ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

The Veera Narayana temple at Belavadi, a village in Chikkamagalur district of Karnataka, is an epitome of symmetry. This trikuta Hoysala temple built in 1206 AD, houses Veera Narayana as the main deity, with Venugopala and Yoganarasimha in the the other two sanctum sanctorums. The temple is characterized by over a hundred neatly carved and designed pillars, and a lot of elephant statues of various shapes and sizes. The Tulunadu style enclosure at the entrance and the stone roof tops of the main temple are unique to this temple, and the statues of the three deities are outstandingly beautiful. Although the Channakeshava temple of Belur, Hoysaleshwara temple of Halebidu and Keshava temple of Somanathapura come right up in th list of the most beautiful temples of Hoysala period and architecture, this temple at Belavadi is in no way inferior to any of the former three. The village itself has its place in mythology, with the Ekachakranagara of Mahabharata times, where Bakasu...

Continuing from Part 1 , here is more from the cultural programmes that happened on the sidelines of the World Samskrit Book Fair . On Saturday, 8th January, 2011, 1003rd edition of "Kavyachitra" was conducted at the Kuvempu Kalakshetra, Bangalore, in association with Samskara Bharati and Abhinaya Bharati. Kavyachitra refers to a cultural entertainment model where a poet and an artist take up challenges from each other, audience, and experts to create poetry and paintings on the spot. Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh was in charge of the "Kavya" part with Artist B. K. S. Varma took up "Chitra". Varma is credited with making painting, a form of "performing art". Some pictures (click on them for larger versions) and videos from the mesmerizing two hour event are below: Pictures: 1. Varma drawing Sarswati using colour soaked thread: 2. R. Ganesh concentrating on Varma's masterly work: 3. Flautist Venugopal also forgets to play his flute, enchanted...

I had been to the World Samskrit Book Fair that is going on at Bangalore from 6th to 10th January, 2011, and here are some updates from that: On 6th January 2011, day 1 of the fair, "Jnanaganga", an exhibition on the knowledge heritage of India was inaugurated by former India cricket captain Anil Kumble , and a model of "Samskrit Village" , where all interactions happen through Samskrit, was inaugurated by Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri , the primary and secondary education minister of the Govt. Of Karnataka. Also attending the occation were N. Gopalaswamy , former Chief Election Commisioner of India, and industrialst Sadanand Mayya . Also at the end of day one, was classical singing by Vidwan Vidyabhushana. Photos from the formal function (click on images for enlarged versions): Photos of the Samskrit Village and Exhibitions (click on images for enlarged versions): Video of Anil Kumble's speech (some unavoidable movements while recording) Anil ...