Thursday, March 03, 2016

कल्याणा, छाटी उडाली!...Kalyan Dive

Today March 3 2016, Magh Krushna 9 (माघ वद्य ९), is Das Navami (दास नवमी)... death anniversary of Samarth Ramdas (समर्थ रामदास), the last great Marathi poet

When we went to Sajjangad (सज्जनगड) in July 2015- our maiden visit, the first place I wanted to see was the point from where Kalyanswami (कल्याणस्वामी) supposedly dived into the valley to fetch Samarth's  scarf. ( As I stood at the point and looked down the valley, I once again thought he surely did NOT actuality dive, as potrayed in the picture below, but the myth proved the faith in his guru.)

I was so eager to visit that point because of a little book I kept reading during my childhood and was fascinated by the pictures in it. Fortunately, I still have the book and when occasionally I thumb through it, it brings back memories.



Artist: J B Dikshit (जि भि दीक्षित ), 

'Sreesamarthcharitramrut' (श्रीसमर्थचरित्रामृत), First published on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, year 1957

[I just wonder if Mr. Dikshit knew 'flying' superheroes like Batman (1939-) and Superman (1938-) when he drew this or this was based only on his imagination.]



The point on Sajjangad today, named 'Kalyan Udi Smarak' (कल्याण उडी स्मारक)