Kasi Yaathirai - 11

We had our lunch at a hotel opposite to Anandha Bhavan at 1 PM and entered this place at 1.30 PM. As you all are aware that this was the house of Shri Motilal Nehru / Jawahar Lal Nehru, where they lived for many years.

It is a sprawling house as they were the richest people of that time. We could see the study rooms, drawing rooms, bedrooms, dining room, Kitchen , Congress Conference hall (where important decisions of Congress committee taken during freedom struggle), the things used by Motilal, Jawaharlal, Indira.

We were privileged to see the letters (English & Hindi) of Nehru written in the year 1926 to “Indu” (Indira was 9 yrs old at that time). Some were showing affection, some were of highly informative. The reply letters of “Indu” (9 yr Indira) to her father are in English/Hindi/French.

Historic photographs from birth to death of Nehru, and childhood of Indira Gandhi are displayed in Anandha Bhavan. We could see the display of Will & Testament executed by Nehru and subsequent dedication of “Anandha Bhavan” to Government of India in 1971 by Indira Gandhi.

There is a permanent room earmarked for Mahatma Gandhi for his stay whenever he used to visit Allahabad and there is a balcony where Mahatma used to bask in Sun during winters.

We could the see the birth place of Indira Gandhi. It is in the adjoining building named “Swaraj”. In Swaraj building, in the form of a light and sound show, where Jawahar Lal Nehru’s youth, marriage with Kamla, his participation in freedom struggle, his decision to join Non cooperation movement were shown.

There is a memorial raised where Nehru was laid in rest for public / State mourning and his last remains were kept before it was immersed.

Some of the personal highlights of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru I reproduce for the sake of records.

Born on 14 Nov 1889, obtained his Graduation at the age of 21 years in 1910, got married in 1916 to Kamala at the age of 27. Indira Gandhi was born to them in Nov 1917. Kamala Nehru breathed her last in 1936 after 20 years of married life. Indira Gandhi was barely 19 years old at that time. Nehru departed heavenly abode on 27 May 1964 at the age of 75. On 25 May 1964, he was with Indira Gandhi at Dehradun and on 26 May, he spent his maximum time with lot of children.

Thus our sojourn with Nehru and Anandha Bhavan came at 5 PM. We felt as if we were living with Nehru, talked to him and were part of his family for those 3 ½ hrs. We returned to Varanasi at 7.30 PM and retired for the day after a much satisfied trip….

We returned to Chandigarh on 31 Dec in the evening by 3.30 PM after a memorable trip to Kasi. I must mention here that Vaishali’s cousin Sriram was there with us during our entire visit to all these places and fed me with details, which made me possible to write the blog on Kasi. I must also mention that by writing a series on Kasi, I have relived those wonderful moments…..

I end the series on Kasi. I hope you all have enjoyed it. I was getting positive vibes throughout in the form of encouraging comments, useful tips, uncovered information, which helped me to a great extent. I take happiness that I could make people who could refresh their memories and created desire in some of them (those who have not visited) to visit Kasi. Thank you all………………..

Kasi Yaathirai - 10

A visit to Allahabad was an afterthought. We did not plan for this trip while making plans to visit Kasi. Frankly, I did not have an idea. But after going to Kasi, desire to visit Allahabad was growing for following reasons. Triveni Sangamam being one and Ananda Bhavan (Where Motilal & Jawahar Lal Nehru lived) being the other. Allahabad is also famous where Big B had born and family members like Ramamurthy Athimber, Saroja Athai, Uma & Bala lived... I am not too sure about Satya.

We had arranged a Maruti Omni Van and started for Allahabad at 0630 hrs. We had our breakfast on way and reached Triveni sangamam at 0945 hrs.

TRIVENI SANGAMAM: As you all know the rivers Ganga and Yamuna meet at this place. River Saraswati is considered as “Antar vahini” (coming from earth) also meet at this place.

There is also an interesting dhanam known as “Veni (பின்னல்) Dhanam” exists here. The Veni Dhanam is a donation of pinnal of about 2 inches by a married lady on the belief that the lady wants same husband for 7 janma and whatever good things she is doing that should be passed off to her off springs and generations. We took bath at 10 AM. As explained earlier in Kasi Yaathirai - 2, taking a first dip was difficult because of winter and heavy mist even though it was 10 AM. But this time we were better prepared mentally as we had already had a wonderful experience at Kedar Ghat (Kasi). We must have had bath for nearly 30 min. The differences between Kasi and Triveni Sangamam are that there are no proper Ghats at Sangam and the river at Sangam was flowing at faster pace. The area is also slushy. After having enjoyed the holy dip for the second time in a space of 3 days, we went to Sayana Anjaneyar Temple which is very near on the river bank.

SAYANA ANJANEYAR TEMPLE: This temple is located nearby triveni sangamam. This is the only temple where you will find Anjaneyar in resting/sleeping posture. It is believed that Hanuman while going to pick up Chanjeevani had rested here for a moment. We could see the face of Anjaneyar and Ram / Lakshman on either shoulder in that posture. The remaining portions were entirely covered with garlands and flowers. Since it is at the same level as that of the river, this temple will be submerged when the river is in spate. We were lucky to have darshan of Anjaneyar as we could see His face very clearly. Then we went to Vimana Mandapam..

VIMANA MANDAPAM: This is a temple having three tiers. Managed by Kanchi Mutt. In the First tier 108 Jyothir lingams, all the sakthi peedams and the roll of Kanchi Acharyas are displayed in praharams. Moola Sannadhi is of Kamakshi Amman. The First Shankaracharya was there from 509 BC to 477 BC. Paintings depicting the life of Adi Shankaracharya and portion of Ramayanam are decorating the walls of temple. In the second tier, Moola sannadhi is of Tirupati Balaji. In the third (Top) tier the sannadhi is a magnificent Yoga Sahasra Lingam. The speciality of this Lingam is that on the main Lingam there are 1008 small lingams are engraved. We were mesmerized and stood there for almost 5 minutes… What a beautiful Shivalingam!!!!

VENI MADHAVAR TEMPLE: We could not visit this temple as it was closed.

In the next blog I will take you through, the Famous Anandha Bhavan, an expansive area, where our illustrious first Prime Minister lived……..