the temple of Sita
Myth has it that Ravana held Sita captive in the highlands of Lanka. Sita (the heroine from the Indian epic Ramayana) meditated on a rock and cried a river of tears. Then she dropped lotus flowers into the water, in the hope that they would make their way to her husband Rama so he could come rescue her.
It is believed that the monkey-god Hanuman was instrumental in finding her and bringing her back.
This could be the only Sita temple in the world.
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Ooh, this is beautiful. I like the contrast of the coloured figures against the black and white trees – it somehow gives the impression of bringing the Rama & Sita legend to life, and also distances our reality from that of the legend’s. I like it a lot :} Also, I’m loving all your travel pictures of Sri Lanka. I was born there and left it when quite young so I’m always eager to see how it looks.
September 21, 2013 at 11:59 pm
It makes me terribly happy to know that someone originally from Sri Lanka is loving my pictures. Love your thoughtful comment. Thank you for imbuing so much meaning into what was, essentially, me playing around with effects 🙂
Knowing a bit about all the trouble in the recent past, it makes me wonder why you left. I wish I could live there. Sri Lanka is utterly gorgeous!
September 23, 2013 at 4:52 am
Nice! Hanuman is Junior’s favourite 🙂 He liked the pics too…he knows the Ramayan well 🙂 Abhi Raavan bhi toh dikhao!!! I’m intrigued by him 😉
September 22, 2013 at 2:12 am
Hanuman is adorable. I was 7 when we were in India in ’79 and I remember being engrossed in reading Ramayan comics! Mythologies fascinated me from a very young age 🙂
I wish we had spent more time at Sita Eliya, but it started to rain. This was just a few hours after we got back from our hike, so we were a bit ‘mellowed’ 🙂 Our driver/guide wasn’t interested in educating us much so we missed out on seeing the actual footprints of Hanuman! And it seems we forgot to take any pix of Raavan 😛
The story of Sita really troubles my feminist side though 😦
September 23, 2013 at 5:02 am
Never mind!!! An excuse to go back 😉 if one is needed! You and me both…spent all of my teens rabidly hating Ram and had countless arguments with all and sundry about how he was not half a man let alone a God! Now I’ve given up coz I know people will believe what they want regardless of facts and because it’s a myth after all…written by a man 😛
September 24, 2013 at 1:33 am
i concur with lady disdain..:))
September 22, 2013 at 7:38 am
That should be my takhallus!
September 23, 2013 at 5:04 am
The photos and story are wonderful! Who knew that crying a river of tears would help?
September 22, 2013 at 11:21 pm
The story is so long and action-packed it is perhaps much better explained by an Indian…I hoped brevity would make it simpler and thus perhaps more intriguing. My mind was all a -swirl looking at the actual river next to this little temple, tracing its path through the hills, down to the plains and making its way to the sea…and lotus flowers floating their way across miles of ocean to India!
So good to see you here Kathy! I have been having some fun on this blog lately with all my travel pictures 🙂
September 23, 2013 at 5:28 am
I re-watched the movie The Little Princess, a child’s movie, last week and this story interwove throughout.
September 23, 2013 at 10:46 am
Haha, that story made me so indignant! Hated Miss Minchin 😦
September 25, 2013 at 3:30 am
BAD Miss Minchin!
September 25, 2013 at 11:03 am
😀
September 25, 2013 at 11:21 am
Oh my, that temple is fantastic. Now – I must educate myself on the story behind it. Color me intrigued 🙂
September 23, 2013 at 2:02 am
Hahah….nice pun Heather! I wish Harsha could tell you the story…love her inimitable style of shedding light on the various Hindu gods…and goddesses! Which reminds me, here’s something Huz wrote about goddesses 😉 http://huzaifazoom.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/goddesses-of-south-india/
September 23, 2013 at 5:36 am
Wow, these images are simply stunning, Mun!
Sorry it has taken me so long to get here. Our container has arrived from the US, and we’ve been buried in boxes.
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
September 24, 2013 at 9:55 pm
Thanks so much Kathy, and for that I’ll let you off the hook 😉 Just kidding, I can just imagine how busy you must be! Best of luck sorting it all out, I’m really glad all your things have been re-united with you and hope it all arrived intact!
September 25, 2013 at 3:24 am