Bharatmata Sadanam Kanyakumari

Just 2km from the southernmost point of India in Kanyakumari, there is the township of Vivekanandapuram, also referred to as the Vivekananda Kendra. The town of Kanyakumari has its links firmly established with Swami Vivekananda, through the most famous landmark in the town (or rather a little “away” from it into the sea) in the form the Vivekananda Rock Memorial.

The Rock Memorial itself was constructed to commemorate the fact that Swami Vivekananda swam to that very rock in 1892 and meditated there for 3 days, before attaining enlightenment there. It’s said that it was here that he gained the resolve which led to the foundation for his long impacting actions taken in the future, including the famous speech at the World Parliament of Religions in the very next year. The Vivekananda Rock Memorial was opened in 1971, the initial idea of its construction having been conceived in 1962 itself as part of the birth centenary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda.

The campus of Vivekanandapuram was also set up as part of the efforts, along with the setting up of the organization called Vivekananda Kendra, which is headquartered here. The campus contains several buildings which act as guesthouses for people who wish to visit the place and spend some time there. And it also contains a few temples, including this one which also houses the Ramayana Darshanam on its ground floor and the Bharat Mata Sadanam on its first floor. Both the floors are out of bounds for photography (which is a pity really!). The ground floor showcases a series of giant ornate paintings, about 100 of them, each about 4ft x 3ft, depicting the entire story of the Ramayana in a serial manner. Walking through the floor is quite an experience, which is beyond just the divinity that associates with this. The first floor has a giant statue of the Bharat Mata, a figurative representation of the country of India as a goddess. The floor also includes several other statues including those of Kumari, the sitting deity of Kanyakumari and of Swami Vivekananda.

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Chariot Temple | Hampi

The Temple in the form of a Chariot has become one of the iconic landmarks of South India and is almost used as a representative image for the architecture of the glorious Vijayanagara Empire, and is also printed on the currency notes of India! It’s located in the premises of the Vitthala Temple in Hampi, which along with numerous other monuments and temples in Hampi are included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1566 AD and hence most of the monuments in Hampi including the Chariot Temple are about 700 years old.

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