Bom Shiva!

Gokarna, Karnataka - March 6-8


For the past four days we've been watching town grow as pilgrims, holy men + foreigners arrive in droves. Numerous makeshift stalls have been set up lining the main street in town, in addition to the regular array of shops selling are manner of religious icons + offerings, in the build-up to the annual Shivaratri Festival here in Gorkarna. It's a HUGE deal for Hindus and as this is the second holiest Shiva Temple in all of India besides the one in Varanasi - which we visited on a NORMAL day and was a very wild scene - there will be THOUSANDS in attendance for this 3-day spectacle. It's a reverent, carnival-like atmosphere. Which sounds like a contradiction, unless you're in India.

Priests put the finishing touches on small, mobile shrine

An entire village of stalls sets up overnight. Markets go hand-in-hand with festivals in India.

The festival officially begins on Shiva's birthday. The streets are jam packed and half the people are wet and carry stainless jars + plastic bags full of bananas, flowers and other offerings. The lines are long outside the two main temples in town and police men + women mill about to keep the peace. I see a few instances where the police do use their large sticks (called "lathi") quite firmly on skin to make their point. Along a big stretch of the main town road leading between temples + beach, hundreds of poor have set up tattered shade structures and sit on sheets. The pilgrims walk past and pour handfuls of rice onto each ones sheet. Some people toss rupees (coins) too at the bleaker cases - someone crippled by leprosy, a severe birth defect or elderly widows. It's a real reality check for me just how lucky I am just to be healthy.

Holy men, the poor, the crippled + the widowed line the streets begging for money

The narrow streets are thronged from dawn 'til late with pilgrims heading too and from temples and other rituals.

For a non-Hindu, much of the meaning behind Indian festivals + poojas (ceremonies) is vague. Sure, it's Shiva's birthday today, but what are these people really worshiping? Here was my experience...

I slipped off my shoes at the temple gates, leaving them in a pile with the rest. The stone slab floor was now cool beneath my feet as the sun had set several hours ago. In the dimly lit courtyard sat brahmins preparing platters of know-know-what and mixing concoctions in bronze pitchers (I saw banana, grass, herbs, milk + water going in). There were numerous small fires burning. All the while people prayed and chanted. The line of pilgrims pushed forward expectedly, each holding their own steel pitcher filled with water. Once in the sanctum, the air was hot and humid with the warmth of bodies. We each squeezed through a narrow doorway, guarded by police to keep people in order and prevent anyone from getting crushed in the fervor. The inner sanctum was sweltering, it's walls + ceiling pitch black from the hundreds? of years of burning butter lamps. People surged to the center of the chamber and fell on their knees. At first I couldn't see anything so I squeezed against the wall, patient, trying to get a glimpse of the mystery. Then I had it. Everyone was shoving fistfulls of leafy offerings + grass into a hole on the floor and pouring their pitcher of water over top. Only three hands could fit at a time and people aggresively rammed theirs in. The water ran off the edge of a spout out towards my feet and I ended up standing in a puddle of muck by the time I squeezed out of there, as clueless as when I had entered. What the f***?!

This bit I found online clarifies things a LITTLE...

Mahabaleshwar Temple, one of the seven Muktisthala shrines in Karnataka, is located at Gokarna in Uttara Kannada District. The Atmalinga of this temple attracts thousands of devotees. It is a huge shivling, which according to myth, got rooted here when lord Ganesh set it down on the ground. The atmalinga was granted as a boon to Ravana by Lord Shiva, which would make him all powerful. The gods who were terrified at this, approached Lord Ganesh to save them. Lord Ganesh managed to secure the atmalinga from Ravana and cleverly put it on the ground where it got fixed and could not be pulled out. The pull exerted by Ravana, is said to have caused the shivling to resemble the shape of a cow's ear and hence the name Gokarna (cow's ear). A golden rekha on the peetham, and a small hole in its middle permits devotees to have a glimpse of the top of the Aatma Lingam. The six foot tall shivling can be seen only once in 40 years, when the Ashtabandhana Kumbhabhishekam is performed. Before entering the temple, devotees usually have a bath in the sea and worship a shivling made out of sand.

Pilgrims pass offering stalls as they head barefoot to the beach for a holy dip

Pilgrims bathe in the Sea (clothes and all for the ladies) before entering the Temple

Pilgrims wait in line for their turn to make an offering to Lord Shiva at one of the temples

Men wash giant "Car" in preparation for the big pull

On the final day, a big influx of foreigners appears in town - everyone's dragged themselves away from the beaches (and quite lovely ones I might add) for the big event. In the absolute hottest part of the afternoon, people mill about under the towering "Car". Dozens of men walk around selling bananas to the willing male audience who test their strength launching the bananas at the "Car". No one seems to know WHY it's symbolic to throw them, but everyone loves the challenge. When the Brahmin (priests) begin making their way up the ladder into the Car to give offerings, their backsides become the new target for awhile to much accompanied laughter. This seems to drag on in the heat and I'm beginning to consider finding a seat somewhere when, without further ado, the ladder is dropped and the Car is MOVING! It's barreling right down on us too and we quickly squeeze back to let it pass by without getting trampled by the line of men that pull the thick, hemp ropes

Men decorate the "Car". Note that they are standing in front of the wheels.

The Car passes and the crowd moves in right behind it, following it down the street. The pace is quicker than we expected considering the massive size of the thing, and the human power. People cheer and a slew of yellow missiles attacks it from all sides. We meet up with our travelers we know. Everyone's in a good mood and we make jokes about bananas + Shiva lingams... wondering just what the Indian fascination is with phallus'. Again, it's one of those moments that happen Only in India and I again feel so fortunate to be here in this place. Right here. Right now.

Man selling bananas to throw at the "Car"

The massive "Car" and crowd during the pull down the main street of Gokarna

Check the "link" for more Photos from Shivaratri