May 10, 2022
Six Word Photo Story | Photography
Prayer Stone Stacks — A Belief
Spring Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Nature Art”
Laying the foundation for my home
We visited Tirupati a few years ago and had a glorious time at the Talakona waterfalls, the zoo, and, of course, the temple. Didn’t go inside, because that would have meant doing nothing else but waiting hours to see the deity, so we decided to skip that part and did everything else around it.
This basically meant visiting the gorgeous “silathoranam” a natural rock arch (I’ll post it as a freestyle story), the deer park — so sweet! and the fabulous drive down the hills. En route, we came across these little rock formations and stopped to take a closer look.
We were told that people pile 3–4 rocks and pray that they will construct their own house and believe that it comes true. Interesting thing? The number of stones equals the number of floors. Apparently, when the wish is fulfilled (notice I did not say if) the devotee returns to dismantle the formation.
How they can identify which rock stack is theirs is a mystery to me . . . but I found the belief rather charming. I mean, the stones are loosely stacked, after all.
And of course, I stacked a few rocks too. Yet to build my own house — I am not really chasing that dream since I do live in my own house. But yes, I don’t mind building an apartment complex, renting it out, and using the money for charity work. Maybe I should chase that dream after all, eh?
This tradition is followed in many temples in India and I was fascinated to read that stacking stones is a worldwide tradition where people make a wish for themselves or their family members.
Thank you Mary Chang Story Writer ❤ for the challenging prompt. I just sighed and eliminated most of the photos I had picked for this month’s prompt. So relieved there’s freestyle though! Hehe!
Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles ❤ Did you smile today?
Help me support underprivileged children via Ko-Fi. Thank you so much!
Subscribe to my daily motivational tip posts on Substack
Now let us be off to see the wonders of nature with a little help from humans and the freestyle photos via the home page by these fabulous photographers and storytellers!
JoAnn | Amy | Amethyst |Penny | Ellie |Ian|Sandi|Vashni |I. Trudie |Susan|K. Barrett |David |Marie |Sanghita |Wendy |Denise|Gauri |Linda|Makena |Robin |John |Emma |nareeta |Divina |B.R. Shenoy, Diana|Osan| Nicole| Mahgol| Deborah| L Burton| pockett| Kelly| Dennett| Shereen| Robin| Zen| Anne| Katemiya| Jason| Robin| Carmen| Napoleon| Randy| Lisa| Barb|Will| Kaori| Aimée|
❤
