Hymns in Marble

Tuesday 20th May

- new friends
- interviewed for Indian TV (since we have already done film work, there is only the theatre left!)
- the Jain temples at Dilwara
- suits you, sir!
- festival fireworks

the best laid plans in India rarely proceed unencumbered, but if our thoughts of doing nothing today did not come to pass, we had no complaints. by the end of it, we had made new friends and been wowed by a set of temples so magnificent that even someone with shrine fatigue would have been left speechless.

we got up late, so late in fact that we set a new record. one might almost think that we were on holiday. we took a leisurely breakfast at around 10am, full of fruit and Vitamin C things - at last! a group of Indian men were already drinking beer, slightly drunk and loud, while their wives and families sat separately at breakfast - we would have done as well. the Indian men that we have come across do seem to have a low tolerance for alcohol, but nearby Gujarat is India's only dry state, so anyone coming North to Mt. Abu is often keen to get on the sauce.

after they had let, a Western gentleman took their place and the cosmic reason for our late rising became clear. Jeremy was from Plymouth and about as British as one can get, in all the best possible ways. healthily tanned, with a wry smile rarely absent beneath a salt and pepper crop and matching stubble, we introduced ourselves and were soon getting on like the proverbial. he had inherited some money and had been travelling the world for six months, having been waylaid in Chile for a while for the delightful reason of having fallen in love. the object of his affection, Karina, soon joined us. younger than he, she was an energetic whirlwind of long black hair and original tattoos, always topped off with a photogenic smile. they were an excellent match and very clearly infatuated, which was rather sweet. we seemed to be fine foils for them as well, chatting for 2 hours before any of us noticed the time. they were planning a trip to the Dilwara temples and invited us along, so we separated only briefly to get ready before meeting up again.

Karina's infectious energy had obviously permeated across most of Mt. Abu. she and Jeremy had been here for several weeks, although he'd gone to Kathmandu in the middle of this period and she had busied herself bewitching the town's citizens, all of whom appeared to at least know her and many of who now considered her part of their family. we stopped at a chai stall under a tree run by a man with the world's most crooked, toothiest and certainly largest and most readily proffered smile. he was to become a fixture of our days in Mt. Abu and would always lighten our mood. then on to Sanjay's, a tailor and accompanying family who had adopted Karina. a day previously, she had agreed to be filmed for Indian TV about the local festival and the Dilwara temples as a Westerner in Mt. Abu but, since she turned up with three additional viewpoints, we were all interviewed for the broadcast. the small crew did several takes, asking questions to each of us about the festival and temples, neither of which any of us had yet seen. the thrust of their piece was that photography should be allowed in Dilwara - it isn't, it's banned - just like at Ranakpur and other Jain sites. Jeremy misunderstood their angle but spoke for all of us by saying that it was their temple, so they could make the rules, which led to us all - on request - about-facing for take two and stating that, as Westerners, it was a real shame that we could not take photos there, and that this ought to be changed. it was an excellent example of balanced, responsible Indian journalism.

Jeremy was wearing a shirt that Edd rather liked, made by Sanjay, so we agreed to come back later and get ourselves measured up for some clothes. the TV crew gave us a lift the 3km along the winding road to the Dilwara complex. on the way, the interviewer asked us what we thought of the temples, clearly still not having understood that we had not been. the entrance to the five temple complex is reached beyond a whole street selling snacks and yet more tourist tat, then hidden behind a dull frontage where shoes must be deposited, as well as pretty much everything else that you may be carrying. being Jain temples, the usual rules apply; no food, no drink or leather - or menstruating women. or cameras, of course.

the first to be visited was small but intricate, as we picked our way through considerably boisterous festival crowds observing the signposted request for respectful silence as only Indians can by talking or shouting. Jeremy and Karina had not seen many Jain temples and thought it quite impressive, but we knew and they soon discovered that the two main temples at Dilwara, though relatively plain and simple on the outside, go into overdrive on the interior detailing.

the main temple at Ranakpur had size and undiscovered quiet as two of its three selling points, along with (for Edd's money at least) unmatchable carvings, but to try and say it is better or not than the two key temples at Dilwara is a futile exercise in splitting hairs.

it is sometimes very difficult to convey in words the detail and precise nature of beautiful art, especially when you are forbidden from making digital copies. the Dilwara temples - particularly the Vimala Vasahi and the Neminath - are a lesson in stretching and then breaking superlatives. we'd seen exquisite carving in marble before and it would be entirely reasonable to think that we might be templed out, but even six weeks of devotional worship in stone had barely prepared us. with the clear exception of Ranakpur, this was remarkable and bewildering intricacy. every wall, ceiling and pillar in both the main temples is completely covered in carving made purely from large marble blocks. many are like fractals, each inspection revealing more detail, which on closer analysis reveals more, and so on, until you are punch drunk on the complexity. they have been described by many as the most detailed marble carvings in the world and you can well believe it. the temples were vandalised, or in some cases destroyed, by Muslim invaders on a number of occasions since the first was constructed over 800 years ago, but they have always been rebuilt or repaired exactly as they had been - you can see the newer marble pieces of you look close enough. the adornment range from the usual busty dancers, nymphs and gods to repeating sculptural motifs and friezes. even with the heavy festival crowds, our attention was only on the walls and ceilings, even if their gaze was frequently and inexplicably more on us than their surroundings! each temple is bordered by a dual walkway around the walls on the inside, each section marked overhead by a separate piece de resistance, with a separate shrine for each and every alcove with an accompanying cocoon of embellished pillars and wall sculptures. it's almost too much to bear, and certainly too much to take in on any one visit.

feeling giddy after the Vimala Vasahi, the Neminath finished us off. still greater white marble heights are achieved within its unparalleled designs, highly accentuated serpentine archways and brackets draw your gaze up to one of the many large domes overhead, each featuring breathtaking relief in almost complete three dimensions and concentric circles, a feature it shares with the other temple. single pieces of marble carved almost all of the way around brought the figures to invigorating life; whether it was gods grabbing a handful of Amazonian dancers, demons' heads leering from archways, lotus and mango leaves overhead, shells on the floor around entrance ways or figures riding elephants, horses and birds by the floor or as brackets above pillars. many of the figures were so lifelike that they had even been carved small, lifelike pot bellies, a sign of wealth and prosperity in India. here, too, above your head in the ceiling were linear progressions of processions and events or stories. it's worth stressing again that every single surface bar the floor is completely covered in carved magnificence.

one recurring theme is figures radiating out from central, wedding cake projections that thrust out of the ceiling by up to a foot or more, delicate marble stalactites erupting as if from the middle of Busby Berkeley dancing girls viewed in symmetry from above. one alone would be a sight in itself; en masse, it's visual overload par excellence.

the temples were still very busy indeed with Indian visitors, due to the ongoing festival, but we hardly noticed them until they spoke to us or appeared in front of us pointing. even the central shrines themselves with their black stone deities held little to detain us from their amazing surrounds.

at the far wall of the Neminath, a screen of unusual and varied three dimensional patterns shielded a startling collection of large marble elephants in a regimented row, each with lifelike ropes and reigns carved around them. in common with many figures in the temples, still finer detail brought out aspects of their hides in the patterned verisimilitude of their chiselled ceremonial attire. such effects elsewhere highlighted fingernails, the individual faces that every single figure possesses, the hilt of a sword or the working parts of a musical instrument. it's unlike anything one can imagine and, apart from Ranakpur, unlike anything we have ever seen.

clearly, we'd love to have lots of photographs of the temples here for you to see, but as we mentioned, you're not allowed to take your camera in. you can get postcards of the temples, which we did, and somebody else has already put them online (a series of 12 images, each detailing a different stunning temple aspect). of course, neither this linked website, nor our blog, owns the copyright for these images.

rest and contemplation seemed like a fine idea after the Dilwara temples, but first we all stopped off for a wildly tasty kustah puri street snack, pastry based concoctions of tomato, onion and - as usual in India - several unidentifiable ingredients. we piled into a jeep to pop back to Mt. Abu, agreeing to meet up again after an hour or so of our own things. Karina and Jeremy have both been taking classes with the Brahma Kumaris people out of interest, rather than because they would like to join them. they don't agree with all of their ideas but cannot fault their actions.

by late afternoon, we were back at Sanjay's, getting measured for tailored shirts and trousers that might actually fit (in Edd's case) and trousers, tunics and waistcoats to specific order (Philippa). Edd stayed to finalise what he wanted, while Philippa popped up the road to have a haircut from a street side barber who spoke no English but got instructions from a neighbour who did. although he had no 'machine' (clippers), he was a master with the scissors and threw in a professional neck-cracking head massage with ayurvedic oils as well. Philippa proclaimed it very invigorating, if a little intense; Edd decided to also get a cut and shave. tomorrow.

back at the hotel, Edd tried on a calf-length white shirt in silk georgette, covered in hand-worked embroidery that Padme, one of Sanjay's sons, had given him to try out. can't see that sales technique working in the West - yeah, just take it home, if it doesn't suit you, bring it back, no charge, no deposit. [Edd - I'd balked at even taking it back, so convinced was I that it would not suit, but I have to admit that it was better than I would have ever hoped for and had become a serious purchase consideration!] having arranged to meet Jeremy and Karina again in the evening on their invitation, we popped back to Sanjay's, intending to be brief but eventually spending a while as Edd tried on three separate versions of his new georgette creation before deciding he preferred the one he had started with all along and purchasing it.

retracing our steps once more, we met up with Jeremy and 'Mt. Abu's Friend' Karina for our evening plans over some refreshing drinks at the Shri Ganesh. we spoke with a Spanish girl on an extraordinary-sounding year plus tour of China and South East Asia, studying and practising massage, along with a pleasant and reserved Belgian, two of the hotel's few non-Indian guests at this, the busiest time of year for the hill station.

Philippa, Jeremy, Karina, chai-wallah, Mount Abu.

ever the buzzing organiser, Karina had arranged chilled mango pulp via the chai-wallah on the way to Sanjays, and it was undoubtedly one of the most refreshing drinks that we have ever had. a lot of superlatives today! light on our feet after that - and once we had evaded the clutches of a drunk Gujarati and his sober and highly embarrassed nephew - we strolled the raucous crowds of the main bazaar, for once a few Western tourists among hundreds of our Indian counterparts and at least half invisible as a result. dinner was Gujarati omelettes, masala omelettes packed into a fried bread sandwich; corking, tasty grub. the owners here as everywhere else greeted Karina as a family member - she had certainly been busy in Mt. Abu (although picking up a lot of Hindi very quickly with practice had obviously helped).

the final evening of the festival had regional music on a main stage in the polo ground; vibrant, pulsing percussion, singing and instrumentation that no-one was dancing to; due to it being devotional music, this would have been considered inappropriate. well, when we say that no-one was dancing to it, we couldn't help a brief flirtation with rhythmic movement. Karina had to dart off to make another appointment with yet more members of her extended family, so Jeremy came back with us to the hotel. we sat on the roof next to their room and watched some brief but fun fireworks conclude the festival.

after the richest of days, one where the universe really likes you, we finally turned in. we were just ready to sleep when one of Mt. Abu's many periodical power cuts turned the whole town black for some time. shortly after the power returned, another longer and more spectacular display of fireworks signalled the true end of the festival celebrations.

the day had been a wonderful release after all the bad days of travelling and occasional misery that we'd recently experienced. we went to sleep with our heads full of delicacy in marble, taste buds still singing with new tastes and happy in the knowledge that we had made two good, fast friends.

take good care, everyone

edd & philippa