Santanu Mitra

If you are walking down the banks of the Ganges from Dashaswamedh Ghat towards Panchganga Ghat in Varanasi, you will come across a doorway tucked away between the larger architecture with a plaque giving directions to the Nepali Temple. Walking up the stone steps, a wonderful vista unfolds. Set in a tree-lined courtyard with a sweeping view of the river stands the Nepali temple. Done in the classic open brickwork and carved wood pagoda style stands a smallish temple dedicated to lord Shiva. The sanctum-sanctorum houses a large granite lingam. Made in the 18th century, the temple has a bounty of sculpture done in wood, intricate with an almost filigree finish. Over and above the usual religious motifs are the twelve stays to the first layer frieze depicting gods and goddesses.

Every one of them has a carved base showing erotica comparable to the temples of Khajuraho in central India and the Konarak temple to Surya in Orissa. Interesting, to say the least, considering that some temples in Kathmandu replicate the theme. What was it with the Hindus of the period, one asks. An almost pan peninsular urge one surmises, without really getting any closer to the answer. What is different with this temple, however, is the school attached to it. Funded by Royal court in Kathmandu, the school and hostel is aimed at teaching Sanskrit and the Vedas to young students from Nepal. As I walked down the shady cloisters with a floor to ceiling iron grill, I was met with the sonorous chanting of the Vedas. Using hand gestures that enable the students to memorise the actual inflections and emphasis to the mantras, the view brought to my mind the gurukuls in the deep south of India, in Tamil Nadu, where the same system is used to impart Sanskrit knowledge. Nothing changes, I thought...only the faces. And even then, the expressions would be about the same!

What a life it must have been, and is, I suppose, in these temples of learning. Simple living and high thinking. Mens sana in corpore sano, too! Living in an organic environment, in tune with the elements and oneself. Awaking at dawn and off to bed at sunset. A life filled with serious Sanskrit texts and soccer by the ghats. No television. A morning filled with the clanging of temple bells and the musical chanting of mantras shedding light on the secrets of life. A night full of more bell tolling, a river full of floating lamps and then delicious sleep. A head full of dreams. Asado ma sadgamayah, tamaso ma jyotirgamayah!