Tag Archives: bell

Varanasi – doorways and decorations

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Decorations is probably not the right word. All the small and large, bright and cheerful, old and new decorative items placed near doorways in Varanasi are, I believe, religious in nature. It’s not like having pink flamingos in the yard. It’s more like having a statue of the virgin Mary in the yard.

But still, that said, these are wonderful to behold, even for a non-Indian non-Hindu like me who doesn’t know a tenth of the symbolism.

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Take this one, for example. Probably the Hindi script explains it. Probably any person on the street could have explained it. I don’t know what it is–but I love the colors and the composition.

The next one I do understand a bit of.

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That is, I’m not sure about the statue at the top, though he’s almost certainly a god. Likewise the person at the bottom left. The blue person at the bottom right, though, is, I believe, Krishna playing his flute. So since Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu, perhaps this is a shrine to Vishnu.

Here’s an elaborate one. (I’m not going to guess.)

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I believe the next two are representations of the monkey king Hanuman. The second one surely is (can you see the monkey-like features of the nose and jaw?); and they are both in similar poses, carrying two little people on their shoulders.

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Here’s a more elaborate rendition of Hanuman. Hanuman is believed to be an incarnation of the god Shiva, founder of the city of Varanasi. Hanuman symbolizes strength and perseverance in the face of obstacles.

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This next one is sweet–a representation of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of good luck and good beginnings, the remover of obstacles. He appears at the entryway to many of the houses. He is popular everywhere, but particularly in Varanasi because he is the son of Shiva, founder of the city.

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Here’s a bell, a simple enough object yet beautifully integrated into the fabric of the street. And it too has a scene in bas relief below it.

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The next doorway is, I believe, the entrance to a local temple.

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Finally, we come to the winged lions. I don’t know what to make of them. Two of these flank either side of an elaborately decorated doorway. They are not a common symbol in Hinduism but neither are they unheard-of. Why here? And is the building they guard a temple? To whom? People’s comings and goings give no clue.

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Mandalay – a visit to Mingun

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Yesterday, as you may recall, a river boat brought our intrepid travelers up the Irrawaddy River to Mingun. As we approached the ancient royal capital, we could see one of the reasons we are here looming above the riverside.

Begun in 1790 by King Bodawpaya, the Mingun Pahtodawgyi was intended to become the world’s largest stupa. But when a prophesy foretold that the king would die upon completion of the stupa, construction was slowed down to prevent this unfortunate event. However, nature will have its way, and the king died anyway; and construction on the pagoda was halted. An earthquake in 1839 damaged the foundations. And so here we were visiting what is now archly called the world’s largest pile of bricks.

This pile of bricks, however, comes with the world’s largest ringing (that is, not cracked) bell. And it does actually ring. I know. I rang it.

You see the characters carved into the bell? Just so you know, these are the Burmese characters for “55555,” a very lucky number (hey, five times luckier than just 5) that also happens to be the weight of the bell in Burmese viss (1 viss = 3.5 pounds, so the bell is just shy of 100 tons).

But I have gotten ahead of myself. As we approached Mingun, the first thing we saw, of course, was the unfinished pagoda. The next was groups of people washing clothing. Wednesdays must be Wash Day in Mingun.

 

 

We also had a welcoming committee.

 

 

One of the children approached me, and I got over the instinctive fear of tourists everywhere that she was hustling something. Or worse yet, begging. (We saw no beggars in Myanmar.) She spoke a little English and asked my name, and I asked hers. And it turned out that what she wanted was to exchange a handful of American coins (quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies) for American bills. The coins are worthless in Myanmar, but the bills, even small ones, have some value. And I can use the coins as well as the bills. It’s a win-win proposition. We did the deal and solemnly thanked one another. And I raced to catch up with Dan and Zaw.

The guy with the oxcart taxicab followed us everywhere, hoping to give us a ride. But everything was close, and we relished the chance to stretch our legs, even in the heat and humidity. Later, I learned that our itinerary had promised us transportation via oxcart in Mingun. Poor guy. I hope they paid him anyway.

After the unfinished pagoda, we proceeded to the shining white Hsinbyume Pagoda, built by King Bagyidaw for his wife. It is modeled on the idea of the mythical but holy Mt. Meru, surrounded by seven mountain ranges (represented by the seven wavy terraces).

We climbed to the top platform, which opened to stunning views all around. And provided a few sheltered surprises.

    

 

Inside the temple on the top were two lovely Buddhas, one in front of the other. We heard a story somewhere along the way about a “decoy Buddha,” but I can’t verify whether this is that one or not.