Travel And Leisure
| By : Ajit Hari Sahu | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 29 Aug, 2005 | Total Views : 464 |
Many centuries ago, according to Hindu legend, a virgin goddess fell in love with Shiva. Unfortunately for her he was lost in meditation and ignored both her beauty and her presence. Believing that if she performed an arduous penance she would attract his attention, the goddess subjected herself to harsh austerities. Although Shiva did eventually acknowledge her devotion and agree to marry her he insisted they wait until a later incarnation. Furious, she hurled the already prepared wedding feast into the sea.
Kanya Kumari, at the extreme southern tip of India, is named after this goddess. As the presiding deity of the Kumari Amman Temple by the sea, she is now a symbol of unity and devotion. Hindu pilgrims believe that the beach's multi-colored sands are the washed-ashore remnants of her wedding feast.
In India, where every confluence of water is held to be sacred, Kanya Kumari is especially regarded, for it is the meeting place of the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal, and here Mahatma Gandhi's cremated ashes were brought immediately after his assassination in 1948. Before they were scattered upon the seas, the urn that contained them was placed on the spot where the Gandhi Memorial now stands. On 2 October every year, Gandhi's birthday, the rays of the sun fall on the black marble marker that indicates the precise positioning of the urn.
In 1892, one of India's greatest religious philosophers, Vivekananda, came to Kanya Kumari before leaving to address the World Congress of Religions in Chicago. The Vivekananda Memorial, built in 1970, now occupies a rock on which he meditated and has been designed to incorporate various strands of Indian architecture. The Virgin Goddess was an earlier penitent there and in a separate shrine the faithful can see her footprint on the hard rock.
Kanya Kumari is noted for its magnificent sunrises and sunsets. It is also the only place in India where, when the moon is full, it can be seen rising at the sun sets.
