its uses in man's daily life provide him with a deep sense of certainty and collective art like these painting at Bheembetka are not just an individual leisure time expressions and occupations rather it correspond to a basic human need of being connected to the things around him and if this need is not fulfilled it makes man feel insecure and anxious.

Man observes closely the things around him, he enjoys his observation and then out of these images he interprets life, trains himself for the life. Man has always been interested in things around himself-plants, trees and animals.
These paintings are great works of art in the sense that they invite one to be inhabitant of those bygone times.The paintings revive and readapt the time and space and open doors to those strange and special times.

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a group dance may be

the aeroplane like structure in this painting astonished me.Did those people living in caves really imagined about aeroplane? or looking at the birds flying high up in the sky gave birth to the wish to be able to soar high in the vast expanse of sky.

this one has been dimmed with the passage of time still a horse like figure is traceable.In many of the gigantic caves it took us long time to search the figures painted and then we tried to decipher the shapes.They allured us to their world.  

all the pictures are by Sunder Iyer