Through The Lens

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx9tIpAd_NM]

interesting discovory.
the script on these(in halagannada as mentioned) may through some more light

i remember people worshiping stones/idols “Maasti Kallu”, i guess these are the images remebering courageous women who go “Sati”, may be “Mahaasati” became “Maasti”

A peek into historical memorials.

Praveen Chamarthi 2006-2007

Veeragallus (Hero stones) are memorial stones erected in honor of people who have died in warfare or fighting with thieves or during a hunt.
The Veeragallus are normally found intact from the Hoysala period and post-Pallavas of the Vijaynagar period are particularly good. Even though a Veeragallu is also a kind of shasana, it all may have a little of inscription or none at all. Hoysalas used schist and the sculpture speaks for itself. Veeragallus are surprisingly intact over Karnataka inspite of the centuries of persecution.
There are normally three panels that tell a story — lower most a fighting scene (probably to protect animal wealth), the middle one the martyr being carried to heaven and the top veera at Kailasa (Abode of Lord Shiva). One leaves wondering why people don’t pay sufficient attention to whatever is left of a glorious heritage. The hero stone normally found has sculptures in three panels - a man fighting with a tiger, the man being taken to heaven by a few ladies after death and the man appearing in the abode of God.

Enroute to Magadi after covering a distance of about 12 Kilometers from the city, our car got struck while trying to meander through a particularly big crater (man-made). One of us happened to see these strange looking stones from the state highway (SH17E). After reaching the spot which was an agricultural land we discovered three stone edicts measuring 5×3 ft were in rows of inscriptions in Halegannada (Old Kannada) on all the front sides.

It is quite unfortunate that some of these edicts have been broken or partially destroyed by vagaries of time. Preliminary evidences suggested that the edicts and hero stones belonged to the 13 or 14th century (Hoysala or Chola period). A stone slab possessing a sculpture of a man riding a horse was of particular interest to us due to its resemblance to such sculptures found at Hampi thereby indicating its probable history linked to that era.
 
A man fighting with a tiger was a common scene we found in most hero stones. These are stones erected in memory of those who died fighting with wild animals to guard their cattle or to those who died during a hunt.

Interestingly, here the men have tuft (knot of hair) on their head which are normally a precursor for unearthing ancient wells; grain storage containers, tank bunds, ponds etc have been found from places suggesting human inhabitation in the past several centuries although it is not clear as to why these settlements were destroyed.

Unaware of the historical importance of these edicts and hero stones, many of them have also been destroyed by the locals. Early measures have to be undertaken to protect these archaeological evidences, which would help in rebuilding the history of the region.
These Veeragallus erected in memory of warriors who sacrificed their lives for the protection of kings, needs to be protected and only by doing that will they throw light on our rich historical past which is sadly in a state of disarray and will help to counter opportunistic manipulations intended to portray our culture otherwise.
Author: Girish Ninjur

Dear Friends

Hope y’all doing well.

It’s been a while since I last posted..well so many things happening…so little time.

I’ve been lucky to keep my passion alive: I’ve traveled a bit and I clicked enough (I think).

I think the now time has come to show my work to all you lovely people out there.

Friends, please consider this as my personal invitation to my first photography exhibition. I’m gonna exhibit my work at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Vasanth Nagar, Bangalore. The exhibition will be inaugurated on the 01st Mar 2007 @ 6pm sharp.

The photographs will be exhibited till the 10th Mar 2007.

So please drop by whenever you’re free anytime between 10am - 6pm from 01st Mar - 10th Mar 2007 at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, and I would be more than happy to see you.

Thank you everyone for your support and inspiration.

Thanks Lenish and Rajiv!!

cool story, Praveen … things most of us miss out at first glance

Nice story and thanks for taking the time out to pay attention to what he was saying and put it on your blog.

August 27th 2006 was an auspicious day for the Hindus in South India. It was Ganesh Chaturdhi
So I decided to go ahead and shoot some pictures may be some action.
After having breakfast at Vidhyarthi Bhavan, a very famous and old refreshment room that serves awesome Masala Dosas.
I set out looking for some action. I shot some pictures of idols, some vendors selling flowers, fruit and vegetables.
Being a festival what I saw most were flowers, lots of them: marigolds, jasmines, roses, lotus buds etc etc..Banana leaves and sugarcanes are most sighted in that market.

After taking some pictures I pulled out a smoke and not surprisingly I forgot my lighter and I went searching for one. I spotted a fruit vendor smoking a beedi (a local indian smoke).

After lighting my cigarette I was curious to know more about this man who offered me light. I was thinking he must be having a tough life out there I mean look at it while you and me are shopping for fresh fruits for the festival he was there since 5AM in the morning setting up his fruit cart meticulously so that he could make that extra buck for his family.
Sadly, they don’t have the privelage to celebrate all those colorful festivals with their families like most Indians do. The vendors practically live there with their carts.

They are out of their homes at 4am in the morning to the fruit auction then pick their baggages load it into a van and drive them back to the market place where they sell. It costs them approx 400rs. Now once they reach the market they set it up and sell them the whole day they eat their lunches there and their evening snack too. They wind up
about 10pm. They cover their carts with water proof thick tarpaulin sheets and pay the street watchman Rs.10/- per cart so that they can keep an eye on their carts.

I curiously asked them how would they know if the watchman was not stealing
their fruits to which he replied confirming that it was just not possible, as they exactly know how many fruits their carts have and how much does each of them weigh (this comes by experience..these vendors are in this business since 20years) and moreover every night before they leave they stack up their carts in a orderly manner so if someone
tries to pull out a fruit or two the whole pattern would be disturbed and they would question the watchman and for which the watchman would have to pay them for the missing fruit, no questions asked.
All this arrangement is between the vendors and the watchman no papers no signatures all play here by the word of mouth.

They do all this for profit of 10-13 Rs a kilo. So if you do the math they aren’t earning that much. They need to pay Rs 400/- for transport everytime they visit the auction and 10rs every night for the watchman they spend their money on lunch, breakfast in the hotels which are relatively expensive compared to home made food.
Well usually all the middle class indian wives would pack lunch for all their husbands (loving or not) but in this case these vendors are out of their homes by 4am..

so next time you make that bargain for 1-2 Rs just think what would you gain from that but may be it makes a good difference in their lives.

Hi Praveen,

Ended up here from your flickr page.

Wonderful pictures, informative blog, and great design on this page. Congratulations. Keep up the good work.

Murali.