The Edfu chitra katha

The previous post in this series is here..

Our entire group was ready at 4:30 AM and outside on the street adjoining the dock. The original plan was to have a van ready to take us to Edfu Temple before Sunrise! Given every ship was sending its people there, we were to go early to clear the security check and ticket counter and get in. 

There was a snag. The van never showed. We tried to change plans to go in two horse carts (originally abandoned by our guide Walid as too risky) but others kept getting the horses and we were just waiting for 30 mintues. Walid had to feel the fury of 3 women and two girls who burnt him with their eyes just like those sages in the Amar Chitra Katha cartoons.  He apologized profusely and we finally got our van after 25 minutes of waiting. When we went to the temple entrance, the line was a few hundred meters long and I counted ~ 600 people in the line in front of us!

We made it to the temple after security checks and were amazed by what we saw! This temple reminded me of Uttarakosamangai. Same layout.. a long hallway that takes you to the main sanctum with a lot of pillars and chambers on the way!

A must see highlight video of Edfu temple.. it took me a long time to edit this to under 10 minutes from 56 video clips!

It is one of the most well preserved temples in Egypt. The murals on the large temple walls tell a story just like a cartoon in panels. The fight between a hippo god and a crocodile god and the crocodile emerging victorious is amazing. 

Inside the temple the walls still retain some of the color. If the plain murals look this awesome, imagine how they would have been 2300 years go when every bit of it was painted!! It would have been spellbinding!

this one reminded me of Ravana.. 

the unifier being confered the crowns of the north and south with different crests ! this theme is repeated across a lot of temples. The kings support the gods, the gods support the kings. eventually the kings take over for the gods.. 

the detail on the boat including the little chains was amazing!  Probably why it took a 100 years to finish this temple!

No wonder people came there and donated to the temples and they were the big social and economic centers.

These pictures do not do justice to this temple. It happened to be preserved only because it was buried in the sand and folks used to tunnel into some of these chambers and used it as hideouts.  

tried a pano but again, this is at a scale where pano's don't work..

This one doubled up as a hospital and maternity ward as well apparently. When we first went to the main sanctum, there was a 100 strong crowd and given my height, simply couldn't see or capture photos or videos. Was disappointed with that and walked out to the entrance with the group. Then I asked Walid how much time we had? He said 10 minutes. So I ran 1/2 a mile back and forth to the sanctum. Given all boats were leaving at more or less the same time, the crowd was gone. There were 4 people in the sanctum. 

Ran there, took pictures and videos and captured my running back to the entrance.

The golden idols all gone! 

Then there was more drama. The van driver locked the van with the keys inside! We waited another 15 minutes for a backup van. The ladies burnt him with their eyes again like the sages of folklore! Before they started painting some new murals in Edfu temple on the vanquishing of Walid at Edfu in Etchachrome colors, we got into the new van and drove back to the ship in time for breakfast. 

we were in for a surprise at the breakfast area as three large tables were empty. The entire Chinese and Korean gang was gone! Walid told us that they took a bus to save time and were going to see everything in our next stop ahead of time and fly out. We had more time, so we were going to spend it on the ship the rest of the afternoon! 

More on that in the next post..

If you do the river cruise or not, do not miss Edfu temple! It is just fantastic!