Over the last few weeks, I have been writing about the shrines of Ladakh I had an opportunity of visiting during my trip with Mantra Yatra in August. This is the fourth and last part of the series. You can read the previous parts here: Part I Part II Part III This post is about the magnificent Thiksey Monastery in the Indus Valley at an altitude of about 11,800 feet. It is a twelve storied building, comprising of shrines, statues, thangkas, library and nunnery spread across a majestic courtyard. The walkway leading to the Thiksey Monastery The Thiksey Monastery i ..read more

  The beauty of Nubra Valley as seen in Diksit In the series of posts I have been writing in Aalayam Kanden on the shrines of Ladakh, which I had an opportunity to visit with Mantra Yatra in August 2024, the third post is on the Diskit Monastery, the oldest and largest monastery in Diksit in Nubra Valley. You can access the earliest posts here: Part 1 & Part II. Nubra, in the North eastern part of Ladakh bordering Baltistan, is among the latest districts announced by the Central Government in August 2024. Its Tibetan name is Dumra which means the valley of flowers ..read more

  Entrance of the Shanti Stupa, Leh In the series I am writing on the Shrines of Ladakh, which I visited with Mantra Yatra, this post features Shanti Stupa, the World's highest monument of peace. The earlier post on the Gurudwara Pathar Sahib can be accessed here. The beautiful circular platform surrounding the Shanti Stupa Shanti Stupa, a beautiful white dome of peace is found atop a hill in Chanspa, about five kilometres from the city of Leh. It was built by the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order of Japan, founded by Nichidatsu Fujii, popularly known as Fujii Guruji ..read more

 Recently I had an opportunity to visit Ladakh along with the lovely group of travellers brought together by Balaji Davey of Mantra Yatra. The trip ranged between 12000 and 18000 feet, across peaks and valleys, rivers and palaces, monasteries and tents, providing the group with a kaleidoscope of visuals. Ladakh is definitely a must-visit for all Indians. The sombre Himalayan desert, the difficult terrain and altitudes and the trying conditions of the Siachen Glacier in which our brave soldiers guard our borders is a live lesson in patriotism and our respect for their sacrifice and se ..read more

This is a series of articles on the temples of Nepal which I had the opportunity to visit with Balaji Davey and Mantra Yatra. This is not a paid partnership. The first two parts of the series can be found here - Part 1& Part 2 . Day 3 commenced at Pokhara. It was our base station before we set out on the Muktinath Yatra. Pokhara is the capital of the Gandaki Province and the second busiest city after Kathmandu. It is also known as the Trekker's Paradise as it serves as the base and recharge unit for all those who visit Nepal for mountain tourism and trekking. The word Pokhar ..read more

 In the first part of the Nepal Yathra series, we had covered the visit to Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. On Day 2, we started to Pokhara from Kathmandu. Although there are flights available from Kathmandu and Pokhara, we took the road with a view to visit Manakamana Devi temple on the way. The bumpy ride from Kathmandu to Manakamana Devi Temple The distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara is less than a hundred kilometres, it takes over five hours by road as there are road improvement works currently going on. However, our driver Manish steered the vehicle as smoothly as he c ..read more

Visiting Nepal and its temples had been on the cards for me for a long time now, even before the massive earthquake of 2015 that damaged many temples across the Kathmandu valley. Similarly, I have known Balaji Davey of Mantra Yatra, ever since he was recommended by a mutual friend for a proposed Bhutan trip, but I never got around to actually going on a trip with them. So when I saw an announcement for Nepal Muktinath Yatra from Mantra I had to get on it. It was my first ever time on a group tour and we were very happy with the manner and pace in which the entire trip was rolled out. I look fo ..read more

The entrance to the Murugeeswarar Temple, Thaiyur I had been invited to visit the Murugeeswarar temple at Thaiyur by Kaushik, a long-time volunteer of the Aalayam Kanden Trust, about three years ago. However, due to personal and COVID-19 situations, I was unable to do so. During this time, some of my blogger colleagues had the opportunity to visit and write about this temple. Generally, Aalayam Kanden focuses on temples that are not popularly featured, as I do not believe in competing with fellow bloggers. So when I was invited again a few days ago, by Mr Uma Magesh, who takes excelle ..read more

Shri Nateswara Swamy Temple, Aavarani Pudhuchery Some temples are unique and the joy one gets while visiting them is immense. The purpose of Aalayam Kanden is to identify these lesser known gems and to highlight them so that those in search of such temples can visit and experience them easily. A couple of years ago, I had written an article on the Aavarani Ananthanarayana Perumal temple in Nagapattinam district, where the gigantic 21 feet Perumal is bedecked with beautiful jewels rendered through the hymns of  Thirumangai Azhwar. The link to the article is here. Just on ..read more

  The Adi Annamalai Temple in Tiruvannamalai Come Margazhi - Tamil Households, temples and sabhas come alive to the hymns of Thirupaavai and Thiruvempavai, songs that sing the glory of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva respectively. While the former was rendered by Andal, the latter is to the credit of Saint Manickavasagar, one among the quartet of Shaiva saints who sang hymns in praise of Lord Shiva.  Thirupaavai and Thiruvempaavai have a couple of similarities - the singer along with female friends is observing the "Paavai Nonbu", a ritual followed by unmarried girls during the m ..read more