Patal Bhuvneshvar temple

बसतस्या महादेवः पातालभुवनेश्वरः l

ब्रह्माविष्णु महेशानां कृत्वैकत्वं नरेश्वरः ll

क्षयस्त्तिशेवगणाः सेवितु भुवनेश्वरम् ll

निवसन्ति हि पाताले महेन्द्रप्रमुखां इह l

Situated at the height of 1350 meters, Patal Bhuvaneshwar, a small village of district Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand is a place that has been bejeweled with Nature’s bountiful creations. There is a reference to Patal in Manskhand of Skandapurana. At this shrine, the natural rocks have taken the shape of the characters of the great Hindu pantheon, as if the gods had left their remnants behind after reposing in the cave. The hood of Sheshnag, the torso of Lord Ganesha with Sastradal Kamal hanging over it, Goddess Bhuvaneshwari standing guard with her weaponry, the cursed Hans (the swan of Lord Brahma) with his head turned, the heavenly tree, the Kalpavriksha, the udders of Kamadhenu, Jatas of Lord Shiva, the Saptahrishimandal, the thousand legs of Airavat, the elephant of Lord Indra are some of the features visible here.

According to mythology the temple was discovered by King Rituparna of Ayodhya. Once King Nala was defeated by his queen Damayanti. He asked Rituparna to hide him in the forests of the Himalayas with his face besmirched so that Damayanti could not recognize him. Both of them, with some warriors reached the deep of part of the woods, the Daruka Vana. On seeing a deer, the king ordered his men to catch it and announced chastisement for the man who allows it to escape. The stag escaped from the King's side.

The king followed the deer and reached a cave. He halted there overnight and sent back his companion, determined not to return without catching the deer. The animal appeared in the king's dream and asked him to give up the chase because he was not a deer.

The king worshiped Kshetrapal for two months. Kshetrapal appeared before him and informed that there lay the idols of all the Gods in the caves. He introduced Rituparna to Adisesha (Seshnag), creator of the cave.

Seshnag lifted Rituparna on his head and toured the cave all around for six months and sent him back with the warning that revelation of this secret place would result in his death. But unable to suppress the truth from his nagging wife (queen) he revealed the secret and lost his life. After sometime, with great difficulty, the queen reached this place. She went inside the cave with the help of a rope and later built the stairs. The queen could see only the idols and did not have Divyadarshan. On her return, the queen, described the region that had remained unknown for thousands of years, and later the Kings of Chand and Katyuri dynasties found this place on the basis of the purana. Emerging as a place of interest on the international tourism map, Patal Bhuvaneshwar is a wonder of the Nature. 

Life@NITIE

Swine flu has come as a respite to NITIEians who were struggling to keep pace with hectic schedules, at least this is true for me. Life at NITIE is hectic contrary to what suggested by our seniors. Our typical schedule is as follows:

9:00 AM: Day start at 9 morning. Nana comes early in the morning in my room and says '@#$%#% se class kub hai'. I am still trying to understand why Nana is obsessed with that part of Man's body so much that he speaks it in his sentences. I can remember the incidence when we were coming inside NITIE and security guard asks for I-card and Nana said '@#$%#% nahin dikhoon'. I still don't know whether Nana would have shown that part if he was asked to do so.

Meanwhile puppy wakes up from his bed and first thing he does in morning is calling his gf and 'chappu...' with her. 'Chappu' means speak in Telugu. He is the chillest person at NITIE. When everybody in NITIE were slogging their asses to get passing marks in statistics, Puppy was chill and chappuing with his gf.

9:20 AM: Time to stand on line at mess for breakfast, then swallow breakfast somehow in 2 min and rust towards 95 stairs of destiny. Somehow we reach Admin block after climbing 95 stairs. Here I normally go with Appu hathi. Appu hathi(aka lala) is a synonym of laziness. He reminds u of a typical halwai, whose belly goes first wherever he goes. Even when he enters in our room, his belly comes first and then comes his foot. Rumors have linked this belly to 'Bobby darling' aka boyfriend.

9:30 AM: Somehow we reach class and try to capture back seats.
9:30 – 5:00 PM: Emotional atyachaar in class. Who wants to study anyways apart from few junkies.

Evening in NITIE is cool. You can hear lot of noise around pond and giggling of students. Admin has recently installed lights around pond to prevent advances by lovers. I still don't understand why few kisses make admin so nervous. Maybe they could not do anything in their young days. Anyways lovers always find new areas for their activities.

During evening walks you can see Adi Baba giving gyan to his toli. This toli is increasing by bits and pieces every day. Adi Baba is a former sarkari engineer now having fun time in NITIE. He is one of the most respected person in NITIE( of course apart from me).