1) A little story about "exit polls."

2) The year was 2004. Kerry was supposedly leading W.

3) I was active in a key precinct in Dayton, OH, a true bellwether for ALL of OH.

4) Rs knew if their voters turned out (due to R registration edge) W would win.

SRI MOOKAMBIKA DEVI, KOLLUR (KAR)

There was an Asura, Kaumasura, who was doing penance to please Shiva and get a boon. To prevent him from asking for a boon, Devi Saraswati made him dumb (hence called Mookasur)
Later, Adi Parashakti slayed him and came to be called Mookambika.

It is said that Adi Shankaracharya had a vision in which Devi agreed to follow him provided he did not look back. He kept walking and was assured of her presence due to the sound of anklets. When he reached here in Kollur, he turned back as the sound of anklets had stopped.

So Devi stayed here and merged with the lingam. The place came to be called Mookambika Kshetram.
The linga has integrated on it’s left side MahaKali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswathi and on the right side- Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

A swarna rekha (gold line) divides this linga into left and right portion. Adi Shakthi in this Udhbhavlinga form appears only here.
Devi sits in padmasana and has 4 hands.
Adi Shankaracharya installed the Sri Chakra in front of Devi and also composed the Soundarya Lahiri here.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVI BEEJ / BIJA MANTRA.

Once Suutji in his discourse with King Janmajeya repeated the words of Vyasji regarding the pronounciation of the word ऐ. Vyasji had heard the importance of this word in a meeting of all important saints at Naimisharanya.

There this story was discussed.

In that gathering of such great sages, Rishi Jamdagni asked a question to all the eminent luminaries. He wanted to know which diety is the most revered and gets satisfied easily with our prayers. So Lomash rishi replied that Devi

Bhagwati was one such diety. She will be satisfied and is ready to grant you a boon even if you just say the first letter of her beej mantra. In this context he narrated the story of Satyavrat. The story is as follows.

There lived a Brahmin named Devdutt in Kosal.

He was childless. He arranged for an elaborate yagya for a intelligent son to be born. He invited all the eminent rishi's to conduct this Yagya. Rishi Suhotra, Pael, Brahaspati Yagyavalka were assigned different tasks. Rishi Gobhil was asked to sing the Saamved.

He sang the verses very well, but he had to take respite in order to breathe between two verses. This angered devdutt. He spoke his thoughts to Gobhil rishi.

The rishi got very angry as devdutt did not realise the practicalities of singing. He cursed devdutt that

Dr. Anandibai Joshi

Upon her birth on 31 March 1865 she was named Yamuna, after the holy river. Her parents Gunputrao Amritaswar Joshee & Gungabai Joshee came from a long lineage of wealthy landlord family in Kalyan of Bombay Presidency, whose wealth was now waning.

Anandi was the sixth of 10 children, & had 4 brothers (only two of which survived) & five sisters. Her father was particularly fond of her, as she was a bright child with an inquisitive mind. Being an educated man himself, Ganpatrao assured that his daughter was taught Marathi.

As was common practice she was married at a tender age of 9, to Gopalrao Joshi, a 29 year old widower who worked as a postal clerk in the same city. After marriage her husband named her ‘Anandibai’ (which means ‘Joy of my heart’).

Gopalrao was man ahead of his times with reformist ideas & had married Anandibai on the condition that he would be allowed to educate his wife.

He even tried to enroll Anandi in a missionary school, but did not succeed. Despite being the supportive husband, Gopalrao had his flaws.

He was a strict teacher & would sometimes resort to beating if Anandi slacked in her studies.

THE LESSER KNOWN MAHARANA OF MEWAR:RANA KUMBHA
Kumbalgarh Fort is one of most spectacular sites of India,atop a hill abt 3600ft above sea lvl in the https://t.co/LkjmzzBhE2's second largest wall is surrounding it.A fort wall second only to Great wall of China,still not so famous.

This longest wall of India stretches to almost 36Km and encompasses a few hills, many step wells and over 360 temples and palaces. Birth place of the Great Maharana Pratap, this fort is named after another Great Maharana of Mewar, who is not given his due in the History.

Builder of many architectural marvels like the Kumbhalgarh Fort, an erudite scholar, a patron of arts, music, culture & a great warrior was the Great Maharana Kumbha. Yet we don't know much about him. Let's get to know him a little.

Maharana Kumbha was the undefeated King of Mewar from 1433-1468CE.He never lost any battles &kept Mewar out of the reach of Islamic Invaders till the time he was alive. Born on Makar Sakranti to Maharana Mokal & Saubhagya Devi, Rana Kumbha was only 13 when he ascended the throne.

His father was killed by his own relatives in a political conspiracy. He was a powerful King about 8ft tall &charismatic personality,a hardcore Hindu Rajput who could shed his life for Hindu honour without thinking twice.He was an ardent skillful warrior who never lost a battle.

Chennakeshava Temple, Somanathapura, Karnataka.

This temple, not to be confused with the Belur Chennakeshava temple, was built during the Hoysala period by a Hoysala general named Dandanayaka Somanatha. The temple dedicated to lord Vishnu was consecrated in 1258.

Dandanayaka Somanatha established a village named Somanathapura on the banks of river Kaveri. He sought the permission of King Narasimha III, to begin construction of a grand temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu that would also showcase the might of Hoysalas.(1)

The temple rests on a high star shaped platform (jagati) with 3 sanctums (garbha griha) making it a trikuta, set in a square matrix oriented along the east west and north south axes.(2)

The western sanctum is dedicated to Kesava, the northern sanctum to Janardhana and the southern sanctum to Venugopala, all are forms of lord Vishnu.(3)

The sanctums share a common community hall (sabha mandapa) with many pillars. Above each of these sanctums rise the 16 pointed star shaped tower called vimana or shikara.(4)