Devotees pour oil on a 67-feet Kiralu Bogi tree that was cut down for the Dhwaja Stambha to be installed at the Sri Panchalingeshwara Temple at Vitla near Mangalore on Tuesday. The temple is currently under renovation.
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
churumuri 
great colour ! one good programme with lots of colours is:
http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/
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There may or may not be god..but if there is god, it definitely would be ashamed of itself for creating such ignorant/stupid people.
What are they trying to do here?
Like one guy said ‘Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides People, Controls People and Deludes People’.
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“What are they trying to do here?” – Kadana Kuthuhala on ‘ignorant/stupid’ people.
How can you call them ‘stupid’ if you didn’t what they were doing? You, moron!!!
Let me tell you something – I am not religious and hardly go to any places of worship. It doesn’t mean that one can go around ridiculing others for their belief system, tradition and culture. We all do/practice things in our personal life that may not make whole lot of sense to others. It doesn’t make us ‘stupid’.
As much as I stay away from religion, I also know that a project such as renovation of a temple brings the entire community together. It matters a lot in small villages and towns. Idiots like you need to take a good look at yourself before ridiculing some villagers who are doing something from bottom of their hearts.
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Mr Shetty..I’m sorry to say this but ‘You are as deluded as those villagers are’..Completely blinded by faith, Devoid of reason
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Why are they pouring oil on that tree stump? Does anyone know the rationale behind this?
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Query. Is the oil meant to temper the wood?
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All such traditions are what keeps Hinduism alive and well.
This is the way forward! This is real beauty!
Let’s try and do these things in our cities as well. And they happen too..through every Ganesha pandal and in every Jatre that occurs.
Rationalists much like Liberals, love to live outside their skins.
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civilisations were built by such people. go to any place in the world and you will come back talking about their great architecture, painting, etc. you dont even know that what they are doing is a community act of ‘seasoning’ the wood which will stand still for the next 1000 years. bet you would call emeror ashoka also stupid and ignorant for erecting sthambas which we are still trying to understand how does not rust. it is the ignorant who call others names. get a life man, learn.
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Atheists- Marxists, Nazis killed tons and tons of people in last 100 years.
Marxists alone likked 100 million people.
Who divides people? The authoritarians who claim sole agency of truth. Examples are Judaism, Xtianity, Islam, Marxism- all originated from same semitic origin.
Hindu will never be authoritarian because it accepts all others are true.
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Subakka..let me clear one thing here. When I say ‘What are these people doing here’ does not mean what these people are doing with the wood. Instead of wasting time on such useless acts they can sit and discuss on how they can stop defecating in the public and build toilets or do something good for the sake of their own progress. These people have no toilet at home nor do they get clean water to drink but they have all the time in the world for such useless things.
We have enough temples, churches and mosques to enjoy architecture. We need homes for people to live and clean water for people to drink. I’m sorry to say this is not guiding us in that direction..
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@kadana kuthuhala,
everyone wants a good life, those in photographs will think about their improvement, why do you take so much trouble in advising them
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they can sit and discuss on how they can stop defecating in the public
Same to you!
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Why try to find fault with everything people do? They have every reason to believe in what they do. There is no need to comment if one doesn’t the background. Or, is it confined only to rituals like these which are confined to Hinduism? You can comment on anyything..Mahamasthakaabhishekha in Sravanabelagola, many fairs that are held in different parts of Karnataka in this season. People who have faith in such things go to them. Let them go. Is it worse than acts involving terrorism?
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Any thought process that does not evolve is dangerous. Because it is always, imposed. Moreover, it never really lasts in the absence of imposition.
Hinduism allows the freedom to evolve. Even Caste has evolved and will continue to evolve.
I cannot understand when folks who love to be free, willfully subject themselves to something that restricts that freedom.
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Not a witty nick: that was the best comment i have read fro a loooong loong time
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TM..this is not a atheist vs a believer debate. For your information hitler was a roman catholic. And to understand the atrocities committed by Joseph stalin one needs to understand russian history and not atheism. For example your own god Rama who performed ashwamedhayaga, if someone were to do that today..it would be considered as an act of terror…
If I sound like an atheist to you, you sound like an evangelist or like a mullah to me..
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Kadana Kutuhala – in a classic ‘communist’ style, not only questions what they were doing, but also suggests on what they should be doing! Honestly, it goes beyond his/her hatred towards local culture/traditions shaped up by religion. It goes onto show another face of his/her arrogant attitude of “I-know-what’s-best-for-you’!!
Without knowing the full details or the reasons behind, he/she doesn’t mind characterizing it as ‘time-wasting useless acts ’!! And, further lowers the quality of debate with his/her “discuss on how they can stop defecating in the public and build toilets” comment!! How do you know this particular village doesn’t have public toilets already? Again, so much for ‘reasoning’ skills!!
By the way, this is not about ‘Kadana Kuthuhala’. This is about those arrogant idiots who seem to think that they know what’s best for others and ridicule all the local traditions/cultures.
By the way, Barack Obama’s inauguration is set to cost more than £100m. I wonder if Kadana Kuthuhala has any ‘intellectual honesty’ left to suggest Americans on how they can spend the same amount and hundreds of thousands of man-hours on ‘building more toilets’ in poor countries? Or, all his/her critical reasoning is applicable only to some poor villagers??
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Hey Kadana Kuthuhala:
What’s your problem with what these people are doing?
Did they cut the tree from your land?
Are they doing that in your land?
Go and ask what Muslims do 6 times a day hitting forehead to the ground? Will you? Buy a life insurance before that.
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As long as there is no segregation with respect to public activities (other than self-imposed) – what problem can anyone have with customs?
Also this activity does not seem to be some ritual meant to hoodwink one set of people etc. It seems to be a community activity based on some practical need and maybe on old customs of the place.
Everybody has this in their family and personal lives too. What problem can anyone else have with that?
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Bomma – What is wrong with rituals? I can conduct my own can’t I? Who will I hoodwink then?
Kadana Kuthuhala here, if i’m not wrong, looks at this activity as a ritual. A useless one at that.
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Kadana Kuthuhala – You’re right on Hitler and Stalin. However, the thing to do is to ask if such characters as indeed someone like Mao could be born in this country.
You’re bringing up Ashwamedha Yagnya allows for you’re confused thinking. How is that an “act of terror”? Even by current standards?
My stance is that any tendency toward “mind control” by others, leads to authoritarianism. In our country, our traditions limit this hazardous “human nature”.
Hitler and Stalin’s ideology found fertile ground. That is the point.
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Palahalli self-styled Mr. Hinduism,
Read what I wrote fully:
“Ritual meant to hoodwink one set of people”
Whats right with that?
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“Also this activity does not seem to be some ritual meant to hoodwink one set of people etc.” – Leaves little to imagination.
Anyways, I have no quarrel with you if you’re not against rituals per se.
And yeah…I speak up for Hinduism. Something wrong with that?
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“And yeah…I speak up for Hinduism. Something wrong with that?”
Who cares?
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Hi Kadana Kuthuhala!
It was very interesting to read through the Kadana (meaning War in Kannada) of words ignited by your kuthuhala (meaning curiosity in Kannada) here! If you were just curious and asked the question what this people were doing, I would have simply informed you what exactly they were doing – just like Subbulakshmi (I really appreciate her answer!). But you also wanted to have some Kadana as you went on to add that God should be ashamed of creating such stupid people, thereby exposing your own stupidity! Looks like you are one of those who thinks that you are “Civilized” just because you can defecate behind four walls (without knowing ofcourse that you may be the cause for the stink in Kengeri if you live in Bangalore or for the stink in Dharavi if you live in Mumbai!!). For your information, 99% of the living beings on this earth (Except for few so called “civilized” people like you) defecate in the open and that does not cause any problem to the nature! No stink either!! Also 99% of the living beings on this earth do not have to go to school to “learn to live”. It is only because of “civilized” people like you meddling in everybody else’s affairs that people are forced to spend a quarter century of their lives “just learning to live”. People were living happily without having to build schools or toilets, before the so called “development” ! So, first please develop your own understanding, before questioning others and suggesting that they are wasting their time! I hope I have spent my time usefully in trying to put some true kuthuhala (without kadana) into you! I can give you all the details about the Vittal Panchalingeshwara temple and the process that you see in the picture if you are truly curious and want to learn something..But to learn anything useful, one has to be humble and learn to respect others first!
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Obviously you do, bomma :)
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Palahalli…You for sure do not speak for Hinduism or any religion for that matter..may be you speak for some inferior ethnic life style practiced in palahalli..
Radhakrishna, thank you for your comments..you should stop wearing woven clothes, stop reading or writing, forget computers or internet and many many things in life that happened as a result of development…
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Kadana Kuthuhala – “sigh”. I said “I speak UP for Hinduism”. Is “bomma” so contagious?
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Shetty was right – Kadana Kuthuhala seems to have more arrogance than ‘kuthuhala’!! :) :)
It’s interesting to see how people go around passing judgements (without knowing the details) as if they are above all.
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Everyone, I hail from the village of this temple (Vitla Pachalingeshwara temple). I work in Newyork in Behavioral Psychology and consider myself as someone who has seen east and west. Human bonding is the essence of every culture and people have followed rituals even in the west. Rituals are ways where people expereience bonding, caring and get a sense of belonging. My relatives also went and poured the oil to the same tree and what I admire is the sense of satisfaction and happiness they felt and not the logic of “why”. In this world of choice it is better than the choice of doing crimes and drugs. It gives them hope for tomorrow and also it brings together the communities. In United states also lots of rituals are followed. Human spirit is above east and west, traditional and modern and this is seen everywhere in daily life. Let’s respect it folks and let’s concentrate on being gracious and not judgmental.
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I’ve spent my first 17 years in this village. There are two factors ignored by ‘ignoramus’ like Kadana Kuthuhala.
1. This is not a stupid act. This was done for ‘seasoning’ the wood. In fact, this is not one-day event. This pole will be left out for months so the oil does its job.
2. Sense of bonding. This is nothing but a village verion of ‘team building’ excercise that you see in big corporations. It brings people together with a common purpose. A society can’t survive if people can’t bond with one another.
So, Kadana Kuthuhala, I have two suggestions for you:
– When you don’t know, please ask for details so you understand what’s going on.
– Second, please stop embarrassing yourself with your comments like “how they can stop defecating in the public “, when you had no idea about the village or the event.
Hope you learn and grow up.
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they shouldnt have cut down a 67 year old tree. such trees should be preserved, thats what i feel.
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Community bonding using religious activities are like opium. It will keep the masses quiet and blissed out. Also help them keep away the naxalities and class warfare.
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“Community bonding using religious activities are like opium. It will keep the masses quiet and blissed out. Also help them keep away the naxalities and class warfare.”
– It’s such a perverse manner of observing normal communal activity. This “sophist” neither respects these folks nor can he/she summon the will to fight Naxals or class hatred.
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Dear Sophist,
You probably thought you were very smart after writing those 2.5 lines filled with your ignorance, right? :)
Not just Naxalites, it also helps them keep away communists like you!! :)
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