Afloat, usually on water. This week’s WordPress photo challenge entry shows what looks like a type of boat used in festivals in Port Louis Harbour in the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius. The photo was taken on a particularly bleak day during cyclone season after torrential rain. I was stranded in the hotel as all access, via water or land was cut-off with flood waters. The government of Mauritius declared the day a public holiday early in the day as many of the island’s inhabitants were badly affected by the inclement weather and could not get to work.
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This entry is part of WordPress’ weekly photo challenge. This week the theme is Afloat. Click here to see other entries in this week’s challenge.
This statue of Lord Shiva stands proudly at the entrance to the sacred Hindu site, Grand Bassin, on the beautiful Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
This statue is the second tallest statue of Lord Shiva in the world.
It stands at 108-feet-tall (33 metres), with his trident at the entrance of Ganga Talao (or Grand Bassin), and is a faithful copy of the Shiva statue of Sursagar lake in Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
The statue of Lord Shiva at Grand Bassin in Mauritius. That is me, in the middle of the photo, where you can see the sheer scale of the statue. It is the second highest statue of Lord Shiva in the world.
Shiva is the god of the yogis and his characteristics are:
the snakes that show he is beyond the power of death and poison and also stand for the Kundalini energy
the sound of Shiva’s two-sided drum maintains the rhythm of the heartbeat and creates the sound of AUM in the overtones
the vehicle of Shiva is the white bull, Nandi (the joyful)
Shiva is often seated on a tiger skin or wears one, representing the mind
Shiva lives on Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas
In response to WordPress’s Weekly Photo Challenge with the theme of Scale. Click here to see other bloggers’ interpretations of this theme.
Mozambican-born Portuguese South African; reflecting on travel, writing, editing, life, family and change that has social impact; chief wide eyed in wanderer, wonderer and bottlewasher
