Allô Chatrath

Not many of us may be knowing that the famous Lingaraj and Parbati temples were restored (got repaired?) by the British colonial rulers in 1920s. The work commenced in 1925 when Mr. Henry Wheeler was the Governor of Bihar & Orissa and was completed in 1929 when Mr. Hugh Stepehenson was the Governor of Bihar & Orissa. The total expenditure amounted to Rs.136,097/- which was contributed as follows: Government Rs.73,423 and by private sources   Rs. 62,674/-  While visiting Bhubaneswar in July 1917 and walking around the outer wall of the Lingaraj Temple, I came across this marble slab giving the above details. Readers interested in going into the year wise details of repairs may refer to a scholarly article* Repair and Conservation of Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar Temples by Shri Kailash Chandra Dash;   Reader, Department of History, Binayak Acharya Government College,   Berhampur, Orissa.    * Kailash Chandra Dash ; https://www.academia.edu/9738841/Repair_and_Conservation

  That's me at the Mexico Anthropological Museum, Mexico City. I was greatly impressed that the items of display seemed to be belonging to the area and not bought, stolen, looted from poor countries as is the case in a number of well known museums the world over.

  Asclepius or Asklepios is the Greco-Roman god of medicine, son of Apollo (god of healing, truth, and prophecy). Let me invoke all the Greek Gods and Goddesses. I will learn the Greek alphabets, but not this way, please.  Please don't give us any more strains of Covid based on Greek alphabets!  

      Chausath (64) Yogini Temple, Hirapur, Odisha, India, 9th century AD.

I visited Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, India for 5 days last month. There is no direct flight from Delhi to Burhanpur but one can use good rail connections. My visit was an eye opener as Burhanpur turned out to be a hidden gem. It is located at a distance of 340 kilometres southwest of the state's capital city of Bhopal. I was  privileged to have the company of Mr. Qamarudin Falak (M-9131056037) the well known historian and teacher of Burhanpur who is conversant with very brick and stone of Burhanpur. Thank you Mr. Falak, Sir.                           This is Mr. Falak whom I snapped while he himself was taking a photo.   Burhanpur is said to have been named after the Sufi saint Sheikh Burhanuddin Gharib, who was a disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. Burhanpur is also believed to be the place of penance (tapobhumi) of Bhrigu rishi, who wrote the Bhrigu Samhita on the banks of the Tapti. Burhanpur is a 600-year-old name given by the Farooqi dynasty, after Sufi saint Sheikh Burhan

I am lucky to have visited Iceland twice, once in 2012 and the second time in 2016. And yes, I would love to go there again, if I could. One of the many aspects of this country that fascinated me were its horses. It is said that Icelandic horses are the free-est animals in the world. Normally horses do not lie down but the Icelandic horses  do- since they are not afraid of any one troubling them.   A 'dabang' Icelandic horse.  During my second trip I discovered the strange eyes of the goats there. In fact all goats have such unusual pupils but I had never noticed them.                                                                            An Icelandic goat Goats eyes have horizontal, rectangular pupils.   This did seem bizarre at first notice as one is used to seeing the round pupils of human eyes. Getting interested in the subject I discovered that pupils of cat’s eyes have vertical slits.   In a new study*   vision scientist    Martin Banks has found that the shape of an