Gods and Goddesses of Nainital

A human while he lives displays different appearances, different clothes and even different names. It is not surprising therefore that a goddess should do much more of that. Naini Devi the goddess of Nainital, the mother goddess in her different reincarnations and forms is also known as Nanda Devi, the goddess of the mountains or as Parvati the goddess of snow capped mountains, also perhaps as Bhuvaneshwari the goddess of the fields and forests which in ancient Middle East was known as Nana and to ancient Greeks was know as Gaia, the mother goddess or earth goddess. As the goddess of the oceans she is Mazu worshipped in Taiwan. As a gentle mother of love she is mother Mary worshipped by the Christians as a fierce conqueror of evil the goddess Kali worshipped by sects of Hindus. As a hermit she is Mira and as an Empress she is Queen Victoria. These are only some of the forms in which humans have worshipped the Almighty as the mother goddess. It is not surprising that the goddess has a t...

Lokhamtal, a small lake in Nainital district T his morning the local newspaper here in Jaipur (Rajasthan Patrika, 25th of January 2011, page 9) devoted a page to describing the deeds of a few ordinary individuals who had devoted several years of their own time, effort and money to improve the environment. This Newspaper is imbued with a high degree of social responsibility and it has made many contributions towards improving the quality of life in our province. Therefore it devotes considerable space to highlighting such stories from time to time. There were stories of persons who had created huge forests bit by bit around their villages, cleaned and created lakes and pathways through the mountains. As they worked on their projects, others in the area were motivated to join in and help, so that the results were truly impressive. The reports were highly encouraging, yet also embarrassing to me personally. I talk a lot in this blog and elsewhere about contributing to improving the...

A View of the Plains of Nainital District, 2010 A lthough this author has had close ties to Nainital District since childhood, he did not have enough opportunity to travel around the district during his adult life until the last two years. This opportunity came in 2009-2010 when he served as the Director of an Institute of Technology in the District (the only institute of the district offering degree level professional education including engineering education). During this appointment the author had ample opportunities to tour large parts of the district. It was the observation of this author that since the British, who had originally developed Nainital town and District up to 1947 left, little positive development has taken place in the district. Rather there has been a severe deterioration. For several decades after the British left, this district was a largely ignored hill district of the large state of Uttar Pradesh. However, since about a decade ago Nainital district is o...