SEEING SPIRITUAL INDIA
Photographs of Temples and Culture of West India
By Stephen Knapp
This book presents 490 photographs of various temples, ancient architecture, festivals, historical sights, old forts, elaborately carved caves dug out of rocky hillsides, detailed stone carvings and art, and more of West India. This is meant to be a companion book that provides some of the photos of the places that are more fully described in my guidebook, “Seeing Spiritual India: A Guide to Temples, Holy Sights, Festivals and Traditions: 2020 Update,” which is more than 650 pages of information on places all over India and Nepal.
In this book, we enter West India by first visiting Jaipur, which is so unique and has so many temples and historical sites that you could do a book on Jaipur alone. There are big temples but also small temples that are nonetheless significant for the deities that they have. And many important deities from Vrindavana went to Jaipur to escape the invading Muslims who were wreaking havoc on the temples and deities. So, we will see a few of these in this book.
In this book we will travel from Jaipur all the way down to Hampi, just north of Bengaluru. Some of the places we will see include Pushkar, Jodhpur Jaisalmer, Nathdwar, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Dwaraka, Ujjain, the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Nasik, Mumbai, Pune, Bijapur, Badami, Goa, Hampi, and many places in between. We will definitely see holy places that numerous pilgrims and devotees dream of visiting, and also explore the varieties of changing architecture as we travel to different regions. Some are more historical and others are more important for spiritual reasons. This will give you a chance to see many areas that you may have wanted to see, or that you may not get the chance to personally visit. Either way, we will have an adventure traveling through a variety of towns and places through the western part of India.
Contents
Introduction 1
Starting in Jaipur 3
Ajmer 34
Pushkar 36
Jodhpur 42
Osian 49
Jaisalmer 51
Bundi 59
Chittorgarh 64
Nathdwara 68
Ranakpur 70
Kumbalgarh Fort 73
Udaipur 75
Mount Abu 82
Ahmedabad 84
Modhera 90
Patan 94
Dakor 96
Dwaraka 98
Somnath 107
Palitana 111
Ujjain 118
Kumbha Mela Festival 2016 in Ujjain 130
Indore 140
Mandu Fort 141
Omkeshwara 143
Aurangabad 146
Ajanta Caves 148
Ellora Caves 153
Nasik 163
Pandu Lena 169
Tryambakeshwara 170
Mumbai 176
Lonavla 185
Pune 187
Pandharpur 191
Kolhapur 195
Bijapur 197
Badami 199
Pattadakal 203
Goa 204
Hampi 207
About Stephen Knapp 223
Ordering Information
Paperback, $34.95, 230 pages, 8 1/2" x 11" trim size, 490 photographs, ISBN: 9798375118666.
ORDER IT FROM AMAZON HERE for a discounted price: