Indian Columbus

Belur Math is the headquarters of Ramakrishna Math. It is located on the banks of river Ganga (Hooghly) in Howrah district. It is hardly one hour drive from Kolkata city, the capital city of West Bengal state of India. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a powerful Hindu Guru who lived in the 19th century CE. In fact it is difficult to find a person in India who wouldn't have heard about Ramakrishna and his extraordinary disciple Vivekananda. Ramakrishna Math was started by Swamy Vivekanda in the memory of his Guru Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna Math, which has its branches all over India, has its headquarters in Howrah which is called as Belur Math. When you visit Belur Math during an early morning or evening, you would wonder if you had come to heaven. The math which is spread over around 40 acres on the banks of Hooghly river is such a serene and peaceful location. There are people who reach the math by passing the river on boats, which probably gives them more peaceful experience. ...

Valasaravakkam, a fast growing residential area of Chennai city in South India, has an ancient temple for Lord Shiva. The temple is called as Velveeswarar temple or Agastheeswarar temple. It is believed that this temple belongs to the period of Kulothungan Chola. Velveeswarar temple is located on the Arcot Road in Valasaravakkam area of Chennai. A very big lotus pond is found inside the temple complex. The temple is surrounded by open space in all the four directions. Moreover, as the temple doesn't have surrounding compound walls, the temple looks beautiful and spacious. The main shrine of the temple has Velveeswarar in the form of a big Shiv Ling facing the east direction with a Nandi idol in front. There is no rajagopuram (tower) or flag staff found in this ancient temple. Adjacent to the shrine of Velveeswarar, there is another shrine with big Shiv Ling named Agastheeswarar. This shrine also faces the east direction. The temple is named after these two Shiv Lingas. Th...

Saligram is a popular residential area of Chennai city in South India. The temple of Bala Vinayak located in Saligram has become very popular nowadays. Although this temple is built in the recent times and a very small temple, the temple got popularity mainly due to a tree inside. The main shrine of this small neatly maintained temple has the idol of Bala Vinayak (Ganesh). The wall surrounding the shrine has the niche images of Dakshinamurti, Lakshmi Narayan and Durga. There are small shrines within this temple for Murugan will Valli and Devasena, Anjaneya and another shrine where the wax image of Chandrasekarendra Shankaracharya is found. The idol looks realistic. The highlight of the temple is Arasu tree where the images of Lord Ganesha are naturally formed. One main image of Ganesha with crown, trunk and tusk is found. Apart from that there are many images of Ganesha are found around the tree. It is true that not all the images resemble Ganesha; however, the temple authorit...

Marina beach located in Chennai city of India is arguably the second longest beach in the world. Chennai has a lot of malls, cinema halls, temples, parks and amusement parks. However, marina beach remains the most favorite destination for Chennaite for many centuries and it will remain the same forever. Walking along the beach road either in the early morning or late evening would be an excited experience for any traveller. Although the Marina beach is technically longer, the stretch starting from Napier bridge to Light House is generally called as Marina beach. 1)  Napier Bridge : Start your Marina beach walk from Napier bridge. Napier bridge constructed over the river Cooum is an important landmark of Chennai city. It was built by Napier, Governor of Fort St. George, in 1869. The Cooum river connects with the Bay of Bengal Ocean near this bridge. 2)  Anna Square:  After Napier bridge, the next landmark in Marina beach Road is An...

You would have known about the great Somnath temple of Gujarat. Do you know about the Somnath Temple of Chennai? This lesser known temple of Somanatha Swami is located near Ganga theatre in Sannadhi street in Kolathur locality. This temple has an interesting legend that is connected to Nawab of Arcot. Muthukumarappa Mudaliar was serving as a Diwan under the Nawab. In 1745 CE, he discovered the Shiv Linga idol in Kolathur village. Being a devotee of Shiva, he could not resist himself and misused the Nawab's funds and built a temple. When the Nawab came to know this, he ordered the Diwan to be imprisoned. Before he could be arrested, Lord Shiva appeared in the human form and gave a bowl to Mudaliar. As per his advice, Mudaliar begged and collected money. He managed to collect the sum more than what was spent for the temple. He handed over the collection to the Nawab. The Nawab was pleased and gifted three villages Kolathur, Putharai and Pallavarai to Mudaliar. The above mention...

Kolathur is a little known residential area of Chennai city in South India. Only few would know that there is an ancient temple for Lord Shiva located in this area. Lord Shiva is named as Agastheeswarar in this temple. It is believed that the Shiv Linga in this temple was orginally installed by the sage Agastya. This little but ancient temple of Agastheeswarar is located opposite to Ganga Theatre in Kolathur area of Chennai city. This temple doesn't have a tower. Instead, the idols of Agastya rishi worshipping Shiv Linga is depicted in the place of tower. The presding deity is found in the form of a  small Linga. The Goddess of the temple Akhilandeswari is found in a separate shrine. Both the shrines face the eastern direction. There is no flag staff or bali peeth in this temple. However, there is a small Nandi idol facing the main shrine. The small prakara (corridor) of the temple has the shrines of Ganesha and Murugan with Valli and Devasena. The wall surrounding the mai...

Gangadeeswarar temple is one of the ancient temples of Chennai city, the city which is considered as the gateway to South India. Gangadeeswarar is the name of Lord Shiva in this temple. As Lord Shiva held the river Ganga on his head when it was falling from heaven to the earth, the Lord got the name 'Gangadeeswarar'. It is believed that the king Bhageerath who was trying to bring the river Ganga to the earth prayed to Lord Shiva and only then Shiva let the Ganges to flow down from his head. It is also believed that the site where the temple is located today is where the king Bhageerath prayed to Lord Shiva. As per another legend, the king Bhagirath got a curse. As per the advice from the saint Narad, he installed 1008 Shiv Lings in various places. The site where he installed 1008th Shiv Linga is the current day's Gangadeeswarar temple. It is also believed that the place where he spilled Ganga water was formed as the temple tank. It is said that there are seven tanks in ...