India Adventure: Rama Temple and other Excursions

On Monday we had a full day of touring. First, we saw a very new Rama temple in the city of Vizianagaram. It was huge and had a long hallway that depicted the story of Rama on the walls with explanations. We couldn't take pictures in that part.

These boys are training to be monks at this temple.

After that, we visited the King of Vizianagaram. This is actually his guest house as his other house is undergoing repairs. We all brought gifts for him and his family and luckily the presentation of those gifts went well. He ordered lunch for us and it was really good. There were savory pastries and even potato chips! He also gave us two cups of Pepsi each. Pepsi seems to be very popular in this country. The King was very nice. He talked a lot with Dr. Nuckolls about current political issues in India and also about how much he admires the founding fathers of America, as well as the early Presidents. He presented a book on Abraham Lincoln to Dr. Nuckolls as a gift.

The picture hanging on his wall is of himself and Queen Elizabeth. Because he is an Indian King, he has many connections to British royalty. Nowadays he says he'll get a letter from someone in England now and then, but his ancestors were very social with British royalty and corresponded frequently.

The framed letter on the right is a letter from one of the British Queens (I can't remember anymore!) to one of his ancestors.

This sword is from the 17th century and was presented to one of the King's ancestors by Prince Edward. Dr. Nuckolls was very fascinated with it.

Later we went further into the country to visit this very old Hindu temple.

We sat outside on the porch for a while and they served us some rice.

This is at the entrance of a nearby Rama temple (the main one we wanted to see that day). They have everyone wash their feet before they go in.

The road leading up to the temple.

Temple priest

They had a bunch of tortoises in the back! The story goes that these tortoises came down from the mountain to worship Rama many years ago, so they let them stay there and they feed them.

The older part of the temple.

My other saree. They made a long blouse for me to cover my stomach but I was struggling with it all day because it is still kind of short and my shirt tails were always poking out the back. I'll have to have them tie the skirt part higher next time.

Our final excursion was also out in the country. We walked along this road for about 20 minutes to visit a small temple that is part of a cave. It was a very beautiful area.