Monday was India’s republic day, the day the constitution was signed 66 years ago. We spent the morning at the KMC greens, behind the dining hall, watching the parade and celebration. Each different school within Manipal had a marching squad who paraded around the greens. At the end they were awarded prizes. There was also a singing performance and a dance.
After the celebrations we piled into a small van and drove about an hour and a half to a Jain mutt (a mutt is a learning center in the Jain religion). Jainism is a religion in India, with followers around the globe, though percentagewise it relatively small compared to other Indian religions. We waited around for about an hour listening to the singing and music until Swamiji (the name of a position similar to monk) was ready to see us. He talked to us about Jainism and allowed us to ask any questions. From what it sounded like it is similar to Buddhism with features of Hinduism and some unique elements. They strongly believe in non-violence and living a life of compassion. He gave us all blessed coins to take with us and we took a group photo before leaving. We ate a quick meal at the mutt and then saw the thousand-pillar temple right around the block.
The temple is over 600 years old and is famous for its 1,000 pillars, each completely unique. A guide showed us around the temple and explained to us many of the unique carvings. We then piled back into the van and then went to this enormous Jain statue. Every twelve years at this time there is a ritual bathing of the statue, which that just so happened to be this year. Although we didn’t actually get to see the bathing (unfortunately it took place at night) we saw the statue, all the decorations, and the thousands of people from all over India that had come to see it. In the evening we met up with a bunch of students from the communications school at a local restaurant called Coffee Valley for dinner. They were super fun and we had a great time getting to know them. We also talked about seeing a Bollywood film together in the next week or attending Karaoke night at a local club on Wednesday.
After the celebrations we piled into a small van and drove about an hour and a half to a Jain mutt (a mutt is a learning center in the Jain religion). Jainism is a religion in India, with followers around the globe, though percentagewise it relatively small compared to other Indian religions. We waited around for about an hour listening to the singing and music until Swamiji (the name of a position similar to monk) was ready to see us. He talked to us about Jainism and allowed us to ask any questions. From what it sounded like it is similar to Buddhism with features of Hinduism and some unique elements. They strongly believe in non-violence and living a life of compassion. He gave us all blessed coins to take with us and we took a group photo before leaving. We ate a quick meal at the mutt and then saw the thousand-pillar temple right around the block.
The temple is over 600 years old and is famous for its 1,000 pillars, each completely unique. A guide showed us around the temple and explained to us many of the unique carvings. We then piled back into the van and then went to this enormous Jain statue. Every twelve years at this time there is a ritual bathing of the statue, which that just so happened to be this year. Although we didn’t actually get to see the bathing (unfortunately it took place at night) we saw the statue, all the decorations, and the thousands of people from all over India that had come to see it. In the evening we met up with a bunch of students from the communications school at a local restaurant called Coffee Valley for dinner. They were super fun and we had a great time getting to know them. We also talked about seeing a Bollywood film together in the next week or attending Karaoke night at a local club on Wednesday.