Amchigelele Khabbar

Temple Pratisthapana at Harikhandige

It is indeed a very great honour for me to inform that Shri Mahalasa Narayani has bestowed upon Her devotees to construct a temple for Her at salubrious village Harikhandige, which is about five kilometres from Perdur and 21 km from Udupi via Manipal, Hiriyadka.

The Pratisthapana ceremony is scheduled to be held between 12th and 14th of June 2002. The idol installation will be on June 13, 2002.

Due to Her blessings the work is progressing without any hitch with the voluntary donations from Her devotees and admirers at a pace set by Her.

Kindly take this as an invitation to be present on the Holy occasion of Pratishtapana at Harikhandige.

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English edition of Shri Mahalasa Narayani's
Charitra released

Mangalore:

Shri Mahalasa Narayani Seva Mandal, an organisation headed by Shri Suresh J. Pai, has been making efforts to spread Her divine message through publishing of Her Charitra in different languages.

Shri Pai and the Seva Mandal are also performing religious rituals of various nature in Goa and elsewhere.

The Marathi edition of the Charitra is now in its second edittion, with about 2,000 copies sold so far, while the Kannada edition, which is now in its third edition, has sold 4,000 copies.

With Shri Mahalasa's Narayani's inspiration, the Charitra is now published in English also and was released on Gudi Padwa this year. According to the author, Shri Suresh J. Pai, "we also propose to translate the Charitra in different Indian languages in due course of time."

"I have no words to express my gratitude to the Mother, who ordained me to write Her Charitra and has been a constant source of encouragement and guidance in all the activities of our Seval Mandal," Shri Pai told us.

"We cannot fathom the depth of her affection, which has only to be experienced to be believed." Indeed, Her ways are unique and everyone is give a task to perform. Now, Shri Mahalasa Narayani's Temple on the Internet has been growing and has become, with Her blessings, a top GSB Kuladevata site.

And, now, we have also with Her inspirations started Shri Mahalasa's e-store (http://www.mahalasa.com) where we have given details of how to contact Shri Suresh J. Pai and obtain copies of the Charitra in the language you desire.

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Konkani Architectural history
scholar has a new book

Jose Pereira, Professor of Theology, Fordham University, New York, is a noted scholar. Besides writing on architectural history, he has published books on Konkani language and literature.

His latest work " Baroque India : the neo-Roman religious architecture of South Asia : a global stylistic survey" is a monumental piece of research. Among the information covered, is data on the Konkani styles of architecture. Besides extensive research on churches in Goa, there are many facts about our temples.

My library just got this book. I was fascinated to learn that the Shantadurga temple (our kula-devata) in Kaullem, Goa was "the first large-scale adaptation of the neo-Roman style to Hindu temple building ... continued in the temple complexes of Nageshi, Mangeshi, Chandranatha, Kamakshi and Navdurga."

The Lamp tower (Shantadurga and Nageshi temples among others) seems to be a distinctly Goan contribution. Reference is also made to the Ramachandra temple (1811) at Parthagale in Kannkonn where "a delicate and continuous sgraffito runs like an embroidery of red lace below the exterior cornice of the temple cloister."

The author states that this form of decoration is very fragile. Despite this fragility and the age of this edifice, it has been well maintained for future generations. Our religious buildings "accord picturesquely with Goa's arboreal and picturesque landscape."

Kudos to Professor Pereira on completing such a ground-breaking project! Works such as this one make us more aware of our history and culture.

Nirmala S. Bangalore
Catalog Dept.
Main Library
University of Illinois at Chicago
M/C 234, Box 8198 Chicago, IL 60680-8198
nbangalo@uic.edu (312) 413-7578 Fax (312) 413-0424

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Letter of encouragement from
Shri Mahalasa Saunsthan,
Mardol, Goa

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