Temple complex at the foot of Shankarcharya Hill.
July. 2010.
Durga Nag Temple
Martand as described by Sir Alexander Cunningham
I mentioned writings of Alexander Cunningham in a previous post about Pandav lar’rey (House of Pandas, as Martand temple was common known among Pandits).
British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham (1814-93), as a young British Army Engineer officer was stationed in Kashmir after the first Sikh War of 1845-1846. In November 1847, he measured and studied most of the ancient structures that existed in Kashmir. Because of his pioneering work he came to be known as the father of Indian Archaeology.
I recently came across some more extracts from his work ‘An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited in the Temples of Kashmir (1848) ‘ while reading ‘Letters from India and Kashmir’ by J. Duguid, 1870. Here are the extracts describing Martand temple and its illustrations from the book:
From Shadipore by water, passing through Srinuggur, a three days’ journey brings you to Islamabad, near which are the ruins of Marttand. A series of steppes, called karayas, are a feature in the conformation of the valley, which is believed by competent judges to have once been a lake, and these table-lands its surrounding shores. The slow results of time, or a sudden convulsion of nature, forced a passage for the waters through the Baramula pass, and thus rapidly, or gradually, drained it of all but the eternal springs, sources of its existing lakes and rivers. In after periods of those remote ages when Kashmir flourished, these places became favourite sites for the erection of temples, the most celebrated of which, both in extent and splendour, was that of Marttand, dedicated to the sun. Instead of my incomplete description I now insert that of General (then Captain) Cunningham in his work on ” The Arian Order of Architecture” :-
” The temple consists of one lofty central edifice with a small detached wing on each side of the entrance, the whole standing in a large quadrangle surrounded by a colonnade of fluted pillars, with intervening trefoil-headed recesses. The central building is 63 feet in length, by 36 feet in width at the eastern end, and only 27 feet at the western or entrance end.
” It contains three distinct chambers, of which the outermost one, named Arddha Mandapa, or the half-temple, answering to the front porch of the classical fanes, is 18 feet square. The middle one, called Antarala, or mid-temple, corresponding to the pronaos of the Greek, is 18 feet by 4 1/2 ; and the innermost one, named Oorbha Griho, or ” womb of the edifice,” the naos of the Greeks, and the cella of the Romans, is 18 feet by 3 1/2.
” The first and middle chambers are decorated, bat the inner is perfectly plain and closed on three sides. The walls are 9 feet thick, and its entrance-chamber only 4 1/2 feet thick, being respectively one-half and one-fourth of the interior width of the building.
” On each side of the porch, flush with the entrance wall to the westward, and with the outer walls, the northward and southward, is a detached building or wing, 18 feet long by 13 1/2 broad, with a passage 4 1/2 feet wide, between it and the wall of the entrance chamber.
” The width of the passage between these wings being exactly one-third of that of the wing itself, the roof which covered the two would have been an exact square, the form required as the basis of the pyramidal roof of the Kashmerian architecture.
” Within, the chamber had a doorway at each side, covered by a pediment with a trefoil-headed niche, containing a bust of the Hindu triad.
” This representation was itself only another symbol of the Sun, who was Brahma, or the Creator, at morn, Vishnu, or the Preserver, at noon, Siva, or the Destroyer, at even.
” The chamber was lighted during the day by semicircular openings over the closed doorways on the three sides, but in the evening, as the entrance was to the westward, the image of the
glorious sun was illumined by his own setting beams.” The temple is enclosed by a pillared quadrangle 220 feet in length by 142 feet in breadth, containing 84 fluted columns. This number the Chourasi (84) of the Hindus is especially emblematic of the sun, as it is the multiple of the twelve mansions of the ecliptic (typified by 12 spokes in his chariot -wheel) through which he is carried by his seven steeds in one year ; or it is the product of his seven rays multiplied by the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The 84 pillars are therefore most probably intended for that number of solar rays. Thus, even the colonnade is made typical of the deity to whom the temple is consecrated.
” It overlooks the finest view in Kashmir, and perhaps in the known world. Beneath it lies the Paradise of the East, with its sacred streams and cedarn glens, its brown orchards and green fields, surrounded on all sides by vast snowy mountains, whose lofty peaks seem to smile upon the beautiful valley below. The vast extent of the scene makes it sublime, for this magnificent view of Kashmir is no pretty peep into a half-mile glen ; but the full display of a valley 60 miles in breadth, and upwards of 100 miles in length, the whole of which lies beneath the ken of the wonderful Marttand.”
A stream of water passed through the quadrangle, and is supposed to have been filled on ceremonial occasions. From General Cunningham’s description, Mr. Sulmann, an artist who has given much attention to the study of Indian architecture, produced the accompanying drawing, which may very closely represent the temple in its former glory.
Martand, as it must have been
From Marttand a short walk leads to the sacred springs and grove of Barwun on the plain at the base of the karaya. Seated near the tank a group of Hindoos surrounded a calf, which a priest, grasping the tail, poured water over, and prayed. He was consecrating it, to become a sacred bull in after-life. This operation completed, the calf walked off, and the priest with the devotees knelt beside the water. Before them was a tin platter of roasted maize, and continuing to drone in a loud voice not unlike a presbyterian preacher, they threw handfuls of the corn into the water, at which the fish rose on all sides. But when the prayer was ended and the remainder of the corn was thrown in at once, a hill of fish rushed at it, many supported above the water by the shoal of their companions below.
” Angler, wouldst thou be guiltless ? then forbear, For these are sacred fishes that swim here.”
-0-
Read complete An Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture, as exhibited in the Temples of Kashmir (1848) here:
Ganpatyaar in Photographs
Ganpatyar Temple, Ganpat Yarbal, near Habba Kadal
An ancient Ganesh temple of Kashmir.
Names engraved in stone.
Ancient deities at the door – Bhairav(? Update [2017: Vishnu, one face boar, one face lion, similar found from Martand temple]) keeps guard.
Ganeesh of Ganpatyar.
Wish.Threads tied to the window.
Residents.
Ganeesh Ghat School, right side wall of the temple.
Markings on the window indicate that it’s used as a camp by the security people.
I was told my maternal grandfather studied here till his third or second grade.
Right bank of Jehlum as seen from the Ganpatyar temple (also on the right).
Left bank of Jehlum
Jehlum, as it flows through Srinagar, is lined with ancient temples on its banks.
An empty house.
-0-
A security man posted at the gate said he’s from Chandrapur. I know the place, it’s near Nagpur in Maharashtra. In summers the temperature can go up to 47 degree Celsius and burn the skin off your back . He knows why he is here and doesn’t mix words while explaining it to the visitors. He said that the day they are out of here,’ none of this would stand’.
As I looked for the ghat, a Sikh security man explained that the ghat isn’t accessible from the temple.
food for isht devi Jawala and for birds and for squirrel
Monday was a big day, she kept a plate of yellow rice out in the balcony…not on the roof. its an offering to a god, birds and now some squirrel too. I come from a family of fire worshipers.
Monday was the day of my family’s Isht Devi – Jawalaji of Khrew, a place about 13 miles from Srinagar.
Here the temple dedicated to this volcanic goddess is built atop a 200 feet high hillock. I read that the kul devi cult arrived in kashmir in around 12th century with the rise of Shakti worship.
[Read more here]
I have never been to the place, but I have been told that the temple is actually in forest area and in old days big cats used to haunt the trails. I read that the last great volcanic flame, no less than two feet, was last recorded here in 1962. A six feet stone kept in the temple has turned black, facing fire all this time. It is holy.
Sheetala Mata of Yore. Or Jyestha Devi of Zeethyaar.
Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814), a French naturalist and explorer, between 1769 and 1781 traveled deep into southeast Asia and documented the religious practices, sciences, arts (and birds) of the places he visited.
In 1782 the account of his travels was published in two volumes under the title (french) ‘Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine, fait par ordre du roi, depuis 1774 jusqu’en 1781. Dans lequel on traite des mœurs de la religion, des sciences & des arts des Indiens, des Chinois, des Pégouins & des Madégasses‘ ( Journey to the East Indies and China, Undertaken at the King’s Command, from 1774 until 1781: In Which the Religious Mores, Sciences, and Arts of the Indians, the Chinese, the Pegouins, and the Madegasse are Discussed. )
Volume 1 was completely dedicated to India and Volume 2 covered the far east including China, Burma, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mauritius, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), Indonesia, and the Philippines.Volume 1 has some wonderful illustrations of Hindu deities (probably based on original bronze works)and Volume 2 had lot of illustrations of ‘new’ birds.
The book is available for free download at Google Books (Vol 1, Vol 2)
A finer and more detailed copy of these books was recently made available at the The World Digital Library – A UN funded project that let’s you browse the various cultures of the entire world, region by region, using many such scholarly old books. [You can check out Pierre Sonnerat’s work here]
As I browsed through the book, looking at masterly work of art, quite a few of the images turned out to be too tricky to identity the god depicted.
A post on my other blog details some of these interesting images and includes a slideshow of rest of the images of Hindu Gods from the old book.
The image on left, depicting an ancient goddess that the book captioned as Mou Devi, proved to be the most difficult and certainly the most interesting illustration of the set. It’s trail, much to my delight, led me to an ancient goddess temple in Kashmir, simply called Zeethyaar – located somewhere between hills of Shankaracharya and Mughal garden of Chasma Shahi. .
As I looked at the image of Mou Devi, I thought maybe it’s the goddess of measles or smallpox. But that’s Sheetala.
The french cation ‘déesse de la Discorde et de la Misere’ translates (thanks to google) as ‘goddess of discord and misery’
Has to be Sheetala of North, Harita/Hariti – ‘the green one’ – the goddess of smallpox from Gandhara art Kushan dynasty, the demon goddess of 500 children who was reformed by Buddha.
Mou Devi, who is this goddess – the one riding a donkey, and carrying a crow banner, the one not particularly ‘beautiful’ ?
Pierre Sonnerat, in his book, (again) mentions Moudevi and ‘Churing of Sea’ and (in this version) how it produced three goddesses – Saraswati (claimed by Brahma), Laxmi (claimed by Vishnu) and Moudevi (unclaimed).
Southey’s Common-place book added that Moudevi is often represented green.
A book called ‘Roles and Rituals for Hindu women’ by Julia Leslie (1992), that in details mentions a goddess named Jyestha, offered final clues.
Jyestha is often in Tamil called Kakkaikkodiyal (crow-bannered) the one who ride a donkey (Khararudha). Crow is the bringer of bad luck and femine. And the goddess often carries a broom.
In some parts of India, particularly North(in south as Mariamman?), she is identified as Sitla or Sheetala (Aha!) who also carries a broom and rides a donkey.
(Julia Leslie wrote her book, ”In none of the images at my disposal is Jyestha shown with a ‘vehicle’ or mount”. 1992, internet was in infancy. )
So who is Jyestha ‘ Elder’ – ‘Misfortune’?
The story , most of them lead to Sagar Manthan or Churning of the Sea. Apparently, she was the second thing that came out of the sea, just after poison, and finds herself unwanted as she is inauspicious. According to another story, she is in fact Mohini, the female seductress form of Vishnu who saves the Amrit (elixir) from Asuras (demons).
Religions de l’antiquité, tr. refondu completé et dévelopé par J.D. Guigniaut [and others] by Georg Friedrich Creuzer, published 1825, (french had a lot to say about Moudevi) also talked about ‘Moudevi’ and gave her alternate name as “Mahadevi and “Bhoudevi”, born of churning of sea, second wife of Vishnu.
But, Julia Leslie, in her book, did not link Moudevi with Jyestha. In fact, the name ‘Moudevi’ is not mentioned. Julia Leslie also mentions Lingapurana according to which Jyestha, the first one born from Sagar Manthan and married off to a hermit who couldn’t control her unreligious beliefs that make her, feel at ease among “the false mendicant (bhksubimba), the naked Jain monk (ksapanka), and the Buddhist (bauddha).”
According to some other traditions, Jyestha was taken-in by Eshwara (Shiva).
As I read about Jyestha and Eshwara, I remembered the Zeethyar temple of Srinagar that I visited in the summer of year 2008. The place, picturesque spot surrounded by hills, has a spring dedicated to Zeestha Devi. here also the story of her origin mentions churning of the sea.
The temple, where meat (particularly goat liver) offerings are still the norm, is situated at the foothills of Zabarwan in the vicinity (a mile) of famous Shankaracharya Hill spot of Shiv temple dedicated to Jyesthesvara. [Connection between two spots discussed in a previous post]
[ Images on the left: 1. An old photograph of Zeethyar showing a pandit standing next to the holy spring. The place now has a small temple in the middle of the spring(image 2), just like the one at Khir Bhawani, but the idol of Zeestha Devi, is certainly of recent date with a modern convention hindu look given to the goddess]
As I tried to look for stories and lores (thursday is her day) linking Smallpox and goddess at Zeethyar temple, the trail instead lead to another Goddess, the one seated at Hari Parbat.
Sir Walter Roper Lawrence (1857-1940), in his book “The Valley of Kashmir” (1895), documented the curious custom of Kashmiri Pundits regarding Smallpox treatment. He wrote:
It is a sad fact that the occurrence of smallpox has become one of the accepted customs of Kashmir, and the Hindus have regular ceremonies which must be observed when the disease attacks their families. When it appears that a child is sick with the smallpox, the first thing to be done is to sew rupees into his headdress. He is then placed in a separate room, and is surrounded by clay toys of horses, elephants, palankins, fans and sugar-cakes, water-chestnuts and shells. Until the pustules are developed the child is kept on rice and curd, and no salt may be given to the child or used by the mother or wet-nurse. A little fish or a piece of meat is always hung up in the sick room chhai ratan*, but while the smallpox lasts no meat may be eaten and no prayers may be repeated in the house. When the disease abates the rupees are taken out of the headdress, and are spent on rice boiled in milk, which is distributed to relations and friends. The room is cleaned and the toys and a plate full of rice are flung into the river. If the smallpox is very severe, Sitla Mata, the smallpox deity, must be propitiated, and offerings of sheep, goats, horses or donkeys, and eyes of gold or silver are made to her priests on Hari-Parbat. Forty days after the smallpox first makes its appearance chat jihun**, rice boiled in milk is again distributed to relations and neighbours.
-0-
*chhai ratan: Sh’ai Ra’tin (act of picking the sick spot) or is that Jaay’e Ratin (to pick a spot)
**chat jihun: Tchath’ji’hun (one who reached forty)
Shoe’til (word usually among Pandits) / Sho’e’tij(word usually among Muslims): Smallpox
Shoe’til ‘musil – the disfiguring marks left by Smallpox
-0-
I was 12 when I got my bout of Chicken pox – Mata, as it is called universally in North. Sure enough, I was confined to a corner of a room, an entire corner, a rare luxury as we only had two rooms for the family of seven. Then on the fortieth day, Khir – rice prepared in sweet milk – was prepared and distributed to the neighbors.
After I read about those Smallpox rituals mentioned by Walter Roper Lawrence, I talked around…but everyone instantaneously only recalled the Khir part. The practice of dead fish or meat being hung in the room, now certainly forgotten. Practice of feeding Shooshnaer (windpipe of sheep or goat), liver and heart of sheep to eagles at Hari Parbat is still acceptable, albeit often debated. However, no one associates the practice and the place with Smallpox – a disease whose governing goddess in her time was all power because of the death and destruction that she could bring, a disease so black that people would curse it upon their enemies.
Connection between Zeethyaar Shrine and Shankaracharya Temple
The Shiv temple atop Shankaracharya Hill was originally dedicated to a form of Shiva known as Jyesthesvara and is believed to have been (partly) built by King Gopaditya (253 A.D. to 328). The hill was known as Gopadri and even today, at foot of this hill, in south direction, there is a village called Gopkar.
The Shrine at Zeethyaar is dedicated to Zeestha Devi, a form of Parvati.
But interestingly enough, Aurel Stein, in notes to his translation of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, mentions ‘Zeethyaar’ as the spot of a shiv temple dedicated to Jyesthesvara (the name of the lingam present there) and the spot for holy Tirtha of Jyether. According to the Mytho-folklore ( based on Jyesthamahatmya), at this particular spot, Siva liberated Jyetha, i.e. Parvati, from the Daityas (demons) and on marrying her took the name Jyesthesa. [Check out his ‘Note C-i.124 Jyestharudra at Srinagari’]
Later, on page 453 he asserts:
“In Note C, i.124, I have shown that an old tradition which can be traced back to at least the sixteenth century, connected the takht Hill with the worship of Siva Jyestharudra or, by another form of the name, JYESTHESVARA (Jyesthesa). And we find in fact a Linga known by this name worshipped even at the present day at the Tirtha of Jyether, scarecely more than one mile from the east foot of the hill.
This Tirtha, which undoubtedly derived its name from Jyesthesvara, lies in a glen of the hillside, a short distance from the east shore of the Gagri Bal portion of the Dal. Its sacred spring, designated in the comparatively modern Mahatmya as Jyesthanaga, forms a favorite object of pilgrimage for the Brahmans of Srinagar. Fragments of several colossal Lingas are found in the vicinity of jyether and show with some other ancient remains now built into the Ziarats of Jyether and Gupkar that the site had held sacred from an early time. It is in this vicinity that we may look for the ancient shrine of Jyestharudra which Jalauka is said to have erected at Srinagar. But in the absence of distinct archeological evidence its exact position cannot be determined.”
Oddly enough, among the the Kashmir Pandit community, Zeethyaar is now mostly remembered as a “Devi” spot.
Images:
- Shiv temple on Shankaracharya Hill, as seen (zoomed in) from Dal Lake. June 2008.
- New Shiv temple at Zeethyaar Shrine, on the foot hills of Zabarwan.June 2008.
-0-
You may also like to check out my post (with photographs) on the Zeethyar Temple
Martand, House of Pandavs, Pandav Lar’rey
In 1889, Walter R. Lawrence, the British Land settlement officer in Kashmir, writing in Valley of Kashmir (1895), for the chapter Archaeology, quotes these line written by Sir Alexander Cunningham:
“The ruins of the Hindu temple of Martand, or, as is commonly called, the Pandu-Koru, or the house of Pandus and Korus – the cyclopes of the East – are situated on the highest part of a karewas*, where is commences to rise to its juncture with the mountains, about 3 miles east of Islamabad. Occupying, undoubtedly, the finest position in Kashmir, this noble ruin is the most striking in size and situation of all the existing remains of Kashmir grandeur.”
Pandavs, of course, still get credit for all kind of ancient structures strewn across India.
Sir Alexander Cunningham (1814-93), British archaeologist and army engineer, better known as the father of Indian Archaeology, as a young officer, was stationed in Kashmir after the first Sikh War of 1845-1846. In November 1847, he measured and studied most of the ancient that existed in Kashmir. On the subject of Martand, Pandavs and Ptolemy – the celebrated Greek geographer of the second century AD who lived in Egypt, Cunningham wrote: [The ancient buildings of Kashmir]
” are entirely composed of a blue limestone, which is capable of taking the highest polish, a property to which I mainly attribute the present beautiful state of preservation of most of the Kashmirian buildings; not one of these temples has a name, excepting that of Martand, which is called in the corrupt Kashmirian pronunciation, Matan, but they are all known by the general name of Pandavanki lari or ” Pandus-house,” a title to which they have no claim whatever, unless indeed the statement of Ptolemy can be considered of sufficient authority upon such a subject. He says ” circa autem Bidaspum Pandovorum regio ” — the Kingdom of the Pandus is upon the Betasta or (Behat), that is, it corresponded with Kashmir. This passage would seem to prove that the Pandavas still inhabited Kashmir so late as the second century of our era. Granting the correctness of this point there may be some truth in the universal attribution of the Kashmirian temples to the race of Pandus, for some of these buildings date as high as the end of the fifth century, and there are others that must undoubtedly be much more ancient, perhaps even as old as the beginning of the Christian era. One of them dates from 220 B. C.** “
The origin of the Sun temple of Martand is a bit blurry, but King Lalitaditya (A.D. 693 to 729) is believed to have built it. Cunningham mentions that the Rajatarangini credits King Lalitaditya as the builder of Martand temples. But, he further mentions:
“From the same authority we gather — though the interpretation of the verses is considerably disputed — that the temple itself was built by Ranaditya, and the side chapels, or at least one of them, by his queen, Amritaprakha. The date ‘ of Ranaditya’s reign is involved in some obscurity, but it may safely be conjectured that he died in the first half of the fifth century after Christ.”
-0-
* karewas: Kashmiri word for plateau like geographic formations found mostly to west of the river Jhelum and believed to have been created by draining of the great ancient lake that was once supposed to be Kashmir.
** Francis Younghousband in his book Kashmir (1911) mentions the temple believed to be dating back to 220 B.C. is Jyesthesvara Temple built atop a hill by Gopaditya (253 A.D. to 328). This is the site of present day Shiv temple atop Shankaracharya hill. The temple is first supposed to have been built by Jalauka, the son of great Emperor Ashoka, in around 200 B.C.
-0-
About the old Image of Martand Temple near Bhawan:
The Photograph was taken by John Burke in 1868 for Henry Hardy Cole’s Illustrations of Ancient Buildings in Kashmir. This and one more photograph was later was used in many other later publications. I found it in the book: Archaeological Survey India: Kashmir 1870.
John Burke (1843-1900) was an Irishman who came to India as an apothecary (pharmacist) with the Royal Engineers, but in 1861 became an assistant of an already established photographer William Baker, a retired Sergeant who had a studio at Peshawar. Between the years 1864 and 1868, the duo was one of the first to photograph Kashmir. Together they started the famous Baker and Burke Studio (1867-72). In 1873 Burke parted ways with Baker and started his own studios J.Burke & Co. in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore. The studio in Lahore opened in 1885 and was in business till 1903. Burke was also one of the official photographer to the army during the Second Afghan War of 1879 – 1880.
Here’s a slide show of old photographs of Martand temple taken from Archaeological Survey India: Kashmir 1870.
Some of these may have been taken by Samuel Bourne, a prolific British photographer who worked in India from 1863 until 1870. He first photographed Kashmir in 1863.
-0-
You can take a look at the book “Archaeological Survey India: Kashmir 1870” here at the digital archive of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
Photographs of Kashmir from 19th and early 20th Century
Found a great flickr album of vintage photographs of Kashmir from 19th and early 20th Century.
The uploader of the great album Richardasplen, says:
I’ve had them for over 20 years. They were to be thrown out as junk. The Albums were in an appalling state of repair. Each Photo had to be lifted from it’s rotting support to be saved.They came into my possession with a pile of books, equally rotten, given by a friend. There are 2 Albums, the first produced in the early 1890’s, the second between 1905- 1910/12.This second album has been annotated on the reverse of each photo, the first unfortunately not, so I’m unsure where most were taken.
The collection consists of over 200 photos.
The photographs are probably by Fred Bremner.But, a lot of them are never seen before kind of stuff
Here is the link to the album of old photographs
And a big thanks to Richard!
-0-
Mattan. Probably 1910.
-0-
Trip to Zeethyar Temple, Srinagar
June, 2008:
Zeestha Devi temple at Zeethyar ( Zeeth’yar/Jaishthethwar Shrine) in interior Srinagar at the foothills of Zabarwan mountain range. Earlier, one had to trek to this far off spot. But, now one can easily drive right up to the steps that lead to it.
Zeestha Devi Temple Spring.
Unlike, Khir Bhawani spring, the water here is stagnant and needs to be cleaned frequently. And unlike Khir Bhawani Shrine and like the Chakrishwar temple atop Hari Parbat, meat -(particularly tcharvan (fried Liver) with Taher(turmeric yellowed rice), can be consumed here.
Zeestha Devi. A lot of pandit families used to take Taher–charvan here. Government, circumventing few rules, on the initiative of a few pandit high officers, has recently built beautiful guesthouses on the slopes surrounding the temple.These guest houses are run by a trust. When I visited the place, it being a hindu, Indian tourist season – Summer, there were also a few non-kashmiri vendors selling Kehwa and frying thin Luchis in oil.
Gods, old and new, under the tree.
Shiv temple at Zeethyar against the back drop of Zabarwan hills.
A dense forest covers the nearby slopes and is home to a number of wild animals. A cousin of mine visited the place in 2001 and witnessed a very funny scene: A BSF guard on duty near the gate was regaining consciousness after having suffered a fear induced fainting attack. Moments ago, he had been approached by a leopard.
This Shiv Ling was earlier located at Ganpatyar temple and was moved to Zeeth Ya’r in around 1988. Most people remember it as Shiv-ling with a crack.
An old habit of picking gor-da’yel (some sort of local citrus fruit) from the wild trees near the entrance to shrine. Gor-da’yel are meant to be consumed after cooking. We took a lot of them and did cook and ate them later.
-0-
All Photographs taken by me in June, 2008.
