World of Books and Travel

Family Trip to Coorg - Part 5 Our last stop was at Golden Temple (also known as Tibetan Monastery). It is located 6 kms from Kushal Nagar, at Bylkuppe.  Established in 1961, it is home to more than 7000 monks and students and is still very calm and peaceful.             The main attraction of this place are the 40 ft tall golden Buddha statues. The temple  has three resplendent golden statues of Buddha Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava and the Buddha Amitayus. The walls of the temples and the institution are decorated with colourful paintings depicting gods and demons of Tibetan Buddhist mythology.   Tibetan festivals are celebrated with great gusto at the monastery.   It is a beautiful place with well laid out gardens   There are shops for the purchase of various Tibetan items.  They are a little overpriced, but good items are available.   As you enter this place, it  gives you an overall different and weird experience as though you are in a country outside India.  

Navarathri is an important festival of Indians.  This year Navarathri is celebrated from 1st October to 10th October 2016.  This 9-day festival is dedicated to Goddess Durga. In Sanskrit, the word 'nava' means nine and the word 'rathri' means night.  Hence this festival  is called Navarathri. The 10th day is  Vijayadashami  or Dasara. As per the legends, the Divine Mother Durga had destroyed the evil forces of demon Mahishasura during this time.   Vijayadashami is celebrated as victory of Lord Rama over Demon Ravana. This festival is also celebrated as victory of Goddess Durga over Demon Mahishasura. In Karnataka, it is celebrated as Dussehra (Dasara), and in West Bengal as Durga Pooja.