15 March 2009

Riwalsar, a Few Photos

I haven't posted too many photos of town yet, so I thought I'd share some I snapped yesterday. This is the Padmasambhava statue (Guru Rinpoche to the Tibetans) viewed from down in town. The corner of the pagoda structure that's in view to the right holds a smaller statue. We're staying up the hill in that cluster of houses behind the big statue, but you can't quite see it because of the pagoda.

031409Statue

To get down into town, we take a path that leads down past the base of the statue. Padmasambhava is sitting on a lotus on a platform that's held up by eight snow lions.

031409Snow_Lion

031409Statue_Close

Every bit of work done on this statue has been done by hand. All of it - no laser-cut metal, no prefab parts, no cranes or bulldozers (or even a way to get them to the site if they were available). When they brought in a cement mixer to make the work a little easier, it had to be brought down the hill in pieces and reassembled. And work is continuing on prayer rooms inside the base of the statue and on outlying structures.

And one last, unrelated photo. This big boy wanders around town, and Nyondo tells us he's very fond of head skritches. So much so that once you start, you're pretty much committed to the job until he decides you're done. At this particular moment, he was deciding that a flower placed on the little altar looked like a tasty snack.

031409Bull

8 comments:

Sean said...

Wonderful pics...love taking this trip with you!

Lisa/knitnzu said...

Glad the water didn't do anything nasty! How's your mom making out? She looks good in her outfit! I think it's great the local woman felt her up. Is your mom picking up any hindi? We google earthed Riwalsar, yowza! You're nearly in the mountains there!

katrynka said...

Thanks for the gorgeous photos! I need to print some out and post them on my fridge and elsewhere to help me focus on continuing to lose weight and get into shape, as I really want to be able to travel!

margene said...

That statue is amazing as is all of your travelogue!

Droelma said...

A quick tip:
I have worked for over 30 years now in Humanitarian Aid and always followed a tip from the German Institute for Tropical Diseases ( where I was trained in 1972 ).
" Always carry a can of Coke " ( normal Coke, not diet, not anything else ). If you eat or drink anything iffy, drink the Coke afterwards ( as soon as possible ). Do not drink it , while you eat maybe dodgy food , but in fairly large swigs, but not guzzling down afterwards.
It has saved me from a lot of stomch pain ( I remember those school projects in Germany when we would put a pork chop bone and pour Coke on it and the day after the bone had disappeared ) and really works.
I love your reports from your India adventure and like it especially that you are at the cradle of Kagyu Buddhism, because as a 20+year Karma Kagyu practitioner I practice Guru Yoga and anything to do with Guru Rinpoche is of great significance for me.It's neat how your blog ( and Joy's ), Ravelry and this all fit together....
Blessings,

Droelma
from Mexico City

Stan said...

Stunning photos of the Taj Mahal and Padmasambhava. Good luck with the spaying and neutering of the dogs. Such a service and commitment. Thank you. Stan

Ann said...

Fantastic! My coworker was in India last year for 4 weeks and he made some awesome photos. It's the place I would like to visit someday.

Molly Bee said...

I love your descriptions and pictures. Great job documenting! What a beautiful trup!