Sankara

kalady

kalady is the birthplace of the famous hindu philosopher, shankara. he lived circa 788-820 c.e. click here to learn more about sankara. it's not a definitive site, but it's a good starting place. for being such a revolutionary philosopher of world renown, the sankara shrine at kalady is nothing to write home about. the actual shrine was closed, but we got to walk along the periyar river, where sankara's legend began.

there is no way to know what he looked like, but i'm guessing he wasn't this "fair". in india, fair=good, pure. dark=bad, impure. fucking ridiculous!

this sign is awesome:

this is a sign that tells the legend of sankara, again, awesome:

this is periyar river where the above legend takes place. i imagine sankara looked more like the guy in the river than any artist's rendering.

ok, if anyone can make sense of this sign, please enlighten me:

next stop, athirapilly waterfalls!