PEACOCKS AND ELEPHANTS-The Gates, Doors, and Windows of India
Doors, windows, gates. Without them we have only walls. With them we enter rooms, dimensions, states of mind. Doors, gates, and windows hold enormous meaning for cultures of the world for millenia. The creation and control of these openings provided man’s earliest method of protecting the citizens, whether living in a mud-walled settlement or thick walled cities. Beyond the need for the physical element of doors, gates, and windows lies the opportunity to find great symbolic meaning from the most ancient of times in human existence. Over thousands of years in India these portals for coming and going have been a canvas for great artistic expression. The complexities of the practical and the spiritual are combined in some of the world’s most beautiful works of art as architectural adornment. Though most visitors will never know more than the most superficial meaning of these portals, we can still appreciate the great level of aesthetic beauty that has survived to our time.
This amazing gate was surrounded by the most non-descript setting as we drove along a highway. As modern life has encroached on this beautiful gate the visitor speeding past in the 21st Century’s mode of transportation could easily miss this quite special “small moment”.
Jaipur’s City Palace is famous for The Peacock Gate, one of four gates depicting the four seasons in the huge complex of pavilions and palace buildings.
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The gate leading to Pushkar’s 14th Century Brahma temple, one of the most famous Hindu temples in the world.
In keeping with the charitable philosphy of Pushkar’s Hindu population, this kitchen is open to anyone who needs a meal.
A doorway in Pushkar looked into a timeless interior view that, for me, echoed back to the paintings of Dutch interiors of Rembrandt’s time.
Doors and archways can frame many of those “small moments”.
And the pierced screen can give a private view out.
An ancient doorway bears witness to man and time.
Scott captured yet another door in this roadside shelter one afternoon.
Not all the doors, gates, and windows are complex. This simple gate led to our cottage at The Chambal River Safari Lodge, set in a pristine and lush setting on the Chambal River.
webs and threads travels 