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ഊരമനയിലെ ചിത്രചുമരുകൾ | Murals of Ooramana Narasimhaswamy Temple | Ernakulam | Kerala

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ഏറെ ഒന്നും അറിയപ്പെടാതെ , എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയിലെ മധ്യഭാഗത്തു സ്ഥിതിചെയ്യുന്ന ഒരു ഗ്രാമമാണ് ഊരമന. എന്റെ ഗ്രാമമായ രാമമംഗലത്തുനിന്നും മൂന്നു കിലോമീറ്റര് അകലെ മുവാറ്റുപുഴ ആറിനോട് ചേർന്നുകിടക്കുന്ന ഈ ഗ്രാമത്തിൽ മധ്യ ചരിത്ര കാലത്തെ ഒരു ക്ഷേത്രമുണ്ട്.ഊരമന നരസിംഹ സ്വാമി ക്ഷേത്രം. കിഴക്കോട്ടു തിരിഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്ന നരസിംഹമാണ് പ്രതിഷ്ഠ . രാമമംഗലത്തും പരിസര പ്രദേശത്തുമായി വൈഷ്‌ണവ മതത്തിന്റെ പ്രചാരം ഉണ്ടായ കാലത്താവാം ഇതിന്റെ നിർമാണം എന്നും , വിജയനഗര ഭരണകാലത്താവും ഈ കുടിയേറ്റം ഉണ്ടായതെന്നും അനുമാനിക്കുന്നു. രാമമംഗലം ബാലനരസിംഹ സ്വാമി പേരും തൃക്കോവിൽ, മേമുറി ഭാരതസ്വാമി ക്ഷേത്രം, മാമ്മലശ്ശേരി ശ്രീരാമ സ്വാമി ക്ഷേത്രം , മുളക്കുളം ലക്ഷ്മണ സ്വാമി ക്ഷേത്രം , മാമ്മലശ്ശേരി നെടുങ്ങാട്ട്‌ ശത്രുഘ്‌ന ക്ഷേത്രം തുടങ്ങിയവ, ഊരമന ക്ഷേത്രത്തിനു സമകാലീനമായി ഉണ്ടായതാവാം എന്ന് ഇവ തമ്മിലുള്ള ബന്ധത്തിൽ നിന്നും അനുമാനിക്കാവുന്നതാണ് . ഈ ക്ഷേത്രങ്ങളോടെല്ലാം അനുബന്ധമായി കാണപ്പെടുന്ന, ഭഗവതി, ശാസ്താ, നാഗത്തറ തുടങ്ങിയ മൂല സ്ഥാനങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നും വൈഷ്‌ണവ മതം പ്രചരിക്കുന്നതിനുമുബ്ന്പ് ഇവിടെ പ്രാചിന ദ്രാവിഡ വിശ്വാസങ്ങൾ നിലനിന്നിരുന്നു

Fort Cabo de Rama , Goa- A Fort that never witnessed a war

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  History and legend of Fort Cabo de Rama, Goa Fort Cabo de Rama My Journey Goa is known for its beach and casinos. But, this stretch of land, sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, also harbors many rock art sites, prehistoric monuments, Buddhist caves, temples, and historical monuments etc with rich history. After visiting a prehistoric rock art site at Panacimol,  Mr. Andrew Lewart (a British Scholar) and I were driving downhill to Canacona beach through a barren hillock in Cola Village . It was during the last few days of tropical winter. For miles, all around, the laterite outcrop of the hillock wears a golden carpet of dry grasses. Trees seldom appeared, apart from some isolated patches of cashew trees. Herds of Brahmin cattle were roaming around the grassland desperately searching for greens. Brahman cows of Goa have

Lodge Heather No.928, Munnar

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My association with Munnar turned to 3 decade now. I first visited Munnar in 1987 when I was a student. The highlights of Munnar in that time are drizzling, (noolmazha) mist and teagardens. I used to walk through the old and broken road aside the catchment of Head Works Dam.  It is one of the loneliest pathways in Munnar, through which one can walk and enjoy its nature. The thick reed bed of the catchment is home for many species of waders and warblers. Like on nature, my interests browsed through the old monuments of Munnar. The hanging bridge named after Princess Margret, the Churchill Bridge, CSI church and its old cemetery,  Head Works Dam - part of first hydroelectric project in Kerala A green trail for nature walk aside river     High range club etc bears the relics of colonial period. There was an old broken hanging bridge across the river near Munnar bears the memory of few school children who drawn in a heavy monsoon. Among those monuments, an abandoned regular b

Depictions of Banana in Rock Arts of Aanamalais

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Naturalistic depictions of two genera of wild Banana in rock art corpus of Anamalai valley shows that ancient people of the valley were used the progenitors of cultivated banana at least from Megalithic period. Ensete superbem and Musa acuminata ( bermanica ) are the two wild species depicted in Attala and Chinnavendru rock art respectively. Both the caves are located inside the political boundary of state of Kerala, Southern India.  Musa acuminata is one of the progenitors of domesticated bananas in the world.  It supports the theory of spontaneous evolution of domesticated banana in Western Ghats . Naturalistic depictions in rock arts indicate close relationship of ancient man with their environment, especially plant and animals. It helps us to draw ecological history of the area. The rock art corpus of Anamalai Valley East encompass and area of about 150sq km of forest in South Western Ghats Landscape. This geographical region falls in the political boundary of Kerala an

WOOD WHO BURIED IN WOODS

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WOOD WHO BURIED IN WOODS Hugo Wood- 1870 to 1933 Grave of Hugo Wood Anamalai Tiger Reserve is the largest protected forest in South India with varied type of forests. From tropical wet evergreen to dry thorny scrub forest, the tract passes through moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, high shola grassland, tropical dry deciduous to thorny scrub forest in leeward. It harbours hundreds of species of plants, animals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals with high endemism. Topslip , near Pollachi, bordering Parambikulam Tiger Reserve of Kerala is the head quarters of the Anamalai Tiger Reserves . It consists of National Parks, sanctuaries and Tiger Reserve. Topslip is the only open area for tourism in Anamalai. My first visit of Topslip was in 1997. From 1997 onwards I became a frequent visitor of these forests as a naturalist guide, leading groups of wildlife enthusiasts.  I walked along the wet evergreen forests of Kariayanchola National Park, Pandaravara grassland, Mar

Depictions of Animals in cave paintings of Anmalai East

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Animal motifs in Cave Paintings of  Great Migration Corridor of Western Ghats- Archeo-zoological approach. The cave paintings of Great Migration Corridor give us vivid pictures about man and animal relation during period of culture existed in the region. Simultaneously we can draw a clear conclusion about the period of cave paintings in the area. It works on both way and benefited for a clear study about man and environment analysis of the culture. There are 22 cave paintings discovered so far. Innumerable number of megaliths and other archaeological monuments seen in the area near to the paintings is more important and interesting.             Presently 90% of the area is under forest cover. A close analysis of the landscape ravels that majority of the area was under shifting cultivation, except few section with permanent agriculture practiced. Only 10% of the area is of primary forest, rests of all are secondary degraded forest. We can see many dom