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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Ellora Cave 29 - Shiva-Parvati - Playing Game Saripat ( Indian - Chess)

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Shiva & Parvati - Playing Game Saripat ( Indian - Chess)
Story associated with is......

As usual gods are no seperate than human being.... Husband Shiva is playing with wife Parvati the game of Dice - in Marathi is called Saripat, in Hindi this is called as Chaturaji.

Always shiva use to win this game, to defeat him Pravati playe trick. but she was caught and shiva teased her of her cheating.

In above carving you can see that the game is placed in between them and Shiva holds hand of Goddess parvati for cheating. Every one is watching them. God's around them are laughing.

The bottom section displays the Nandi -
Vehicle of Shiva: The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana (follower) of Shiva.

Gate keeper of Shiva's abode: The close association of Shiva and Nandi explains the presence of a statue of Nandi at the gate of many temples dedicated to Siva. It also explains why the word "nandi" in the Kannada, Telugu and Tamil languages is used as a metaphor for a person blocking the way. In Sanskrit, a bull is called "vrisha", which has another connotation - that of righteousness or Dharma. It is important to seek the blessings of Nandi before proceeding to worship Lord Shiva.

Chief in Shiva's army: Some Puranas mention that Nandi lead the Shiva Ganas, Shiva's attendants.

From the yogic perspective, Nandi/Nandhi/ Nandikeshvara is the mind dedicated to Lord Siva, the Absolute. In other words, to understand and absorb Light, the 'experience and the wisdom' is Nandi which is the Guru within.


About Sari-pat Game- This is referred as god Shiva’s favorite game. It’s a cross with four pans on each sides and squire at center. Each pan contains 5 blocks (called house) in two rows. with tow dices marked number of grooves to indicate numbers is used to place marker in that particular house. penalties and points are gained in this way.

Another version of the Saripat - Chaturaji (means "four kings", also known as "Choupat") a four player chess-like game. It was first described in detail circa 1030 by Biruni in his India book. Originally, this was a game of chance: the pieces to be moved were decided by rolling two dice. A diceless variant of the game was still played in India at the close of the 19th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturaji

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