The Dogs

This sampler has been keeping me busy.

When I came across this sampler on Pinterest I simply had to reproduce it and itgave me reason enough to indulge my blue and white obsession.

The sampler immortalises our pets Blackie and Brownie in cross stitch. They are firm friends and up to mischief all day long. Our flipflops left on the front verandah have been chewed and the straps have been ripped off. They are mutts or Indian dogs.
 Blackie chases away the monkeys and has begun barking a warning should strangers come to our property. Brownie has some Dachshund in him and won't grow too big but he's the cute one and Blackie the handsome one.
We have a third  - Bullet. He's a wee one yet but it won't be long before he joins Blackie and Brownie on their trips around the estate, barking at monkeys and waiting with soulful expressions on the deck for treats.
I've started on another blue and white sampler - it's the nursery rhyme Hey diddle, diddle...

Everyday has it's challenges but the past two weeks have been particularly trying with internet and electricity problems but the pruned tea bushes breaking into bud, the chickens settling into their new coop and Bullet having found a home with us have made it all easier to deal with.
How are all of you doing? Is Autumn making it's presence felt? We're thinking of lighting a fire sometime next week when friends come to stay and in India the festive season has begun. Happy Navaratri and Dusshera to all those celebrating. Have a great weekend.
  

The Elephants at Hampi

R and I decided to drive 400kms to visit Hampi in Bellary district which was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire and is a place of religious, mythological and cultural importance as well as being listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.Its the height of summer and temperatures are close to 40C but we like to visit places when its off season and there are less people around.  

I'm going to do a couple of posts on our trip to Hampi but I'm going to start with the elephants which were accorded great importance then as they are now and are depicted on so many of the monuments.   

At the Virupaksha Temple we bought bananas to feed the temple elephant but we ended up feeding the cows instead because the elephant had gone down to the river to bathe.

The plinth of the Mahanavami Dibba has depictions of elephants in various moods. The sculptors were keen observers of the form of the elephants and their moods. I wonder how they recorded their observations.No 16th century sketch books lying around. 

A procession of elephants in the Hazara Rama temple.

The Elephant Stables.

Elephants were mainly used for battle but there were eleven special elephants which were used during the Dussehra festival and had their own stable and keepers who had their quarters close at hand near the Zenana Enclosure.I haven't heard of this much importance accorded to elephants in any of the other dynasties which flourished in India.  

Must go back to Hampi to record the elephant in all its various moods which are depicted on all the monuments. That would probably require a life time or more because the excavations continue in Hampi.