A couple of weeks ago, I went on a lark through Canacona. It was a glorious monsoon morning when I got to the tiny hamlet of Loliem. The noted Hindustani vocalist Anjanibai Lolienkar of Agra gharana was born here. Later, I stopped by the village of Painguinim (Poinguinim), home to the old temple of Parashurama, avatar of Lord Vishnu, whom legend associates with the origin of Goa. I will have more material on these villages and their socio-religious traditions in future postings.

Damodar temple in Loliem, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Goddess Aryadurga in Loliem, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Monsoon lushness in Painguinim, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Temple of Parashurama in Painguinim, Canacona
5D Mark II, 24-105L

Puno Fato Velip in Barcem, Quepem
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Farming in Barcem, Quepem
5D Mark II, 70-200L f/2.8 IS II

Inside the shrine an exquisite image of Maruti greets the visitor. But there is more – the entire temple is embellished with kaavi (sgraffito) and represents one of the finest examples of its kind in Goa, as seen in the photographs below.

Ravaged by destructive mining the settlement of Advalpal is under severe pressure from rapacious miners and their political enablers. The future of this temple is highly uncertain – it is located on private property and the owner has had ‘offers’.

Hanuman of Advalpal, Goa
5D, 85L II

Hanuman temple in Advalpal, Goa
5D, 24-105L

Kaavi art on temple façade
5D, 24-105L

The 12th C temple of Mahadeva (another name for Shiva) set in a remote forest at Tambdi Surla is Goa‘s oldest surviving temple. It remains a place of active worship to this day.

This photograph was taken in 2007 in the thick of the monsoon season. When I got to Tambdi Surla that morning a heavy downpour had just subsided. The ambience was magical and this framing suggested itself quite naturally. The slight colour cast of green on the temple structure is not a processing artifact; it is a consequence of the wet temple reflecting the surrounding foliage.

12th C Mahadeva Temple at Tambdi Surla, Goa
5D, 24-105L

See this earlier entry for another view of the temple.

This photograph of the Deepastambha at the Mahalsa temple in Mardol was taken at daybreak.

Deepastambha at Mahalsa temple in Mardol, Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

A more modest Deepasthamba adorns the courtyard of the temple of Goddess Bhumika in the village of Chopdem.

Deepastambha at Bhumika temple in Chopdem, Goa
5D Mark II, 85L II

An ancient Deepasthamba near the remains of Piso Ravlu temple in Mayem is embraced by a Peepal tree.

Deepastambha in Mayem, Goa
5D, 24-105L

The Brahma temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan, is well known. Not as well known is the temple at Carambolim (also called Brahma-Karmali) in northeast Goa. The idol worshipped here is an 11th C masterpiece of scuplture.

The Brahma temple in Goa was originally located at Carambolim (Karmali) near Panjim. After its sacking by the Portuguese in the 16th C, the idol was moved to its current remote outpost and re-consecrated. Later, in a nod to its original home, the area around it came to be known as Brahma-Karmali.

There are other ancient Brahma images in Goa worshipped in subsidiary shrines in the villages of Parsem, Virnoda and Colomb. A striking Brahma head also figures in the museum collection in Old Goa.

The Carambolim temple recently got a complete makeover. These photographs were taken in November 2009.

Temple of Lord Brahma in Carambolim, Goa
5D Mark II, TS-E 17L

Detail of 11th C Brahma sculpture in Carambolim, Goa
5D Mark II, 85L II

Lord Brahma in Carambolim, Goa
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Priest Sandeep Kelkar at the Brahma temple
5D Mark II, 85L II

The Ganapati temple in the tiny Goan village of Khandola (also spelled Candola) is important to Goans and to Goan history. The original temple was located on the island of Divar at the site of what is today the cemetery adjoining the Church of Our Lady of Piedade. After it was destroyed by the Portuguese around 1540, the idol was squirreled away to Khandepar in Ponda taluka and later to Narve in Bicholim taluka. It was to endure still more turmoil in the years following before finding a stable home in Khandola sometime around 1750.

In 1969 the ancient idol was retired and a new one installed for active worship. But the plan to inter the old image through the process of visarjan was foiled by the good Lord Himself. During the prasad ritual, He demanded a permanent spot in the garbagriha (sanctum sanctorum) to the left of and 1 foot higher than His new doppelgänger. The Lord sure has a fine sense of humour but apparently He hasn’t yet switched to the metric system.

Now a few words about the photograph. For entry into the inner sacred space, the Khandola temple rules call for a ritual bath and appropriate attire. After some back-and-forth a compromise was struck: I agreed to wear the dhoti but the purificatory cold shower from the temple well at 6 in the morning was waived. And so – balancing my camera and tripod while holding on to a slippery dhoti, I came to photograph the ancient Ganapati-bab of Khandola.

This Ganesha sculpture is suggestive of the Hoysala style and is thought to date back to the 13th century CE.

13th C. Ganesha of Khandola, Goa
5D Mark II, 85L II

Flower lady at Khandola temple
5D Mark II, 85L II

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
5D, 24-105L

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