Indian art more sublime than Europe 'Renaissance' ----the life of time on surya mandir Jhalrapatan

Timeless beauty--Forever Young

the mandap Surya mandir--a place for social gatherings great art in stone and a history of the times

Loving Couple--Premi Yugal

the temples in India from ancient times made God part of shared space with the people. The life of the times comes on the temple walls. The beauty of men and women, their dresses, headgear, ornaments, hairstyles and their social life--the singing, the playing of music, dancing, making love, mother and her child, and loving affectionate couples and worship.

the temples were a great statement of art, beauty, and joy in timeless youthfulness of the gods and of ordinary people. the finely proportioned ideal beauty of goddesses and of ordinary women was

from the blessed domain of akshat yauvan--eternal youth. It gave people visiting the temple greater joy and positive energy to work, relax and worship.

her beauty she appreciates in mirror
Arrsted in the red stone pillar she stands-the eternal Charmer

Living 1100 year old past visits the present

learning--praying with father

They say the footprints in sand get blown away in wind. But what if the foot prints are in stone, in temples, in architecture, in the gurgling river water, and past etched on the lives of people today. You are able to live at least in part the life, culture, society and economy. Jhalawar and its vignette in Jhalrapatan, Chandrawati, Kolvi, Gagron Fort and the embrace of mighty Kali Sindh and Ahu rivers offer you albeit diluted a slice of history intact in myriad ways.

what touches me most is that i can see the great beauty on the walls of Shantinathji and Sun temples still reflected in the streets of Jhalrapatan. The city lives on we do not know since when; the 10th century sun temple is but one intermediate point in its historicity.

the golden marigold flowers like the rays of morning sun that kiss the Sun temple first thing in the morning, the matronly ladies lovingly string together in necklaces of these fiery flowers to adorn the gods. Nothing has changed since 1100 years and the temple had the same sun-coloured flowers around gods and goddesses.

Like the father who brings his son every morning to the temple to pray to gods for bounty for the land and its people, to give the right thought, kindness and compassion is just the way it was 1100 years earlier. the beautfiful bangles and the necklaces that adorned lovely ladies necks and arms are still being made near the temple and women crowd in the shops as they did 1100 years before.

Is it less wonderful that the priest sh. Purushottam Ji recites the same shlokas to invoke gods as they did 1100 years past.

Is it not wonderful to have the same fragrance of incense waft from the temple to the streets around as it used to 11 centuries back in time.

Is it not wonderful to find Jhalrapatan of yore in today's Jhalrapatan?

the life and art--Jhalawar

the life in Jhalawar

Buddha in Jhalawar--Kolvi Caves

Buddha --Meditating
Buddha Standing
Chaitya

Buddha--kolvi

The time as I said earlier is a snail in Jhalawar. You may arrive as a stranger but you will go back as family and friend is the culture and the sweetness of Jhalawaris. Kush Sherma whose great help to see the exiquisite art in Garh Palace I have already mentioned suggested to me take an early morning bus to Dag to enable me to visit Buddhist Kolvi Caves. I took a bus 6AM (Jhalawar to Banswara) from near the Rajasthan Tourism Office in Jhalawar. The bus drove through small villages, taking passengers, there were a lot of sheep on the road and colourful women shepherd in their exotic jewelery saw to it that no ewe is left behind, the sheep dog also worked hard to maintain order in flock. Some tribal women got on to the bus and their red and blue skirts and mirror work on shirts and armful of white bangles were distinct. it was about 95 kms. to Kolvi. The bus left me on the road and went on further to Dag another 10 kms from kolvi. I walked on a fine tarred road arrived in open country and small settlements. A water pond had women come down to wash clothes while the cattle cooled in the water.

Walking about 3 kms i arrived near a small hillock. I noticed ASI board about Kolvi caves. i went up the hill and there was total silence only the sound of wind. the foliage swayed in wind and I could see far the sun burnt landscape. At leisure I explored the caves 35 of which still remain out a more than 50. The weathering by elements has destroyed the sutpas and Chaityas. the caves had the stone bed for the monks to sleep on. from the doors of caves which mostly opened to the valley bellow it would have been a stupendous view of forests, and wilderness more than 1500 hundred years before. the vegetation might have been different 1500 years before. the monks must have had fruits from the trees in the forest and food brought from villages. I could feel the presence of monks their discussions on Dhamma and their simple spiritual lives.

I understand that these caves continued in use till at least 12th century which speaks for the popularity of Buddhism in the area. There was a giant sized standing Buddha sculpture and many in meditative posture. erosion has taken its toll but still the place gave me a feeling of peace and a distance from the world of humans into serene nature. in one of the caves someone has put an idol and i could feel that locals visit and worship. So in India nothing dies, faith keeps alive 1500 years after the monks prayed for Nirvana. i spent quite many hours in this little hill of peace. had a banana and few biscuits and washed them down with a couple of swigs of water from the bottle. I walked back the women and men worked their farms, tethered the oxen to the carts and children played and ran around in joy. Soon another bus appeared and I went to Dag a small dusty town. I took some mango drink and walked around. Farmers brought grains and lentils to sell in the shops. People shopped for shoes and clothes, utensils and groceries. This was my India not the CFL powered glitter of big cities but the sinewy, hardy, sturdy farmers' world of simplicity and modest desires. The honest toil visible on the faces of men with their dauntingly large mustaches and bright headgear the women elegant in their bronzed faces from honest and hard labour in fields and at home.

Note-- take water and food with you for in Kolvi there is nothing. Have a sun hat while you walk up to the caves in strong tropical sun. Travel by the local bus you will learn more about people and culture. Near Dag are more caves if you would like to visit

Jhalrapatan--In search of Lost time

sculpture Shantinath Temple Jhalrapatan

Painted sculpture Shantinath Temple Jhalrapatan

Dipak(L) n Rajendra--ancient to contemporary

Shantinath Temple sculpture

Jhalrapatan has an ambiance that allows time to slow and the life to magnify. I walked the beautiful old streets--they are more like the old Italian cobbled streets where you feel that a Roman Legion's footfalls have died down a while ago. As I walked to arrive from Sun Temple to Shantinath Jain temple I found a neat sweet shop tucked in a corner. I walked in to a welcome from the owner. Indian sweets are delight in taste and in variety, and like a greedy child i eyed different sweets. I asked for small helping of rabadi then went on to another and yet another. With the nice taste in mouth I landed on the doors of Shantinath Temple. The doorway painted in oil paint with images and arabesque in warm pleasing welcoming colours, I entered the temple and was greeted by some temple officials who were busy writing in their laarge notebooks or bahis. the temple was constructed in 11th century by Shah Pipa. The temple is a living heritage. The sculptures on the temple are a novelty of artistic creation. I discovered that the breasts of the female figures were rendered in two types of stones--white and red. the round red coloured stone is pasted over white stone. In no other temple I have seen this kind of multicoloured stone use.

in the corridor on the outer front wall of Shantinath temple are neat, spruced small rooms for the devotees who come from long distances and must lodge overnight. The old world of hospitality continues in living temples of India. Clean whitewashed houses stand as history book of past in the streets and modern and ancient breathe together without any contradiction. A cybercafe rubs shoulder with a temple, flower seller comes with fresh flowers for offerings to gods to begin another day thanking God for the sun, moon, earth and sky and of course life.

As I walked leisurely near Shantinath temple i see this large high ceilinged books and stationery shop. I asked the young owner for a book on Jhalawar by historian Lalit Sherma. Deepak Podwal the owner tries to find the book but could not. I enter into conversation with him on the temple sculptures and architecture of 11the century Jain temple. I also meet a gentleman by name Rajendra who is student in the Engineering College in Jhalawar. Jhalawar has lately got many professional education colleges and is now a place where young men and women meet and live in the town to educate themselves to improve their and India's prospects in a modern world. Rajendra is full of bonhomie and pure white energy.

I intend to meet them as I visit the town again to further study the art and architecture of the area.

A Journey back to 1000 years in time--Jhalrapatan

Jhalrapatan-shantinath mandir
Flower-seller by the Surya Mandir
Nursing past memories
The Cylindrical jharokha has emerged from a grand Palace of yore
A tiny diamond sitting over a ring of crass commercial base

When you walk in the Jhalrapatan you suddenly seem to distrust your senses. A world as in all probability as it might have existed a thousand years earlier flourishes in the thoughts, life, rituals,economic activities, social life. The streets as you walk them offer you architectural memories from several centuries gone by. A styled cylindrical latticed Jharokha in a smaller avatar seems to descend from mighty heights of a Rajput Palace. A grand pillared entrance of a majestic residence of yore is reflected in a tiny first floor apartment nudging a sturdy tree growing in the courtyard of neighbouring house. sometimes you discover a tiny but very beautiful gem fixed on an inept ring of a garishly painted shop on ground floor. As you walk where your feet take you, you may come face to face with a house going in amnesia about its glorious history.

Besides houses it is the humming life of people that will deposit you back in centuries. There are a number of jewelery shops where the gold or silversmith is working his art for the pleasure of decorating the persona of handsome women of the place. the gold/silversmith are in large numbers here for th.e women are no different from the ones you see so bejeweled on the Surya and Shantinath temples. Continued distrust of your senses makes you feel that the women you see have just come of the temple wall. these smiths still produce the designs that decorate the temple sculptures. The women selling flowers by temple steps seem to be there from time when these temples were built.

further afield you find women in rainbow colours shopping for garments. The clothiers are aplenty for their forefathers were carrying he best textiles from here to Rome in camel cart caravans. If you have not traveled here you would not understand what kind of clothes the ladies shop for. on the soft colourful blouses and skirts there is lavished as much attention as parents lavish on an only child. There is very elegant embroidery in different colour threads, millions of moon shapes shiny mirrors, sequins in all imaginable forms, and the finest and bold designs.

As I told you if you do not trust your senses you may enter this veritable castle of time past, flourishing in present.