Jiva and Kanmani Rajasankaran, our managers of the Bengaluru worksite, sent these rare photos today from Chidambaram, where they attended the annual Ardra Darshanam along with fellow travelers Mrunal and Padmaja Patel who are on pilgrimage from Texas. Rarely are people taken to this roof where the gopurams and Chit Sabha can be seen so perfectly, glowing in the sun. Jiva writes:

"We had a wonderful Darshan at Chidambaram. In spite of the rush it was well worth watching the use of the Abhishekam items over Siva Nataraja. They used over 2000 pounds of Vibhuti and 2000 gallons of milk!!!! What a delightful sight. The dikshithar took us to the first floor of the Chidambaram temple and showed us the Arkasha Lingam. They do daily puja to the Sivalingam in the mornings. On Pradosha days they allow some public to watch the puja. We went another flight of steps that took us to the open space. There, we were in level with the golden rooftop. It was a rare sight to see the golden Gopuram so closely.

I have sent some vibhuti from Chidambaram by speed post today, for all the swamis."

Aum.

Jiva

We recently received these photos from our team at Ellora Caves. Sushma Parmar of Cutting Chai Productions and actor Raj Narayan recently received permission to film at this historic temple site. Ellora was carved over a period of 100 years, straight out of the mountain side. Part two of the Hindu History movie series, as well as some shots for part three are being done here. You can watch Part 1 here