KARLI RIVER PART 1:
Adinarayan, Crabs, Oysters and Alexandrian Laurel
In the afternoon, we started with a visit to the Adinanarayan temple nearby. This is a temple of Sun God and one of the few Sun temples in India, dedicated to this primordial source of energy. This temple deity is a family deity of Kudaldeshkar community, one of the categories of Gaud Saraswat Brahmins in India.
This temple, although renovated in the recent past, has still preserved some parts of the ancient wood carvings, which were part of the Sabhamandap in the old temple. Lord Adinarayan in his majestic form oversees his devotees in stern but protective gaze, in the form of black stone statue.
It is a tradition in Indian temples that whenever these temples are renovated and old idols are replaced with new ones, with pomp and ceremony, accompanied by chanting of Mantras, the old idols are taken out in procession and installed at base of a Pipal tree (Sacred Fig) in the same compound.
This temple is no exception and one can see the historically important centuries old stone idols can be seen on a concrete pedestal at the base of Pipal tree nearby. This particular Pipal tree is very interesting. Although we cannot guess its age, it must be at least 200 years old, it had many different creepers growing on it, with some strange multicolour berries.
We proceeded towards Karli jetty in the western direction, a downward winding path lined up on both sides by a wild variety of tall mango trees. Karli jetty at the end of the Karli village overlooks the wide river basin, meeting the Arabian Sea. On the opposite side is Devbaug, the cocoa-nut tree dense peninsula, separating the river from the Sea.
It was a low tide at the jetty and the amphibian creatures from the backwater were having their day out, on the marshy slopes of the river bank. Of all those crawling life forms, one standing out in particular, was the “Single Pincer Crab”. There were several colonies of this crustacean at this place. They were in various sizes and colours. A variety of amphibian fish (Shevta) was also seen hopping around like a miniature version of walrus, in a few millimetre deep water and slush.
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As we were engrossed observing these fauna, Bhayya had vanished somewhere and he resurfaced grinning and holding a transparent jar filled with some dumpling like lumps floating in sea water.
KALWA! He cried out with glee, indicating that he has managed to obtain the best delicacy (Rock oysters), and my saliva glands went in to super drive. I gave a loving glance to the would-be gastronomical delights and held on to the jar tightly for the rest of the journey, lest the water may spill out and the creatures die a premature death!
At Karli jetty a number of Undee trees (Calophyllum inophyllum, Alexandrian Laurel) were thriving in the saline atmosphere, laden with abundant Undee fruits.
These fruits yield a kind of thick greenish oil when dried, which burns very slowly providing a completely smokeless light. In the olden days, the local people used to carry torches (Mashals) soaked in Undee oil, when travelling at night in the dark jungles of Konkan region. A few ounces of this oil, soaked up on the torches, would last the entire night. What an eco-friendly torch, a real gift from Mother Nature!
Adinarayan, Crabs, Oysters and Alexandrian Laurel
This temple, although renovated in the recent past, has still preserved some parts of the ancient wood carvings, which were part of the Sabhamandap in the old temple. Lord Adinarayan in his majestic form oversees his devotees in stern but protective gaze, in the form of black stone statue.
It is a tradition in Indian temples that whenever these temples are renovated and old idols are replaced with new ones, with pomp and ceremony, accompanied by chanting of Mantras, the old idols are taken out in procession and installed at base of a Pipal tree (Sacred Fig) in the same compound.
This temple is no exception and one can see the historically important centuries old stone idols can be seen on a concrete pedestal at the base of Pipal tree nearby. This particular Pipal tree is very interesting. Although we cannot guess its age, it must be at least 200 years old, it had many different creepers growing on it, with some strange multicolour berries.
We proceeded towards Karli jetty in the western direction, a downward winding path lined up on both sides by a wild variety of tall mango trees. Karli jetty at the end of the Karli village overlooks the wide river basin, meeting the Arabian Sea. On the opposite side is Devbaug, the cocoa-nut tree dense peninsula, separating the river from the Sea.
It was a low tide at the jetty and the amphibian creatures from the backwater were having their day out, on the marshy slopes of the river bank. Of all those crawling life forms, one standing out in particular, was the “Single Pincer Crab”. There were several colonies of this crustacean at this place. They were in various sizes and colours. A variety of amphibian fish (Shevta) was also seen hopping around like a miniature version of walrus, in a few millimetre deep water and slush.
 |
| Single Pincer Crab |
View Larger Map
As we were engrossed observing these fauna, Bhayya had vanished somewhere and he resurfaced grinning and holding a transparent jar filled with some dumpling like lumps floating in sea water.
KALWA! He cried out with glee, indicating that he has managed to obtain the best delicacy (Rock oysters), and my saliva glands went in to super drive. I gave a loving glance to the would-be gastronomical delights and held on to the jar tightly for the rest of the journey, lest the water may spill out and the creatures die a premature death!At Karli jetty a number of Undee trees (Calophyllum inophyllum, Alexandrian Laurel) were thriving in the saline atmosphere, laden with abundant Undee fruits.
These fruits yield a kind of thick greenish oil when dried, which burns very slowly providing a completely smokeless light. In the olden days, the local people used to carry torches (Mashals) soaked in Undee oil, when travelling at night in the dark jungles of Konkan region. A few ounces of this oil, soaked up on the torches, would last the entire night. What an eco-friendly torch, a real gift from Mother Nature!
 |
| Undee Tree & Fruits |
Interesting description of the temples and mouth-watering one of the Kalwa. By the way, very nice arrangement of photos, adds a great effect to the entry.
ReplyDeleteWe visited the temple before but it is wonderful to observe the same through a informed eye
ReplyDeletewaiting patiently for part 2
ReplyDeleteWhy haven't you been blogging all these years?! :-)
ReplyDeletewhere exactly is the idol in parule?
ReplyDelete