Photo Blog by Rajan Parrikar » Shirgaon http://www.parrikar.com/blog Satyam Shivam Sundaram (Truth, Divinity, Beauty) Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:13:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Goddess in the Mine http://www.parrikar.com/blog/2009/10/25/goddess-in-the-mine/ http://www.parrikar.com/blog/2009/10/25/goddess-in-the-mine/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:30:42 +0000 Rajan P. Parrikar http://www.parrikar.com/blog/?p=639 In the village of Shirgaon in Goa’s Bicholim taluka lies the old temple of Goddess Lairai, a form of the Mother Goddess. The annual jatra (festival) associated with this shrine features unusual customs & rituals drawn from the area’s tribal past. Lairai-devi and Milagres Saibinn (Virgin Mary) of nearby Mapusa are recognized as sisters by Goan Hindus and Catholics, an illustration of Goa’s syncretic ethos.

In recent years, Shirgaon, alas, has been laid to waste by unchecked mining activity. To the environmental assassins on the loose in Goa, nothing is sacred. They have reduced this once-beautiful village to a dust bowl, destroyed its forest cover, and plotted to turn villager against villager.

If the photograph below does not betray the surrounding ugliness, it is only because I have framed the composition to exclude the devastation. In truth, the Lairai temple shot was taken from a vantage point located in the mine enveloping it.

Temple of Goddess Lairai in Shirgaon, Goa<br>5D, 24-105L

Temple of Goddess Lairai in Shirgaon, Goa
5D, 24-105L

 
Aniconic representation of Goddess Lairai<br>5D, 24-105L

Aniconic representation of Goddess Lairai
5D, 24-105L

 
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